Hon Bitrus Kaze represented
Jos-north/Jos-east Federal Constituency in the Seventh House of
Representatives. In this interview with Ruth Choji, he states that President
Buhari’s steps have so far not out-shone those of President Jonathan.
How has life been after the
National Assembly?
Fantastic. I was a councillor in
1991 and before I left the councillorship, I bought a Nissan car because I knew
I would have to live a private life. I actually started driving my car as a
taxi man shortly after serving as councillor. I was barely 23 years old then
and I became a taxi driver in the same constituency I represented. At the
National Assembly level, I left after my first term, hoping to come back to a
quiet private life. As of today, the only thing that makes me feel I am not in
the National Assembly is that, I don’t enter the chambers.
Is there anything you miss in the
House of Representatives?
I have been asked that question
severally and I always say I do not have any immediate regret because entering
the House in 2007, I went with this mindset that power is transient, that
somebody left before I could come in and one day, I will leave for another
person to come in. It was absolutely natural for me that I will leave one day
and I knew that even if I am given a third term, it will still come to an end.
Looking back, there is nothing that I miss.
How will you assess some of
President Buhari’s actions so far?
I have always said that the
president appears to me as a very conservative person and he also comes from a
regimented service of the yesteryears. What makes it worse is his age. It
appears to me as though Buhari has the mind of the commander-in-chief and the
dictatorial nature of the military. You can see that virtually all the policy
statements he made have been reversed, an example is the appointment of service
chiefs. He didn’t call them acting or nominees when their appointment was
announced, they were actually announced as chief of this or that. He was
supposed to have sent the nominations to the National Assembly who will not even
deny you the opportunity. But he had to be reminded to go to the National
Assembly and that was when they started addressing them as acting. Look at the
bailout given to states, initially they said President Jonathan left an empty
treasury, but now, they are say the money is from NLNG and Excess Crude
Account. It means he left something in the Excess Crude Account.
To me, we have somebody who has
the face of an anti-corruption crusader and strict disciplinarian but inwardly,
is somebody who finds it difficult to work with other people. He believes in
projecting his ideas.
Some PDP members have described
the president’s war against corruption as witch-hunting. What is your view?
The war against corruption should
not be partisan or by religion. The president should start with himself.
President Buhari’s his first appointment after he won election was that of
former governor of Bayelsa, Timipre Sylva as one of those on his side of the
transition committee. The chain of cases that man has with EFCC is much. What
about ex-Governors Fashola, Ameachi and the rest? Have they been given a clean
slate yet? Corruption has no face of party, religion or race. I am quite
worried that those being chased at the moment have partisan affiliation with
the PDP. Is President Buhari saying that only PDP governors were corrupt? Are
all the APC states free of corruption? The war against corruption should not be
selective.
Do you think the current
government is capable of ending insurgency?
Every step I have seen President
Buhari take were the same things President Jonathan did. Jonathan was in Niger,
Chad, Germany and the rest on the issue of Boko Haram and it is the same places
Buhari has gone to. The only thing he has done differently is to move the
Command Centre to Maiduguri and I was surprised. I am not a soldier but I know
that America uses drones in the war against ISIS in Syria and the Middle-east.
I don’t understand the wisdom behind taking the command centre to Maiduguri
from Abuja.
Immediate past PDP governors have
been accused of leaving behind empty treasuries in almost all the states the
PDP was succeeded by APC. Do you think this is mere politics, as some people
have said?
It is because it is PDP versus
APC. Have you actually inquired from the governor of Lagos what Fashola left
for him? Lagos could be one of the highest indebted states in the country but
because it is APC to APC, nobody is talking about it. Oshiomhole and other
governors will soon go, let us wait and see what will happen. My yardstick is,
if they are not corrupt, why are those states not more developed than others? I
hear that after Aregbesola, Osun State will continue to be in debt for years to
come because of the rag tag policies the man initiated. That is why the anger
against him has risen to a high level. That state needs the immediate attention
of the Federal Government else we might see a revolution. Is Buhari saying that
Aregbesola is corruption free? So for me, there are certain loopholes in this
administration that make me think that the fight is selective.
Credit: Leadership
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