Former Secretary to Plateau State Government Rufus Bature is the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate in Plateau North Senatorial Zone. In this interview with YUSUFU IDEGU in Jos, the state capital, he says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot bounce back in the Northcentral state.
You were Secretary to Government of Plateau State, but you decided to resign to contest for the Senate. What made you to take such decision?
I took the decision because I prefer to do what I do best, that is to represent my people, to represent the interests of Plateau North at the Senate. To those who know me, I represent my people at the House of Assembly for eight years. So, I am a trained legislator. Again, as SGP, I work as directed, but as federal legislator I represent my people, take decisions on my own and work closely with my people. As a legislator, I have my zone to work for to whom I’m accountable to. I will have the opportunity to project the problems of my people as a legislator, and that is precisely what my people prefer, they wanted me to serve them as Senator and not as SGP because they know I have the experience and training. That is why my campaign theme is “get involved”. I am like saying, everyone in my zone to get involved in this political movement. It is a collective project, I’m not alone, my people are the motivators.
The Plateau North senatorial zone that you are aspiring to represent is a PDP stronghold, do you think you are going to make any headway as APC candidate?
That is true, that as at 2015, PDP was very strong in my senatorial zone, but that was then. Today, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. So,the dominant of PDP is Plateau North no longer exist. The political leadership of Lalong has convinced people of the zone to work for APC in recent times. In spite of the fact that the people were predominantly PDP in 2015, Governor Lalong picked the Secretary to the government from that zone and that is my very self. Then, the governor also gave me free hand to pin-point some people from there for political appointments. The Berom people have enjoyed more political appointments under this APC government than they got from previous administrations. My very self, I have been a politician and a business man. I was elected as member of the State House of Assembly for eight years to represent my people. In this present government I was appointed secretary to the government, but I still remain with my people, I stay in the village with them. I did not show any difference that I am above them politically or financially. So for that I know my people have assured me of their support to be their Senator. And because of these reasons I stated above, a lot of Berom people have moved to join me in APC, majority have said they have no reason to remain in opposition party. Most times I don’t want to blow my trumpet, but let’s wait for 2019, you will see that the Berom today are predominantly APC and no longer PDP as it was in 2015.
Is it true that your Berom kinsmen are not supporting APC as a result of the lingering crisis in their land?
Talking of insecurity in my constituency, it started even before Dariye regime in 1999, permeated through the Jang administration and we are still witnessing it. It is not something you can resolve in a day. It has to be a process that will also take sometimes to be completely resolved. That is why I think this present government should be tolerated and be given benefit of doubt since we know this insecurity is an inherited one. There is an ongoing efforts championed by this government to make sure all the IDPs returned to their original homes and be guaranteed adequate security. That process has began, most of the IDPs will return to spend Christmas in their homes, but those whose houses were completely destroyed have to wait till February or March next year to return because the House has to be reconstructed. Then as the IDPs are returning home, a security post will be established at various points in the remote villages to give the people confidence to relax in their homes. A major mobile police unit is been established at Gashish to boost security in these volatile areas. I am a full blooded Berom man for life, If I don’t care about my Berom kinsmen as a leader, who do I care about. I have lost so many loved ones in the crisis, I am also a victim. I want my people to see the genuine in the peace building efforts of the present administration because some of the concrete and practical steps Gov Lalong has taken so far to end crisis in Berom land, no one before him has taken such steps. My people should not listen to opposition politicians who are merely using the crisis to as campaign tools, because what did they do to end the crisis when they were in power. It is not about shouting on the floor of the National Assembly, or about moving motions and grandstanding, how much solution has your shouting at the National Assembly brought to your people all these while. So, I think Berom people should open their eyes and see who is genuinely providing solutions to this insecurity. Where were the National Assembly members when Gov Lalong lobbied Mr. President to approved the estatement of Police Mobile unit in Gashish. I am an insider, I know it. So I can assured my people that Lalong is the solution to the crisis and he should be encouraged to implement his peace plans fully for them.
It is unfortunate that some people chooses to politicize this crisis, it is really mind boggling to hear people celebrating when innocent people are been killed simply because he has found such development as political campaigns strategy. The death of my people has been a political achievement for some opposition politicians and they are shamelessly using killings of fellow humans to discredit the Lalong administration. And that is why such crops of politicians are not happy when the government is making effort to end the killings because if there is no more killing, they don’t have any thing to use s campaign. While they are doing this, government is busy trying to alleviating the suffering of the IDPs. As I’m talking to you, government has given a timeline for the return of the IDPs to their homes, in fact all IDPs camps in the state will be closed formally before 2019 election commence.
What is this government doing different from what previous government did, in terms of bringing the crisis to an end?
The difference in the approaches to the crises stand this government out. For instance, this government is showing serious political will to end the crisis, Gov. Lalong has taken and is still taking practical steps to end this crisis. You will realise that the dialogue processes initiated by this government at the onset, the establishment of Plateau Peace Building Agency as well as the engagement of the youths in mass entrepreneurship training are some of these steps and that led to the relative peace that prevails in the state for the first three years of this government. No other government before now has demonstrated such political will to end these crisis. Today as I’m talking to you, a Mobile Police Unit has been established in Gashish, so that they can respond promptly if there is any attack, this is the first of its kind. Today, high profile people who are suspected to be behind the crisis are been arrested, this very government has passed into law a new law under which such suspects would be tried. The crisis were allowed to prolonged by previous administrations in the states because they treated certain people as sacred cow, reports have indicted some people but government failed to bring them to justice. A lot of criminals have been left unpunished. This government is now bringing such sacred cows to justice. When such crisis merchants are made to face the full wrath of the law, it will serve as deterrent to others. Under this administration, there I’ll be no sacred cows, nobody is above the law as far as this government is concerned and as far this government is determined to end the crisis. So, arrest of sacred cows are been made and that will go a long way in bringing these conflict to an end. The youths that are been used by these crisis merchants because they are idle, government is giving them a life line, so far, closed to 10,000 youths have been trained in entrepreneurship, government has given them starter packs and government is giving them technical Suport for them to remain in business, self-sustain, so that nobody will use them for violence anymore.
But you know, some people without conscience, who are benefiting from these crises are certainly not happy that the crisis stop, they will want the situation to continue so that they will be in business. Such people were not happy that Governor Lalong brought the crisis to an end for three years. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in crisis again. But this time around they won’t go scot free, this government will bring their business to an end. This government, I can tell you is not ready to play politics with the lives of his people. As a matter of fact, the relative peace we are enjoying now is due to the arrest of one of the crisis merchants.
You contested and defeated some APC members at the primary. How are you doing to gain their support for the main election?
I have full respect for those that competed with me because they gave me a very good fight, it wasn’t an easy victory at the primaries. From the level of contest, any of them has the capacity to represent the zone at the senate, so I don’t underrate them at all. I’m seriously lobbying them for us to work together under APC and to promote the ruling party in the state. I’m happy to report that such politicians are more interested in the victory of the APC than their political ambition. And so, they have joined my campaign team, we have expanded my campaign team to accommodate them and all of us have one aim, which is to make sure APC win all elective positions in the state in 2019. I made them to understand that if I was the one that lose at the primaries I will have certainly joined the campaign team of the winer to work for the party because this the party we labored to establish in the state, if not for our efforts, opposition party has never overthrown a sitting government in the history of the state, but we work hard to uprooted PDP from the power they have enjoyed for 16 years. Nobody gave us a chance in 2015, but we did what wed did to make APC a ruling party in the state. Fro my interactions so far with my opponents at the primaries, this is there line of thinking, I’m sure you’ve not heard of any of them decamping to another party, that is because they are not selfish politicians, they are more interested in working for the party than their political aspirations.
Do you think the goodwill of the people that the APC enjoyed in 2015 is still there, considering the prevailing economic hardship?
Yes, the goodwill is still there. It has even improve from that point. I say this because of the leadership style the new government introduced in the interest of the people. This government has give sense of belonging to all segments of the state on the consideration that we are all citizens of Plateau state. This government has never used ethnic, religious or political consideration in allocating development project or social amenities to any part of the state. The consideration has been, do the people deserve such social services, if the answer is yes, so be it. But again, we have tried to favor any part of the state that have suffered neglect in the past. Lalong has worked more to unite people of the state irrespective of religion or ethnic differences, so that we all think Plateau and collectively work for Plateau. Before now, Plateau belong to one section of the state and some other sections are treated as second class citizens, but that is no more under this administration.
Do you think APC government has done enough in Plateau State to deserve the people’s support for another term?
Yes, as somebody who has served this administration as Secretary to Government for the last three and a half years, I have better knowledge of what this government has done. Sincerely speaking, the APC government is the best thing to have happened to Plateau people, considering where we are coming from. If you have a knowledge of the state that APC took over in 2015, any rational mind will give credit to APC administration and also wish it to continue as long as there is life. In the area of creating jobs opportunities for the youths and in boosting the economy of the state, this administration has received state-owned companies that were abandoned for decades, eg, Plateau Highland Bottling Company, Bokkos Fertilizer Blending Plant, Panyam Fish farm. These are the revived companies that are functioning now in full capacity. Then the famous Jos International Breweries (JIB) and the Jos Ultra-Modern Market have been handed over to private investors to bring them on stream. Even the Barc Farm comprising of 4,000 hectares of land which was sold out by previous administration has been re-purchased for government agricultural projects.