Al-Makura neglecting supporters – Rep Kana

Hon Ishaq Ahmed Kana represents Keffi/Kokona/Karu Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State speaks on the state of affairs in the  state, his ambition to go to the Senate, among others. Excerpts:

Weekly Trust: What warranted your leaving the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)?
Hon Ishaq Ahmed Kana: I will not be sentimental about this. However, I am a politician and a democrat; whatever I am doing,, the interest of the people is first before my personal interest. I embraced the CPC (defunct Congress for Progressive Change) with passion then because the governor and the CPC would look at people before taking decisions. But within two years,
I discovered that the government   and the party were not working as expected. The interests of the state and the party were manipulated at the expense of the people.
I saw it during the selection of the caretaker officials of the APC; it was not done in the interest of the people and the party. Whatever the governor wants takes precedence. I feel I cannot continue to be part of such an arrangement, this is why I left. Before the local government election, His Excellency did not consider the importance of grassroots and did not call any stakeholders’ meeting on the way forward. We all saw how the PDP competed with us and we saw what happened, this was due to the lack of vision and focus.
I represent people of three local government areas and there are others like that too, I was not informed on how election would be conducted. This was why I felt that if I should continue in this party (APC), my vision and plans for the electorate will be defeated. This was why I left.
WT: The last time you voiced your disapproval to the governor’s handling of the CPC in the state, there was reconciliation. What went wrong again?
Hon Kana: After the election, we had barely spent one year and six months, His Excellency was silently and politically dealing with me. Anybody close to me was being dealt with; nothing was given to them as appointment or whatever. For three years I was not favoured for any contract or dividend of democracy for my supporters. This was why after the initial disagreement we sat down and I thought things would change for the better, I did not know His Excellency was just deceiving me. He would listen to me, but after I leave, the issues and discussions ended there. I felt I should not continue to be deceived. These are some of the issues that led to my leaving the APC for PDP.
WT: Did you make recourse to the Nasarawa Elders before your latest move?
Hon Kana: It was not the elders who intervened even then; it was one of his aides who saw what was happening and talked to me. I went to meet the governor myself and I thought we were done with the challenges; then I realized it was more than that; he does not want to see me. He is bent on destroying my political career and to make me irrelevant. So, I thought it was better to go to where I would be relevant.
WT: How would you react to reports that you defected due to your Senate ambition and the seemingly unfavourable disposition of the governor to this?
Hon Kana: No, I did not discuss my senatorial ambition with him. All I know is that I told him I am contesting for the Senate and did not lobby to be given the ticket. All I want is that let us have free and fair primaries, I may be challenged, I don’t think I can (fear), anyone I can contest with me. I think everybody’s right to contest for any electable position should he respected. His Excellency has never told me or sent anyone to me that I should not contest for the Senate.
WT: The defection of Senator Adamu to the APC was also said to have contributed to your leaving for PDP?
Hon Kana:  What people do not know is that Adamu’s kind of politics, with his clout, is an expert in politics; he is a politician who always gets his way. I don’t think I have any fear or see him as a threat to my ambition for the Senate. Now I am in the PDP, he is in the APC. If God willing, he gets the APC ticket and I get the PDP ticket, we will face the electorate. Looking at Adamu as an obstacle has not arisen, power belongs to God. Neither Adamu nor the governor has power to give what only God can give.
I have made mark in Nasarawa State, no politician can compare with me in physical projects and giving the dividends of democracy to the people. The election time would soon be around. They will soon see whether the people have followed me to the PDP or not. I have done so much that people do compare me with those who have been in the National Assembly for 12 years when I have not even spent four years, this is enough for me and very soon we would all see.
WT: If Adamu did not defect to the APC, would you still have left for the PDP?
Hon Kana: My defection was due to the wish of my people. If everything has been going on well with the governor, I would not have defected. The party has been abandoned, he thinks only about those around him and anytime he takes a decision, he does not listen to others’ opinions.
WT: How true is it that you and others were against the governor because he believes in developmental projects rather than sharing the resources of the state to some influential individuals?
Hon Kana:  I don’t agree with this. I would not say His Excellency has not done well particularly in road construction. However, these efforts are mainly centred in Lafia and a few local government areas.
Whether we like it or not, there is no government that would say it has the interest of the people when the same people are starving, people look up to government to survive. There is no industry or factories for them to go to work and feed themselves to survive. If any government would only insist on infrastructure when people are starving, they would not appreciate it, they would hate you more. People are hungry they don’t have vehicles to ply the roads, what is the essence of the roads?
The contracts are being handled by few elite,, many big projects are being handled by people outside the state. How would the people get the dividends of democracy?
http://www.weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php/politics/16467-al-makura-neglecting-supporters-rep-kana