In this interview with ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU, a former National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change and a key figure in the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Buba Galadima, warned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar against running in the 2027 presidential election. He also claimed that former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, is merely a placeholder for Atiku in the Social Democratic Party
How do you assess President Bola Tinubu’s APC administration in its handling of the country’s affairs so far?
Well, you see, I don’t want to give an opinion on an administration until it has completed half of its term, which is two years. By that time, you will be able to know exactly where the administration is headed. However, it is no secret that people are being pushed to the wall because things are getting out of hand. Prices and hardships are affecting people very hard. Recently, we have seen a significant slowdown in the cost of commodities, which many people attribute to secret importation by friends of the government.
We have yet to confirm that, but it seems likely because things cannot suddenly come down like that. Even with that, you can’t run an economy based on friendships or a system of favours; you must make hard decisions if you are convinced that such decisions will eventually yield a positive impact on the populace. For now, we are observing, and by May 29, we will be able to form an informed opinion.
As a member of the New Nigeria People’s Party, it seems all is not well with your party. What is happening?
Everything is well with my party. What is wrong with my party is that some people within the APC, the ruling party, are trying to cause commotion, not only in my party but in all parties.
If you see the way they treat us in Kano, you will cry for the country, because they made sure that even the governor does not function. They withdrew security support for him, and some private individuals have more security coverage than the government of Kano. Whatever the governor wants to do, they will create a parallel organisation to do the same. I have never seen where someone deliberately causes such hatred for a constitutionally organised government as the APC government is doing to Kano State. If they think that by doing this, they will force Kano people to vote for them, I think they are wrong.
They are only creating mortal enemies for themselves. Every Kano man is politically conscious. Everyone knows that if they don’t get the dividends of democracy, it is the APC government denying them that. They are also trying to buy some of our members by giving them money. I know one senator recently from Kano, one of our senators, said on public television that the APC government gave him N90bn worth of projects to execute in his constituency to help them undermine the government of Kano. This was said publicly. I am not accusing them; they know they do that.
You’ve seen the recent judgment on the Kano Emirship, and you know better than anyone that the Federal Government has nothing to do with chieftaincy or traditional issues in any state. Even their boy, El-Rufai, has said that now. I am not the only person saying it.
In recent weeks, some members of the NNPP, including serving senators, representatives, and other key stakeholders, have joined the ruling APC. Do you think your party is gradually losing its strength?
No, nobody left our party. We expelled them because, as far as we are concerned, no one can hold our party hostage. It doesn’t matter what level of influence or position they hold; we can dispense with anyone. You should know that in 2019, without a single councillor, member of the House of Representatives, member of the House of Assembly, chairman of a party, former governor, or former senator, NNPP National Leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, single-handedly defeated all the former governors of Kano, including the then Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. We defeated them outright in Kano. Afterwards, they used their position to take over our victory, but we left that to God because we were not prepared to fight at that time. In 2023, they attempted the same, but when they saw the people’s resolve, they abandoned their illegal plans. For us, nobody is indispensable. The people of Kano know exactly what they want, and whoever can deliver those things for the common man doesn’t need an army of former governors, former senators, serving senators, or serving governors to win.
There is a belief that Kwankwaso is using the NNPP to safeguard President Tinubu’s interests, similar to what he allegedly did in 2023.
There is no single politician today who is as popular as Kwankwaso or has been liked by an ordinary man like Kwankwaso. That is why all these efforts to destroy him and all the efforts to neutralise him have not succeeded. Some people have been paid to propagate this. If you have a friend like the APC to the NNPP, do you need an enemy? Have you seen the ways they are trying to destroy our party and how they are trying to destroy our government in Kano? So you are now saying that they are our friends, that they are working with us, or that we are working with them. And they don’t even let us sleep, even manipulating the judiciary, manipulating the security agencies, all against us. This insinuation was planted to discredit us.
