There’s Need To Address Godfatherism In Nigeria – Suswam Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam has clocked the golden age of 50. In this pre-golden anniversary interview with senior editors in Abuja, the governor speaks on a wide range of issues, including his upbringing, national issues, politics, and his bid for the Senate in 2015. TONY AMOKEODO, was there for LEADERSHIP Sunday How does it feel being 50? In everything, I give thanks and glory to God. I give glory to God, because within a short space of 50 years, I have been able to be who I am today. It is only the grace of God that gave me the opportunity and privilege of being in the National Assembly for eight years and being governor for almost eight years before turning 50. How was your growing up like? I was born in a very polygamous family. My father was a traditional ruler. I was born during the Tiv riots, the Atem Tyo, in 1964; and the meaning of my native name, Torwua. Then, the traditional rulers were the target, because the feeling then was that they were supporting the NPC, headed by the late Sardauna of Sokoto, and the JS Tarka group had the UMBC. My father had more than 15 wives. You know, in a polygamous family, if your mother does not struggle, you end up in the village. I was lucky; my mother was a struggling woman. We were six, but two have died and I am third in line of the boys. So, I was born in a humble background. While I was in Form Two in 1978, my father passed on, and the entire responsibility of raising six children was on my mother’s shoulders. But she was very industrious and was able to move us from the village to Makurdi and was able to train us. Fundamentally, I grew up with my grandmother. I attended NKST Primary School, Zaki-Biam, and St Andrew’s Secondary School, Adikpo, both missionary schools. Then, I went to Government College, Makurdi and SBS, Makurdi. I was focused on being an economist, but while in SBS, the stories about wigs and lawyers became a big attraction. So, after SBS, I came out with 10 points and I decided that I was going to be a lawyer. I then got admission into University of Lagos in 1986. What motivated you into politics? Let me say that I did not like politics, but my immediate elder brother was into politics. It was while in Abuja that I had some friends with disposition to politics. Suddenly, General Abacha died. I was home when he died and the young men began to meet and I was meeting with them. When they formed PDP, in the youth wing where we were meeting, I found myself going to my local government constantly. Even at that, I had no intention of running for an elective position. I just wanted to help the process and as I was going and meeting with them, people started talking about House of Representatives. I didn’t know what it meant but I began to develop interest and all the young men were with me and I eventually became serious and was nominated and elected to the House. It was not a conscious and deliberate effort on my part. It was circumstances that pushed me into it. I thank God that he had a different plan for me, while I was planning a different thing. How would you rate Nigeria between Independence and today? There has been tremendous change. For good or for bad? For good. The way we have changed is almost dramatic. Education-wise, we have progressed in a manner that is unprecedented. Even in terms of infrastructure, as late as the ‘90s, how many roads were tarred? Not many. So for me, we’ve positively changed, but people don’t want to accept. The only major problem that we have in our society is the issue of corruption, because from 1960 up to the time that the military took over, the leaders then were actually determined to set Nigeria on the path of development. But unfortunately, the military came in and distorted the whole process, and so, people began to see more reasons in material things than working for the overriding interest of the Nigerian people, and that is what has created problems for us. Otherwise, there are a lot of positive changes in the country. It was also the military intervention and the civil war that brought in armed robbery into our country. And so, while there are very positive changes, you also have some negative ones as well. But put on the average, I will say the positive ones are more than the negative; look at press freedom, internet and social media. These are all positive changes. What was your first day in court like, and who was the judge that you appeared before? I was with Professor Olawoye and it was actually a political case. I have forgotten the judge because it is a long time now, but it was very interesting. Professor didn’t appear himself, so I went with a senior in court and the secretary of the party then. I also can’t recollect the party it was; it was saying that he was not qualified to be the secretary and the man was defending himself. He stood up and they said, you don’t have western education, how can you be the secretary of the party? What I recollect vividly was his answer. He said that they were voting people and not voting English. You know, the judge himself bursted out laughing. It was quite an ingenious way of answering a question. And that where he came from, the language they speak predominantly is Hausa language; and so, were they saying that he could not speak Hausa or what? How did you meet your wife? I got married in 1998. We met a year before then in Kaduna, while she was on a visit. It was in a restaurant and she was with her friend. We dated for about a year and we ended up getting married in Ibadan. We have a son, Terna, but before then, I had a relationship that did not work but produced a son, Shima. So, I have two big boys. She is an architect. In 2003, when you contested for the House of Representatives, there was this attack in which one of your boys was killed. Have you forgiven people that perpetrated that? God has a way of setting people’s path and God has set my path, and for anything that I do in life, I have committed it into God’s hands. Like the experience you have mentioned, I went to House of Representatives in 1999. When I was to go back, there was serious gang up from some of my elders and friends. They just ganged up and did not want me to go back. And within my local government headquarters, there were plans to even assassinate me, but somehow I was in the village and would be voting that morning. I woke up, but unlike me, during election, the person you are seeing now is not the same person you see during election. I am totally a different person. So unlike me, I voted and sat back. I did not go anywhere, because I was very weak. My spirit was just weak. I sent one of my aides, Joe Ker, and they almost killed him. But the orderly that went with him was shot. They shot at them, thinking he was dead because they were waiting for me. They moved militia from other places in Benue into the local government headquarters. Nothing would have stopped me from going to see how the elections were going. But funny enough, I did not go. So, I sent them. He escaped by the whiskers, but my orderly was shot and they thought he was dead. They were chanting and looking for me, saying “we will cut him into pieces”. But I have forgiven them. Thereafter, I have won several elections. I am not somebody who keeps malice with people. What is your take on the issue of godfatherism in Nigerian politics? Globally, in politics, whether we accept it or not, you can’t rule out the issue of godfather or godmother or whatever you call it. People call it different names in different spheres, but you know for even Obama to have won elections in the first place, there were people behind it. It is just those people would not become as visible as our own here will want to be. Once, you assist a person to attain a position, you have achieved your own purpose. But here, godfathers and godmothers want to determine everything. It is not practicable. That is our problem here. The problem is that we don’t give space. Once you assist somebody into an office, you want to even determine what he does with his wife. That kind of thing can never work anywhere, and that is why there is problem everywhere. I think that as I exit, that is a lesson to me, and that is why I have tried as much as possible to allow the situation in Benue to be free and fair, so that any person who emerges can operate freely. I don’t want a situation where they will say this is Suswam’s boy. I don’t think that is right. Our politics is developing. So, we must begin to pull back. You know elsewhere, when people leave office, you don’t even hear about them. But when you hear about them, you hear about them in foundations, in charity works. But here, people want to finish and come back and say, look this boy I put here, you know I must pull him out. As long as we continue with that disposition and attitude, we will continue to have problems. So for me, Senator Akume is my elder brother, he is my boss and we worked together very closely, and among other people, he participated actively in making sure that I became governor. We parted ways politically because there were certain tendencies that did not agree with my philosophy. We are not enemies, but politically, we parted ways and we still relate, and I believe that there is room for us to relate as we move on. In politics, our late Zik said that what should be permanent should be interest, so the issue of godfatherism in Nigeria is a big political problem for people who want to still remain in office when they are out of office. That can’t happen and that shouldn’t happen, and I pray to God that I should not find myself in a position where I want to remain in office even when I am out of office. What is the relationship between you and Senator Barnabas Gemade? Senator Gemade is an elder that I respect very much. When we started this politics and said it was a youth wing, he was the leader of the elders and eventually he became the national chairman of this party. So, I respect him. When I became governor and he said he wanted a senator, I supported him with my whole heart. Senator Akaghergher was the senator then. He wanted to go back but we pull him back, because of the respect we have for Gemade for him to go to the Senate. And when he was campaigning, everywhere he went – and I say this on my honour, let him deny that he never said that he was doing it for one term, because we have a tacit understanding in my senatorial zone that whichever district gets it, that it is eight years. It is not anything written, but it is a tacit understanding, and I challenge Gemade to deny that he did not say he was going to do one term to complete the eight-year tenure of what was given to them. That is why the entire elders, with no exception in Zone A, bought my forms. They were the people who said I should go to the Senate. The Senate is actually not supposed to go to my district. We are composed of three districts in my senatorial zone. It is supposed to go to another district, but the elders from that district agreed as is the tradition and custody to the Tiv people to loan it to my own district, knowing that after I would have gone for eight years as it is customary, or whatever it is, they will have it back. And so for Senator Gemade, what I would have expected from him as an elder statesman was to call all of us and sit down and say, “look, we have an understanding in our senatorial district. These four years are not enough for me, what can we do?” Instead he went straight, attacking me and assassinating my character, and I felt that for an elder, that is not right and that is not fair. The people said that I should go to the Senate. The elders unanimously with no exception said that I should go; they bought my form with their meagre resources. Does the PDP discuss zoning, since you said they have not given automatic tickets to anybody? The party discusses consensus and encourages dialogue and zoning. Zoning is a principle that is not written in the constitution of the party, but it is something that is encouraged so that people don’t feel marginalised. And so, they encourage it. And in Benue, you will know that Aper Aku is the proponent of zoning. Aper Aku started this in NPN. In Benue, among the Tivs, zoning is something that is a cultural. It is very cultural within the Tiv that if today this person has gotten this, if it takes 100 years and that same position comes back to that community, they will say 100 years ago this person got it; from here, it should move to that place, and eventually, the Nigerian society has imbibed that and it is working in a lot of places so as to avert crisis in most of the highly contentious areas. So, it is something that is encouraged, nobody is forced, and it has worked. In Benue, it has worked very well for us, especially among the Tivs. It has worked perfectly for us. Otherwise, you know a Tiv man is naturally an agitated person and if you don’t have such an arrangement in place, it can be vary chaotic when it comes to political positions. But how do you defend the charge that you have been in the House for eight years and governor for eight years? That is why I am not contesting for governor, I want to go to the Senate. They are two different things. What we need also at some level are people who have cut across, and that is the way that we can develop the country. Politics is not an all comers affair. There are families that are political and for you to become governor, you can’t wake up from your bed in your village just because you have money and say you will be governor. It cannot happen. You can just not sleep and say that I have made money from crude oil and so I want to be president, it would never happen. You must either be a governor, a senator, or in the House of Representatives. You can never be governor without either passing through the state assembly or the House of Representatives. So, we must also develop a political culture here, and that is the only way we can develop the process. So, when you have people with my kind of experience wanting to go to the Senate, I believe that it is to add value to that institution. It is not for any selfish interest. We are not saying that we will entrench ourselves in the executive, we want to build these institutions. We must have a political culture. It is only in Nigeria people will go and do “419” from America and come here and they are running for governor and people are following them without any pedigree, without anything to show who they are. So, I believe at the age of 50, I have a lot to offer, given the experience I have gathered over the years. If the national leadership of your party says you should step down for Gemade, are you going to dump the PDP? No. I don’t think that situation will arise. But PDP is a party that I started in 1998 and I am not somebody who is flippant in even talking of somebody who will just walk out because of one single incident and say that I am changing party. I am a very philosophical person, I believe in certain ideologies. Some Nigerians take politics as an end to a means. I am not that kind of politician. I believe in PDP. If and when I am tired and I decide on anything, I will leave politics. I will not go and say I am changing political party, because of an incident. I will simply pull back. I am a professional and there is a lot that I can offer in other areas, and so, I want to assure you that the party leadership and the presidency will not engage in a scenario that you have painted. Nothing like that will happen in the PDP. All of us are encouraged. What is your relationship with Senate President David Mark and other political leaders of Benue State? You can see that for the first time in the history of this country, the Senate president and his governor have a very harmonious and cordial relationship. These wards ad-hoc delegates, you did not hear anything because we agreed on virtually everything that happened in Benue. He is older than me and more experienced than I am, and so I tap a lot of wisdom from what he is doing and when there are contentious issues in the state, I sit down with him and he tells me how we will go about it. We have no problem, and I don’t think that anything will bring any problem between us. I am back home, holding forth for him, to stabilise him so that he can do what he is doing in Abuja, and he is also giving me national support here. So, together we have been able to stabilise the polity in Benue and even at the national level. But if I were creating problems for him back home, there is no way he would have had the mental stability to focus on what he is doing here. You will exit as governor by May 29, 2015, what legacy would you say you are leaving behind in Benue State? First is the attitude. I have said this several times. More than the physical development on ground, the attitude of an average Benue man has shifted from extremely negative to mid-positive. When I became governor, the attitude was very negative. People were just negative because they had been told lies over a long period of time. So, they never believed in anything. There was apathy, but that has changed. Now, they believe that government can make promises and fulfill them. You know, attitude of people is major in any society. If the attitude is negative, no matter what happened, that society will not move forward. And so, my major achievement that I can beat my chest on is the slight change in the negative attitude of the Benue people to the positive one. You know, there are whole lots of legacies in terms of physical infrastructure, but the one that I’m proud of is that shift; and how did it happen? When I came in and there were promises, nobody believed that would happen, because in the past, it had not happened. But I decided that I was going to change that. So, virtually everything I said I would do, I have been able to do within the limited resources available to me. Some I have not completed the way I wanted, but they can see them; and so, they now believe that these things can happen. So, there is a big paradigm shift in the attitude of the people towards the positive, more than it was before, and I want to say that is the legacy I want to leave behind, and I am happy that I was able to do that.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:14:44 +0000
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