I am Borno South’s senate candidate of choice

Kudla Satumari is one of the Peoples Democratic Party’s aspirants for Southern Borno Senatorial District’s seat. In this interview with Tony Akowe in Abuja, he speaks on his choice of the PDP

WHAT gives you the conviction that you will pick the ticket of the PDP to contest against Senator Ali Ndume or any other candidate the APC will throw up?

As far as picking the ticket is concerned, going by what is on ground, I think we are strong on ground. And I am the candidate of choice and it’s going to boil down to me and whoever the opposition is presenting. In politics, you cannot say everything is done until it is done. But we are also doing everything humanly possible to consolidate our acceptance and lead within the party. So as far as that is concerned, I am hopeful that the ticket for the candidature of PDP is already in sight.

What informed your decision to contest for the position in the first place?

Politics is about people. Even democracy itself is simply defined as ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’. They say all politics is local. I am fully at home with the local issues and the needs and interests of my constituency. I have demonstrated capacity to be able to represent them with inclusiveness, which is what has been lacking. And in local politics, they say when they call you to come to do, is much better than when you tell people I want to do. In my own case, I was called by the people who felt they would rather look for fresh minds that would bring new impetus into their representation. What are the things that our people yearn for from our legislators? They don’t ask for much. They just want you to bring their issues to centre stage and have little developmental projects that you could execute in terms of constituency projects and let them see tangible manifestation on ground. So, when they came to me and said, if your wife begins to dance from morning till evening and she is not changing the dance steps, it will get to a point that you become tired. That is how they referred to the kind of representation that they have been having. They have been having same people recycled, same style of governance and representation which has not been impactful. There is no sustainable development and the impact of this kind of representation is not felt. In my capacity as an individual, there are some things that my community and the entire senatorial district are yearning for that they think I can handle.

Borno State is predominantly an APC state. Why the choice of PDP?

Well, I have been a member of PDP since I joined active politics. If you look around, you will see that PDP is the only national party that we have in this country. I want a situation where I sit on the table and the first thing I talk about is my country Nigeria, not my ethnicity, religion or gender. PDP is the melting point where these sentiments are addressed. Even the provision to assist women to get involved in politics – the Affirmative Action – PDP tried its best. There is nobody that can say he has the ownership of PDP. And the personalities involved understand that we can all work together to evolve a nation we hoped for. There is no polling unit across this country that you don’t have our people on ground. You cannot say that for the ruling party. Maybe now they are building because they are coming up. So, if you look at what we have on ground, you will agree with me that if you are truly interested in building the nation, you would say PDP is the party.

Are you sure the party has learnt its lessons considering how it lost the 2015 elections?

Learning process in politics is continuous. Whatever challenge you find today may not be the same challenge that caused this particular mistake. But with respect to impunity, PDP has learnt her lessons. I can tell you that when the presidential primaries will hold, whatever people are thinking will happen will not happen because it will be one of the most transparent processes. We have come to this understanding that impunity will destroy the fabric of all that we have built for the past 20 years. So, everybody has that understanding and that is why they are eager to sign an agreement among themselves. But PDP has learnt and you can see how we are able to attract some people back into our fold.

You are contesting against Senator Ali Ndume who has been in the National Assembly since 1999. What makes you think people will vote for you if you finally emerge the party’s candidate?

There is something dynamic about human beings. There comes a time when you want to try something new. Yes, some people have been there for a very long time. The difference between me and those who are already there is the fact that I will want to prove myself. I am coming with fresh ideas, I am a new face; I am also prepared because I have, by the special grace of God, a very good exposure both nationally and internationally. I know what the job and the responsibility of this position entails and I have prepared myself for that.

And as a young person, I have the energy and the tremendous goodwill. So, I will leverage on that to be able to give my people what they desire.

Your state has been ravaged by insurgency. With your level of exposure, how do you think this can be nipped in the bud?

First and foremost, the issue of insurgency should not be seen as a Borno or North East problem. It should be seen as a national security issue. And it should also be projected as an international issue and should be approached with all that level of seriousness. One of the things that I have been doing and I will continue to do is to remove completely the issue of insurgency from politics. Regardless of your political party, we should look at the safety and security of the people first. So, if everybody that is involved in governance and all of us see this issue of insecurity as a common issue, then it is a starting point and we must all work together to make sure that we sustain peace. We will support all issues that will promote peace and unity amongst our people.