BusinessDay 25 Mar 2018
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22<br />
C002D5556 Sunday <strong>25</strong> <strong>Mar</strong>ch <strong>2018</strong><br />
Politics<br />
Why I want to be Gombe<br />
governor, by Barde<br />
Jibrin Barde is an accomplished banker. In this interview with OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, the former chief executive<br />
officer (CEO) of SunTrust Bank, explains why he decided to leave the boardroom for the soapbox. He wants to<br />
be the governor of Gombe State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Excerpts:<br />
What informed your decision<br />
to join the governorship<br />
race in Gombe State?<br />
I<br />
have decided to seek<br />
for the nomination<br />
of our party, All Progressives<br />
Congress,<br />
which I belong to in<br />
order to contest for the<br />
governorship of my state<br />
- Gombe. And the reason I<br />
want to do this is because<br />
I think it is high time we<br />
stopped sitting on the<br />
fence any longer and accuse<br />
people of not providing<br />
the right leadership<br />
that is expected.<br />
My state consists of<br />
about eleven local government<br />
areas. It is in the North<br />
Eastern part of the country<br />
but over the last seven<br />
years the little resources<br />
that came our way have<br />
been mismanaged. Our<br />
collective responsibility has<br />
been raped in the state and<br />
all the human development<br />
indices that you can think of<br />
have completely collapsed.<br />
Our people have no access<br />
to potable drinking water.<br />
It doesn’t maintain the<br />
dam that was constructed<br />
at a meagre sum of N200<br />
million per annum but the<br />
Gombe metropolis alone<br />
ends up spending N5.4 billion<br />
annually just to buy<br />
water. Our education system<br />
has totally collapsed.<br />
Our classes are mere playground<br />
for our children.<br />
Some of the children don’t<br />
even have classes; they<br />
study under the trees. The<br />
hygiene that is there is completely<br />
unacceptable below<br />
human standard. Our<br />
health system and hospitals<br />
are just mere mortuaries.<br />
I have witnessed life that<br />
women will have to carry<br />
mats to the hospital because<br />
there are no hospital<br />
beds in Gombe. This is totally<br />
unacceptable given<br />
the enormous resources<br />
and humongous amount<br />
of money that the state<br />
government has received<br />
in terms of allocation from<br />
the Federation, in terms<br />
of budget support, Paris<br />
Club refund, other forms<br />
Jibrin Barde<br />
of bailout and the resources<br />
that they have collected in<br />
terms of other soft loans<br />
that they have taken. The<br />
state is debt-ridden, it has<br />
a debt in excess of about<br />
N100 billion and I have<br />
looked at every single aspect<br />
of it and feel that that<br />
is not right.<br />
I was challenged by<br />
my daughter - 11 yearold<br />
- whom I was taking<br />
to school some time ago<br />
and she said to me, ‘Dad,<br />
now that your generation<br />
has failed’. And I looked<br />
up to her and said, ‘What<br />
do you mean?’ She said,<br />
‘You are going to make my<br />
generation fail. It is a failure<br />
of your own generation<br />
that has not challenged the<br />
present leadership’. It got<br />
me thinking.<br />
I have reached the pinnacle<br />
of my career as a<br />
banker and I felt that I<br />
should give back to the<br />
society by providing and<br />
offering myself to serve<br />
the society. And the only<br />
way I can do that is to take<br />
the position of leadership<br />
and show an example that<br />
I have a clear vision of empowering<br />
our youths, of<br />
gender equality, providing<br />
After my daughter<br />
challenged me, I<br />
went back to my<br />
hometown, I went<br />
round the state and<br />
these were my findings:<br />
the environment is<br />
terrible, the health<br />
system is nothing to<br />
write home about,<br />
the education system<br />
which is the foundation<br />
of every society has<br />
totally collapsed, no<br />
single project has ever<br />
been completed and<br />
commissioned by the<br />
present administration<br />
the basic infrastructure<br />
and the needed environment<br />
that can thrive because<br />
we need to build a<br />
very prosperous and successful<br />
people and society.<br />
That can only happen<br />
when you have the right<br />
leadership in place.<br />
I intend to show that<br />
governance can be done<br />
in the highest level of corporate<br />
responsibility and<br />
ensuring equal opportunity,<br />
effective resource management<br />
put in place to ensure<br />
that our society grows and<br />
develop. And that is why<br />
I decided to leave my job.<br />
And I am just two years into<br />
my career as CEO of a bank<br />
but I have decided to take<br />
up the challenge. After my<br />
daughter challenged me,<br />
I went back to my hometown,<br />
I went round the<br />
state and these were my<br />
findings: the environment is<br />
terrible, the health system<br />
is nothing to write home<br />
about, the education system<br />
which is the foundation<br />
of every society has<br />
totally collapsed, no single<br />
project has ever been completed<br />
and commissioned<br />
by the present administration.<br />
The administration is<br />
full of deception, youths<br />
are just roaming about the<br />
streets, the rate of unemployment<br />
is very high. It is<br />
a time bomb that is waiting<br />
to explode when you have<br />
very young, energetic and<br />
educated youths who are<br />
actually jobless. We need<br />
to harness those resources.<br />
They are very educated<br />
people, highly resourceful<br />
and economically mobile<br />
indigenes and therefore<br />
we need to put together<br />
the kind of leadership that<br />
we need to be able to harness<br />
those resources and<br />
transform them into development<br />
and prosperity<br />
for our people. That is the<br />
reason why I have decided<br />
to join the race.<br />
Given the power of incumbency<br />
and considering<br />
the fact that APC<br />
is a young party in the<br />
state, how do you hope<br />
to realise your political<br />
ambition?<br />
If you are on ground in<br />
Gombe State, you will<br />
know that Gombe is an<br />
APC state. The majority of<br />
the followers are APC. We<br />
do believe strongly that<br />
even in 2015, the election<br />
was totally rigged. It was<br />
won squarely by APC. But<br />
far and beyond that, we are<br />
talking about human development<br />
indices. What has<br />
PDP got to show to prove<br />
that it deserves the mandate<br />
of the people again? All<br />
the elements human development<br />
are down. You can<br />
crosscheck that as a fact.<br />
Therefore they are enough<br />
for you to understand that<br />
the people are not with the<br />
current administration of<br />
the PDP and we will certainly<br />
get their confidence<br />
and their votes.<br />
You are just coming from<br />
the corporate world into<br />
the political environment.<br />
In Nigeria, many aspiring<br />
politicians tend to have<br />
godfathers. How do you<br />
intend to cope with this?<br />
As I said earlier on, I am fully<br />
aware that I am throwing<br />
myself into the race<br />
against strong political<br />
forces in the state, especially<br />
given what you just<br />
said about incumbency<br />
of power. But our people<br />
need to be educated. Our<br />
vision is very clear. We<br />
are very clear about what<br />
we want to achieve, our<br />
goals and objectives are<br />
very clear. We are talking<br />
directly to the voters. And I<br />
have been a member of the<br />
All Progressives Congress<br />
(APC). I have contributed<br />
enormously at the formative<br />
stage in 2013. I have<br />
been a founding member<br />
of the party and I have<br />
supported the party all<br />
along, ensuring that we get<br />
our people in government.<br />
Luckily, we have been able<br />
to form government at the<br />
centre. My support for the<br />
current administration<br />
of Muhammadu Buhari is<br />
very clear. Since 2003, I<br />
have followed him, I have<br />
been his supporter. We<br />
need incorruptible leaders<br />
that are above board,<br />
we need leaders that will<br />
provide strong leadership,<br />
equity and justice to each<br />
and everybody in order<br />
to guarantee peace in the<br />
society. And these are the<br />
bases upon which I have<br />
followed him. The party<br />
machinery in the state is<br />
fully aware of my contribution<br />
to the party and I<br />
believe that we are in the<br />
right position to position<br />
ourselves in order to get<br />
the nomination of the party<br />
and also get the eventual<br />
votes of our voters.<br />
As a political neophyte,<br />
don’t you think this will<br />
be a disadvantage to<br />
you, considering the fact<br />
that you are going into a<br />
terrain where there are<br />
sharks already?<br />
I don’t think I am going into