Defections: Senators are not playing to the gallery— Senator Goje

ON the controversies trailing the decision by him and 10 other defecting PDP senators as APC senators in the Senate
As it is now, we have made our case very clear in the Senate, we have submitted a letter signed by 11 of us and we have made it clear as far as we are concerned that they should consider our position since we have defected. It is left to whoever wants to interpret our action to interpret it the way he wants.


We have gone to our constituencies during the last registration exercise of APC and registered as members and participated actively in all APC activities. Let me say here that there are some senators who, although they have not come to the floor of the Senate but they have gone to the public, from the other side, from APC, APGA who have said they have also defected to the PDP. Of course, they have not said their own on the floor but it is in the newspapers, some of them have spoken to us privately. So, it is a question of interpretation.

On comments that they were playing to the gallery by insisting on formalizing the defection in the Senate after going to their various constituencies to declare their defection
I don’t like that phrase ‘playing to the gallery’. We are not playing to the gallery. We were elected by our people and the people in our constituencies have endorsed our action.

Endorsing actions
But we are in the Senate; it is fair to tell our colleagues our position. That is all. But to say that we are playing to the gallery is very unfair to us. We are serious minded people who have gone through the needs of the Senate.
On why he dumped PDP after benefiting from the party as a former governor, former minister and now a senator

I think you are not completely right to say that I benefited from the PDP as a party; it is a two-way traffic thing. The party has also benefited immensely from my contributions. Don’t forget that in Gombe State, when we had election in 1999, the PDP did not form the state government. Gombe State was ANPP up to 2003.It was under my leadership that PDP was able to take over that state and won all the subsequent elections.

So, to say I only benefited is not complete. You have to say we mutually benefited from each other. I contributed immensely to its success in the state. Gombe State would have remained an ANPP state and consequently become an APC State now. So, I think the least I can say is that we benefited from each other. It is mutual, PDP benefited from me and of course, I benefit from it being a member of the PDP but I worked hard for the PDP in the state.

Working hard for the PDP
Don’t forget that in the North East in 1999 when election was conducted, three states went to PDP, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. Borno, Yobe and Gombe went to ANPP. And up till now, Borno and Yobe have never been taken over by the PDP, it is only Gombe State and I think I should be commended for that.

On Senator Ita Enang’s motion last week that the seats of defectors be declared vacant because there is no division in PDP
I am not aware that Senator Ita Enang moved a motion. He only intended to move a motion. He gave a notice to move a motion; he has not yet moved the motion.

But I think we have talked a lot on this issue of whether or not to declare our seats vacant. I don’t want us to continue to drag the issue. The only thing I can say is that it is not the first time since 1999 that senators and National Assembly members have defected from one party to the other. Even right now, in the House of Representatives, an arm of the National Assembly, people have been defecting on the floor of the House from one party to the other.

So if somebody wants to say our own is different, I don’t want to talk much on it. I know that it has been happening in the presence of many people that are now opposing our moves.
They are there either as members of the Senate or presiding officers of the Senate accepting to read letters from some members defecting from one party to the other.

If now, the time has changed, I don’t think the laws have changed. But I think it will be surprising giving that the same Senate since 1999 has been accepting defection of members. The same laws, the same constitution that give people the opportunity to defect are still in place and if suddenly, they say today that people can no longer defect, it is their opinion and everybody is entitled to his opinion.

Your major concern is that in 2015, the APC should produce a governor in Gombe State.  In 2011, you struggled to ensure that you produce a governor for the PDP. Are you not tired of producing governors that will end up fighting you?
I don’t produce governors. God produces governors, political parties produce governors. So to say that I produce governors, I think it is wrong. I don’t want to over promote my own contributions, I don’t want to see myself as somebody who is fully in charge of the political activities in Gombe State. Even when I won my election, it was not me, I led the fight, the PDP crusade to defeat the ANPP in 2003.So all subsequent elections were won, it was not because of my own making as a person as Goje. I am not one of those politicians who arrogate to themselves all credit of either installing or defeating a governor.

On his influence in Gombe and what the APC is going to do in the state that the PDP had not done
I believe I still have much influence. I have been in this game since the Second Republic. I was a member of the Bauchi House of Assembly before we even got Gombe State. So how do you expect me not to have relevance when I have been in the game since 1979?

You cannot be a member of the State House of Assembly, a governor, a minister or an active participant in the political system for over 30 years and then expect that you will wake up one day to be deserted by the people, it is not possible.

On what APC will do differently, since I am not going to be a governor, we have not yet articulated in details the manifesto of our candidate. Even the manifesto of APC has not been properly articulated and circulated; I don’t want to preempt the party. At the right time, I will give you the details.

On how PDP wronged him and whether he is open for reconciliation?
I don’t personalize politics, I look at issues. Even as a student, I was always active politically. I was the president of Bauchi State Students Union. I have always been with the group that intends to change the society for better. And given the situation in Nigeria today and the situation in Gombe State, we believe that the APC is in a better position. It is poised to make changes that will go a long way in improving the present condition of the people of my state and Nigeria as a whole.

The second part of your question was on whether or not I have reconciliation in my heart. Well, I am a human being and it will be inhuman for me to go against my religion to say that I don’t have a heart of reconciliation. Even God Almighty, who created us, forgives us if we do the right thing. So, if God himself forgives, who am I not to forgive?

Party’s manifesto
You said the APC would change the present condition of the people of Gombe State in particular and Nigeria as a whole when it comes into power but we know that when you were governor of Gombe State under the PDP, there were reports that you tried your best, are you now trying to say that the dream of PDP, its manifesto died after you left as a governor? Or are you trying to say that the present governor who succeeded you under the PDP platform is not carrying out the party’s manifesto in the state?
Well, I don’t want to join issues with the governor on personal grounds or on any other matter. To force me to go into details is to force me to preempt my own party which I am not going to do.

The number of former governors in the Senate is intimidating and more are still coming. What does it portend for the Senate?
I want to correct the impression of people seeing former governors as different people. We are all human beings; we are the same. The fact that we were governors does not make us different. It is just that we have experience. Governorship job is not a small job; it is a 24-hour job if you want to do it rightly. If you just want to go there and waste your time that you are governor, fine.

But if you want to do the job well, it is a very tasking job and in the process one acquires a lot of experience. And therefore, our presence in the Senate does not make us different, only that we have more experience; we have seen things than others who have not been governors.