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Abubakar Inuwa Kari is the Director Contact and Mobilisation for Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign organisation in North East Zone. In this interview with Sola Shittu in Gombe, Kari said the PDP candidate former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has nothing on ground to convince the North East Zone to vote for him. Excerpts. 
How far have you gone with the presidential campaign in the North East Zone?
We have gone very far, that I can tell you. You know we have a very peculiar situation in the North East Zone because the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is from the zone. Also, the running mate to our own presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, is from the zone but by and large Asiwaju’s chance in the North-East is very good and we are going to defeat Atiku in the North East Zone. In all honesty, I don’t see Atiku clearly winning any state apart from Adamawa and possibly Taraba. But we are going to beat him outstandingly in all the other states.
Are you saying he is going to be defeated in Gombe in the coming election?
In the 2015 general election we defeated PDP here in Gombe. In the 2019 election we defeated PDP in Gombe. I think he just got nearly 25 percent of the votes cast and am assuring you that this time around, he is not going to get 25 percent. The PDP is already dead in Gombe State. We have three senators. W e won all the House of Representatives seats and we won 20 out of the 24 seats in the House of Assembly election. So the issue of whether we are going to beat PDP in Gombe State is not even in question. Gombe today is an APC stronghold and we are going to defeat PDP hands down.
Do you see Tinubu having a landslide victory in the February presidential election?
I see Asiwaju winning this election at the first ballot hands down. Let’s look at the analysis clearly, the North West will go APC, the South West will definitely go APC, the North East and Central will also go APC. We are talking of four solid zones going for APC and we are going to make a very solid impact in the South South and South East. I’m sure even if we are not going to win, we will get a very comfortable margin in Edo, Delta and other states in the South South. In the South East, we are sure of winning at least two states there. So it’s going to be a landslide victory. I have no doubt about that.
So Senator Kashim Shettima will be able to deliver the zone against all odds?
Yes, I see Shettima bringing in a lot of energy and support in this election. If you could remember when Kashim Shettima was Governor of Borno he brought the highest votes for the APC presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. So Shettima is a household name in the North East and Shettima is going to be a very strong back up for Asiwaju. He is going to give him the votes. Let me also say this especially since you mentioned that Atiku comes from the zone like Shettima, Atiku has nothing to show in the North East, the only thing he is campaigning with here is that he is from the zone and that he wants to be like late Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa.
Atiku cannot be like Tafawa Balewa and he should just stop comparing himself with him. He is from this zone and for the eight years he was Vice President he has virtually nothing to show in terms of developmental projects that he has done here. So the issue of Atiku being a strong and formidable candidate against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the Zone or even in Nigeria is not there at all. He has no political pedigree in this zone at all. If I may ask you one question, show me one thing that Atku has done in Adamawa, his home state in those eight years as Vice President, nothing, it is zero.
The road between Gombe and Adamawa was done by President Muhammadu Buhari so honestly Atiku should hide his head in shame for coming to the North East and ask us to vote for him. What has he done for the North East that will make him to deserve our votes but we have a lot that President Buhari has done and I am very sure that Asiwaju is going to do more. I know the passion he has for this country and particularly for those of us from the North East Zone. I know Asiwaju is going to do more than the present government for us in the North East.
In Gombe, can you confidently say APC is firmly in charge of the state?
If INEC says the polls are tomorrow we are confident of winning with a landslide victory. Our records are there to show we have done what no administration has done in four years. No administration has done what we have done in three and a half years so we are allowing our records to speak for us. I can go on and on to mention the list of our achievements within these three and half years but am not going to do that now because of our time and especially because most of those things are already in the public domain. If anybody is in doubt about what we have done, they can search for it in any sector. There is no sector in this state that this administration has not made a significant impact on. I can boldly tell you that.
As the Director of Contact Mobilisation for Tinubu/Shettima campaign organisation, how solid is your preparation now?
I can say it’s very solid. We have been having various meetings with different committees to further consolidate our strategies. The various committees are already on the field working. The campaigns you see are just for sensitisation the real works are being done by the sub-committees. The committees are going into the nooks and crannies to consult with the critical stakeholders and various classes of the society. They are meeting them on a door to door basis, group to group basis and so on. Right now we are solid on the ground and ready to go to the poll anytime. We are working round the clock and we are not tired. We are encouraged by the fact that we have a good candidate in our hand that we can sell to them.
What is the relationship between your candidate and other aspirants that contested with him in the primary?
It is cordial, they have been talking. If you notice when we constituted the Campaign Council, almost each and every aspirant has a role there. Particularly, the Director General of the campaign, Governor Lalong was with one of the aspirants but he was made the DG and the same applies to all other critical directorates. After the primary,we decided that it was a family affair and we sat down, consolidated and everybody became one family and we are now campaigning together. So the issue of other aspirants not cooperating does not even arise at all because we are now one family and even campaigning together.
What are you doing about the complaints by the support groups that APC is not reaching out to them? The issue of support groups is a little bit complicated because the support groups are coordinated by a directorate in the PCC. Each and every support group needs to get an accreditation from the party. If you are not accredited by the party, there is no way the PCC will work with you. You must be an accredited support group by the party before you can be considered by the PCC. Then the PCC will bring you to their support group operations. There are some of these support groups that do not have the party accreditation and because of this the directorate in charge of support groups will not be able to work with them. Let me also say that the way support groups spring up these days is amazing. In Gombe alone, the last time we did accreditation for them, we had over 180 groups and by now they should be more than that but primarily all support groups must have accreditation. I know there might be some hitches here and there but since a memo has been put to the directorate on it, I know it will be resolved soon. The bottom line is we need everybody on board.
Peoplesmind
