Former Kano State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya was born on June 16, 1952. He is a four-time senator
representing Kano South Constituency, Kano State, Nigeria under the ruling
party, All Progressive Congress (APC). He was also the Executive Governor of
Kano State from 1992-1993. In addition to that, senator Gaya was elected as the Vice President, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
African Group in 2016. He is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of
Architects (NIA) and the Nigerian Large Scale Farmers Association (NLSFA). Due
to his countless contribution to human capital development in his constituency,
Kano State and Nigeria at large, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by
the University of Science and Applied Management, Porto-Novo, Benin and
recently, another doctorate honorary degree by Liberal Bilingual University,
Togo. In this interview with TOPFLYERS MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL, the
distinguished senator talks about how his political career started and why he
has been a senator for over a decade.
Excerpts:
Good afternoon senator. Can we meet you sir?
First of all, I thank
you for being here and for having an interview with me. My name is Senator Dr. Kabiru
Ibrahim Gaya. I was born over 65 years ago in Gaya Local Government Area. I did my
primary and secondary education in the present Jigawa State after which I went
to advanced college in Kano State. Thereafter, I moved to the university where
I had my first and second degrees in Architecture. After that, I started my own
business where I practiced Architecture. I did a lot of projects in Abuja
including the Ship House which is now the headquarter for the ministry of
defense. After that I did many other projects within and around Abuja and the
country, Nigeria. I am so proud of being an architect. Later in 1982/1983, I
started Politics and in 1989/1990, I contested for governorship election which
I won in 1991 as one of the youngest governors of Kano State. We used to crack
jokes with the late Yahaya Abdulkarim
former Governor of Sokoto State--may his soul rest in perfect peace—when
he used to stand and say he was the first civilian governor of Kano State when
it was combined with Jigawa and I would say I was the first governor of Kano
State when Jigawa was separated from Kano. I worked as a governor for two years
before we were booted out by the military. Abacha came in and booted us out.
However, politics remained a profession for me and in 1889 when we were allowed
to start politics again, I started campaigning for governorship under the
platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC).That was the time when the
young were said to be allowed to practice and I was one of the youngest
governors in Nigeria, specifically, the second youngest governor in Nigeria. We
ran there for two years and we left office. When I came back I was playing
politics, after a while many parties were formed and finally I joined APP which
transformed to ANPP and finally to APC. I have been a senator for over 16
years. I was selected in 2007, 2011, 2015 and again I was selected in 2019 as
senator from Kano South. Kano South is a Senatorial Area with the highest
number of Local Governments in Nigeria. By population it is higher than most
states in the federation including Gombe, Ekiti, and many other states. It has
about 16 or 17 Local Government Areas. I am one of the ranking senators in the
senate presently. I am among the three highest ranked senators in the night
assembly for now, so I thank God I am a senator and a former governor. I
enjoy(ed) playing both roles and I must state here that initially when I was
invited to contest for senate, the first and second time, I refused. It was the
third time I accepted. When I finally came in, I found out that being a senator
is entrusting because it deals more of national than state politics. So I am
happy I am in that field.
Has
your pedigree performance as a senator won you any recognition and awards?
Yes, a lot. Infact
recently I was awarded a doctorate
degree from a University in Togo. This is not the first time. I was also
given a doctorate degree from
the University
of Science And Applied Management, Porto-Novo in Benin
Republic. I am fully a member of the Nigeria Institute of Architects which is
the highest honour from the institute. I appreciate working with Nigerians and
I am happy to be into politics and a senate member.
Are
you married?
Yes, I am married with
children and grandchildren. So far, I have 15 children and 19 grandchildren.
At
what age were you elected as a governor?
I started campaign in
1936/1937 but I was elected in 1938. So I became governor at the age of 38. So,
I was less than 40 years when I became a governor and I believe I can as well
ask the young generation to join us. I remember then, Jolly Nyame was the youngest Governor that time and was a governor
at the age of 33 in 1991 and brought into office in January 1992. So, he was
the youngest among our colleagues. One of the oldest among us was late Michael Otedola
who was the governor of Lagos State. Others include Saidu Barda of Katsina
State and Akpan Isemin from Akwa-Ibom. A few of us were young men who turned
friends.
In
specific terms sir, what position do you occupy in the senate currently?
In the senate, for now,
I am the chairman incharge of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC). We are now rebuilding the electoral act to make sure that we introduce
electronic voting in the next dispensation. We are going to try to do a mock
election/trial for Ekiti State other states that would be holding their
election next year. But the main ones would come up in 2023 and we hope to do
electronic voting by then.
You
made mention that you are one of the high-ranking senators at the night
assembly, what position do you occupy specifically?
Well, I was nominated
principal officer in the senate as a deputy minority leader in 2007. Now we are
in the main body, APC so we only have to do much to maintain the government and
our party. So, I am just Chairman of INEC and I was also in 2016 elected the vice-president
of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU). It is a
global organization of national parliaments. It began in 1889 as a small group
of parliamentarians, dedicated to promoting peace through parliamentary
diplomacy and dialogue but it has since grown into a truly global organization
of national parliaments. Today, the membership inches over closer to being
universal, with 179
Member Parliaments, 13 Associate Members in
187 countries. It is a union and we have senators and house of representative
members. One or two or more representatives from each country depending on the slots
of posts each country is given. Some countries are given just one opportunity. So,
I was the Vice-President to the union which was the highest position that ever came
to Nigeria.
How
long do you have left as Vice President (IPU) African Group
The duration lasts for
four years. So, for now I am a floor member but there would be another election
soonest. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic we have not been able to have a
meeting which we do in Geneva once a while.
You
have been in the senate for quite a long time. What do you think keeps giving you
a re-nomination opportunity?
First of all I thank
Almighty Allah because it is He who gives positions (Power) to who he wills. So I am happy He gave me the power to
come back repeatedly. Secondly, I try to work on my people; I try to act as
their servant. Whenever they make complaints, I try to ensure it is provided in
the budget and also implemented. Within the last twelve years, I have over 220
class room blocks in my senatorial area and each block of class room has 3
classes. I have over 465 solar power bore holes. These are boreholes that use
Solar energy. I have over 500 hand
pumping borehole. I have about 18 skill acquisition centres and every year we graduate
about 60 students from that small training centre. Apart from that, I have done
a lot of empowerment. We have helped in the employment of over over 600 people
into federal appointments. We have also extended training to about 16
people to go abroad and do their masters degrees. We have also done a lot of
roads within the community and a lot of things were done for the interest of
the community. So we have done a lot of things. We do a lot of poverty
alleviation programmes providing tricycle, motor cycle, sewing machines,
grinding machines to help the community. So I think that is what the people
remember me for and that is why they keep voting for me again and again.
Permit
us to ask, if an opportunity comes, would you like to be a governor again?
Well if God sends so
for me, I will go for it. It is God’s decision. Some people want me to remain a
senator while some want me to go for the governorship position while some are
praying for a better position for me than the aforementioned ones. But whatever
comes my way I will be happy and I will thank God for it because the other time
when I went for the governorship position, it was God’s decision before people
started voicing out and I agreed with them and became the governor by God’s
will. Being a senator for four times too is God’s will so I thank God. It is
not my decision. In my area, hardly does one become a senator more than two
times so I thank Almighty Allah for that decision and opportunity to serve my
people.
Senator
Sir, what are some of the challenges you have or have had as a senator?
First of all, the
challenges as a senator are enormous. One, we are directly exposed to people
without adequate protection like that of governors. As you can see in my house
in Abuja, people troop in anytime…
(Interviewer
cuts in): It is because they love you.
It is not because they
love me but because I have a responsibility to them so I have to manage to take
actions to make sure that they are atleast happy sometimes. So my challenge is
how to serve the people as everyday they come with their demands. I do the best
I can and the ones I cannot I tell them clearly and plead with them to bear
with me till I have the opportunity to do it. Being with people is one of my
major happiness. If I am in Kano, almost 200 people visit me par day and if I
am in Abuja, 30 to 40 people visit me par day. It is not easy but I thank God
Almighty for the strength to cope and be with the people.
You
were recently awarded a doctorate degree by the Liberal Bilingual University,
Togo. What does the doctorate degree mean to you?
Well, I thank them for
giving me the doctorate degree. I was not aware initially but when they came
and told me how they came about choosing me, I appreciated them and I thank
them and hope the university continues to prosper so they can give
opportunities to many other Nigerians.
Two
awards were recently conferred on you by Liberal Bilingual University. One of
the awards was based on your intelligence while the other one was based on your
contribution to human capital development. How come people in Togo are aware of
your great contributions to human capital development in Nigeria?
First of all, even you
as a journalist, if you go around my constituency, there have never been any
senator that has performed as much as I have. I am not bragging but I have over
200 projects in Kano
South. Some once, others twice or even more like schools, hospitals we have 18
hospitals in that constituency (Kano
South Senatorial District) with borehole and irrigation farms. I gave over 6, 000 irrigation farms
to my community. There is a river that runs through my senatorial area and by
the side of the river I gave people their irrigation farms and that is why when
the issue of Boko Haram started, it never reached my area because my people are
busy on the fields and do not want to join Boko Haram. So, if you go around my
constituency as a journalist, you will definitely give me an award too.
What
are your closing remarks sir?
I thank Almighty Allah
for giving me life, strength and energy till today. I hope I can continue to do
better for my people. I thank all my people who have supported right from the
beginning of my political career and during my campaigns. I pray for those who are
in business to prosper, those who are sick to get well, those who are dead, I
pray Almighty Allah to grant them
(Aljannah Firdaus Ameen) and those who need jobs to get jobs. I pray for
so many people’s wishes to be granted in my constituency and beyond. I thank
all those in my constituency, senators, house of representative members, party
chairman, local government chairman, all APC members and even PDP members who
supported me during my elections.
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