Babangida Aliyu: Blame PDP for Daniel, Akala, Doma’s travails

Governor Babangida Aliyu

Oct 15, 2011 – For failing to monitor the activities of governors and other public office holders who contested elections on their platforms, political parties in the country should be held responsible for the misdeeds of such public office holders.
This was the position canvassed by Niger State Governor, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu in an exclusive interview with The Nation.

 Reputed for his frank views on national issues, he declared that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), could not absolve itself of blame in the ongoing trial of three former governors, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State, Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State and Aliyu Akwe Doma of Nasarawa State, for alleged corrupt practices by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Governor Babangida Aliyu, popularly addressed as Chief Servant by the people of his state, argued that had the party monitored the activities of the governors closely, the indignity of arrest and subsequent arraignment would probably not have happened. 
He said: “When some governors of my party were invited by the EFCC, I read somewhere that somebody said it is not a party thing. No, it is a party thing.

‘’If a party presents people who are being questioned for this and that, the party should be able to look at it. And when you are serving, has the party been observant of what you are doing? Have they been playing their role that ‘look, we went to the people with this manifesto and it is the manifesto you must implement; what have you been doing with the money?
“It is the party’s responsibility to monitor the leadership it has selected. By our constitution, you can’t be a governor unless you are sponsored by a political party. So, it goes without saying that the party created you, and so, it should take responsibility if you mess up. A political party must take responsibility if an elected person under its tutelage messes up.”

He condemned the attitude of elected officials who behave as if they are masters while the people who elected them are servants. He insisted that being elected into any office does not suggest that the elected individual is superior to those who elected him or her.