Makarfi: I am not too gentle to lead Nigeria, says ‘I dismantled Kaduna Mafia and stopped Sheriff’

“People said I was too gentle to defeat Sheriff (Senator Ali Modu), what happened? Don’t make a mistake because of looks. It is the action. In Kaduna State, people saw my actions. People said I was too gentle to handle the Kaduna Mafia but what happened? Those who will mistake me to be weak will be shocked but Nigerians will be happy.”
With those words, former Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, spoke of his determination to lead Nigeria in 2019.
To the leading presidential aspirant on the platform of PDP, “leadership is not about what you say but what you do”.
The former Kaduna State governor spoke during his visit to the Ebonyi State chapter of the party in Abakaliki.
He also disclosed that having chaired the technical committee that set the agenda for the National Conference under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, restructuring Nigeria now would be incorporating decisions of Nigerians “by removing what is obsolete and bringing in what is new. My committee proposed how the country could be restructured for the benefit of all Nigerians but it was not followed through.
“First of all, restructuring is not what a leader wants but what the people want. I chaired the technical committee that set the agenda for the National Conference under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, although some of the items were removed from the report. We need to bring Nigerians together again to dust that report, remove what is obsolete and add what is new, whatever Nigerians resolve,” he said.
Makarfi also disclosed that he was the first governor in the country to appoint non indigenes into his executive committee.
“As governor, an Igbo man was elected as a member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly. When people complained about that, I said he was elected by his people so let him serve his term. “My history will tell Nigerians who I am. It is not even in promising but in what I have done,” he said.
On the accusation that PDP misruled the country for 16 years, Makarfi said: ” Ninety per cent of those who accuse PDP of misruling Nigeria were PDP people who were holding positions of authority. They were the ones who misruled and ran to APC. That is why APC is not ruling well. The people that remained in the PDP are the good people so, Nigerians should take note.”