Senator Kaka: We are resolving Ogun APC crisis

•Sen. Kaka

Senator Kaka


Senator Adegbenga Sefiu Kaka tells ABIODUN ONAFUYE that the crisis in the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, will be resolved

Q How would you assess your job as a senator?
Stressful and challenging, but I am enjoying it because I enjoy serving the people. With the calibre of people around me, the job has been made easy.

The leadership of your party directed that federal lawmakers, who are members of your party, should not allow the passage of the 2014 Budget until the Federal Government looks into the crisis in Rivers State. Now that the Mr. Joseph Mbu has been removed as Rivers State Commissioner of Police, will you consider joining your colleagues to expedite the passage of the budget?

Mbu may be part of the problems, but he is not only the problem. So, whatever is left after the redeployment of Mbu, we expect that it should be addressed. The better and sooner the resolution of the crisis, the better for Nigeria. For the passage of the budget, what we are having in the budget proposal is beyond imagination. Things we appropriated for in 2013 are still being reflected in this year’s budget. We have not addressed the lapses we discovered in 2013. So, if those things are going on and all our assumptions are already faulty, the budget is going to be faulty. There is no way the budget can stand. That was what I said during my little contribution on the floor. It is not out of partisanship or Rivers State, but because the job was shoddily done and it’s not

Senator Kaka
Senator Kaka
worthy of being called a budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.


A PDP senator said on the floor of the Senate that if Rivers State could pass its budget within 24 hours, the APC members in the Senate should allow the budget to be passed speedily. Do you share his view?

If the assumptions are right and all the elements contained therein are correct, everybody knows what is good and what is bad, we can even pass it within five minutes. We need to thoroughly debate the budget. I think National Assembly should be concerned with what goes into the budget; that is our responsibility.


It is widely believed that all is not well with the APC in Ogun State. What exactly is wrong?

In any organisation, you agree to disagree and you disagree to agree. What is happening is normal and I am sure nobody will expect us to fight on aimlessly. If there are disagreements, which I don’t regard as fights, it should mean that justice needs to be done. Once there is readiness to ensure justice is done, there will be peace. So, if you are seeing peace or semblance of peace, it is because we have promised our people that justice will be enthroned and once it is enthroned, there will be peace.

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Won’t the disagreements affect your party in the next elections?

I can tell you that the future is very bright in the sense that the people of Ogun State voted for the ACN because they believe we can do it, because they believed it was the most credible alternative to the PDP. To date, the contrary has not been proved. We have now moved into a bigger shell and from the feelers we are getting from across the country, APC has been widely accepted. As a result of this, all hands are going to be on deck.

What is your relationship with Governor Ibikunle Amosun like?

The relationship is that we are in the same party and hopefully, work together to implement the ideals of our new party, APC.


What is the relationship between the federal lawmakers from the state and the governor?

It is an open secret that the relationship is not exactly cordial. But as I said, we disagree to agree. We are moving towards resolution of whatever the disagreement that exists between us.


Would you seek a return to the Senate next year?

That is a question I cannot answer. The people of Ogun State who voluntarily and unconditionally gave me their mandate will be the ones to assess my performance. If God and the people still want me to serve them in whatever capacity, I will oblige.

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