Bisi Kolawole should mind his language in talking about PDP members —Eleka

Professor Olusola Eleka, a former deputy governor of Ekiti State and aspirant in the just-concluded governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with WALE AKINSELURE, gives his assessment of the primary and actions that the national leadership of the PDP must take if it is to win the forthcoming governorship election in the state.

 

A number of your fellow aspirants in the January 26 governorship primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State expressed reservations about the exercise. What is your view about how the exercise went that produced Bisi Kolawole as candidate of the party?

When you take a holistic look at the January 26 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial primary held in Ado-Ekiti, you will see that starting from the accreditation process, there were a lot of flaws. If we are going to be sincere and truthful, we cannot say that there were no discrepancies; no flaws. In fact, there were so many. Normally, we expect even the State Working Committee (SWC) to carry along the aspirants in the choice of the venue. They unilaterally did that. The Ekiti State Working Committee, liaising with National Working Committee of the party, decided to choose a venue without consulting us. Even the arrangement of the hall was done in a way to favour a particular candidate. It is quite unfortunate. Right from the accreditation exercise, a good number of authentic delegates were excluded. You see a lot of names being replaced unilaterally; the list was doctored. There was a case of the Ward Youth Leader of Ona Ara. I have a certified true copy of the list of executives, which is a legal document; a certified true copy obtained from the national headquarters of the PDP. You observe that the names of all the elected excos were written there but on getting to venue of accreditation, some names were replaced. I made my observation known to the congress Chairman, Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State but, in his own wisdom, he decided not to consider our observations. He decided to stick with the doctored list that was handed over to him by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, which was quite unfortunate. It was like a daylight robbery on the part of those that were disenfranchised. As party leaders, we have tried as much as possible to ensure that there is peace. We would not want to encourage violence. We knew the efforts we made to calm down some frayed nerves. Some people felt they were cheated; they were disenfranchised and were trying to cause chaos there. We tried, as leaders, to calm them down.

On getting to the hall, where we are going to do the actual casting of votes, I also made my observation known. The arrangement of the ballot boxes was done in a way that will not make the casting of votes secretive enough. I raised the observation, and Governor Udom, in his own wisdom, felt that the hall was too small and that we were the ones that provided the hall and that there is nothing he can do. But, there could have been some better arrangements that could have been done. I think there was institutional conspiracy somewhere and this is quite unfortunate. Also, when you look at how the seats were arranged, especially the seat where former Governor AyodeleFayose, sat among his own people of Irepodun/Ifelodun local government, you would see that Irepodun/Ifelodun local government was intentionally situated right in front of the ballot boxes. You must have seen a video where people, after casting their votes, were showing it to former Governor AyodeleFayose and he was also giving them thumbs up. That is intimidation. Where is the secretive principle that should accompany such an exercise? Where is the confidence? It was a situation where we raised observations and they the congress committee chairman refused to listen to us. At a point in time, he was telling me, during the accreditation exercise, that he was only respecting me because I was a former deputy governor and I told him that I have a right to make known my observations.

Despite all the flaws and discrepancies, it has come and gone. But, I still stand by my assessment that it is not completely satisfactory. And, I want to advise the national leadership of our party that, in subsequent exercises, they should follow due process. A situation where there was no stakeholders’ meeting before the commencement of the whole exercise is very wrong. They ought to have held a meeting with us. They should follow the way the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) carries out such exercise. The INEC will always hold stakeholders’ meeting before the main election.

 

You have alleged institutional conspiracy. 

When I talk about institutional conspiracy, I don’t want to know who and who have been involved. But, I can authoritatively say that the delegates’ list was doctored. Who gave the list out? Is it not from the national headquarters? That is an institution.

 

Bearing in mind the reservations you have expressed, what is your level of confidence in the Iyorchia Ayu-led national leadership of the PDP?

Going by the array of leadership of the current NWC, I don’t want to have any doubt regarding their capacity to deliver. I see them as men and women of integrity. However, you can have men and women of integrity at the helm of affairs but in the course of transmitting authority, there could be some corrupt people who do not have the desire, integrity along the line playing games with the whole process and that is an area where the leadership of the party should take a look at.

 

With the way things panned out, what is your next line of action?

I am a party man. A winner has eventually emerged despite all the discrepancies and flaws. We have an obligation to support whoever has emerged as candidate of the party. And, I want to advise the party to do the needful in reconciling everybody. Failure to do that may lead to the exodus of a good number of people from the party.  You have a situation where our candidate was talking to some people that decided to come from the other side to their side and was saying only one person is the engineroom and all others are carcasses. That means you are calling party members carcasses; a A candidate calling people that he should be appealing to carcasses! Such type of language should not be used henceforth. I want to advise him to retract that statement. It is not right. I believe the party, both at the state and at the national level, should do the needful; you make efforts at reconciling people. For me, becoming a governor is not a do-or-die affair. I am not a desperate person. God has helped me tremendously and I appeal to every other person to let us forget the past and let us move forward.

 

You were the favoured candidate of former Governor Fayose in the 2018 governorship election. What happened such that he now had to back another aspirant, BisiKolawole, in the just -concluded primary. 

So many factors were involved but let us leave that aside. The former governor has the constitutional right to support whoever he desires to and I am not angry at that.

 

Do you agree that Fayose was smarter than all other aspirants in the gubernatorial primary?

What do you mean by smarter? Things should be done in a way that they should be done, not done in a crooked manner. If things are done in a crooked manner, do you call that smartness?

 

As things stand now, what are the chances of the PDP in the coming election in Ekiti State?

I am not the one that will determine that. It is the electorate and the leadership of the party that will determine that. As long as you do what is right, do the needful, trying to ensure unity and oneness of the party, I believe we have a very good chance.