Interview

If Ayu doesn’t resign, we’ll remove him —PDP chieftain

In this interview with WALE AKINSELURE, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Dare Adeleke, speaks on the issues presently rocking the party centered around its national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu; its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Governor Nyesom Wike group.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is still grappling with the aftermath of the national convention. Since the convention, there has emerged the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar camp, the Governor Nyesom Wike group, those for and against Senator Iyorchia Ayu. Don’t you think the present situation of the party could have been avoided.

The beauty of democracy is factionalisation. Democracy is by the people, of the people and for the people but there must be division within the people and within the rank and file. Having said that, there are misconceptions about Wike or the Atiku camp. There is no camp. PDP is highly democratic. Earlier today, I talked about the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, especially his attitude. It’s not that I am trying to ridicule the office of the national chairman but it is the personality of Iyorchia Ayu that I am talking about. In PDP, irrespective of your status, as long as you are doing something good, we will play along with you. But, if you’re doing otherwise, we will fight back; and that is the norm of democracy. The All Progressives Congress (APC), is having deep crisis but has an authoritarian attitude where you shouldn’t talk because of their big boss. The entire North-West is gone; the PDP will clear the entire North-West because they were expecting to be given the vice presidency but they gave it to a Kanuri man. The Fulani will never take it; they will tell you they are superior to any tribe in the country whereas what transpired between them was that they knew the situation was that Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai was promised the vice-presidency. He was the main advocate for vice-presidency to be Muslim-Muslim and hoped to benefit from it. Unfortunately, things went another way. So, they are working indirectly against the party. I want to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for letting those governors that came to him to know that he won’t twist the arms of democracy. PDP is not divided; we are fighting for the positions. We need to put our house in order. If a section of the country controls the entire offices from national chairman to the Board of Trustees chairman and virtually all the positions, what are we going to campaign with? Do you want me to go to my family house at Oja’ba, telling them to vote for my party whereas I am supposed to tell them that we have the national chairman and that national chairmanship can be used to negotiate for something in future? It is very dangerous to allow it to he swept under the carpet. We saw the situation during the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan where the Yoruba were sidelined all through. We were not president, vice-president, Senate president, secretary to government of the federation, Speaker of the House of Representatives. We only got an inconsequential position; we got chief of staff and the man that got the position was not a party man and was on his own. That is why we say there must be equity, fairness and justice.

So, you’re on the ‘Ayu must go’ side

Ayu just has to go. I expected him to have resigned honourably. His statement regarding some PDP members as children is so condemnable. If you cannot face the heat, you leave the kitchen. I am a founding father of the PDP. I was the first state secretary of the PDP. I took Oyo State contingent to the first national convention of the PDP in Jos, so I am a founding father. Will Ayu then call me a child? He is a grandfather; I am a grandfather as well. He shouldn’t have said that. A leader must be humble. You don’t need to throw such words to my face. It sounded so sadistic and highly expected of a man as our chairman. Where was he when Wike was fighting for the party? Where was he when Wike singlehandedly removed his kinsman, Uche Secondus, to pave way for the survival of the PDP? He could have played it parochially that time. They did everything to convince him then. They called him to a kinsmen’s meeting in their village asking him to forgive Secondus and he declined. Without Wike, where will Ayu be today? Wike singlehandedly convinced all the governors that wanted to contest national chairmanship. Even David Mark wanted to contest national chairmanship. About five people in that zone wanted to contest national chairmanship that time. It was Wike that singlehandedly brought several people to the PDP. I am a PDP irredentist; this time, we must get it right.

Those who argue in favour of Ayu staying say even if he leaves, according to your party constitution, the position will remain in the North, with the deputy national chairman (North) favoured.

That is the misconception of our party constitution. Constitution has vested the power in the National Executive Council (NEC) immediately after the convention; that the NEC can act on behalf of the convention. In that regard, if this situation happens, they will compel the national chairman. When Secondus was there, he was acting chairman for a long time; he wasn’t the deputy national chairman. It is the NEC that will take decision. They can dissolve the entire National Working Committee (NWC) and convert them into a caretaker committee. That is what we are planning to do. If he resigns, definitely the deputy national chairman (South) will take over as caretaker chairman. It is not the North because that is the contention now. We are saying the North has taken its shot and they should excuse us. They can call for a special NEC meeting which will propose a dissolution of the executives and convert them to be caretaker while they will pick the deputy national chairman (south) to act as national chairman pending when we have national convention.

There are those who argue that Ayu should be allowed to continue till after the presidential election, then his fate will be decided.

It is a moral question. What will the negotiation term for the South? If Atiku Abubakar comes in as the president, he can now pick one of his stooges from the South-West to be chairman. We may not be able to have a negotiation base. It is not safe enough for the entire South to allow that. The chairman would be able to speak on behalf of all of us at the Aso Rock villa. Also, during campaign, what will we be telling people? APC will use it against us. They are only keeping quiet now but will hit us hard when the time comes. The APC will say the South has been sold off; that PDP is a northern party; PDP is not a national party. We cannot prove them wrong.

If Ayu doesn’t resign, what will those of you asking him to go, do?

We will remove him; we will send him out of that place. We brought him there and we will remove him. We brought Ayu there and nobody contested against him. It’s not his father’s village for him to stay there saying he is the chief. It is our party. He was lecturing at the University of Jos when Governor Samuel Ortom, Senator David Mark and others brought him.

The crisis remains protracted and fingers have been pointed at the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike. Some say he is become overbearing, such that the crisis has rolled on. Do you share such argument?

If he is said to be overbearing, his being overbearing brought in so many chairmen; it brought in so many people into the PDP; it brought about PDP governors and he removed his kinsman because he was playing Judas. He has done his best for the party. Immediately he lost at the national convention, he embraced Atiku. It was Atiku that went to him and asked if he would be his vice president. He said no. Atiku said he had spoken to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to step down for him. Wike said he cannot be vice president to anybody. They created all this problem. If they didn’t want him in the first instance, they shouldn’t have discussed with him. It is very unfair to the man. They set up a committee to screen the vice presidential candidates and out of 17, he got 14 votes. It was the same Ayu that turned it over to say, he will give the presidential candidate three names to pick from. Will you be happy with that situation? You dragged him into a negotiation corner and stabbed him in the back.

But, shouldn’t he mellow down in the interest of the party?

He has mellowed down. His fight now is not about himself. It is just that he leads the group. He is not saying he wants to pick the national chairman. We are advocating that the deputy national chairman (South), Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja should be the party chairman but if they decide that it won’t be so, so be it. They should just be fair to us. We are not desperate that someone must be but let it be South, especially the South-West that has never taken the slot of chairmanship before. The South-South/South-East has taken the vice presidential candidate. Okowa is from the South-South but he is an Igbo man.

Governor Seyi Makinde has shown to be part of the Wike group. But, there are those who argue that Makinde should be circumspect about being on one side, especially with the election coming. The fear also includes that should Atiku win, Makinde may not get the favourable side of an Atiku presidency.

Is Makinde having the favourable side of President Muhammadu Buhari? He has his own constitutional duties to play. He is the governor of Oyo State not governor of Abuja state. How many times do you see Makinde at the Villa? Even if all governors are invited to the Villa, he hardly attends. But, can Atiku win Oyo State without Makinde? It will be give and take; you rub my back, we rub yours. Do you think we will go to the field without asking what Oyo State will get? That is the norm in politics. Makinde is a star boy. Even the APC has accepted that he would win. Is it the APC that has dismantled its base? They don’t even have a base. I can’t see them scoring 10 percent. If the governorship holds today, Makinde will win overwhelmingly. None of them can match him because he has given the people what they wanted. Oyo people are praying for him. He has touched every aspect of the economy. Is it health, security, transportation, education?

A number of people that aided the victory of Governor Seyi Makinde in 2019 have left the party. The likes of Alhaji Bisi Olopoeyan has gone to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Honourable Mulikat Akande-Adeola has joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Don’t you think those defections could affect the PDP’s performance in the 2023 election?

When you talk about parties like NNPP, I just wonder. Seyi Makinde is now an institution. He won’t fight people that left the party, it is democracy for people. People of Oyo State are yearning for Seyi Makinde. Politicians constitute about three percent of the voters. I don’t know why Olopoeyan and Mulikat Akande-Adeola should leave the party. We worked together and Governor Makinde has enormous respect especially for Mulikat Akande-Adeola. If it is her decision to leave the party, so be it. But, she cannot stop the moving train. The PDP will win the next election because of Makinde.

In your own assessment, what are the chances of Atiku in the next presidential election?

Atiku will win the election. He has all it takes to win the election. The entire North-West will vote Atiku; the South-South/South-East is for Atiku; we will split the South-West – we will deliver Oyo State in particular because of Seyi Makinde.

Governor Seyi Makinde, being the only PDP governor in the South-West is believed to have assumed position of leader of the party in the zone. However, there are a number of factions of the party across the states of the zone. Has Makinde really lived up to that zonal leader position?

He is governor of Oyo State not governor of Ogun State. He believes that every state must carry their own crosses. He is not having any issue with Adebutu. Adebutu is our friend and we will support him. Of course, during the primaries for the zonal chairmanship, they were not with us, but thank God, we won the election. During the deputy national chairmanship, there was something like that again, but Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja won. Makinde is surely in control of the South-West.

What must be done to improve the chances of the PDP in the 2023 election?

I appeal that we should all come together as one. Those people trying to display their ego should realise that Nigerians have suffered enough and are looking at PDP as alternative. If we miss this chance, Nigerians will never forgive us. People talking about Peter Obi should ask, Does Obi have the structures to play the game? The fact is we should not personalise this election but look at it as election for Nigerians by Nigerians. If these people called APC have the chance to be back, I will pick my bag and leave this country. All of us here believe in Nigeria. We have every opportunity to stay in the United States, United Kingdom but we feel that we must build our country. Are they not the ones saying that there won’t be interruptions in the educational system of universities? Are they not the same persons that said they will turn one dollar to one naira? Are they not the same people that told us Nigeria will be like America? Now, I have to think twice to travel on Lagos-Ibadan expressway because there is kidnapping, banditry everywhere. I plead for us to some together to rescue this country from banditry, kidnapping and the feudalists.

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