Kogi APC heading towards total collapse unless… —Olafemi

Chief Clarence Olafemi, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was acting governor of Kogi State and he is also a former speaker of the state house of assembly. In this interview with YINKA OLADOYINBO, he bares his mind on national issues and the situation in the APC.

THERE has been agitation for restructuring of the country. Do you think many of the problems facing the country can be resolved with restructuring?

I have deliberately refused to comment on the issue, but one thing is key. What I thought we should do at this point in time is to ask ourselves the type of restructuring we need. I believe that the type of restructuring we need now is the rearrangement of our political structures in such a way that it will be manageable because political expenses and their burden on our economy are too high.

We have to also ask ourselves whether we need 109 senators and 360 House of Representative members sitting full time and at the same time having large numbers of aides gulping reasonable percentage of our revenue which can be channeled to providing the infrastructure that are lacking across the country.

Why can’t we formulate our own form of democracy that will take a bit of the presidential and a bit of British parliamentary British form of democracy where members of legislative arms will also hold ministerial positions, thereby reducing the cost of running the government. The restructuring I am looking at is the type that will end the agitation for state creation through the introduction of regional government by having six regions which of course we have already defined by our action, namely through North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-West, South-South, and South-East goe-political arrangement. This will enable the region to set up their security apparatus, but the regions contribute to the central command and the local government authorities also contribute to regional police force. This system will be manageable and also very effective. We can also restructure some offices, for instance, the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice can be split into two. Let one be professional and the other administrative. This is my concept of restructuring.

There have been series of political meetings in and outside Kogi State. What are the bases for these meetings?

While I was abroad, I received a lot of calls from political associates complaining vehemently on the state of our party, APC, in Kogi, particularly the recently conducted ad-hoc delegate congress. The complaint was so much that I had to beg them to calm down till I return from my journey.

I was a member of Board of Trustees of the party before we were dissolved, but that alone shows that I am an elder in the party that should be respected. Again, I was a member of the presidential campaign organisation that worked assiduously for the emergence of our President Muhammadu Buhari. But today, the congress of the party was conducted without us being informed. The usual and normal channel of communication to members of the party is through the structure of the party. We only read on social media platforms that a delegate congress has taken place in Kogi and even in my own local government names that were submitted are not known to me. The party stakeholders who called me on phone said they were not aware and they were furious the way and manner the national body of the party handled the congress in Kogi as it was an attempt to further tear the party apart.

Was there any move to seek the intervention of the national secretariat of the party over this?

I spoke with the national secretary of the party and from our discussion, I think the national body of APC was totally wrong to have arranged the delegate congress. I don’t really know what they stand to gain by their action. If you take a look at the genesis of APC in Kogi, I carried a lot of burden before the party was accepted by the people of the state. That time I did not see anybody, especially those who are now claiming that they own the party in the state.

It was only the late Prince Abubakar Audu, who came out boldly to uplift the party and eventually became the flagbearer of the party, but I went round the 21 local government areas canvassing for support and registration of members. I spent my resources to ensure that the party becomes the bride of the people, but today some people who came when the party has recorded success, now hijacked the party and want to push us out by all means.

With the unfolding events in Kogi APC, what do you think is the way forward?

Today, I will not say that I regret joining the party or spent my resources on the party, but I am not happy that I did all that I have done that time because I believed that God wanted to use me for a purpose. When I returned from my recent trip, I quickly called for a meeting before some notable members of the party scattered, though several meetings were held while I was abroad, especially in the eastern flank of the state. At the meeting, the stakeholders presented three salient opinions. The first was that we should wait for the outcome of the reconciliation, may be the governor can change for the better. But some members still believe that they cannot trust Governor Yahaya Bello, based on the way and manner he behaves to the genuine members of the party.

And the second opinion said we should embrace a new party and abandon APC for them just the way we did when PDP was misbehaving in the state, so that when they finally push us out of the party by force, we can fall back to the new party and ensure its success at any election in the state.

The third opinion was that since in the last governorship election PDP and APC was neck-to-neck and the difference was not up to five per cent, if we can take only ten per cent from what constitutes APC and join PDP we will have a smooth ride during election over APC. This is a fact because election is an issue of numerical strength and since during election it is those who are in the state that will cast votes, we will be able to achieve our aim, bearing in mind that Kogi has 21 local government areas and once an opposition party can capture 10, the party will certainly be at the top.

I have occupied this number one position before and I have worked closely with former governors and what is happening now looks strange to me. It is a clear fact that as a governor everybody cannot be your friend, but that does not mean that the governor should start waging war against the owners of the party in the state. I expect him to use his position to make more friends than making enemies and those who are misleading him are not on the ground politically in their various localities.

Do you see the party coming out of the crisis in different states stronger?

In short, with the current crisis in Kogi APC, the party’s future is between the devil and the deep blue sea. Though I am not God, the party is heading towards a total collapse if urgent steps are not taken by President Buhari, who is today the national leader of the party. It is a clear fact that the elders of the party whom the governor does not want to see are the people who have been playing politics in the last 20 years in the state and they enjoyed goodwill from the people they have help in one way or the other. These are people that are connected to the opinion moulders and in my view the governor in the last almost two years has not got things right.

Was the meeting held in Abuja part of the efforts at ensuring reconciliation in the party?

I went to Abuja, but not for reconciliation. I went to see Honourable Abiodun Faleke, who is also a factor in Kogi politics. So, when i heard that he called for a meeting almost the same period with the one we held in Lokoja, I decided to meet him and his complaint was similar to mine. He expressed worries over the behaviour of the national body of the party. It is annoying and painful to say that 95 per cent of people in the government of Kogi today who were given Jeeps and other expensive cars are the same people that fought us during the election.

It is erroneous for anybody, either at the presidency or national secretariat of the party to believe that those of us complaining about the governor’s behaviour are just giving him headache. That is where the pain, the agony come in. It is a fact that we are heading to the river of Babylon and we will sing the real song because we are in captivity in Kogi state and no amount of struggles or talks can make the governor see what we are trying to avoid in the interest of the party. I don’t give up when it comes to issues of politics.

Many leaders of the party, including you, are complaining of marginalisation, what is the situation now?

The national chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun is my friend and cannot claim that he is not aware that I have been complaining of being marginalised as I have laid my complaint to him on several occasions but my complaints have ended there because I don’t have link with the so called cabals at the national level. I am an advocate of peace and my complaints of marginalisation were misunderstood by Governor Bello.