The former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Simon Mwadkwon is one of the founding members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, he speaks on the dwindling fortune of the PDP, gale of defection to the All Progressive Congress (APC), the recent killings in Plateau and Venue States, among other topical issues.
WHAT is your assessment of the recent political development in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)?
PDP, like any other political party, has its own challenges; they have their success stories and failures. At the moment we have a series of litigations, which we see as a setback for us, but then the good news is that the PDP is still as strong as ever, irrespective of some members defecting to another political party, and it’s remained a strong opposition party in the country. The tussle for leadership is so strong, and nobody will struggle to lead a failed party or a party that does not have any substance or any hope. People go to where the party is loved; the nature of the struggle to assume leadership in the party shows that PDP is still a party to be reckoned with and also a party to beat in the 2027 general election. I also want to tell you that a lot of people are still struggling to come to the party, and that goes to show you that the party can spring surprises in the 2027 election. We can take a cue from what happens in the Labour Party; the party doesn’t have any structure but yet made an impact in the last general election. At times it depends on the caliber of the person leading the party. I still believe that there’s great hope for the party. The advice I will have for the party is to make sure that credible people are chosen or fielded to run for positions in 2027.
The recent gale of defection of PDP members to another political party, specifically the APC, appears to be diminishing the PDP’s influence. What are the leaders of your party doing about this?
Former Governor Okowa, as the vice presidential candidate of our party in the last election, did he win his state? Certainly not. I cannot hold a brief for the leadership of our party, but these people were there in the last election, and they did not perform in their respective local governments or wards. As a party, you get a little bit worried when somebody leaves your party, but that should not make you shiver. I believe after our convention, which is coming up sometime in August, the party will be strong again; you will see the kind of people that want to come back to the party again. Even the move to form another political party or a coalition has not received any acceptance; they are just a committee of aggrieved persons from the APC and perhaps from the PDP trying to see how they can fuss together, but they are finding it’s difficult. So the PDP, despite its present challenges, still remains one of the strongest political parties in Nigeria. Forget all the razzmatazz of APC at the moment; the electorates know whom to vote for when the chips are down. Peter Obi of the Labour Party pulled surprises during the last election; take, for example, Plateau State. Peter Obi scored over one million votes, and the people still voted for the candidates of their choice in different political parties. What many don’t know is that the problem in APC is more than that of any other political party in Nigeria, but the issues are just being bottled up. So I see nothing wrong with the PDP. Let’s have our convention; I can assure you that you will begin to see the PDP from a different perspective.
Sir, the ranks of PDP governors are dwindling as the governor of Delta State, members of his cabinet, local government chairmen, and other topnotch members of the party switch to the APC. Do you not fear that your party will be pushed to the background before 2027?
I have told you all these alignments and realignments will do not much harm to the PDP. All that you are seeing at the moment is smoking screens; as we approach 2027, the politics will begin to take shape. All these things you are seeing are normal in politics; they are not harmful to the PDP. These big names at times don’t really matter; those who control the grassroots are the real politicians; they are the ones who dictate the direction of politics during elections. The people of Nigeria love the PDP. If you look at our programs right from inception, they are people-friendly and people-oriented; they are there to make the economy grow. So I am not perturbed with what is going on at the moment.
Some believe that moles within the PDP are being sponsored to weaken the party structure ahead of the 2027 general election. As one of the party’s founding members, what do you believe should be done to prevent this?
There are moles in all political parties, from the national even to the unit level, but your ability to spot the moles and to deal with their antics is what makes the difference. I will still repeat: after the national convention, the party will have a clear direction, especially how to pilot affairs of the party towards a productive direction. You cannot rule out the issue of moles even in extended family. In politics, anything that is at variance with your own interest, you work against it. I can assure you the party is aware of this, and the moles will be taken care of at the appropriate time.
For many, defection in Nigerian politics has been a major worry. In our country, politicians always want to be affiliated with the party in power. What threat does a lack of ideology in Nigerian politics pose to the country’s democracy?
This lack of ideology is a threat to democracy and portrays the Nigerian political class as unserious. Ideology should be something that would guide every political party, and no party in Nigeria has any ideology except the People’s Democratic Party, but despite the fact that people are running away to have cake in the APC, there are still quite a lot of politicians who are still principled and have been in their respective party since the inception of this dispensation. The unnecessary defection that the country is experiencing at the moment in politics is not a healthy development; it’s like trying to turn the country into a one-party state, but the PDP will not succumb to this. We shall continue to play our democratic role by giving vibrant opposition until we win the 2027 general election. Again, if you look at the APC, it is a conglomeration of various political parties that came together, but the PDP, right from its inception, came out clearly as a political party. It has a clear concept; it is a people-oriented party.
Quite a number of people in Nigeria now perceive Plateau State as a killing field as a result of persistent attacks on villages and communities that often lead to killings, yet most of those at the helm of things in the country are still referring to it as farmers and herders clashes. Did you subscribe to this?
There’s nothing like farmer-herder clashes. It may shock you to hear me say I am a herder, and I am not in a clash with any farmer anywhere. The truth is that people have always been playing politics with human lives. I have said it several times: the killings in Plateau are carried out by Fulani terrorists; in every ethnic group there are bad eggs. I spoke on a radio recently, and my Fulani friends, about eight of them, were in my house, and they said, Why am I profiling them? and said it is not profiling because if my people, the Beron, went out to kill, I will announce it there; it was done by the Berom, and if the Berom feel that we are profiling them, they would stop the act. In the communities where people were killed recently, the people attested that the people that killed their relations were Fulani. They know some of them. I had an encounter in 2004 when we went for the mass burial of 68 persons in a place called Maze in Riyom local government. We were attacked during the mass burial, and a senator lost his life, and the majority leader of the State House of Assembly lost his life. I survived by a whisker and was taken out of the country for treatment, and we saw those people that came to attack us. They are Fulani; we know them, and the motives of these attacks are land grabbing. Go to Riyom today; you will see new houses springing up everywhere; they are strange elements that we don’t know. Then go from Barakin-Ladi around Gura Falls right to Shonon. These people come to kill, to steal, and to occupy, so it is land grabbing; it has nothing to do with religion. Let me tell you, the cattle are mobile; the land is stationary, so who is likely to commit an offense? It is the person grazing animals. And until we begin to call all these things by their names and take decisive action, killings will continue unabated. It has nothing to do with farmers and herders clashing; you don’t rear cattle in the night, and you don’t go to the farm in the night. What is the level of provocation that would make you go and kill fifty to one hundred people?
Some individuals believe that until the perpetrators of the heinous deed are apprehended and face appropriate legal action, the killings in Plateau, Benue, and other Middle Belt States will continue (cut-in).
A lot of people had been arrested in the past, taken to court, and tomorrow you will see them on the streets even threatening people. The justice system is not so firm; people are not being prosecuted accordingly for killing innocent people, and because people know that there will be no prosecution, they are more emboldened to carry out this dastardly act unabated. Apart from this, I also see some weaknesses, especially in intelligence gathering, which is poor; the security men are equally not enough to be on the ground everywhere. It looks like the non-state actors seem to have fortified themselves more than state actors, and that is why we are advocating for state police. This will help to curb some of these problems, so aside from the judiciary, the security also needs to be overhauled.
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