Nigeria’s problem is not absence of law but implementation —Timothy Golu

Dr. Timothy Golu is a former member of the House of Representatives and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with the North Central Bureau Chief, ISAAC SHOBAYO, the former federal lawmaker speaks on the state of the PDP, its preparations for the 2027 general election amidst controversies, political manipulation and distortions, and other issues.

THERE is still uncertainty in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on which faction currently controls the party, despite the Supreme Court judgment and release of the CTC. What is your take on this?

I don’t know where this confusion is coming from. There is no confusion at all. It is people deliberately trying to create that impression. Where exactly is the confusion?This is democracy, and democracy operates by the rule of law. Nobody can wake up today and claim to be the president of Nigeria, and then you say there is confusion and ask President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come and negotiate with them. Nobody can also wake up and claim to be the governor of Plateau State and then expect the governor to sit down with him because people say there is confusion.Tinubu is the elected president. The governor is the elected governor. So where, for God’s sake, is the confusion? The courts have spoken. The legal process has established leadership. We have a president, governors, and local government chairmen, and their positions are not in doubt. So why should this one be different?The judiciary, which is one arm of government, has adjudicated on the matter from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal and finally to the Supreme Court. Yet people are still giving their own interpretations. The courts recognisedAbdulrahman Mohammed and the leadership of the party, and their names are clearly reflected on the INEC portal. Yet some people are still dragging the issue and talking about confusion. No, there is no confusion. That is propaganda and a deliberate falsehood. As for the issue of the Certified True Copy (CTC), is this the first time Nigeria is witnessing a court judgment? Every judgment comes with a CTC. Why is this particular one being treated differently? When Governor Mutfwang was declared the winner, I asked someone yesterday if he had seen the CTC of that judgment. He said no. I asked if he had seen it to this day. He still said no, yet the governor remains in office.

So how did people know he won?

Because the judgment was read openly in court by the justices. So, in this case, was there no court sitting? Did nobody hear the judgment? Was it done in secret? Both sides had legal counsel in court. Security agencies also usually have legal representatives monitoring proceedings. Journalists are present. Every interested party is represented in court. Nobody left that courtroom confused. The CTC is not a different judgment. It is simply the documented version of the verbal judgment delivered in court.

Are you implying that the PDP Board of Trustees went above its authority by constituting a caretaker committee following the Supreme Court judgment and subsequent release of the CTC?

People need to first understand the laws governing political parties. The Board of Trustees (BoT) is only one of the organs of the party. It is advisory in nature. It does not have executive powers or executive responsibilities. If an organ has no executive responsibility, where does it derive executive authority from to take binding decisions?The BoT exists as a council of elders, the conscience of the party. Its role is to advise and morally intervene where necessary. That is why decisions in the BoT are not taken through binding votes in the same way executive organs operate. If they want to push a strong position, they do so through the National Executive Committee (NEC) because Board of Trustees members are also members of NEC.NEC is the highest decision-making body of the party after the National Convention. So the BoT itself cannot independently establish leadership or make executive decisions outside the constitutional process. Even under the Electoral Act, there are procedures that must be followed. INEC must be given proper notice for congresses, conventions, and leadership processes. You cannot just sit somewhere and announce decisions outside due process. Those doing this know they are merely playing politics.

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Part of the ongoing uncertainty in the PDP is that aspirants are confused, the FCT minister is selling nomination forms, and Turaki’s-led faction is found to be the same. Are the two factions not exacerbating the situation?

No problem. There is no faction. The courts have settled it. Why should people still refer to things like a faction when the court has spoken? In fact, it is even wrong for the media to keep referring to it as a faction. The media created this idea of factionalising it when the courts have already spoken. After the court has made a pronouncement, are we not supposed to abide by what the court says? Is it that the media is no longer law-abiding? Do we no longer believe in the rule of law?Our people should help in this regard. A faction exists when a matter is still in court. Now the matter is no longer in court. We are even talking about the Certified True Copy, which is the final product of the judgment, and it has been issued. Unless they return to the Supreme Court to seek a review and the court decides otherwise, that matter is settled.There is a process for review at the Supreme Court. If you are not satisfied, you go there. If you lose there, that is all. You stop. There is nothing more you can do. That process exists in a democracy to guide human behaviour and prevent excesses. Otherwise, there would be no end to litigation. Everything would continue endlessly. But these people do not want that.The media should help by telling them there is no faction, so they stop feeling encouraged and emboldened by the way they are being presented. Whether you like it or not, democracy is not about wishful thinking. It is about the rule of law and due process.Many of us have experienced situations where courts ruled differently from what we expected, but we accepted the outcome because that is the path of peace and democracy. Even if it is painful, you accept it.

Now, how is your party handling this wave of misinformation, distortion, and political manipulation?

We have very sound people who understand what is going on. Apart from the few individuals trying to destabilise the party, most people know the truth. Those on the other side who lost out simply do not want to accept defeat. They are used to winning, and now that things have not gone their way, they are trying to create problems.But the majority of our members understand the reality. People purchased nomination forms. So we are fully on course. Our people have bought forms, been screened, and everything is in order. We do not know what others are doing elsewhere.In fact, some people from the other side have quietly come to buy forms under our own structure, but because of ego and political loyalty, they do not want their people to know. There is really no confusion, even among them. They are only trying their luck by creating distractions in the hope of gaining some political space. But we have gone beyond that era. Time is running out. The timetable allocated by INEC for these activities is already moving fast, and nobody wants to joke with time. Very soon, you will see them shift to another narrative because they have already wasted valuable time for their supporters.

With all these hiccups, do you think your party has a chance of making impact in 2027?

It has always been like that, especially after we lost the presidency and many offices to the APC in 2015. It is never easy to fight a ruling party, but we have always done our best.Look at the 2023 elections. We secured about 14 or 15 governorship positions nationwide. Here in the state, we moved from almost nothing back to a very strong position.We returned stronger than we were in 2011 and 2015. We won about 16 seats in the House of Assembly, secured five out of the eight House of Representatives seats, won two out of the three Senate seats, and also won the governorship.What does that tell you? Even during that period, the crisis was more serious than what we are seeing now. Forget about what happened in court and focus on the election itself. No court said we did not win those elections. The judgments were based on technicalities. So, if we achieved all that despite the challenges, then you can see that we are even more prepared now.

There was a report that the leader of your group, the FCT minister, met with the national chairman of the APC recently. How do you feel seeing the leader of your party in a political romance with the APC-led administration that your party wants to unseat in 2027?

This is democracy. Our national leader is NyesomWike. Politics is dynamic. He has never hidden his support for a southern presidency, even before the 2023 election. He openly said that after President Buhari’s eight years in office, power should return to the South, not necessarily tohim personally.Remember that 17 southern governors across parties—PDP, APC, Labour Party, and others—agreed that power should shift to the South and pledged support for whoever emerged from there. But some northern interests within our party decided otherwise, and that is how events unfolded.Democracy evolves and expresses itself in different ways. As long as society exists, democracy will continue to evolve. Some aspects of democracy are guided by party laws, some by the Constitution, and others by morality. There is nothing wrong with what he is doing. It is his choice. He has not violated any provision of the Constitution, the Electoral Act, or even our party’s constitution.Remember when Goodluck Jonathan formed a government of national unity? A member of the ANPP from this state, Alhaji Ibrahim Nakande, was appointed minister from a PDP-dominated state. Did heaven fall? No. He served the government and contributed his quota. He did not act based on party sentiments but according to his conscience and responsibility to serve.What is happening now is similar. President Tinubu, with his experience, has chosen to appoint people outside his party. This is not the first time Nigeria has witnessed a government of national unity. People are only talking because it concerns the PDP. When similar things happened involving others, the media did not make so much noise about it. So there is nothing unusual about it. Wike is simply supporting what he believes in according to his convictions.

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What are the motivating factors behind your decision to contest for the Plateau Central Senatorial District? Is it based on zoning arrangements, or is there something specific you want to achieve this time around?

No, it is not based on zoning. For the Senate in the Central Zone, we do not really have zoning arrangements. We may have such understandings for House of Assembly or House of Representatives seats because those constituencies are smaller, but for the Senate, it has never been like that. Anybody from the five local governments that make up the Plateau Central Senatorial District can contest.As you know, I have been a legislator almost all my political life. I have never contested for any executive position. Even when I wanted to be governor at one point, it was because I wanted to bring together my experience as a legislator and a party man into governance.But my real passion has always been legislation. I want to develop myself to the level where I can help shape legislative thinking in Nigeria because we have many laws already, yet people still complain that so many things are going wrong.The problem is not always the absence of laws. The real issue is implementation and enforcement. We need stronger legislative frameworks that can compel obedience to the laws we make. Too often, laws are passed and then left at the mercy of those implementing them. There should be laws that make it compulsory for the executive to implement existing laws. Failure to implement them should attract consequences.In many developed countries, there are automatic procedures and sanctions when laws are ignored, especially in sectors where those laws are meant to address pressing issues. If laws exist and the problems they were meant to solve continue because implementation is neglected, then there should be accountability. In some cases, it should even become an impeachable offence. We must begin to take governance more seriously. Once laws are passed and assented to, the executive should not simply decide whether or not to act on them without consequences.These are the issues that concern me deeply. I have served in the House of Assembly and the House of Representatives. If I become a senator, my experience and understanding will grow even deeper, and my contributions will be greater.