The APC- led Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari is over two years in office; as someone who handled public relations for the immediate past administration, how will you assess the incumbent government in terms of performances?
It is unfortunate that they seem to be going backwards. In the last two years, a lot of opportunities that we have hitherto gained as a nation have been lost. I sympathise with President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of his health; maybe because of his state of health, he is unable to deliver as promised, because he is the only person in APC that makes the party strong. The APC is a congregation of people, who are not of like minds and ideas; they are incompatible people and that is why in the last two years, the party has been unable to reach an important consensus that would make it formidable to be able to pilot Nigeria as a nation. It is unfortunate that the country has gone backwards under the APC and there is no sign of improvement.
Even as I am talking to you, despite the fact that the PDP ran into a serious problem immediately after the election, despite the wobbling and fumbling of PDP, it seems to have gained much stability than APC, which is in government. APC cannot hold an ordinary National Executive Committee meeting, members of the party are the formidable opposition against the APC government. This is because a large number of people who formed APC, were just united by anti-Jonathan sentiments. Now they have over-blamed Jonathan, and the story has become a stale story. There is no longer any story for them to cover all their inefficiencies and inabilities to pilot a nation like this. Even what they promised directly in their manifesto, they are beginning to deny it. Now that a party in government is denying its manifesto, it is giving an impression that the ship of the nation is not in safe hands.
If you are referring to the issue of restructuring, some chieftains of the APC have come out to say that the country is being restructured in the manner they promised and perhaps based on different understanding of the meaning of restructuring, that is why the agitation is still on. Do you also share that view?
The general understanding is this and one common thing you cannot take from the people that are canvassing restructuring is that they believe we should have a weaker centre and that there should be devolution of powers to the federating units. They want a situation whereby a state can look at its education and plan within the resources that are available to it. Now you cannot make so much money in Lagos State and still deprive the state the opportunity of access to that money. Instead of allowing Lagos State to pay a certain percentage to the centre, you take resources from a section of the country and pass it to another section that is not good.
At the very beginning, Kano State and Lagos started on the same footing; look at what Kano State has produced now. It has produced more local governments and Lagos is still having 20 local governments. Thanks to the ingenuity of Senator Ahmed Tinubu that brought the idea of LCDAs and look at the war the Federal Government waged against Tinubu and his government when they brought that idea.
As it is now, it is desirable that we remain in unity but this unity must be negotiated on the terms that would be fair and just to all that are involved. Nobody is saying that we should discard the unity of Nigeria. However, what people are saying is that we should work towards sustainable unity; progressive unity where no man is oppressed and to be able to arrive at that point, you must negotiate it. You must restructure. The present arrangement must be tinkered with; that is what people are saying. Nobody is saying that we must dismember Nigeria or that we should not live in unity. The question that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable is an aberration.
If you are saying this about the failure of the APC, what is the alternative, the opposition party, the PDP still appears to be asleep?
First, I agree that the PDP disappointed the Nigerian people while in power. They should know that as things change, institutions must change accordingly and they must have learnt from their mistakes. I think PDP must learn from their mistakes. It is not in the interest of this country that we have a weak party in government and we also have a weak opposition; so our prayer is that both APC and PDP sort out whatever problems they have and look for ways and means of raising a formidable APC and a formidable PDP.
But if you ask me, I think the PDP is gradually getting towards sorting itself out. However, I still think that the next convention will determine whether PDP will make a comeback or not.
What do you expect from the convention?
What I expect from the convention is that whoever will become the national chairman of PDP must not only have the intellectual capacity, he must have the political sagacity. He must be a vigilant person and must have shown commitment to peace and progress of Nigeria. He must be a person who can assemble people and also provide right leadership. He must not be somebody they would go to the corner of his room to bring, he must be somebody who would chest out and say I want to do it and we would ask him questions and he would answer. He must not be somebody who would sit down in the corner of his room and some cabal would go and bring to come and be chairman of PDP. That has been the bane of the party. I am a pioneer member of PDP and I can tell you the history.
When Audu Ogbeh became the national chairman of PDP, he was not somewhat active in Benue State. The man that would have been the national chairman was Chief Steve Lawani. Chief Lawani was the deputy national chairman of National Republican Convention (NRC) under Chief Tom Ikimi. The man was a mobiliser and he was a man whenever there was problem in NRC then, he would bring about a consensus. He was quite amiable, but because of his experience, he was jettisoned and they brought Audu Ogbeh, who was not active. So it was no wonder then that after becoming the national chairman of the PDP, he left the party to go to another party. If you go and check your record, except one or two, all former national chairmen of PDP are today in APC and these were people who were conscripted to come and be chairman; not those who stood and said they wanted to be chairman. So, PDP must learn from their mistakes.
Again, we must have a national chairman that the governors must respect; the rascality of some of our governors is becoming too much; like the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, who went to Labour and denigrated PDP. When he wanted to come back, I was one of those people that he contacted, even when he wanted to contest the last election; you can ask him. Today, he sees himself as Mr. Know All. Some people must learn from the past.
Also, we must allow a keenly contested election and if you zone the chairmanship to a zone and there is a consensus in that zone, that such a person has received the backing of the majority, you should look at that side.
For instance, talking about zoning, the South-West happens to be the zone that was favoured initially, but a chieftain of the party said recently that it should be the entire South, so is there a problem already?
That’s nonsensical but he has the right to his opinion. If you look at it, the South-South took the seat of deputy national chairman and the person was in control for so many years. His name was Chief Uche Secondus. The East has gotten the slot twice. It is only the South-West that has not gotten the slot. It is the only zone that is yet to produce the national chairmanship of PDP and I think this is the time for us.
If you are talking about the South-West producing the national chairmanship of PDP, who do you have in mind among those jostling for the post?
I stand on Bode George; on Bode George, I stand! Any system that would not appreciate good work and would not duly compensate such people or individuals that have done such good works with a view to stimulating and encouraging others is not a good system. Let me tell you that the Ife-Modakeke war that consumed a lot of human and material resources from the South-West, and others from all over the country, Chief Bode George was the one God used to put a permanent end to that war. I followed him on one of the trips to meet the warring factions. I discovered that the man is bold and courageous and he has a lot of intellectual capacity. That made me to search for his background and I saw that he has a sound academic background. He is highly articulate and brilliant, he is highly cerebral. How many of them who are in the race today can you talk about that? He had been chairman of South-West PDP; he had been Deputy National Chairman of PDP. He midwifed the election that produced President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Bode George is like Joseph; he was victimised; he was denigrated. But God brought him out. I think God wants to do something in the life of this man and through him. He wants to restore the soul of PDP. The party’s soul must be restored and I think he stands a better chance to do it and I also think he is honourable enough not to be a sit-tight chairman after returning PDP to government. Because he has done it once, I believe he would do it again. I also pray for the restoration of the APC so that there can be true competition. Nigeria certainly needs the best at this critical period of our national life.
The chairman of the PDP national caretaker committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, was in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital recently, where he met former stalwarts of the party, including Senator Rashidi Ladoja, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, and Mr Seyi Makinde, among others. He is trying to woo people back into PDP all over the country. To what extent?
Senator Ahmed Makarfi and his team have divine opportunity to make or mar themselves. Courage is what the man requires at this level, because God has done so much in his life and those people who are with him there. All that they need is that they should not allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to teleguide them. They should be objective and truthful and allow, a level- playing field. They should embark on diplomatic shuttle to bring back those of our strong forces; particularly in Oyo State. If he can bring Alao-Akala, Ladoja and Makinde back, that’s the end of the story. The PDP will take back Oyo State with a snap of the finger. Go and add together the votes obtained in the last gubernatorial election by Ladoja, Alao-Akala and Makinde, you will see that it was the PDP that contested against itself in the last election. That was why Ajimobi came in, having now constituted himself into a constituted authority for two terms. He is lucky, but I think he cannot get a successor in APC.
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