If PDP crashes, APC will fall —Jang

The immediate past governor of Plateau State and senator representing Plateau North Senator Jonah Jang, speaks with ISAAC SHOBAYO, on the fight against corruption and the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among other national issues. Excerpts:

You recently went on a constituency tour of your senatorial zone. What were your findings?

Plateau North is a cosmopolitan senatorial zone, as virtually every tribe in Plateau State and Nigeria lives there. It is a melting pot. I found out that the people of Plateau are becoming more conscious of their political environment. They understand very clearly what they need and what they want, what type of government they want. From my interaction with them, I discovered that they want to see this state move forward; they want to see this country move forward. They want leaders that have their interest at heart and leaders that are prepared to sacrifice for them to have better living condition and to have dividend of democracy.

As a former governor on the ticket of the PDP, now a serving senator and also a founding member of the PDP, what are the elders like you doing to resolve the impasse in the party?

Every political party has its crisis. If you think the All Progressives Congress (APC) has no crisis, you better go and do your research very well. People focus more on the two parties because they are the dominant parties in Nigeria. But I want to tell you there is no party without its crisis. The PDP started this democratic setup and it ruled for 16 years. The opposition had the time to look at the mistakes of the PDP. When they discovered that they could not get PDP out, they came together from various parties and today, they are one. Now, the PDP has been brought into opposition, generally Nigerians are not good in opposition and that is why the PDP is still behaving today as if it is not in opposition. All of us have been watching happenings in the APC government, from federal to the state and people are beginning to see lots of the loopholes. Some of us, who are the founding fathers of the PDP and have good experience of the past 16 years in government, we look at it differently. We think our people should keep their ambitions and get the party repositioned; correct the mistakes we had made and see the mistakes that the APC is making which are very critical, based on complaints in the country. We are supposed to use the APC mistakes as an advantage to get the party back on track, reposition and steady it for 2019. That is what we are trying to do and I also  believe that a court of law is not an avenue where political matters should be settled. A political party is made up people, who have the same interest and understand one another and a court cannot do this for us. So, we have been working very hard at the national level to make sure that we have an understanding and forgive one another.

We don’t have problem at the state level.

The congresses from the ward to the zonal level were done without any rancour; they all went very well. Only five out of the 36 states of the federation had problems then. It is something we can easily resolve. So, the grassroots is still there for us, particularly in Plateau that I know very well and likewise in many other states. You may ask me why we lost elections in Edo and Ondo states, again it is because of the crisis; not because we don’t have the support of the people. When the chairman of the caretaker brought up a candidate, the Ali Modu Sheriff group also came up with another candidate. They went to court and in the process had no time for campaign. But, I want to assure you that by the grace of God, we will resolve the problems and PDP will come out strong.

Members of the PDP in the National Assembly are defecting to the APC do you think the PDP can regain its strength with the gale of defections?

I think those that had moved lacked confidence. If they are leaders that had won elections to go to the Senate or the House of Representatives, they should be able to hold their ground in their zones. I have not heard them saying they consulted their constituencies and the people asked them to move. They are just individuals moving and the APC thinks it is gaining. These people that are neither here nor there; they don’t have the confidence of their people. Don’t be surprised, some of them will come back to PDP before 2019. Some people just want a platform, not that they want to belong to the party. God, in His infinite mercy, is assisting us in shifting the grains from the shafts in the PDP and by the time shafts are removed, the people will see how strong the PDP will be. Just wait and see what will happen in APC at the end of this year or early next year. There is going to be a mass movement from the APC to elsewhere. Those leaving the PDP have not shaken the party.

Some serving governors in your party and former ones brought in Senator Sheriff to the PDP. Are you regretting the action?

I wouldn’t say we brought Sheriff. He joined the party on his own choice. Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, left and we needed somebody from the North-East zone to complete his tenure and some people felt Sheriff should be the one. Some of us opposed the choice because we believed he might not be in the best position to move the party forward. But when we finally sat at a roundtable, we agreed that Sheriff should stay for three months and then conduct the pending national convention then. All the stakeholders agreed and accepted him. But certain things started happening here and there and the people who sponsored him to be the chairman are the ones that are fighting him more now. However, as far as I am concerned, whether we like it or not, Sheriff is a member of the party. It is a matter of all stakeholders resolving to solve the problem. Yes, committees have been set up here and there and a former president has come in.  I just pray that the APC is not fingering us. I want to advise the APC. As politicians, if we want democracy to succeed, we should allow every party to grow. We cannot have a one-party system in Nigeria. It is impossible. I want all of us to know that if the PDP crashes, the APC will also crash and that will be the end of democracy in Nigeria. I think nobody wants that to happen. Some of us know that there are some APC members fueling the crisis in PDP. But in the interest of democracy, they should allow us to solve our problem. Though they have the money, they need democracy to stand. We want to get to where the United States is presently, a position where any political party can win election at any time. So, we must allow both the PDP and the APC to develop for us to have a viable democracy in this country.

Are you satisfied with the way the anti-graft agencies are fighting corruption in the country?

I fought corruption as a governor for eight years, even though the current administration wanted to put something on me to show that I was corrupt. They have been trying. They have gone to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the commission said they didn’t see anything. They set up a commission of inquiry. Nothing was found. I believe that corruption should be fought with energy to clean up the public life. But where fighting corruption is selective, like we all can see now, the country is no more like the type of Nigeria in Tafawa Balewa’s days. Nigerians are wiser and we must not take Nigerians for granted. There were areas the PDP was corrupt and some corrupt governors left for APC. Was it because they are not corrupt that they went to the APC and nobody is talking of what they did as governors? It is only those of us that finished as PDP in the Goodluck Jonathan administration that are deemed corrupt. What is happening to them over there? Fighting corruption ought to be a joint effort. Let the investigation be across board.  Even in the APC government, you hear of the bailout, Paris Club and money have been released and I have not seen anything happening in Plateau. When they pay salary, they will go to the media to announce they have paid. This is not an achievement. Government has a responsibility to pay salary; it is not an achievement by any government. You are supposed to pay workers’ salaries for the work they have done. Tell us the projects you have started and the ones you have completed and we will all clap for you. But when you start announcing in the media that you have paid salary, it means Nigeria is drifting 20 or 30 years back. I wish President Muhammadu Buhari a quick recovery. I know him very well; he was my senior in the military and I know him to be a very straightforward person. But, he must take some of the people around him away to give him a free hand to work and take a look at what is happening in the federal civil service, as well as what is happening in the states.