PDP leaders must make sacrifice for Nigeria’s democracy — Seriake Dickson

Last week, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson spoke with select newsmen on the moves to end the gruelling feud rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA, presents  excerpts:

THE peace moves spearheaded in the PDP by you seems to have run into a storm at a stage, what went wrong?

As I told some of my friends and colleagues, in this game of politics, when your opponent has created an opening, don’t be surprised, because that is how to play politics for people to be interested. Essentially, the situation in PDP is a self-inflicted crisis in the sense that everybody was told.  My position is very clear when people were bringing Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, I never supported it. I have never been a fan of Sheriff and my position is not for any personal reason. There are lots of reasons but my position was that the party, after it lost in the presidential election and lost control in so many states, needed a fresh start; a new beginning. I thought we should have used that opportunity to clean up the party, bring fresh faces for Nigerians to see and then formulate a fresh message; formulate a new system of engaging the Nigerian people as opposed to the old PDP way of doing things. But somehow, we were not able to do that. I was a minority voice in the PDP Governors’ Forum. We were then 12 and the chairman later came to regret why that position was not supported. Now, my position is that we have got to move forward.  I am a politician of conviction, I’m not a politician of convenience; I’m not a typical Nigerian politician.

I was part of the convention that made Makarfi. Makarfi appointed me to chair the primaries in Ondo state as most of you will recall. We have been supporting the Makarfi group. But now as you know, the Court of Appeal, where we were all assured that we were going to get justice, gave a judgement that favoured Sheriff, declaring him as the national chairman of the party. For me, that presents another opportunity to attempt an amicable political resolution of the issues, so that the party can move forward. While that matter was pending at the Court of Appeal, different stakeholders had brokered different meetings. General Aliyu Gusau-led team brokered one in which he told both of them and their teams that they were to resign. I believe that the national convention of a political party, as a supreme organ of the party has capacity to dissolve or sack everybody and take decisions that will help the party.  This was what we attempted to do in Port Harcourt. But I’m not the court; we have to respect the judiciary. As democrats, as politicians, people who derive our authority and legitimacy from the constitution; our first duty is to respect the laws and institutions of the democracy.

The Court of Appeal, against our expectations, proclaimed Sheriff as the national chairman of the party, which means that whether we like it or not, in the eyes of the law and in fact from that day of pronouncement, Makarfi and his caretaker team ceased to have legal authority to conduct PDP business anymore. Whether we like it or not, from that day, Sheriff is the only one that can do so. As we speak since that day, Sheriff has been acting, not only is it at that national secretariat, Sheriff is the one sending names of candidates of states that are doing election. Even as we speak, if there were to be a by-election in Kaduna, Makarfi’s state, Makarfi today is not in the position to send a name to INEC for acceptance. That is the political reality everybody in the PDP needs to accept, whether you like Sheriff’s face or not. I don’t also support Sheriff and what he has done but I acknowledge that reality. So, the reconciliation committee, which I chaired for quite some time, met to review our positions in the light of the Ccourt of Appeal judgement. And we said look, let us formulate a realistic, practical and strategic response to that reality, because in the end, it’s all about strategy.

But you could have waited for the Supreme Court to rule?

Yes, we said you can go on appeal but without prejudice to the Supreme Court case, let us intensify and even fast-track the peace moves.  Former President Jonathan also intervened; called all the governors and we had a meeting where some of us spoke in support of a political solution and we resolved that we should adopt a political solution. But that is vague; political solution is vague. There must be templates to discuss; there must be proposals to criticise; for people to make input and time frame perhaps given. So, that was why my reconciliation committee held series of meetings and made consultations. The type of work I’ve been doing in the PDP is such that most of what we’ve been doing is discreet. Not many people know what we did, the role we played in ensuring that in managing Bamanga Tukur’s exit at the national level at a very critical period when we were preparing for elections. The details are only known to I that drove that process, former President Jonathan, Tukur and maybe one or two people. That’s the sort of work I’ve been doing. So, this culture of intolerance, this culture of disrespect for one another has to end for our democracy to make progress.

I feel that at this particular stage of the crisis in PDP, PDP has suffered enough hemorrhage. Prominent members, key leaders, elected officials are defecting, attributing it to the crisis. Leaders of the party must make sacrifice now; those who are in the position to intervene must intervene now; those who have to make sacrifices must make them now so that we can move the peace process forward.

I hear some people say over their dead body, it cannot be so and so person as national chairman; that’s not the language of politics. That’s the language of war; we are not in politics to kill one another or injure one another, particularly in the same political party. So, I feel that the templates that were generated can be improved upon. As of three days ago, the Northern leaders of the party met and extended the template to say okay, let all these people meet, about 150. They said even if we are 200, let some leaders be selected and we lock up ourselves in a room and discuss and come forward with something good. That is the attitude that we want to promote.

Can you elaborate on the templates you are proposing?

The template we are proposing actually is a template that will lead to a negotiated national unity convention. Because the inability to hold a unity convention or even hold a successful convention at all is at the heart of the crisis in PDP, that was why when that failed to happen, we appointed Makarfi’s caretaker committee to midwife another convention; the second one too failed. And in that convention we are proposing, now this is where the templates come in. We want a situation whereby since Sheriff, after the Court of Appeal, has said he will be prepared to have a quick national convention, we think that is victory for PDP. He has also said he will not contest at that convention; that is victory for the PDP. The challenge, however, is that a number of people said they can’t trust him. Well, I say that is valid, but then what you need to do is engage more and ring-fence the convention.

How?

This is where the template comes in; this convention committee should not be done like the other one. Our template says they should be seven governors; people should be nominated from the key institutions of the party. And by the way, all these key institutions are with Makarfi not Sheriff. Out of close to 100, he has over 80. Because of that, we now put 12 names to be nominated by Sheriff. Even that one we said, in consultation with stakeholders, because we know Sheriff will say no. We actually expected Sheriff to say no and not Makarfi. But Sheriff has accepted all of them; the convention templates, seven governors, seven senators led by the Deputy Senate President, who is the head of the caucus and 12 House of Representatives members led by the House Minority Leader, Leo Ogor. The Board of Trustees is to nominate six members, one per zone; former ministers to nominate six, one per zone; former presiding officers of the National Assembly, who are still with us are to be automatic members and a number of them are with Makarfi. The six national vice chairman of the party; every geopolitical zone has a national vice chairman, are to be part of the committee. And all these people are with Makarfi. And then we said the state chapters’ chairmen, three per zone should be there. We said six prominent women leaders, six prominent youth leaders and so on should also be part of the committee. All these institutions are with Makarfi. So, what we were designing was a ring-fenced convention that Sheriff, if we don’t work together, will be unable to control. His role will be in accordance with the laws of the party to convene and preside. After he makes his speech, we would move a motion to dissolve. And with that dissolution, all these arguments would have ended and then, we go into the election. That’s what we thought is the quickest way out of this crisis. And when I consulted Makarfi, I didn’t consult Sheriff; but I consulted Makarfi. I left committee meetings to brief Makarfi. I had the intelligence about the time table that INEC was to release. I said this is the time to begin to put our party together by fast-tracking this process; this is what I’m proposing. Makarfi drew my attention to the fact that some persons were claiming that their tenures have not lapsed, and they may take us to court. I said yes, thank you for drawing that to my attention; I will include it in the template that those people must resign, so that all offices must be vacant to give the party a fresh beginning and we included it in the template.

Sheriff and his people have accepted it. So as we speak, we have a situation where Sheriff says there should be a convention as soon as possible, a convention that he will not contest, and we’re waiting for these institutions to send in their names.

So what really is the way out of the party’s crisis, since you still have issues agreeing on the convention model?

Well, Sheriff has started writing to the organs. The organs are not really Makarfi; he is a former Senator, he is a former governor. So at least, he’s a member of the former governors’ forum. So, Makarfi really does not determine whether we move forward or not. It will be nice to have his cooperation and I think actually, he should join me to lead this efforts; it’ll be nice to do that.

Can the party move forward without Makarfi’s NCC?

We’re consulting, and in the next couple of days and weeks, it will be very clear. But let me also say there are issues before you have a convention. There are crises, some developments in states and some zones; so what we expect is that various teams will go to resolve some of those issues before we move to the stage of the convention.

In all these, are you putting into consideration the position of the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court can come in another way that will compel you to start all over again?

What I and Makarfi are doing, what my committee agreed is that this template and the peace move is without prejudice to the Supreme Court appeal. Mind you, we are in the Makarfi group; we’re not in the Sheriff grou. We said let us wait for the decision but if the Supreme Court decides earlier, if it is Makarfi that wins, we’ll still do a convention; if it is Sheriff, we’ll still do a convention. If we push this convention idea fast enough, then it will take care of the Supreme Court case. So, we lose nothing. We are being proactive and strategic.

Recently, we saw your party meeting with some new parties, is the idea of a mega party realistic?

Well, let me put it this way, I saw Makarfi, Professor Jerry Gana and others talking with leaders of smaller parties; that should be encouraged. It’s not totally a bad thing. What I’m opposed to is the idea of using this crisis to mop up membership; making this crisis to fester and then work with others, who are not in our party to form another party, whether it is a minor party or mega party.

Is the mega party option real?

Well, I can’t speak on that because I’m not involved in that. But I don’t believe in that; that’s the point I’m making.  What I’m saying is that I don’t believe in PDP being destroyed for PDP members to move out with others to form a so-called mega party. No, I don’t believe in that. But any move aimed at making PDP the mega party, is welcomed.

You are involved in reconciliation at the national level but we hear of so many crises in the states, how can you piece these crises in the states together?

Well, for the states that have PDP governors, that shouldn’t be a problem, the governors are in charge. Although I hear the shenanigans going on in some of those states; my position has always been very clear. The governors are in control of their states in the party and especially in opposition, you can’t support anything other than that. But we need to make peace among some of the gladiators in some states and in some zones, especially the South-West zone. That’s why we have this challenge and a few other isolated states in other zones but principally in the South-West zone. The solution is not the Supreme Court case but what people are banking on in all of this, they’re not saying what we’re proposing is wrong, it’s because of ambition. They feel that because of the way PDP has been conducting its activities; if somebody other than your person is in charge of the party, there is no way you can get anything and that notion has to change.

Is there any timeline to the PDP reconciliation and you recently met with former President Ibrahim Babangida, what is the outcome?

Well, I don’t want to quote any leader by virtue of the work I have been doing. I operate discreetly and I respect the confidence they have in me. So, what I’m saying is not a product of my conversations with leaders. All I’m saying is that even my committee report, our template has a timeline of national convention before the end of June. If we start the process of trying to resolve these issues in some of these states and in some zones, if we conclude the preliminaries, then templates have given us a roadmap. This template can be sorted out in one week but we need to focus on those areas where those challenges are there and then quickly resolve them.

You said that the APC is practically committing blue murder in the absence of a PDP opposition, how so?

In fact, I shouldn’t be quoted, because I think we all got a memo that we should all be referring to, because anything I say is from the mouth of an opposition politician. I think a more authoritative criticism, a more authoritative and factual assessment of the APC and their government has come from one of their own, who qualifies to be an insider. Who are we to quarrel with or dispute what the governor of Kaduna says about his own system as an inner player? I think we should believe him; he’s a credible Nigerian, he knows what he’s talking about and he has delivered the verdict and I rest my case.

Because of this crisis, PDP has continued to fail Nigerians in the area of providing credible, constructive opposition. The APC is having a wonderful day; the APC is actually getting away with blue murder in Nigeria because of the crisis in PDP. And I believe that even for the sake of Nigerian democracy, the PDP leaders should make sacrifice; individual and personal sacrifices so that we can move forward. Makarfi, who has enjoyed this confidence from a majority of party members, has to lead that process. And I reminded him about the story of Solomon and the two women who were arguing over the ownership of a child. The woman, who really had the child, who carried the pregnancy for nine months and went through the rigours of labour said ‘don’t kill the child; instead of killing the child, give him to her at least the child will survive.’ Makarfi and leaders of PDP need to learn from that wisdom, that if you say you’re the genuine stakeholders of the PDP, you should be the first to make the sacrifice, especially when you’re raising so many concerns about a so-called mole. I am not in the position to confirm or deny that.

Then, you should be more interested in ending these crises and seeing to it that a negotiated solution is created; a window is created for an exit, so that you can retrieve your party and rebuild. That is what I’m promoting. So, we need to save the PDP from further self-destruction. That’s where I stand and I encourage everyone else to key in.