PDP will outlive its current travails —Hon Segun Adekoya

Honourable Segun Adekoya is the member representing Ijebu-North/East/Ogun Waterside Federal Constituency of Ogun State in the House of Representatives. In this interview by Jacob Segun Olatunji, he speaks on the crisis rocking his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that the party would soon bounce back from its travails. Excerpts:

How do you see the ongoing crisis rocking your party and affecting its fortunes?

As far as I am concerned, I am beginning to see some deceit crept into the crisis. As a lawmaker, I cannot be part of those that break the law. And when there are issues between tiers of government, the only institution that will interpret the law is the court. Now when a court of competent jurisdiction adjudicates on an issue and say maybe okay this is the right person, any responsible, any law abiding citizen, no matter how highly placed, from president to the last man of the country, must obey  the law in accordance with the interpretation of the court. That’s exactly what am doing in relation to the PDP. I am in support of Senator Ali Modu Sherrif. I am a Sheriff man from day one. Our leaders, including Governor Ayo Fayose brought him to lead us and that is my area of disagreement with the leadership of our party in the House of Representatives. So many of us here frowned on the decision to dabble into the leadership crisis, since we will be the one to mediate between the feuding parties at the end of the day. But other leaders and the governors saw it differently. They said we should identify with Senator Ahmed Makarfi.

For me, and some others, we identified with Sherrif because he is a friend and benefactor. I know Sherrif as a politician. We have practical politicians, we have grassroots politicians and we have taproots politicians. We know that some of the politicians cannot go to their houses. I know of a politician from Kaduna State if you go to his village, he mounted a big, magnificent building there and he is not staying there. Whereas he is surrounded by peasant farmers. He cannot go freely to his town now in Kaduna State. We have so many of them like that. They come to Abuja they make noise but they lack grassroots support. I visit my constituency almost every week so, I speak the minds of my constituents.  So, coming back to my take; my take is that the court has declared Sherriff as the authentic National Chairman of PDP.

Whoever is against that should go to the Supreme Court. They cannot do anything against that judgment until there is another pronouncement. Presently, I am with Sheriff. I am a lawmaker not a law breaker. And come to think of there is a moral aspect of it. Assuming those opposed to Sheriff win at the Supreme Court, what would they be doing? That is my challenge. For instance, we all agreed that there was no need for us to appeal the outcome of the Port-Harcourt Appeal Court whichever way it goes.

Governor Fayose, I will quote him verbatim, said there is no need for reconciliation. He said if we reconcile that Sherrif should step down and the court now says Sherrif is authentic, the whole arrangement will be nullity and that whoever works against it would be seen as working against the pronouncement of the court. Therefore, he said we should all wait for the pronouncement of the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt. I don’t know what he was thinking about, probably he thought that Governor Wike is the owner of the court.

They have that erroneous belief that whatever is coming out of Port Harcourt, Wike is in charge. I am just thinking aloud why a governor would make such a pronouncement and within one month, he started recanting. He said before the judgement whatever the Appeal Court pronounced, he was okay by it. Now the Appeal Court has made a pronouncement, somebody is kicking.

I will not be a party to that.  Sherrif is the authentic National Chairman of the party by law and I am a member of People Democratic Party.

How do you then view the outcome of the reconciliation move by the immediate past president of the country, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson?

Yes, the Bayelsa State governor’s reconciliation committee is the authentic reconciliatory body put in place by the party before the crisis and the judgment. So anybody who is now trying to do anything outside the judgment of Appeal Court on the crisis can only be seen as a law breaker. You said that all what you are waiting for now is the Supreme Court pronouncement, if the Supreme Court says Sheriff is no longer the chairman, don’t you think that will lead to the end of PDP?

Well, it cannot lead to the end of PDP. Have we seen the end of the Alliance for Democracy, AD? Some people still remain in AD, whether they are winning or they are not winning. Someone won on the platform of Accord Party in Delta State recently. PPN has not died in Ogun, PRP, the one formed by Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Aminu Kano, is still in existence. We have forgotten that we have UPN as a party in this country. PDP will not die, it is not possible not to have crisis but some people will still claim to be in PDP, that’s it.

The crisis rocking the PDP has crept into the House as well, where do you see this leading your caucus?

Yes, I agree we are divided. But if you look at it, we are merely playing politics. I used to tell people that if you want to go to heaven you go through either church or mosque, but here is politics, this is a game of diplomacy and diplomacy is a matter of interest.

Moreover, politics is a game of interest, politics is local. I once told Honourable Leo Ogor, he is my man any time, any day. He is a fourth timer, but when it comes to politics, we play politics. Leo Ogor wants to say what the governor of his state wants to hear.  I am an Ijebu man, I say what my people wants.  I am a Buruji Kashamu man, Buruji Kashamu is my own person, and we are from the same constituency.

He is the Senator and I am in the House of Representatives. We visit our areas every week, to hear what our people want. They prefer Sherrif, so since politics is local, the day of election I will not remain in Abuja here.  Makarfi will have to go to Kaduna State in his town, Makarfi town. So, no matter how close he is with the Biafrans, the Biafrans will not come and vote for him. Whatever Leo Ogor is doing, he is doing it to return to the House, I will therefore have to do what will make my people happy, what will bring food to their table, what will bring security to them.

But were you consulted when Leo Ogor declared that the House of Representatives Caucus was solidly behind Makarfi?

I contradicted him. Because I was not part of that decision, I didn’t know when they took the decision. There are things that look strange to you. If I want to make such pronouncement and I know you are not part of me, will I not call you? I will call those in my own caucus and tell them what they want to hear. Even if I am there when you raise your hand, you are talking about politics, he will call his people that will speak in his favour. You will just raise your hand there, he can’t call 10 people at a time, he will now say I call the last person to speak, it’s all politics.

With all these crises, do you think PDP can make it beyond 2019?

PDP is already making it. The APC is making it easy for the PDP; in the first instance, the way APC is going, because it is an amalgamation of different kinds of opinions and different kinds of characters that never knew themselves.  They just wanted power. They were never prepared for administration; they were never prepared to rule. So don’t know what to do with the power. In the House, PDP voted Dogara, in the Senate, PDP voted Saraki.  APC never voted. So that is the situation. Just recently Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, I respect him, said that Saraki and el-Rufai blocked his chances of becoming Vice President. For him to say that means he is still nursing that grudge against them. When AG, when NPN and UPN were in existence, it can never happen. They would have called their caucus meeting and settle it. That’s it.

What is your take on the call for the postponement of the 2018 National Census?

There are two issues here; first and foremost, is it overdue? Normally census should be conducted every ten years, when last was census conducted in Nigeria? Anyway, I will not be part of any action that contradicts the Constitution of the country. I may have my divergent opinion on this. Every ten years, we are supposed to have census. The last census that I witnessed in Nigeria was in 2006 and 2006 to this time is almost twelve years. We were supposed to have had the census last year 2016, so if for operational reasons, we delayed it or it was delayed for two years or there about, I think we should go ahead and do it. It is only in Nigeria that we don’t have data, as I speak with you now, I don’t have National ID card as a lawmaker, Am I not prominent enough in Nigeria?. And I have fulfilled all righteousness; all my finger prints were taken, since last year, almost 12 calendar months. So what do you think would be happening to the villagers, the labourers in my farm, if we the National Assembly members don’t have?

But the fear of many is that the Census should not hold too close to national elections. Even the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dogara, said: Don’t you think political considerations could affect this Census?

Election is for one day or two. The national election usually holds between the hour of 8am and 4pm. What has that got to do with census? Census is to be handled by the National Population Commission, while the election is to be handled by INEC, so they are not the same thing.

They have different assignments or responsibilities. The election is in 2019, if the Population Commission says they are ready in 2018, that will be one year before the elections.

Do you have any words for INEC on the ongoing continuous voter’s registration exercise?

It is a good thing. Abroad, they don’t announce it, it is like when I got my driver’s licence, did I inform anybody? That is how voter’s registration should be done. Once you are 18, you should just walk to the INEC office nearest to you, get your voter card, by submitting all necessary data. It should be nothing special. The only challenge I have is that everything in Nigeria when they start strongly, later they will slack. Take for instance in my own local government, they have their office but they want me to carry people from far away to the office. Or do they want them to trek? In the villages, we have 13 polling units, we had to beg INEC that people go to farm and that it is when they come back from the farm or before they go that they can register.