We are doing our best to reconcile aggrieved PDP members in South-West —Olafeso

Dr Eddy Olafeso is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice chairman in the South-West, in this interview with YINKA OLADOYINBO, he bares his mind on efforts at rebuilding the party and other issues.

The court of appeal has affirmed the executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that you are leading in the South-west, what is the implication of this?

We thank God for the opportunity to prove ourselves that we were all along right in our position that we were elected on May 14, 2016 and that we are the authentic leaders of the party in the South-west, we thank all the leaders for standing by us in those difficult 20 months. The implication for the party is that we can now look ahead and begin to unite our people, we have the task to reposition the zone, we have been through so many devastating experience,  we just lost the chairmanship of the party, in 2011 we lost the position of the speaker of the House of Representatives to the northwest when (Aminu) Tambuwal upstaged the party, we are still in the throes of the effects of those moments. Generally speaking, in the PDP and other parties, the southwest is not having its best moments, so we see this as an opportunity to unify our people and to continue to work to advance the course of a Yoruba man.

 

The South-West appears to be the most troubled zone in the PDP, why this?

The quality of the people of the zone, our people are highly educated, they are republican in nature and everybody wants to have a say, but the sad part is that is we can’t define leadership with a vision that can be able to pilot the ideals of a Yoruba man. If we look around today, there are a few of them that are still standing, many have taken the easy way out, always running away from challenges to seek for themselves what they can get. The level of education in the zone shows that everybody is independent minded and our people are not easy to convince that we should all be disciplined and focused on the job that needed to be done, this, I found to be militating against the united front we should present when we are relating with other zones. Our desire is to continue to work, we will humble ourselves to continue to see that no matter how much we get aggrieved we remain calm to show leadership in what we do and our utterances. The South-west is the most difficult and at the same time very easy to mobilise because of the quality of education that we have, maybe it is the same disadvantage that is our advantage, but we still have to begin to imbibe a new culture of politics that spells out unity of purpose and ensures that we work assiduously for the yoruba nation.

 

Now that the leadership of your exco has been affirmed, what efforts are you making to bring together the warring factions in the zone

We are doing the best we can, in Ekiti State,  we just had a reconciliation committee, headed by Senator David Mark and myself as Secretary to reconcile the contestants and Governor Ayo Fayose. We have spoken to the people and the state is relatively peaceful as we move towards the election on July 14.  Very soon the primary will take place and we will make sure we create level playing for all to be able to express themselves, we are very optimistic that we will work together in Ekiti to ensure victory for our party.  Ondo State has no problem, we are united and we will keep moving on despite the challenge of resources,  we are undaunted and the party is peaceful. In Osun, the National Working Committee has put up the congress committee for the remaining of the ward, local government and state congresses, I hope we will be able to get exco for Osun State and unite our people to prepare them for the election. In Oyo State, we have delved into the situation we found there. Despite the fact that the congress was concluded, we discovered that there is the need for harmonisation for our people to be able to act together in unity of purpose to begin to be a factor in the way we want to move forward but the chairman has taken up that one and he will do everything possible to ensure that we resolve the crisis in Oyo State. I have been accused severally of so many things but my desire is for us to take the advantage we have in that state because Oyo State is winnable in view of the devastating effect of the APC government for the last eight years and that is why we have been appealing to our leaders to see reason and work together to bring out the best in us.

 

The belief of some stakeholders of the party in Oyo State is that the NWC and yourself in particular should not have tampered with the exco of the state since congresses were completed

The role of the NWC is to engage all chapters of the party and ensure that there is equity. When we came on board, we saw a handover note by the Markafi-led group that stated that inequality is what is happening in Oyo State and may affect us. The leaders were invited to discuss the matter and to suggest way forward. Nobody has gone to Oyo State to dictate to them, we suggested to the leadership to harmonise the exco to accommodate everybody and let everybody work together, Eddy Olafeso has nothing to do with this, Uche Secondus has nothing to do with this but it will be very unfair for us if we ignore the report written by the outgone caretaker committee and do not revisit these chapters that have challenges. It is not only in Oyo State, we also have in Anambra and other states, but those are embracing reconciliation and I believe the leaders in Oyo State too must reconcile.

 

But what if the advice of the NWC is not taken, what will happen

The consequences are there; that the others will be frustrated and disappointed, they may leave the party and in the end, you damage yourself before the election,  the consequences are what we have seen, I don’t want to be a one day hero by lying, by covering up, by pleasing some at the expense of others, that is no leadership. Integrity, sense of character and vision are hallmark of a good leader. We are saying 2019 is possible if all our leaders can work together.

 

With the outcome of the national convention of the PDP, some people believed the South-west has been relagated to the background in the party, what is your view about this?

That is not so. In democracy it is not everything you want that will be given to you.  There are some factors that led to our failure in the convention and first is our inability to put our house in order. We have been hunted by too much division in the zone, alongside it was the fact that certain things changed and that affected us. The anger exhibited by the region is that this position should have been micro zoned to us.  If that had been the issue, the South-West would have been able to produce the chairman, but the party decided that the post is zoned to the entire three zones in the south and we had to compete with other zones. In the South-West, we have only one governor, the South-South have five governors, so in terms of organisation,  resources available and ability to reach out to the other geopolitical zones, it was easier for them to do. In this instance, we have to make plea, we cannot enforce and that led to the result we had, the party has absolute respect for the intellectual capacity of the zone, its ability to have been in the forefront of all the struggles we had in this country but in the convention,  the zone couldn’t pull through, it was one of my greatest regrets that it didn’t happen, the party is supreme and we have to move forward. We have to use the opportunity to appeal to our leaders in the zone that the earlier we began to put ourselves together, the better. We should be united to seek for what lies ahead, we still have positions in the party, we have the presidential race coming up, the vice president will come from one zone or the other. Now that we have this lacuna, the zone can still clinch that and it has been restated in most of the elections that the South-west must be taken very seriously if we want to win the 2019 election.

 

The unfolding events seem to indicate that the party has not been able to manage the effects of the national convention?

The Secondus led NWC has been very proactive when it comes to reconciliation,  we have a standing committee on reconciliation led by Governor Seriake Dickson, who has moved across the country including the South-west, appealing to people, sharing thoughts with them, ensuring that none of our people, except those that are self seeking, leaves the party. Those that left, how come they didn’t leave when they were ministers, how come they didn’t leave when things were going smoothly for them in the party, when they held sensitive positions in and outside the party and in government? To me, political maturity is to accept once in a while if you are defeated and be able to work with others, their leaving left some gaps because these are people that are more or less intellectual resources of the party but then we have generation of younger people coming up that can rise to the occasion if given the chance to work for the party. It is an ongoing process, we are not saying because they left, we should leave them, we will continue to talk to them.  For us, the issue of reconciliation will continue,  but we want our members to understand that in any contest, somebody will win, somebody will lose but your maturity, commitment will determine next line of action. So I am seizing this opportunity to appeal to Professor Jerry Gana and Tunde Adeniran that this is their home and they are welcome anytime they want to return.

 

Another professor the party is having issues with over the convention is Professor Taoheed Adedoja, who is already in court, what are you doing to resolve his matter?

A few days ago, I still spoke with Professor Adedoja, he expressed concerns over the way be was treated and he went to court. The onus lies on the leadership of the party to continue to appeal to him for us to withdraw the case from court so that we begin to talk on what we can do to assuage the circumstances that led him to going to court. However, I believe we will resolve it, the matter is receiving attention by the Dickson commitee, we will visit and we will ensure that we are able to settle.

 

The elections in Ekiti and Osun states are around the corner, how prepared is your party?

We are prepared. The governor of Ekiti State is a hardworking person, Governor Ayodele Fayose is the face and the voice of the opposition in this country and he has prepared himself adequately well. We are praying to God that the primary will come and go and whoever wins, all of us will work assiduously for him to succeed. Honourable Dayo Adeyeye is running, Mrs Abiodun Olujimi, Ambassador Dare Bejide, Owoseni Ajayi are running and all these people have been given a level-playing field to express themselves, the NWC and the Senator David Mark’s committee are assuring the contestants that there will be level-playing field for all, as soon as that is settled and we know our candidates, the PDP will use its resources to ensure that we win Ekiti so that they can continue what Fayose is doing. Same for Osun, with the conclusion of the congresses, we will try as much as possible to focus on the election to ensure that victory is ours. PDP will create a new agenda, a new deal with the people of Osun State that will encompass development, education, infrastructural development, welfare and health.

• Uneasy calm in Oyo APC over Ajimobi’s LG candidates

The Buhari administration will be  three years in office next months, how progressive has the country been  since 2015?

The country is not moving forward at all.  Just go through the Transparency International’s verdict,  go through what Bill Gates said, go through what World Bank said and all others. The APC members are angry when you tell them they are not doing well, yet this country is one of the most dangerous places  in planet earth, insecurity has crept into our daily lives and they have made Nigeria a killing field, a land of misery and hopelessness.  The truth remains that the people they are punishing, the ordinary man on the street, the voters that they refused to acknowledge that their lives are far better three years ago are the people they need to contend with. This country has regressed tremendously, it takes only God to put us back together, the sense of disunity has never been this rife, it is a divided nation. APC government brought a lot of tragedices into this country, a country that is not at any specific war burying 70 people, hundreds of their people on daily basis. There is nothing within this country in the last few years that will  make you smile, they have brought so much sadness into the land that the country is in constant mourning, everyday there must be one killing or the other, we must stop this, the average voter  must stop this, you must get your PVC to say no to all these. This is a land flowing with milk and honey, the land of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, where things were working and the nation  was respected among the comity of nations  being APC has let this country down and they will never return again.