Former Vice Chairman South-West of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Eddy Olafeso, speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on the current state of Nigeria, crisis within South-West of his party and the way out, among other issues. Excerpts.
Recently, the National Assembly amended the Electoral Act that parties can use direct or indirect mode of primaries or consensus. How do you see the development?
Refining the electoral act to accommodate party’s constitution is a clear headed thinking that the parties can choose whatever choice they will have to make but the question is that the issue of the consensus must be carefully looked at that people don’t take advantage of it again, to begin to kick out those that are not on the same view with them, because if you want to say consensus, it means every party members agreed one hundred percent on an issue or over a candidate. But is this really possible in politics? Except on rare occasions but no matter good a law is, those that are going to put it to practical use are those that will have to watch out and Nigeria is not a good example of where laws are followed to letters. For me it is a welcome development, all I want is for the electoral bill to be signed, so that INEC can begin in ernest preparation along the line of the new law that is put in place.
With the likely signing of the Electoral Act bill, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said they are waiting for, do you still see elections taking in 2023, with insecurity and other challenges in the country?
What won’t it come up? Why are we going to lose an opportunity again to speak or make a choice or do they want to kill this country? How can someone think that election will not come up in 2023, do you prefer chaos, mayhem and violence to election that we can say we pick this to drop this. No, our country must continue and we must continue to look at how best we can live together and I am of the opinion that whoever is suggesting that there shouldn’t be election in 2023 wants to promote anarchy and that should not be what we are angling for now.
But, looking at the insecurity in the land, especially in the North.
There was election in 2015; there was election in 2019, there will be election in 2023, and part of the insecurity is because we are yet to get good leadership to lead this country because I believe that shouldn’t be the reason why there won’t be election in 2023. It’s still a long way, we can still rally and ensure that the country is safer that it is today, unless we have given up on our country that we cannot improve where we are today, that’s when somebody would say there shouldn’t be election in 2023.
For me, there is still a lot of work to be done by both sides, as we have our own challenges, so do the APC, but I know overtime, the PDP will overcome all its challenges. By the time the Supreme Court case is out and lay to rest the seeming injustice in the system that led to the removal of Prince Uche Secondus, we all have to find a way to unite the party and prepare ourselves for the 2023 elections. We will do the best we can, the beauty of this is that our structures are existing and all we need to do is to pull up and get ready to mobilise our people to continue to find way through which we can find better leadership for Nigeria. The APC has done about 80 percent of the job but they failed woefully in the last six or seven years, so what we need is to rout them out and we begin afresh with a new deal with Nigerian people.
The INEC recently said there are more PVC with the commission, people are not collecting the PVC and we are close to the election year, what’s the implication of this.
The experiences of the past is the reason why people are not showing enthusiasm, will their votes count again or have they been able to put people in government that are really sensitive to the needs of the people? We have a government like we don’t have a government. We still have all these vices trailing us, kidnappings, violence, banditry, death, and the people are tired of all these, the citizens are tired of voting and not seeing the effect of good governance in their lives. I think it›s a major issue and its good that INEC is crying out , and I think the government must do something and all of us must do something to encourage people to collect their PVC in readiness to vote those who they want to vote for and vote out those they have considered useless in advancing the course of development for the country.
The PDP in Ondo is still enmeshed in crisis; there seems to be a division in the party. What is the current leadership doing to bring all the aggrieved members together
For once over a year, I’ve started attending meetings and I’ve been able to speak with virtually everybody out there that has been in trenches against each other. For me, like I’ve expressed in many fora, what is important is for us to be united. For some time the party seems to be silenced because we are fighting against each other. They fought me to the heel but I just discovered that it’s not that important, the past is gone and what is important is the future and if we want to win, we must start the work today, we must do everything possible to make sure you rally your people and you fight to dislodge the APC government that has been lackluster. It is not fighting ourselves that will bring victory, it is uniting and we are lucky we have the former governor returned with his followers, the more the merrier and we must do everything possible to welcome everybody while everybody we are welcoming must equally play by the rules, must equally be equitable, must show fairness, must play according to the constitution of the party, so that we can find the way through which we can take power again. It’s been long for us, especially some of us from the old PDP, we left offices in 2009 and we are yet to return, even Labour Party has been out for six years, so our people are really desirous to bring in a new thinking, a new vision to the government of Ondo state and that’s exactly what we intend to do.
But some PDP members are kicking against the return of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his supporters?
I want to tell you that we have laid that to rest. There are just misgivings and we have laid that to rest. I have said it and spoke about it a week ago that what is important is not for all of us fighting for ranks, we have to drop our ranks now and face squarely the issue of mobilisation, the INEC registration, issue of encouraging people to join the party and it is the responsibility of everybody in the state, local government and ward, to do everything to ensure that we encourage people to come together to fight and win the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 and 2025 election
How would rate the present administration in the state; is the state moving towards the right direction
We are not paying salaries. There are various allegations of misappropriation, allegations of people cornering the resources of the state. So, I don’t think we are moving toward the right direction. If the APC government is thinking straight, there are a lot of things they can do to raise resources and continue to develop the land, but there is so much gap between the people’s expectations and their performance delivery. We can’t say we are moving towards the right direction, there are lot of things to be done so that people can enjoy the dividends of democracy.
What is the state of things in the South-West PDP?
We don’t really know what they are doing. They have never called a meeting. Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja took the number three position; Soji Adagunodo too. They had a dinner that was poorly attended. The South-West PDP today cannot be compared to when I was in office. There is no direction. It is rudderless and I wonder how that will encourage and provide the opportunity for us to do well in the 2023 elections, if the intervening year between the elections is just the way it is. The year is new and we hope before long they will be able to come out tell us exactly what they intend to do to unify the party in the south west, the party is fractured.
And what is responsible for this?
Attitude and brigandage that visited not only the South-West congress but the national convention, where some of us were needlessly blocked from contesting. I say this with every sense of responsibility what was done was nothing in consonance with party and it is so unfortunate that it happened. For us, we are willing to unite and to work for the party but the leadership of the party must try to make the first move but they are not doing anything. All we hear is intrigues here and there, by now the south west must be committed and concerned about the outcome of Ekiti and Osun election. They must be the front runner in calling attention to everything, doing everything in uniting the leadership and doing everything but have you heard from them? Nothing. This is because even the National convention that is being celebrated is just a capture of power by a few people who assume that once power is captured they can have everything, or how do you unite people by not playing to the letters of the constitution?. That›s why I said that by the time I me we leave the Supreme Court, we will know how best to bring all the leaders and party together and sit at the round table to see how best to move the party forward from this situation.
But if the verdict of the Supreme Court favours Secondus, won’t that be another setback for the party?
We did not create that scenario. Those who did not follow the letters of the PDP Constitution created that scenario. Secondus did not take anybody to the court, there was perpetual injunction against him for no just cause and nobody ever considers Section 57 (7) of the PDP Constitution before that decision was taken. So, we cannot blame Secondus seeking redress from the Supreme Court to clear his name from all the allegations that he was never allowed to defend.
But, can there be out of court settlement to move the party forward.
They are not and one section cannot just say that we have the accolade without talking to the other side, if you really wanted to deny Secondus his own right and you want to get away with it, you expect Secondus to just sit down and do nothing about it, it cannot be like that , these are part of the challenges that the party would have, but for some of us we continue to work for unity, for me, none of this is as important as security power for the benefit of the Nigerian people and bringing Nigerians out of this precipice. It is so tragic that our debt profile has risen, inflation has gone beyond the roof, and they are contemplating raising petroleum products to N302. So, where will the common man be? We need to be united to fight these demons. Between 1998 and 2004, per barrel of oil under former President Olusegun Obasanjo was less than $36. Yet, he was able to pay over $40 billion of the Paris Club debt. We were able to move ahead in various directions and the nation was moving on.
But these people would come and say the PDP has destroyed Nigeria. Between 1994 and 1998 under General Sani Abacha, Nigeria was a pariah state after the death and execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa. There was no nation; the Commonwealth decided that Nigeria should be suspended. There was nothing going on, but the PDP came and rectified all that. We can still come back to do all these and that’s why I am appealing to our leaders in the PDP that the earlier we began to embrace equity and fairness, as well as correct in terms of applying the constitution of the party, the better for all of us. This brigandage, arrogance, raw and naked exhibition of power cannot lead us anywhere. We must learn by experience and do the right thing for Nigerian people.
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