Alhaji Sikiru Oke is the Deputy National Chairman of Accord Party. He was the party’s pioneer National Legal Adviser and helped in drafting the party’s constitution. He spoke with SEYI ODEWALE on why his party is not fielding any presidential candidate for the forthcoming election, why the party has not adopted any presidential candidate of any party and other sundry issues bordering on election. Excerpts:
Why is your party not fielding candidate for the presidential election?
It is true we are not having a presidential standard bearer, but it is not we can manufacture by ourselves. People must show interest in the party to want to use its platform to stand for election. It is not that we did not have people who are interested in contesting on our platform, but when we did some screenings, we discovered that some people were not credible, they were just looking for a party to use to stand as its standard bearer, to negotiate with the two major political parties to collect money, influence and political appointments. Some of them after getting our party’s nod to represent us at the polls would go to these major parties and tell them that they are ready to step down for their candidates, if they are willing to pay much.
We had a similar case in Ondo State in the last election that held in that state. We had a candidate, who said he had no money to pay the nomination fee of N1 million and he was aspiring to become the governor of the state. We looked at him and said instead of us not fielding any candidate at all in that election, we could waive the money for him just to feature him as our candidate in that election, at least, our name would be mentioned in that election even if we did not win. To me, my belief is that if as a candidate you do not have one million to pick the form to express you intention to run on the party’s platform, how then will you campaign and mobilise the people? Election these days are not based on your character alone, you must be able to mobilise your people to vote for you and this involves money.
So, we fielded him in that election only to discover that he went to the Labour Party to negotiate, he also went to the PDP to discuss with them and he manipulated himself in such a way that the unfortunate happened to him. His name did not come out as a candidate for Accord Party in that election. On going to the Election Tribunal, he filed a case for exclusion in the election and the implication was that there had to be a re-run.
And since he did not pay the party’s nomination fee, some documents that were supposed to be sent by the party to INEC were not sent. This actually was the reason for his exclusion. But because certain forms were submitted to INEC through the back door without our knowledge, his name got to INEC, but was not printed on the ballot papers.
When we got to Ondo State, the case began, which at the end of it all may necessitate calling for another election, which again may put some huge financial burden on the Federal Government and the parties. So, everyone saw the implication of the re-run. Those who lost in that election wanted a rerun as it would help them improve on their performances. But the party that won did not want a rerun as this might deplete its already lean purse. So, we heard it on good authority that the parties started negotiating with that fellow, who was demanding for N1 billion. The APC wanted a rerun of that election and wanted him not to succumb, so also was the PDP. But the Labour Party did not want a rerun, so all these parties had to negotiate with him and offered him something. It was him these parties knew not the Accord Party and as such, he was not carrying the party along.
So, when we heard about all these, we said we were not going to be a party to any of it because it was fraudulent. When the issue got to my table as the party’s legal adviser for advice, because I was then the party’s founding legal adviser before I became its deputy national chairman, I said the man was not our candidate, he did not pay. When he spoke to me on phone, he said he had problem raising the money and promised to write an undertaking to pay later, which I said he should do. He then asked his personal assistant to bring a hand-written undertaking on an ordinary sheet of paper, not even a letter-headed paper and the said undertaking was not written in my presence. So, I told him on phone that he did not look to me as a serious candidate. I said if he was serious enough, nothing would have stopped him from coming to Abuja to see me and discuss, but he did not.
Eventually when we discovered his antics, we summoned an emergency meeting of the party’s national working committee and sent a delegate to Ondo State to appear at the tribunal because he manipulated the tribunal in believing that a representative of the party’s national executive was at the court, which we did not know anything about. In order not to tarnish the image of the party, the national secretary and some other executives were asked to go to Ondo State to testify against this fellow at the tribunal. A drama actually ensued when the case was called. Someone stood up and introduced himself as the party’s chairman while the real chairman was at the tribunal.
The chairman, accompanied by other executives, also stood up to introduce themselves. The court was thrown into pandemonium. The impostor later ran away. But the party categorically told the tribunal that it did not know the plaintiff and that he was not the candidate of the party as he did not purchase the party’s nomination form and did not fulfill all the conditions laid down by the party for him to run on its platform. We did that in the interest of the party and the nation. We did not collect any money from any party to have done what we did.
So, we were guided by that experience in screening those who came out as presidential aspirants this time around. We then resolved not to have anybody who may want to use our name to start negotiating as we had it in Ondo State. And coming to our participations in general elections, you would recall that our party had an affiliation with the PDP about 70 to 80 per cent of our founding national officers were from PDP.
Were they deployed from PDP or they defected?
They were sort of deployed because at that time, PDP was having some internal wrangling and the late Chief Solomon Lar took PDP to court on the issue of leadership of the party. So, because they were not sure of what might befall that party, some of them needed a plan B and the Accord Party was their supposed alternative in case PDP crashed. That was how Accord came up. But shortly before we were registered, PDP got over its problem and some of those that came to join us went back to PDP.
I was not a member of the PDP. I started with Accord as its legal adviser, being a lawyer. I took part in writing the constitution of the party and I became the first national legal adviser.
Looking at it from that angle, it got to a point that they said since PDP is not having problems again we should all fuse into the party. But I said no, I was not a member of PDP and would not join it. We have to start negotiating with them, don’t forget, that was 2003 when election had held. That time we had our party members in the National Assembly some state assembly. We had Senator Osakwe at the upper chambers, while three of our members were in the Delta State House of Assembly and a commissioner was appointed from our party then in Delta State. This was our party’s first outing.
We then said if we were to go back to PDP we should negotiate and we set up a committee to meet with their committee and they were about holding their congress then. We then said as conditions for joining them that if they (PDP) took the slot of the party chairman, the slot of the deputy must be given to us. The same formula was to be applied for the secretariat. But unfortunately, this could not fly as they queried the strength of our party. Olusola Oke, who was their legal adviser then, said we should come and collapse into the PDP that was because all the parties were making one move or the other, but we said no, instead of doing that we would rather maintain our identity as a party. What informed our decision was the way the former Vice President Atiku Abubabakr was treated by the PDP when he was begged to return to PDP after his initial exit.
Atiku then returned to PDP and was asked to go to his ward to register to be readmitted into the party. He was reduced to an ordinary party man. So, at my level then I’m sure if I had gone to the ward to register, they would not have given me an ordinary ward leader. So, its better I remain in my party where I will be relevant. I preferred to stay back and if they call for leaders of the party I’m sure of being counted as one.
Since my survival does not depend on the party; I would not mind staying back in my party than to go to PDP and be rubbished. And as God would have it in 2007, Senator Rashid Ladoja was not given the governorship ticket of the PDP. This was the fall out of his impeachment, which he fought at the court and won. I was one of the lawyers, who defended him up to the Supreme Court. But before the Supreme Court could give its judgment in favour of Ladoja, the PDP in Oyo State had done its primaries, which chose Alao-Akala. Ladoja was still interested in contesting, but he had no platform, hence he joined our party. I presented him to the electorate at Mapo Hall, Ibadan. I was then the national legal adviser of the party. And he tried a lot, but lost the election. However, through him we had four House of Representatives members, 11 House of Assembly members. So, we are in the minority in Oyo State and without us in that state Assembly, nothing can move. We have the deputy speaker and five commissioners in the state cabinet.
Recently PDP approached us based on what we had done for them in the past. In 2007, we adopted Yar’adua/Jonathan ticket as our candidate. In 2011, we were silent about endorsement. The result of our endorsement in 2007 was some ministerial slot to compensate us for supporting them. Our first chairman, Ikhra Bilbis, was made a minister. In 2011 our national secretary was made a commissioner in Imo State and all sorts of positions were given to us. Although we were silent on Jonathan’s endorsement in 2011, we were still given some board appointments. Our national chairman, Lawal Nalado was given a board appointment
This time around the PDP approached us, but we have not yet given them our word; we are still talking. We have not endorsed any party. This is because we don’t want a situation where some people will go and collect money on behalf of the party. Something happened last month, some top members of the ruling party approached us and we told them our proposal and before we knew it they had invited the media and I spoke specifically that we are still talking and have not endorsed any presidential candidate or any party. The door is open to any party that wishes to talk with us; we are not an appendage of the PDP. If APC approaches us we will talk with them and see how our discussion can benefit the nation. So that day, I told the media that we have not adopted any party. The following day, I was bombarded with many calls telling me that they heard me say that my party has adopted Goodluck Jonathan. And I said no. Cleverly, what the NTA did was to cut an area where I said we have adopted PDP before and attached it to where I mentioned that members of our working committee are meeting with them to give the impression that I said we have adopted Jonathan. What I specifically said that day was “we have adopted PDP before, we are still talking and nothing will stop us from adopting them if we agree on terms”. The station did not complete my statement to give the impression that my party has adopted President Jonathan. The following morning I made some calls to the organisers of the meeting and I told them that, that was not what I said. I then called another press conference to set the records straight where I said we have not adopted Jonathan and that we are still talking.
At another forum where other parties gathered to discuss similar issue, I was categorical about it and I said we have not adopted President Jonathan and I equally spoke to press to make my party stand known that we have not endorsed President Jonathan. Concerning the shift in polls’ date, I said my party did not support it. We wanted the election to hold. If we had endorsed President Jonathan, we would have taken the same stand with the PDP.
The impression people had was that every other party apart from the APC was cajoled to support the shift in the election date and people thought the parties were perhaps induced to have rallied support for the ruling PDP, which it needed at that material time. So, people felt that Accord Party also supported the shift.
Myself, and the national secretary of our party, Alhaji Nureni Adisa, represented the party. Why I’m representing the party these days is because my national chairman has been indisposed of late. He travelled for medical checkup and just returned. So, while he was away the responsibility fell on me as his deputy to represent him. Of course, we heard it that they lured some parties. As a lawyer, I must be mindful of what I say, what I don’t see I regard as hearsay. I was not given money, I was not called upon to come and collect money. I was there with my national secretary to represent my party. INEC called all political parties to hear our opinions, whether we support the shift or not. So, our secretary, Alhaji Nureni Adisa and I were there. When we got there, Jega gave us the low down, how they have performed and the way forward. The lobbying must have taken place before the meeting. Our party’s position did not border on inducement, but on what we thought would move this country forward. So, when people said PDP was offering some parties some money, I heard it and I refused to go there. This is why my party did not support the shift in election dates.
Fortunately, I can tell you authoritatively that immediately Jega presented the situation to us, I was the first to speak because we sat alphabetically, because Accord is the first on the list. I said it categorically that in Yobe State, where there is insurgency, the governor of the state held a rally there that day and there was no bomb blast, in Maiduguri, Borno State they have been holding rallies there and no insurgency disturbed them. So also in Damaturu, Yola and Adamawa, they have held rallies there and no reported case of bomb blast while the rallies held, why citing security reason for postponing the elections? We have never had it on record that a political rally was bombed whenever they held rallies. The only place we heard of bombings at political rally was Rivers State where there is no insurgency.
Looking at the state of preparedness for the election, INEC was fully prepared. If we extend this election for more than one year, those who will not collect their PVCs will collect them. The percentage of PVC that has not been printed is so negligible, so also is for those who have collected their PVCs. But that is not INEC’s problem. The commission has printed the cards and the people have refused to collect them.
I said if truly there was security challenge as they put it, my party and I were not in support of the shift. At the end of the day 16 parties supported the poll shift, while only nine of us, including the APC, were against poll shift.
Let us look at the election, what are your projections, particularly the way parties have gone about their campaigns, which many say are not issue-based, but those of calumny and hate, do you see them bringing good results?
Political parties have resorted to propagandas instead of facing the realities. We know what is happening in PDP states, we can assess the performances of their governors. In APC states people can equally assess the performances of their governors. At the federal level we all can see. Nobody is blind and if you are, you can still perceive what has been done. The level of development whether it is commensurate with the revenue received. But instead of campaigning to tell the electorate about what they can do, what they have done and what they will do, they have resorted to assassinating their characters. If somebody says he will do something what then is your headache about that? Its only when he has failed that you can talk. The dimension which the campaigns have gone is worrisome; they are shallow and shameful.
What some of the politicians don’t know and which damages their credibility is telling lies. Why should you tell lies? What you cannot do why say you can do it? This is the root of the problems most politicians are facing. They would have promised one thing or the other to the electorate, which unfortunately they could not fulfill. And instead of coming out clean to tell them why they could not, they will then be blaming the opposition for their inadequacies and would want to resort to all manners of trick to be re-elected.
However, with the way elections in Ekiti and Osun States went, it will be extremely difficult for any political party to rig in the forthcoming election. With the use of PVCS and card readers coming into play, it will be difficult to rig. When the issue of deploying soldiers came up, we looked at it as something new. At a forum organised by INEC for parties, which I attended I said constitutionally, it is wrong to deploy soldiers to monitor election. But it has got to a level whereby our police are not being respected again by the people. What I told INEC is that there should awareness
Are you saying that your party supports soldiers’ deployment on the Election Day?
If you are asking for my personal views, I would say yes, but if it is my party’s views you want to know, I cannot speak for the party because it is a decision, which will be taken by the party’s executives and its NEC and working committee. But left to me, with what I saw in Ekiti and Osun States and since the soldiers would not be there to molest anybody, I would say yes to maintain law and order. Though it is unconstitutional, but we can bend the law, but not break it. I agree that it is unconstitutional going by the judgment of the court over Ekiti polls tribunal, but there was nowhere it was reported that there was a breakdown of law and order and I think the soldiers’ presence ensured that.
Going by the recent revelation of recorded video of how last year’s Ekiti governorship election was rigged, what is your take on it?
Fortunately, I was part of the team of lawyers that defended Governor Ayo Fayose at the tribunal. And fortunately or unfortunately, the tribunal has delivered its judgment before that revelation came up. However, may I say since the so-called revelation came up I have not been privileged to listen to the said tape. As at the time it came out it could not have been included in the matter because it would have amounted to an extraneous matter. So, to have brought it into the matter before the tribunal would have been difficult.
If APC were to drag the matter to court what do you see as happening?
They would have to prove beyond reasonable doubts that because it is criminal offence. In law there is what we call Actus rheus and mens rea. They are Latin words for actions taken and the intention behind them. Before one commits an offence there must be an intention for it and there must be acts carrying out that intention. There are some intentions one may want to carry out but one may b constrained of not opportune to do so, one cannot be punished for that. And there are some acts never intended to be carried out but do happen, one cannot be punished also, as they are accidental. So these people might have planned to rig the election, but might not have had the capacity to do so or in the alternative, the atmosphere might not have allowed for such act.
But the dailies reported that the likes of Omisore and Fayose confessed that the voices on the said tape were theirs?
Even if they heard their voices on the said tape and all that, where exactly did they carry out their intention by way of action? They planned and agreed on what to do but on getting there and seeing security men, were they able to do what they said they wanted to do on the said tape?
But it was alleged that the soldiers on ground were accomplices to what they allegedly did?
It is not possible. You would have witnessed one or two or more of such elections in Nigeria and you would agree with me that, that was the most sanitised election in the country. You remember in those days of second republic when ballot boxes would be snatched and stuffed with ballot papers? Those things cannot happen again this time around. Tell me how could it have been possible to rig when accreditation of voters starts almost immediately in all polling booths and ends at the same time? So, it is not possible to vote simultaneously in two places.
But do you agree that rigging has stages; before, during and after election?
It is not possible to rig in any form.
Assuming the election is rigged after voters had cast their votes, and election results are doctored after the election had ended?
It is not possible. Why and how it is not possible is that by the time votes are being counted all party agents will endorse the result in the presence of everyone and have their copies and don’t forget this internet age all the results before you know what is happening would have been posted on the internet via e-result. So, how would you manufacture the result from elsewhere and which ward would you say have the result? The level INEC has placed election in Nigeria is very high. You cannot rig, if you are not popular, you are not popular.
With the use of PVCs and Card readers, it will be extremely difficult to rig. Once you place your thumb on the reader your identity will show. You cannot use stolen PVC or somebody else’s card. Accreditation and voting takes place simultaneously so, how would you rig? So, the presence of soldiers, to me, would bring sanity and people would behave. You would not want to commit suicide by trying to snatch ballot boxes or disrupt voting process if you sight a soldier nearby. So, those contemplating rigging should perish that thought.
