All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, spoke exclusively with Sunday Editor, Festus Eriye on attempts to force his resignation and the post-primaries crisis in the ruling party. Excerpts:
Were you asked by DSS officers to resign as APC chairman?
It is inconceivable that Department of State Services’ officials or directors will ask the chairman of a political party whether of the right or of the left, whether of the opposition or of the governing party to resign, because the party has its own structure. If I were to resign, will I be addressing the letter to the director? Or will I be addressing the letter to someone through the director? Just like they say, if it’s not possible for a human being to give birth to a he-goat, I just think you should really insist whether or not that human being gave birth to a he-goat. It’s not possible for DSS to ask the chairman of a party to resign, and therefore they couldn’t have asked me to do what is beyond their brief to do.
Did they ask you to address a letter to the President offering your resignation?
I am not expected to take orders from DSS, as to whether to write letter to anyone, including Mr. President.
As a result of what has happened with the primaries and the submission of names there have been active threats in a couple of states. In Ogun, we understand that loyalists of the governor who have lost out are considering running on another party platform. We suspect that the same thing is going to happen in Imo. What will be the consequences, speaking as chairman, if your aggrieved party members decide to take that option?
I don’t know how we are ever going to have a democracy in which more than one person vies for an office and in the end… There’s no way you’re going to run a system where you have only one office and every other person believes he ought to win. It’s just not possible. But sometimes, when very visible, powerful people make statements, they command all the headlines. But it is also true that when you undermine the people’s democratic rights, people who may not be reportable, or who are voiceless, or whose voice is not loud enough, people don’t get to know how they feel, but they do react themselves. And if you talk to PDP leaders and they try to do post-mortem, there are many things that explain their defeat, including the way in which they mismanaged the economy. But some will also tell you that a lot of people left PDP because of this culture of impunity and imposition.
So, it’s not that if you choose to oblige everybody of power, it necessarily makes you safer. There may be no noise, or if there are noises they are not reportable because the people involved are small people, they are the voiceless majority, but on Election Day it is those voiceless majority that will be vocal in the way they deploy their PVC and how they vote. So, if you ask me, I believe our party is stronger after the primaries. The fear that people had… people have always chosen to speculate that APC will not survive a particular stage. When we were merged in 2015, not a few said we will not survive the presidential nomination process and other primaries, but all those came and passed and we proceeded to win the election. I believe today we are also stronger.
Now, the culture of people not accepting defeat going to field people in another party, well, sometimes you don’t have choice. You’re talking of one particular person’s supporters threatening to go to another party, and if that person had won unfairly, the other side that loses out too could also decide to defect and join another party, and contest on that party’s platform. So, it is not as if you have the cure. What we can do, which we will do, and which we are already about to try to do is that by the end of this month we will know exactly who is a candidate and who is not a candidate. We are still in the process of managing substitution.
Somebody just drew my attention a while ago that somebody has on her own withdrawn her candidature in a particular state in the Southeast. That is fair enough, following the party rules, we will now have to get someone who will replace that person. Until you complete these processes, you really cannot say who is in or out. Looking at the two examples you have given, it is not a zero loss if the word loss is even appropriate. I’m not sure it is even appropriate; because the fact that when you have governed a state, everybody in the state should be yours, you work for the good of all of them, and if for some reasons, the person you didn’t prefer happens to win, I think it is a matter of honour that you work with the person.
What we want to do is to first and foremost call a meeting of all those who have emerged from this process and calling them to recognize that their first duty is to work hard to earn the trust. I emphasie the trust; not just the support; the trust of the sitting governor, because that is important. The governors have their influence, you cannot wish it away. Nobody will oppose someone whom he believes will not be hostile to his interest. So, it is the responsibility of those who have emerged to reassure various groups, not just governors, but even fellow contestants that it is victory for everyone. Because when you govern well and in a manner that is open, you will find that even those who contested against you will become your best friends. The people who contested against me in Edo thereafter defected from PDP and joined me. One of the persons I think I’ve relied on most in handling of election issues, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor, happens to be somebody who was benefitted from my being rigged out: and, of course, I retrieved the mandate from him. We have since reconciled and, as far as I know, we have become best of friends, to the extent that he calls me when he has issues and I call him when I have issues and when I need people to help me get some job done and I know he has the competence to handle those jobs; I call on him and he has always obliged.
So, I believe that we will have to work on reconciliation (that is something we must take seriously). I still believe in my heart that there’s nothing personal between me and Governor Amosun. To be honest, Amosun and I have gotten on very well, even his wife and my wife are very close, but it’s just that you find yourself having to be a referee of a match, even as much as you want to be neutral, in your heart, there are players you have known. If you look between Amosun and those who are contesting against his preferred candidate, I have known Amosun more. In fact, I didn’t know these other people until this election period. That is the truth. So, if I have to exercise friendship, Amosun knows that things that are within my discretion, I will have no reason not to assist. But I do have a very difficult job of ensuring that I am fair to all. As they say in our oath of office, “neither affection nor ill-will should affect the decision that we take.” And this is an oath we all readily subscribe to everyday, but to give effect to it can be quite challenging.
To answer your question, we will have to work hard to do genuine reconciliation. We control the federal government, I believe the federal government, too, will also offer us another opportunity to let people know that if you are not given the privilege to serve at the level of the state, there probably exists opportunity to serve at some other level. So, I’m sure people will overcome their anger and we will work together.
Rochas is my friend, very good friend and I still do appreciate him. He’s a strong supporter of my candidature. The issues are a bit complex, but nothing personal. And I’m sure with time, he too will realize that there’s nothing really personal. And once you overcome the initial anger, like human beings, we will find common ground. He is a believer in the party, he is a believer in Mr. President, at least he has said so repeatedly. What that means is that he cannot opt for tactics that he knows will undermine the president’s interest.
But if you ask me about our chances of winning the election, I believe President Mohammed Buhari in his own name can win and will win in the coming election. But that’s not to say that he can do it all by himself. He will need trusted allies across the country, and there are quite a number who believe in him, not because he has performed miracles, but he possesses one quality which is a precondition for any other. Namely, you must have integrity, and given the most deadly disease that afflicts Nigeria, which is corruption, I think in President Buhari’s person, we have a leader who by the power of example can better lead in this fight.
I think there are Nigerians who are still appreciative of that, even as they also know that things are tough. There are no miracles in the life of a nation.
In Zamfara State, your party’s electoral chances are hanging by a thread, because now you have to depend on the court and that’s a 50/50 situation. If the court rules against you, you won’t have a candidate. Would there be consequences for the key players who created this crisis that could ultimately leave you without a candidate?
Well, my prayer is that the court will be fair and just. I have listened to several judgments by superior courts and they will always say it couldn’t have been the intentions of the law makers, when this law was being crafted, to do XYZ. And the courts, because they are courts of justice and fairness, I do not think that they will find comfort in siding with INEC to create a situation in which the great people of Zamfara State will not be able to have a fair choice between candidates on one party platform and another. The full effect denying us the right to field candidate would mean that INEC has declared the other people winners of an election that never took place.
I think that in terms of the letter and the spirit of the law, for equity and justice and sustenance of democracy, I’m very hopeful that the court will rule in our favour. Number two, I believe we have spoken to a number of senior advocates, and they’re all unanimous that INEC acted preemptively, and that INEC decision cannot stand in the face of the law. Because we are not dealing with a particular provision in the Electoral Act, we are just dealing with INEC’s own regulation. But even at that, INEC did not do thorough investigation before arriving at the decision that we did not conduct primaries before the deadline. We have evidence that we conducted the primaries before the deadline, particularly when you take into account that both the Electoral Act and the APC constitution, and APC NEC decision allow us to do direct, indirect and consensus. If four of us sit in this room and say, instead of subjecting all these people under the sun, it is because of four of us, they are queuing to choose one of us, why don’t we just save them the trouble, and we have a consensus in the room to step down for one person. So because INEC is not in this room, this consensus is not binding? I believe it is binding.
We are already in court to persuade INEC that it is not helpful for them to deny us. First, it is not true. Two, it will be unfair to award the state against the wish of the people of the state, to a particular political party. That will not meet the basic ingredient of democracy.