Tag: Makarfi

The chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has said that the party has learnt a lesson from the errors that culminated in the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidentail poll in 2015.

He also said the former President was betrayed by sycophants he surrounded himself with in the build-up to the election.

Jonathan had accused some powerful Northern elements in the PDP of betraying him and working against his interests in the 2015 presidential election; a situation he said was responsible for his defeat at the poll.

But Makarfi said apart from betrayal by sycophants, the PDP leadership made many mistakes by failing to take advice from the right people.

According to him, the sycophants that ruined Jonathan’s chances at the poll were not only Northerners but spread across the six geopolitical zones.

In an exclusive interview with our correspondents in Abuja on Thursday, Makarfi said, “The PDP made many mistakes and I have said it before. Of course there were betrayers left, right and centre, even those of us who stood for other elective offices we can be talking that way.

“We made mistakes, we were not listening to what people had to tell us. We were too comfortable.

“Then, of course, sycophancy took over. And when sycophancy takes over, what would you end up with?

“There were all kinds of betrayals. We have learnt our lessons now. I don’t want to cry over spilled milk.

“We should learn from the mistakes that we have made for not listening to the true voices of the people.

“Going forward, we should try to avoid a situation where we would be saying someone betrayed us.

“No matter what, you will find Judases here and there, and you cannot do away with them in life. Not even in politics.

“And when they are in the majority, you have to look at yourself as a party and the honest truth is that we made fundamental errors and it created a fertile ground for that betrayal.

“I am not defending it because it ought not to have happened. And people would have been more patient. But not everybody can be patient.”.

On the argument by some prominent Northern party chieftains that PDP would have won the 2015 election if the party had fielded a popular candidate from the North instead of Jonathan, Makarfi agreed that the race would have been easier for the party.

“Yes, the result would have been different,” he said. “But even then, Jonathan as the candidate if the party had listened a lot more and rejigged its campaign, its language and the message.

“True or false, the votes difference was about two million. It would have been different even with Jonathan as a candidate. It is not just of him as a candidate, but communicating better and dealing with the right people could have made the situation different.

“But that is history. So we should learn from the mistakes we have made. So you cannot entirely say because Jonathan was a candidate.

“Of course, it would have been much more easier. But even with him as candidate, the characters fronting for PDP were not characters that could have won election for the party.”

On the future of the PDP, in view of the party’s protracted leadership crisis, Makarfi said his group was waiting for the commencement of its appeal against the court backed National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff.

According to him, since Sheriff had spurned the reconciliation moves initiated by Jonathan and others, there is no other option than to allow the Supreme Court to decide his fate.

Makarfi and his group have approached the apex court, seeking to nullify Sheriff’s stranglehold on the party. The Supreme Court is expected to commence hearing in the case on May 4.

Asked what would be the fate of the PDP should his faction lose the case to Sheriff at the apex court, Makarfi said that would spell the death knell for the crisis-ridden opposition party.

Said he: “If it happens that way, then PDP would die. But those who would be working to kill PDP that way, I assure them they would end up being confronted with a bigger political force than the PDP itself.

“Because politics is about people, there is no way, let me speak here for the North that I know so well, there is no way in the North with Sheriff at the helm of affairs of PDP that voters would on their own go and vote PDP. There is no way.

“We have just seen it in a recent election in Delta State that they have turned their back against PDP because of Sheriff. And it may be so in many states of the southern part of this country.

“These people are alive, they are politicians, they are active. Water will surely find its level.

“And consistently, we have been saying that we are not going to be caught unawares. We are not going to be caught without options.

“We cannot boast of what the Supreme Court judgment would be but we are hopeful that they would do what is right. And in our opinion, what is right is upholding the Convention.

“But should what we think is right not right before the Supreme Court, so be it. We will decide our political direction in good time. And that political direction, I assure you, would be one that would be more potent than the PDP as it is.”

The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the probe panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director-General, Abiodun Oke.

Instead, the PDP factional leader called for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the officials.

Lawal and Oke were on Wednesday suspended from office by President Buhari following the former’s involvement in alleged contract scam and the latter’s claim to ownership by the NIA of hidden cash discovered in a Lagos private apartment.

The President has set up a three-man panel headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to probe the two public officials. The National Security Adviser, Gen. Babagana Mongunu and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami are members of the panel.

Lawal will be answering questions on a N230 million grass-cutting contract he awarded to Rholavision Engineering Limited, a company in which he has interest. Oke will be grilled on his claim to the ownership of cash totaling about N13 billion in local and foreign currencies discovered in a private apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos.

But in a statement by the spokesman of the Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Makarfi described the Osinbajo panel as “another ruse” to deceive Nigerians and dress up the “flailed” anti-corruption war in a new garb.

Makarfi’s argument is hinged on the fact that the Presidency had earlier dismissed a Senate ad hoc committee’s report that indicted Lawal and which had called for his removal and prosecution.

A report of investigation on Lawal, submitted by Malami had cleared the suspended SGF of wrongdoing in the contract scam, thereby rubbishing the Senator Shehu Sani report that indicted the suspended Federal Government scribe.

The statement reads: “Let Nigerians recall that the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria did set-up an ad-hoc Committee in 2016 headed by Senator Shehu Sani, a Senator representing Kaduna Central, to investigate the expenditures and activities of the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE), which Engr. Babachir in his capacity as the SGF was overseeing.”

The Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government of running a Gestapo state.

According to the faction, the country is fast drifting into a dictatorship and possible anarchy under the present administration.

A statement yesterday by the spokesman of the Makarfi camp, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, complained that prominent individuals that held public office in the last administration are being arrested and detained indefinitely without trial.

“For instance, the former Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam was arrested by men of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) and has been in detention for over two months now without trial.

“Also, the former Niger State Governor Dr. Babangida Aliyu was arrested on April 5, 2017 by officers of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and like the others, he has been in detention and yet no case has been filed against him in any court by the anti-graft agency.

“Former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) has been in custody for about two years now without trial. Similar brutality, arrest and mindless detention went on with other PDP leaders and members that were arrested by either the DSS or the EFCC,” the statement said.

The opposition lamented what it described as media trial and conviction of opposition elements before they are proven innocent or otherwise by the courts.

The statement added: “It is also very clear in the Constitution of Nigeria that no security agency has the right or power to detain suspects more than 48 hours without trial.

“Ironically, while former leaders and members of the PDP are being arrested indiscriminately and detained without trial, other former office holders of the ruling APC, who have been accused of various corrupt practices are yet to be arrested. Instead, they are compensated with juicy ministerial appointments. Double standards.

“We are in a constitutional democracy and as such, the present APC administration must lead by example and obey court orders. It is on record that most of these suspects have been granted bail by the courts of the land and the ECOWAS Court in the case of Col. Sambo Dasuki .This is sheer lawlessness!

“We wish to further assure the public that the PDP is not against the anti-corruption fight. Our stand is that the present APC government must follow due process in dealing with issues of corruption as the PDP did during its governments without violating human rights of citizens, especially those suspects that may later be found innocent by the law court.”