The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisah Metuh, spoke with reporters in Lagos on the protracted crises and efforts to reconcile the Kawu Baraje’s faction with the mainstream PDP. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.
How is the leadership of your party responding to the protracted crises rocking the fold?
The present crisis rocking the PDP has shown clearly that we do not have a credible opposition in the country. There’s no viable opposition. Definitely, we have issues and few challenges. The issues have been PDP and about PDP resolve our differences and we still fight our interest on a common front. Whatever opposition is minimal and insignificant and that of ineffective whatsoever. What the crises had shown is that there is no viable opposition in Nigerian politics. They have no effect on the political setting at the national level, except in some local government areas and states.
We are a big party. We had challenges, in terms of the interpretation of the constitution, procedure to run the party, ideas like people believing this is what we should be doing. We appreciate that some colleagues, the governors want internal democracy. The National Chairman is committed and the NWC is totally committed to internal democracy in the party. But it depends on the description of internal democracy. Internal democracy and entrenching free and fair mechanism does not mean complete opposition to the party.
There is nowhere in the entire world that a party that has a government at the centre will start to fight the government at the center. As custodians of the party constitution, as people who are at the helms of ensuring, we are committed to makingthe organs of the party to work effectively. We cannot stand by opposing the government that we have at the centre; the President and the elected people we have, especially when we believe the President is doing well. So, we have no reason being at loggerheads.
We have gone to court. In the court, the so-called faction was restrained from parading itself. Their officers were stopped from parading themselves as elected people, especially when they claimed they were elected on 30th of August. If you are elected as the chairman and the secretary on 30th of August, how come on 31st August at Eagle Square, they sat down to participate in our own convention. It is difficult to comprehend what they are saying. That’s why we went to court for complete interpretation. We would put them on notice so that we can argue that case because what we are saying is very straight forward. The judge now says the status given should be maintained.
They should stop parading themselves, stop any activity and they should not open any office. Any other thing the do will be in contempt of the court and luckily, the have been served yesterday evening. We believe going by the pronouncement of the court, they will not involve in any activity. What we asked for is not what the court granted us.
Once is then shocked, surprised and astonished when we opened the paper, we started seeing the court refuses application. What is the court refusing when it granted status-quo ante belum? That is exactly what we wanted and it means they cannot take any step. So because we are big, we end up having such problem of mis-interpretation. These are the problems we have politically as a party
How far has the elders gone in resolving the dead lock in the current crises rocking the party?
The truth is that our party welcome intervention of our former President and former Chairman of the Board of Trustee, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and other elders on the attempt to resolve the challenges and crises that we have. That is why our chairman and our governors have been attending the peace meeting. We have noted that they gave the impression that the party is not in support of the peace initiatives by the elders. It is very far from the truth. If we oppose to it their is no way our chairman, the chairman of PDP Governors Forum will be attending those meetings. We have given the peace move our blessing, we have hope they will be able to achieve it.
While we hope that these issues will be resolve, our chairman has set the agenda in statement and in speech that we are not oppose to resolution of these crises but it does not make us a weaker party. There are options and we would be waiting for any eventuality. The PDP remain strong and the party will be strong and as our chairman stated, whatever happened, we are willing and able to pilot the affairs of this party with loyal, committed and dedicated party members and we believe that with what we have seen of commitment of our members that we would continue to win elections and very importantly, we will win the 2015 election.
The key demand for peace by the break-away governors is that President Goodluck Jonathan should drop his ambition to run for 2015. What is your view?
I believe personally, that their demand is undemocratic. To be talking about someone’s ambition or give him condition like, is like saying that you should forget your ambition. That is undemocratic. It is not fair. You cannot deny him his constitutional right, except there is a pronouncement by the court or the constitution is against his ambition.
There is no way you can tell any man that is responsible and respected citizen, you cannot decide for him about his rights, especially when he is yet to make up his mind. It is completely in his own purview to decide whether to run or not. For anybody to give it as a condition, the person is not fair, as a matter of right. We frowned at such condition. Peace move should be hinged on things that are attainable.
It was alleged that those of you that were brought back into the party’s NEC are to work for President Jonathan’s ambition. What do you have to say to this?
I am working for the success of his administration. I have nothing to be ashamed of this. I am in support of the President to achieve the mandate we have given him. If and when he decides to run, my job, as an elected official of the party, would be to ensure an enabling environment for competitors and, whoever the party brings up, we’ll support him. Whoever wins the primaries, we’ll support him at the election.
The fact that you are part of the opposition at the national level does not mean some people are not against them in their states. So, people should be careful about how this issue is handle otherwise, we’ll continue to have opposition down to the local government level, and to the family level too. It should not be played up.
The aggrieved chieftains also want Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to resign. What is your view?
You cannot just come out and say Bamanga Tukur should go like that. There are mechanisms for achieving that. You cannot say the national chairman of a ruling party should go like that. If you have anything against his person, you need to wait for mid-term convention and you give the man a vote of no confidence by voting him out.
Otherwise, the fact that he is working with the President manifests an obvious inclination to support the President elected by his party to administer the affairs of the country. Those calling for his removal are being unfair. They should tell us what they want and not that Tukur should go because he is supporting the President in the administration of the country. Every President in the history of this country had worked with his party’s national chairman. Why should Tukur be an exception? Former Presidents of this country have worked with their party’s chairmen and the National Working Committee of their party and the governors at the state level are being supported by the state chairmen and the state executive committee of the party. Why is it now that there is a condition that Tukur should go? Is it because of his support for President Jonathan? It is undemocratic, it is unfair and un-political for anybody to give that condition. We should try and resolve our problems with things that are tenable, practicable and things that we can achieve.
Some said that Tukur had been expelled…
On Tukur’s membership, let us not go into the details of whether Tukur was expelled as a member or not. Any member of our party, if he is very much aware, would remember that, in 2006 and 2007, we had the Ekwueme Reconciliatory Panel that gave blanket amnesty to all members of this great party. Whatever happened in this party in the pre-2006 and 2007 periods, the Ekwueme Panel had pardoned everybody and restored them to their original positions, prior to that crises. Anybody that is knowledgeable about the history of our party and is truthful will stop talking about whether Tukur was expelld in the past or not. I am not aware of it and it is immaterial to me because all that happened in the party before setting up the Ekwueme Panel had been overtaken by the recommendations of that panel.
Is the President interested in running in 2015? I want you to clear air on this.
This is something that requires comment and one thing we should be honest with is that one should make a reasonable and honest answer.
This question would have been directed to Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe, who speaks for the President. I am not the presidential spokesman. I speak for the PDP. But being the President and the leader of the party, he might be interested. I can only speak for the party; I cannot speak for the President. You know where to draw the line.
It has been alleged that President Jonathan did sign a one term agreement with the governors…
We should be honest here. Is there any recording, any tape or video recording that shows that President Jonathan, when he was campaigning, he said he would run for one term? Has he ever said so?
