Why PDP loses member at higher rate, few days to election — Segun Oni..... Engineer Segun Oni is a former governor of Ekiti State. He is presently the Deputy Chairman, South, of the All Progressives Congress, APC. He explains, among other issues in this interview, why General Muhammadu Buhari, his party’s presidential candidate, if elected into office in the February general elections, will not run a corrupt government. You had a presidential primary that held without rancour. What would you say was the secret? Whatever I say now, you may say I am biased, it (the convention) was a very good thing. I would say that it was the best thing that ever happened to this country so far in terms of party primaries. It was a primary that nobody knew who was going to carry the day. That means that it was free, fair. It was glaring to everybody. And that is why I think we have the almighty God to thank for this. Now your party’s candidate has a strong opposition in the incumbent president. How do you surmount this hurdle? We are very confident that we will overcome. We said one thing on that day and I want to repeat it here. This primary is an indication that God is actually involved in the Nigeria project. This is the finger of God. Everything went right. And it has been going right, from the primaries all over the place. It means the change Nigerians have been yearning for and the answer to their prayer has started coming. For anybody who can analyze, introspect, you would have seen that this indeed is the direction God is taking Nigeria. We are a party that is very heavy on the ground, because we are receiving everyday converts from other parties. Your party heavy everywhere or in some places? Everywhere. You can say we are not sufficiently heavy in the South-East which is the only zone for now. But everyday, we are receiving people in the same South –East. If you look at the party closely, you will see that we are capable of winning. Look at the states we control. Look at how strong we are, and I think that is why you journalists should do a lot of thorough analysis. APC is seen, for those defecting to it, as the option such that the party has become a generator of sort to rely upon when there is no electricity? Don’t forget that we have our own area of strength. Yes, we may not be in all states but we have the capability of winning on our own. But in those places where we don’t have the capability of winning, we make up with the top shots of the other parties who are coming to our party. Because their party mismanaged their fortune, they had to seek refuge some where else. I always tell Nigerians that why should the country trust PDP which cannot manage themselves? Are you surprised that Nigeria is the way it is? PDP cannot manage itself. We have two former National Chairmen of the PDP with us now: Chiefs Audu Ogbeh and Barnabas Gemade. We have a former National Secretary of the party, Prince Oyinlola, with us as well as a former deputy National Chairman, Chief Samsom Jaja and a host of other people. So, if the PDP, despite being in power, does not have the management capability to put its house in order, should you then be surprised that its members are decamping to our party? Let me tell you, if it was possible for Nigerians to decamp, most Nigerians would have left it by now. I am a product of that system, mind you. So, I know the only thing they thought they could do well is to win elections, and that is why I am glad now because that would be tested against real opposition. They have not managed their affairs well. It is not our fault. If a party is in power and it continues to lose members the way they are losing it now, it is quite indicative of their inability to manage. So, the PDP has no management capability and I am not surprised that they have managed Nigeria down. They have not been able to manage Boko Haram. They have not been able to contain corruption, in fact, that is the only thing they can do well. Talking about insurgency, it is already established that it was the creation of you politicians. So it is a class creation. It may be a class thing in the head of politicians, but it is a management thing in the hands of government. And I can tell you that the principal problem of the security challenge is corruption. You want some people to go and face enemies and they are not well taken care of. You are not releasing their allowances as and when due whereas some people are there feeding fat on their money. What do you think their morale will be? Put yourself in their position. But my news to our security operatives is that hope is on the way. It will no longer be that some people receive what belongs to the majority and turn them hapless people. Given the same platform as incumbent, some have said the opposition too could even be worse than what you are ascribing to the PDP. No. It is not possible. It can not be worse. Now, you have somebody to compare with. The president once said that what people are calling corruption is mere stealing. What is mere stealing? That is corruption. You see him in the mould of a father whose children are said to be stealing eraser and the father says, ‘is it not mere eraser they stole? Is that why you are complaining?’ You should know that that father’s frame of mind does not agree with normalcy. Therefore, you can say such father will never discredit stealing. If a president says mere stealing is called corruption, that means he does not know what corruption is. If he does not know what corruption is, then indirectly you are encouraging it. Nigeria can never get bad in the hands of anybody I know in our party. There can never be corruption under Buhari’s watch for the simple reason that, prolifigacy will never be encouraged. You know the general well. He has lived his spartan life for more than seven decades, how can such a person suddenly change? He cannot. He has passed the age where people can change. APC will not run a corrupt government. Nigerians, we are too skeptical to believe that real change is not achievable, it is achievable. I want to tell you, this one will be achieved. This is the finger of God and Nigerians should prepare for it and embrace it. There are complaints here and there in the states regarding your party’s governorship primaries. A case study is that of Lagos State where the eventual candidate was said to have been imposed on other aspirants. Many people think this may affect the party in the general elections. No, it won’t affect our chances. We are resolving the disagreement as we speak. But let me tell you, there is nothing like imposition. The primaries were free and fair. What Nigerians call imposition, most of the time, is mere endorsement. In America, they say it is endorsement, they won’t say Clinton imposed Obama. Or the Kennedy family endorsed Clinton instead of imposition which we call it here. They won’t say Bush imposed his son, it is mere endorsement. Politics is a mind field for goodwill and influence. Some people have it, some don’t. Someone who doesn’t have much of it will go to people who have it. And if those who have it should throw their weight in a particular direction, that is not imposition. When the late sage (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) was alive, anytime he threw his weight in a particular direction, the answer was usually yes to everybody. That is endorsement. It does not mean, however, endorsement from highly placed people is, most of the time, not challengeable. In the days of Baba Awolowo, we heard that baba’s endorsement first went to Deacon Alayande for the Oyo governorship race but the late Bola Ige worked very hard among the young turks to tilt it over to his side. Papa Alayande didn’t go home to bemoan his loss. The lesson we all have to learn is this, there will always be endorsement, either openly or in secret. This is the reality of politics. It happens everywhere. I beg all our aspirants that contested in all the states that are not happy to see this as an opportunity for the future. Again, the problem with us as Nigerians is that our thinking is short term, most times. So, if something happens now, we must think about how it can be harvested, no matter how negative it may be, for a positive future. If endorsement goes against you, you can harvest it for a positive future. But a lot of us throw our hands up such that some would want the roof to collapse on everybody. No, it should not be. I appeal to everybody to make Ambode the governor of Lagos State. You said some people are decamping to APC, but some are also leaving like what we saw in Ogun State. The Ogun State issue was an unfortunate one. It is not a problem that just started. It started long time ago. When you see people leaving, they are all from one source. They are all Chief Osoba people. They are not satisfied with the system, not as individuals but as a team. I want to say that we probably didn’t manage the problem the way we should have. I am part of the blame. We should have nipped the problem in the bud. But, it is not individuals leaving. It a team issue but I hope there is still going to be a common ground in future. What are the chances of the APC returning to the Ogun Government House next year? Of course, our chances are very bright. This interview will be in the archives by the time we are through with the elections and it will be a reference material then. I am sure about our chances. It will be very interesting though, but our party will still carry the day. I am not happy though that we lost members, no, but we are still going to win, and even after that, we are still going to sit with our brothers and sisters at the other side. Chief Osoba remains one of us. Some have said that the restoration of your privileges as a former governor of Ekiti State by Governor Ayo Fayose is a political stunt. How do you see it? It is not. Let me say that there are times we play politics, there are times we relate as brothers. We are first and foremost brothers, all of us. Otunba Adebayo, Dr. Fayemi, Governor Fayose, myself and a host of others, we are brothers. We play politics when we need to. We relate as brothers every time there is an opportunity. It would have been much better for the state if we can reduce the wedge between us in politics. I am grateful to Governor Fayose. He did not talk politics with me. He did not even talk with me. I see this as a show of goodwill. However, that does not change my politics or change where I belong politically. What do you make of the crisis in the state House of Assembly? Yes, that is politics. How can you say seven people are superior to 19? That is a huge joke. I wish Fayose will not look at it from that point of view. I am personally going to make an attempt to talk to him and his people so that he can return to reality which is, there is a Speaker who has principal officers. No voice under heaven will make seven to be superior to 19. I hope they don’t plunge us into another chaos. There is no way we can accept that. The governor must wake up if it is a dream. He should pinch himself and face the reality which back to status ante.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 04:12:20 +0000
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