Sir, there were hues and cries on the recent appointment of Ali Madu Shariff as a new PDP chairman, what is your reaction to that?
Let me categorically and without mincing words, say my reaction would not be different from that of the good and the larger family of the People’s Democratic Party that had overwhelmingly welcomed the development. The emergence of the former Borno State governor Shariff as a party chairman is a new dawn for the PDP and a step towards regaining power in 2019. Those that criticized his emergence are entitled to their opinion, but most of them are doing so for selfish reasons. To me, they are agents of retrogression and destruction of the PDP that built and raised them.
Are you saying those that condemned his emergence are not true members of the PDP?
Being true or not on their dispositions is not the issue here but the sincerity of their individual stands. You see, PDP made them what they are now and coming out to detest the party’s position or denouncing its membership is a treachery and outright betrayal. Dr. Tafida that said PDP was finished was transformed from a physician to a Senator representing Kaduna North in 1999, re-elected in 2003, contested for governorship primary election but lost to Sen. Makarfi in 2007.
He was later appointed as the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK by the Obasanjo’s regime and served for seven consecutive years as high commissioner before he resigned in 2015. He had enjoyed all of these under PDP that he’s now proclaiming as a dead party. Femi Fani-Kayode was brought back to Nigeria in 2001 by Obasanjo after he left Nigeria to the UK and became a pro-NADECO activist there and in 2003 the same regime appointed him first as a special assistant to the president for public affairs, minister of culture and tourism and later minister of aviation under the same PDP. He has accused Obasanjo, his godfather, in many instances and equally defected to APC before he made a swift U-turn to PDP in 2014. Doyin Okupe too was a PDP beneficiary in many ways; he was a spokesperson to Obasanjo, governorship aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party in Ogun and a senior special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan. Therefore, you can’t destroy the house that gave you shelter, or the finger that fed you.
Furthermore, if you remove the PDP from the APC what would you have as a party? Amaechi, Fashola, El-Rufai, Saraki, Kwankwaso, Wamakko, Goje, Tambuwal, Masari, Dogara virtually all the senators, reps, governors, ministers and what have you, are PDP members that defected to APC before the last year general elections and these are the people ridiculing the PDP as a failed party and its sixteen years of governance as a waste. Does giving them the platform to grow a failure? I believe when there’s a crack in your house the option is not to go to someone’s house but to sit to address the problem. Kudos to people like Sule Lamido that vowed not to leave the project he had started 20 years ago and defected to a one-year-old party. He was among the popular G9, G18, and G34 that metamorphosed to PDP, and he was incarcerated together with the late Abubakar Rimi in the course of ensuring the democracy we are enjoying today.
There is this allegation that Sharif was once accused as Boko Haram sponsor?
You said accused, but can you denotatively or connotatively expantiate on the difference between accused and guilty? Though, I am not a legal practitioner, but with the little knowledge I have, the new chairman remains accused until proven guilty by a competent court and subsequently convicted. When he joined Buhari in the APC why didn’t they say he was sponsoring Boko Haram and why did APC warmly accepted him? Because he is now in PDP and has emerged as its chairman, people started bringing all sorts of accusations and myopic assertions. You see, people are ignorant of the legal implications of what they are saying, especially on the issues that have to do with someone’s character, image, and reputation.
Most of the statements would amount to defamation of character and libelous accusations that would attract a severe punishment in the court of law and until people start to be prosecuted for such offenses this thing can’t stop. An APC stalwart and senate leader was equally accused of such sponsorship to the extent of being taken to court and still that doesn’t stop the APC from appointing him as its leader in the 8th Assembly because he wasn’t convicted. What we believe is that the PDP needs a very bold and politically sound chairman to reposition the party and Sharif has what it takes to be the chairman due to his vast political experience.
He was a senator in the third republic under the National Republican Convention (NRC), elected as senator during Abacha’s regime under United Nigerian Congress Party (UNCP) and after democracy was restored in 1999 he was also elected as senator, Borno Central on the platform of the All Nigerian People Party (ANPP) and a two-term governor of Borno state from 2003 to 2011 and with these credentials, Shariff has the capacity to unite the PDP and make it stronger and subsequently wrest power from the APC that only leveraged on the PDP’s crisis to emerge.
Do you think Nigerians would vote for PDP again?
Nigerians don’t have problem with PDP because the problem of the party lies with the party and its members and even those deceived by believing that, the 16 years of PDP’s government is waste are now realizing their mistake and believing that they were deceived. Nigeria, as a nation has within the epoch of the PDP government, significantly recorded a great milestone in all facets of development. Let us not allow our selfish motive to undermine the general interest of the Nigerian nation.
The 16 years of PDP is even more visible to the APC, because it was the PDP that introduced the card reader and allowed a transparent election that saw them as the winners, the EFCC and ICPC they are now using as a tool to scare and intimidate the opposition was the output of PDP’s so-called wasted years. Apparently, there must be the good, the bad and the ugly part of every journey and it sounds so ridiculous for the present government to see only the bad side of the PDP’s regime. I was laughing when I read a story attributed to the minister of transport that, the railway project will be commissioned May this year.
Whose project is it, are they commissioning another waste product? When the university VC’s were sacked, new ones were subsequently deployed to the various institutions and all of these universities were the product of the 16 years of PDP’s waste or is the present government partaking in wasteful projects?
Criticism is an essential part of a sound democratic system of governance, especially on a constructive point of view. but I equally wonder when many people sees it as a taboo to utter a word on the present government despite it’s being so lopsided in many aspect of governance, I never encourage corruption and neither PDP as a party does so because it’s the PDP that create all the anti-corruptions platforms and that has vindicated the party.
But is the fight against corruption the present government have in stock for all Nigerians under the change mantra? Though, many believe that it is too early to rate this government, but it is pertinent to believe that 9 months out of a four years journey is very significant, especially a journey that would be shortcut by politicking in a midway and Nigerians are yet to see the changes apart from the junketing all over the world, so far over 24 countries, the economic hardship, the unprecedented failure of naira against dollar and euro, fuel scarcity, padding of budget, pending implementation of the 2015 supplementary budget and many more in the same pipeline.
Take it or leave it, this country belongs to all of us and looking at the present chemistry of this nation, there must be serious issues that are begging for an urgent attention and on the elections, it was the electorate that took the decision to vote for the APC and the same Nigerians would decide for themselves before 2019.
