Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri served as Minister of State for Agriculture
and later Minister of Police Affairs. He was the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Yobe State in 2007.
In this interview the erstwhile Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) who is currently a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of PDP explained the reason the Northern PDP Elders have risen against the incumbent National Chairman of the party, Sen.Ali Modu Sheriff. He also spoke on the 2015 elections and why the North worked against ex President Goodluck Jonathan.
Northern PDP elders which you are a member have risen against the current leadership of the party, what is it that is happening in the party that you are uncomfortable with?
For our position to be appreciated, we must recall the background of the PDP. You will appreciate what I am going to say if you pay attention to happenings in recent times, within the last 24 months events preceding the nominations, convention of electing new leaders, the campaigns and the election itself as well as the aftermath of the elections. If you recall those events, you would see a vivid explanation of the electoral misfortune that befell the party in the 2015 general election. The PDP that was overwhelmingly in government at the federal and state level lost overwhelmingly at the centre and in 24 states.
There is no gainsaying that we must have been doing things that made the electorate to turn their back on us. After this electoral misfortune, leaders exhibit tendencies that do not show that they have learnt any lesson. They want to continue to lead the party and its followers astray. There must be people of good conscience who would recall the efforts they put to build the party and get these leaders to put a break to descent into chaos.
After the defeat of the party, the former President orchestrated the sacking of the former National Chairman, Ahmed Adamu Muazu and left his cabinet. With the defeat of the PDP President, Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet left, it should have followed that if the party is also culpable in the electoral defeat, Ahmed Adamu Muazu and his NWC should have also gone. But this was not done. The replacement of Muazu who ought to come from the North East so that there would be a seamless transition was also stymied.
The North East had to contend with the illegality of Uche Secondus as acting chairman for a long time. By the time a replacement was brought for Muazu to complete the tenure of the North East, again, somebody who was an outsider was foisted. An outsider with a lot of baggage that would not be able to market the PDP that wants to regain power was foisted on the party.
Even the terms of the agreement that finally made some people to accept his candidature is now being breached. So, the PDP is on a road to self destruct. We that built the PDP with our sweat and blood would stand to see that the party is saved so that our democracy would have all the ingredients of contemporary democracies. And that is government in power as well as a viable opposition political platform.
Were Northern PDP elders not contacted before Sheriff was brought in as chairman of the party?
I am from the North East, I am also a member of the Board of Trustees. I have served this party very well in several assignments. I was not consulted. Many people like me were not consulted. But when finally the two enfante terrible of the party decided that Ali Sheriff would be the national chairman, the BoT as the conscience of the party objected. The objection was not to him as a person but to the procedure which was undemocratic, not consistent with internal democratic practice and which did not give the North East zone a commanding voice in deciding whose representative would be in concluding the tenure of the zone.
However, as usual, political compromise was negotiated. It was agreed that Ali Modu Sheriff would be there for a period of 90 days to conduct congresses and national convention to herald a new leadership with a new zoning formula. Unfortunately, it is now obvious that there is a contrivance to zone the position of national chairmanship to Ali Sheriff coming from the North East. This is aimed at making him to continue the impunity he has exhibited and unilateral action he has taken in dissolving state executive committees, anointing chairmen, gubernatorial candidates and even vice presidential candidates. These are, for us that have been there from 1998 to date, unacceptable.
These kinds of things would not usher in the new PDP the political landscape expect.
You elders are calling for the postponement of the national convention, what would such postponement achieve for you and the party?
We are calling for the postponement of the congresses and the convention to be able to achieve two things. First, to bring in a zoning formula that is going to be facilitative of the rebirth of the PDP. Secondly, to enable us lay a reconciliatory framework whereby aggrieved members of the party who voted against candidates of the party would now be persuaded to return to the party in body and soul. Thirdly, it would also allow the party to stake-hold, consult, travel to nook and cranny, identify aggrieved members of the PDP that are now in the APC, identify aggrieved members of the APC that are left in limbo and also attract the multitude of young Nigerians who were born probably in 1998 and are political adults now to come and join the party. The PDP will also need dedicated leadership that will come and appreciate the political calculus of Nigeria which is the PDP not having the federal government, no 24 state government and PDP which electoral results have now firmly domiciled it in the southern part of the country. The PDP now, in terms of governance lacks what is called political spread. It is one ingredient for winning elections in Nigeria.
Is it possible for PDP to achieve that national spread when the impression out there is that indigenes of the North do not allow few of you in PDP to raise your head?
For the PDP to become somewhat an orphan in the northern political landscape which eventually become a huge advantage to APC in the 2015 elections, key members of the PDP, key states under PDP left the party. They left due to the misbehaviour exhibited by the federal government under Dr Goodluck Jonathan as well as successive leadership of the PDP. There were the people that carried the PDP votes and made the party to vote against PDP candidates. That was how APC got the victory. The reason why these people left PDP are known to everybody. It was as a result of impunity, display of irresponsibility etc. Lack of internal democracy and failure to adhere to gentleman’s agreement which ought not to have allowed President Jonathan to contest in 2015 were the cause of our loss. Some of us told President Jonathan to his face that he should not contest again.
These mistakes can easily be addressed. For the PDP or any party to rise up to APC in 2019 with President Muhammadu Buhari in the saddle, we must come with clean hands. First the PDP must be led by people of honour and integrity. Secondly, the candidate of the PDP must be somebody who should stand up with credentials that are same with the current President. Thirdly, the party and its candidate must understand that money cannot replace credibility. It cannot replace good behaviour. If it were on account of money alone, PDP would not have lost the election. People should not be saying that we need a national chairman who is a money bag. We need somebody with integrity. We need somebody who is intelligent, well lettered and who will be in a position to confront the leadership of the APC on equal terms. We will not be sending our worst eleven. Many leaders of PDP in Wadata plaza have been guests of EFCC. In a situation where the world is expecting Nigeria to redeem itself from the abyss of corruption it has found itself, we should put forward people who are credible to run the party.
How does one place your claim that some of you spoke against Jonathan’s candidature when some elders from the region openly urged and campaigned for the former President in the last election. What is the moral basis of their complaints about goings on in the party at the moment?
There are always two sides to the coin. We had people who campaigned for Jonathan and we lost. Those people are now saying, yes, we made a mistake. We had people who didn’t campaign for Jonathan and we lost. They are now saying we told you so. But the target is to redeem the party. First, PDP must take responsibility for what has happened. We should not be living in self denial. PDP should come to terms with its past misdeeds and offer the necessary apologies and entreaties to Nigerians. At the end of the day, no matter what you do, you are a human being, you are bound to make mistakes. Let us accept that we made mistakes and amend the mistakes we made by not falling into traps. We are repeating the same mistake the way and manner the national chairman was foisted on the party. We are repeating the same mistake the way and manner is reneging on the gentleman agreement negotiated between the governors and the BoT that he would be there to superintend congresses and elections that would bring in a new leadership. It was not for him to continue in office.
I assure you that we will fight for the soul of PDP. Unlike what happened in 2014, 2015, this time around, we will not exit the party. We will remain in PDP.
You talked about PDP presenting somebody that possesses sound credentials like that of President Buhari, can PDP in the North get somebody that would be as popular among the masses as that of the President?
Let me introvert your question to say that President Muhammadu Buhari contested in 2003 and lost, 2007 and lost, 2011 and lost. And PDP continued to believe that every defeat of Buhari would make it to become more imperious. It kept on boasting that it will be there for 60 years, this and that. Nobody is saying that the PDP must reclaim the presidency and 24 states it had in 2019. What we are saying is that we want to restrategise, regain our strength so that we will be a viable political opponent to the APC. This will enable us to win elections.
The situation now is, having lost the presidency, two third of states in Nigeria, we are hopelessly weak. We are saying that there is hope, that we can come back in 2019 and perform better than we performed in 2015. Possibly, if the APC will continue the way it is doing, we will win the presidency or we will give them a fight for their money.
Are there some mistakes that the incumbent APC government is making that PDP can take advantage of?
Of course yes.
What are those mistakes?
The budget is one of them. We are not talking of the delay of the budget but the controversy that has dogged it which ought not to be exhibited by a party that has an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.
Secondly, the economy has not been favourable. Every Nigerian knows that his or her standard of living was better in 2015 than as it is in 2016. I am not listing out the reasons. But what we are concerned about now is that the economy is so bad. Government is hinging it on PDP misrule. People did not elect the government to tell us about the misrule of PDP, people elected it to give Nigerians hope and better life.
Thirdly, there is no cohesion in the APC. Unfortunately, there is also lack of cohesion in the PDP. Fourthly, the APC through President Buhari has set a bar of integrity. We must reach that bar to be a competitor to the APC.
In this interview the erstwhile Executive Secretary of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) who is currently a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of PDP explained the reason the Northern PDP Elders have risen against the incumbent National Chairman of the party, Sen.Ali Modu Sheriff. He also spoke on the 2015 elections and why the North worked against ex President Goodluck Jonathan.
Northern PDP elders which you are a member have risen against the current leadership of the party, what is it that is happening in the party that you are uncomfortable with?
For our position to be appreciated, we must recall the background of the PDP. You will appreciate what I am going to say if you pay attention to happenings in recent times, within the last 24 months events preceding the nominations, convention of electing new leaders, the campaigns and the election itself as well as the aftermath of the elections. If you recall those events, you would see a vivid explanation of the electoral misfortune that befell the party in the 2015 general election. The PDP that was overwhelmingly in government at the federal and state level lost overwhelmingly at the centre and in 24 states.
There is no gainsaying that we must have been doing things that made the electorate to turn their back on us. After this electoral misfortune, leaders exhibit tendencies that do not show that they have learnt any lesson. They want to continue to lead the party and its followers astray. There must be people of good conscience who would recall the efforts they put to build the party and get these leaders to put a break to descent into chaos.
After the defeat of the party, the former President orchestrated the sacking of the former National Chairman, Ahmed Adamu Muazu and left his cabinet. With the defeat of the PDP President, Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet left, it should have followed that if the party is also culpable in the electoral defeat, Ahmed Adamu Muazu and his NWC should have also gone. But this was not done. The replacement of Muazu who ought to come from the North East so that there would be a seamless transition was also stymied.
The North East had to contend with the illegality of Uche Secondus as acting chairman for a long time. By the time a replacement was brought for Muazu to complete the tenure of the North East, again, somebody who was an outsider was foisted. An outsider with a lot of baggage that would not be able to market the PDP that wants to regain power was foisted on the party.
Even the terms of the agreement that finally made some people to accept his candidature is now being breached. So, the PDP is on a road to self destruct. We that built the PDP with our sweat and blood would stand to see that the party is saved so that our democracy would have all the ingredients of contemporary democracies. And that is government in power as well as a viable opposition political platform.
Were Northern PDP elders not contacted before Sheriff was brought in as chairman of the party?
I am from the North East, I am also a member of the Board of Trustees. I have served this party very well in several assignments. I was not consulted. Many people like me were not consulted. But when finally the two enfante terrible of the party decided that Ali Sheriff would be the national chairman, the BoT as the conscience of the party objected. The objection was not to him as a person but to the procedure which was undemocratic, not consistent with internal democratic practice and which did not give the North East zone a commanding voice in deciding whose representative would be in concluding the tenure of the zone.
However, as usual, political compromise was negotiated. It was agreed that Ali Modu Sheriff would be there for a period of 90 days to conduct congresses and national convention to herald a new leadership with a new zoning formula. Unfortunately, it is now obvious that there is a contrivance to zone the position of national chairmanship to Ali Sheriff coming from the North East. This is aimed at making him to continue the impunity he has exhibited and unilateral action he has taken in dissolving state executive committees, anointing chairmen, gubernatorial candidates and even vice presidential candidates. These are, for us that have been there from 1998 to date, unacceptable.
These kinds of things would not usher in the new PDP the political landscape expect.
You elders are calling for the postponement of the national convention, what would such postponement achieve for you and the party?
We are calling for the postponement of the congresses and the convention to be able to achieve two things. First, to bring in a zoning formula that is going to be facilitative of the rebirth of the PDP. Secondly, to enable us lay a reconciliatory framework whereby aggrieved members of the party who voted against candidates of the party would now be persuaded to return to the party in body and soul. Thirdly, it would also allow the party to stake-hold, consult, travel to nook and cranny, identify aggrieved members of the PDP that are now in the APC, identify aggrieved members of the APC that are left in limbo and also attract the multitude of young Nigerians who were born probably in 1998 and are political adults now to come and join the party. The PDP will also need dedicated leadership that will come and appreciate the political calculus of Nigeria which is the PDP not having the federal government, no 24 state government and PDP which electoral results have now firmly domiciled it in the southern part of the country. The PDP now, in terms of governance lacks what is called political spread. It is one ingredient for winning elections in Nigeria.
Is it possible for PDP to achieve that national spread when the impression out there is that indigenes of the North do not allow few of you in PDP to raise your head?
For the PDP to become somewhat an orphan in the northern political landscape which eventually become a huge advantage to APC in the 2015 elections, key members of the PDP, key states under PDP left the party. They left due to the misbehaviour exhibited by the federal government under Dr Goodluck Jonathan as well as successive leadership of the PDP. There were the people that carried the PDP votes and made the party to vote against PDP candidates. That was how APC got the victory. The reason why these people left PDP are known to everybody. It was as a result of impunity, display of irresponsibility etc. Lack of internal democracy and failure to adhere to gentleman’s agreement which ought not to have allowed President Jonathan to contest in 2015 were the cause of our loss. Some of us told President Jonathan to his face that he should not contest again.
These mistakes can easily be addressed. For the PDP or any party to rise up to APC in 2019 with President Muhammadu Buhari in the saddle, we must come with clean hands. First the PDP must be led by people of honour and integrity. Secondly, the candidate of the PDP must be somebody who should stand up with credentials that are same with the current President. Thirdly, the party and its candidate must understand that money cannot replace credibility. It cannot replace good behaviour. If it were on account of money alone, PDP would not have lost the election. People should not be saying that we need a national chairman who is a money bag. We need somebody with integrity. We need somebody who is intelligent, well lettered and who will be in a position to confront the leadership of the APC on equal terms. We will not be sending our worst eleven. Many leaders of PDP in Wadata plaza have been guests of EFCC. In a situation where the world is expecting Nigeria to redeem itself from the abyss of corruption it has found itself, we should put forward people who are credible to run the party.
How does one place your claim that some of you spoke against Jonathan’s candidature when some elders from the region openly urged and campaigned for the former President in the last election. What is the moral basis of their complaints about goings on in the party at the moment?
There are always two sides to the coin. We had people who campaigned for Jonathan and we lost. Those people are now saying, yes, we made a mistake. We had people who didn’t campaign for Jonathan and we lost. They are now saying we told you so. But the target is to redeem the party. First, PDP must take responsibility for what has happened. We should not be living in self denial. PDP should come to terms with its past misdeeds and offer the necessary apologies and entreaties to Nigerians. At the end of the day, no matter what you do, you are a human being, you are bound to make mistakes. Let us accept that we made mistakes and amend the mistakes we made by not falling into traps. We are repeating the same mistake the way and manner the national chairman was foisted on the party. We are repeating the same mistake the way and manner is reneging on the gentleman agreement negotiated between the governors and the BoT that he would be there to superintend congresses and elections that would bring in a new leadership. It was not for him to continue in office.
I assure you that we will fight for the soul of PDP. Unlike what happened in 2014, 2015, this time around, we will not exit the party. We will remain in PDP.
You talked about PDP presenting somebody that possesses sound credentials like that of President Buhari, can PDP in the North get somebody that would be as popular among the masses as that of the President?
Let me introvert your question to say that President Muhammadu Buhari contested in 2003 and lost, 2007 and lost, 2011 and lost. And PDP continued to believe that every defeat of Buhari would make it to become more imperious. It kept on boasting that it will be there for 60 years, this and that. Nobody is saying that the PDP must reclaim the presidency and 24 states it had in 2019. What we are saying is that we want to restrategise, regain our strength so that we will be a viable political opponent to the APC. This will enable us to win elections.
The situation now is, having lost the presidency, two third of states in Nigeria, we are hopelessly weak. We are saying that there is hope, that we can come back in 2019 and perform better than we performed in 2015. Possibly, if the APC will continue the way it is doing, we will win the presidency or we will give them a fight for their money.
Are there some mistakes that the incumbent APC government is making that PDP can take advantage of?
Of course yes.
What are those mistakes?
The budget is one of them. We are not talking of the delay of the budget but the controversy that has dogged it which ought not to be exhibited by a party that has an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly.
Secondly, the economy has not been favourable. Every Nigerian knows that his or her standard of living was better in 2015 than as it is in 2016. I am not listing out the reasons. But what we are concerned about now is that the economy is so bad. Government is hinging it on PDP misrule. People did not elect the government to tell us about the misrule of PDP, people elected it to give Nigerians hope and better life.
Thirdly, there is no cohesion in the APC. Unfortunately, there is also lack of cohesion in the PDP. Fourthly, the APC through President Buhari has set a bar of integrity. We must reach that bar to be a competitor to the APC.
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