Erstwhile Nigerian Ambassador to Greece and former Secretary to Ondo State Government (SSG), Professor Olu Agbi, is not happy with the turn of events in his home state and at the federal level. To him, the poor governance initiatives of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration in Ondo and Abuja, are in many ways, preparing the ground for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to return to power in 2019. Agbi, a PDP chieftain, speaks on these and other issues, with JULIUS ALABI in Akure
Loss of power in 2015 and crisis in PDP
You see, when a party in government loses power, there are bound to be kinds of reactions by party members. When the PDP lost the election, it was a shock to many of us. I personally did not believe that PDP would lose that election. But when it lost and the then President, Goodluck Jonathan decided to hand over power peacefully to President Muhammadu Buhari, I was also happy because it was peaceful transition to another civilian president.
But when you now look at the reaction of people, there must be some who were benefitting from the administration of Jonathan who now see themselves outside the corridors of power. But I don’t think the crisis in this party had anything to do with that.
It had to do with who became the Chairman of the party. It was very unfortunate that some people brought Senator Alli Modu Sheriff to replace former Chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu who on his own decided to abscond. Some of us were against the choice of Sheriff then because someone who did not know the background of PDP cannot be chairman of PDP. He could join the party at any level or whatever level, but he cannot be the chairman of the party and that crisis of leadership lasted for 14 months. We are happy today that the crisis has been resolved. Really, there is some hope now that PDP is bouncing back.
Expectations on the party in 2019 general elections
I am optimistic that PDP would bounce back and regain power in 2019 because President Buhari who promised us change, who promised to tackle corruption has not be able to do that but unfortunately, what he is doing, is to witch-hunt people in opposition.
President Buhari really wants to create one-party system in Nigeria but it is not possible. When he sees that you are PDP leader, he sends the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after you and when you cross over to APC, the following morning you become a saint and EFCC will not pursue you anymore. So what I am saying that he is not pursuing his anti-corruption crusade in a fair and objective manner.
People are now complaining about the cost of foodstuffs. Rice is now unattainable. You cannot buy pepper for your soup, and now people are very hungry. A hungry man is really an angry man. This is really an opportunity for PDP to capture power because APC government has lost focus. The government doesn’t know what to do, whether at the national or state level. And people are confused on whether APC has any manifesto or any plan for the people for the country. The members and leaders don’t know their right from their left and this has created an opportunity for PDP to convince the people that it is a better party or a better government party.
Reconciliation in PDP with those who threw the party into the crisis
You would have seen that with the Supreme Court judgment in the Markarfi/Sheriff chairmanship tussle case, people are now really happy about it all over the country because you would see that the judgment is not only victory for PDP but it also victory for Nigeria entirely. It is also a victory for democracy in the sense that if Sheriff had won the Supreme Court judgement, there would be nothing for PDP in the country today because many of us had decided to move en masse to another party, if he had won.
But with the Makarfi Caretaker Committee, people have now decided to return to the party. Even Makarfi has extended amnesty to those who genuinely want to return to the party. He has said “no victor and no vanquish”. He called on those who had left the party to come back, without conditions attached. But for those who deliberately made sure we lost elections in Ondo, Edo states and perhaps lost many bye-elections because of their actions, am not sure whether the issue of no victor and no vanquished could be extended to them because, there must be discipline in a way that will serve as a deterrent to others who may have similar intentions.
Recently, we were at the South West PDP in Ibadan and decided that those who were involved in throwing the party in this region to crisis should not go unpunished. I believe such should happen because if you leave them alone, they will create another crisis before the next elections because they are not happy with the Supreme Court judgment. They are only temporally suppressing their anger but definitely they can still make trouble within the party.
Tackling corruption in the system
When Buhari took over, and decided to tackle corruption, I was so happy, because with corruption Nigeria has not made any progress at all. In the 60s, you would hear 10 percent and when the military took over in 1966, our leaders were made to abandon 10 percent style. But today, it is no more 10 percent. It is almost 100 percent. If a contract of N2billion is given out, the Civil Servant and the politicians would collect not less than N1.5 billion. It is not limited to PDP alone, but unfortunately, the government of Buhari has focused its searchlight only on PDP, which is wrong. I have suggested that there should be an All Parties Conference on Corruption where all political parties in the country will meet and draw up what constitutes corruption and how to fight the menace. The government should be free to fight and arrest whoever that is involved in an act of corruption.
Assessing APC government in Ondo and federal level
I am not satisfied at all. How can I be satisfied? People are becoming poorer and poorer. Someone who has been riding two cars can no longer run one right now because things are hopelessly very expensive. The society has become absolutely ungovernable. There is insecurity all over the country. You would recall what happened in Anambra state, about 47 people were killed in a church. People are being kidnapped everyday by kidnappers. The kidnappers are even worse than Boko Haram. You hardly sleep now with your two eyes closed because there is no employment for the youths. The government at the centre has made things worse for the people of this country.
At the state level, it is very difficult to criticize the Ondo state Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu because we don’t know his manifesto and his vision for Ondo state because when he submitted his budget, I thought he would have read it, and people like us would have read the budget and we would know what he had for us in a year, but he just sent it to the State House of Assembly and within a week or so, the House approved it and sent it back. It is absolutely unacceptable. It is clear that Aketi (the governor) is not prepared for governance.