Former South South National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Edet Nkpubre, is not happy with developments in the party at his Akwa Ibom chapter and national level. In this interview with Special Correspondent, EMMA AYUNGBE, he talks on the governorship primary of PDP in Akwa Ibom, accusing Governor Godswill Akpabio of imposing Udom Emmanuel on the party. He also blames governors on the platform of the party for its woes at the national level, saying they should be blamed if Jonathan loses the presidential election.
PDP primary that produced Udom Emmanuel as Akwa Ibom State governorship candidate
The PDP governorship primary in Akwa Ibom was manipulated and corrupted. The candidate, Udom Emmanuel, was imposed on the people. A protest letter had been written and signed by ex-governor Victor Attah, Don Etiebet and I to the national headquarters of our great party, intimating them of the fraud. That was followed by the protest by 22 aspirants, who stayed 40 days and 40 nights in Abuja to register their protest to the national headquarters of the party and to the presidency. Unfortunately, these issues remain unresolved.
As far as I am concerned, the primary in which Udom emerged was fraudulently manipulated. Governor Akpabio identified Udom somewhere and foisted him on all of us undemocratically. That is where we are today and that is why All Progressives Congress (APC) is making inroads in Akwa Ibom today.
INEC’s recognition of Emmanuel as PDP governorship candidate for the April 11 election
I have said it all that he did not emerge through a democratic process and that is why the PDP should be ready for a protest vote against that candidate.
Edwin Clark, a few days ago, granted a press interview. And what was the core of it? He said that whatever happens to President Goodluck Jonathan in this election is caused by the governors – governors imposing candidates. He was surprised that the party allows governors to impose candidates on the people. Whatever happens to Jonathan in 2015 should be blamed on the governors, particularly the so-called PDP Governors Forum (PDPGF). They have manipulated Jonathan, not because they like Jonathan, but because of their own selfish interest.
First of all, they contrived the so-called consensus; that Jonathan should be the only candidate and Jonathan saw it as a favour which he needed to reciprocate. In reciprocating, he gave all powers to the governors. The governor, thus, chooses those to be councillors, local government chairmen; who will go to the House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, the senate and who will be minister. Invariably, the governors are the ones driving the country. The governors, when they come together, choose who will be the president of this country. That is where we are today. Power has been surrendered to the governors. When hawks are driving the PDPGF, then you know what I mean. They are not driving it for the interest of the country and the party, but for their personal interest. They pretend to support Jonathan. But they are not; they are supporting their interest.
The president and the 22 aggrieved aspirants of the party who stayed in Abuja for 40 days and 40 nights trying to present their protest to the president to no avail.
I strongly believe it was because Akpabio told Jonathan that these people had no political relevance; that those of us who protested had no political relevance in Akwa Ibom State; that he had all the power to do and undo in Akwa Ibom, and Jonathan believed him.
Otherwise, why should 22 out of 23 people who contested the election come out protesting for one reason or another and you did not listen to them? All of them come from constituencies and local government areas. You think they are nobody!
You can do that in the primaries, you can manipulate the process during the primaries as it is being allowed by the national headquarters and the presidency. The problem is the general election.
That is why I am saying that if anything happens that a South South president fails to do eight years, the chairman of the so-called PDPGF or the forum itself should be held responsible.
Recommending protest vote against own party
No, I am not saying I am going to do protest vote. What I am saying is that a lot of people would vote in protest of that process. There are 22 aspirants who are not happy with Udom’s emergence vis-a-vis the process that brought him. They are aggrieved till today and have refused to back down and support Udom. They have their supporters. Where do you think they would vote?
Volte face on support for Udom Emmanuel
I am from Oron Federal Constituency which is made up of five local government areas. When the governor visited Oron for the so-called town hall meeting, on his own, he said this state was founded on a tripod, and that Oron people have the right to ask for their turn in the governance of the state. He said that Attah had taken the turn for the Ibibio and he is taking the turn of the Annang and that Oron deserve their turn. What else do you want me to say? Why do you think Oron aspirants will queue behind Udom after denying Oron its turn? They will not. They are human beings with flesh and blood. They are aggrieved; they feel they have been manipulated and their rights taken away from them. They feel there is no justice and fairness. They feel there is a group who wants to take over Akwa Ibom and put in its pockets. There is a group who wants to foist its agenda on the majority of Akwa Ibom people. Fortunately for them, they came into power when there was money in Akwa Ibom. They want to use that money, which does not come from their land, to destroy Akwa Ibom by putting the majority in their pockets. That is not fair for the peace and stability of the state.
APC governorship candidate, Umana, picking his deputy from Oron
I keep saying that giving Oron deputy governorship position is not the issue. There are commissioners in Akpabio’s government who are more influential than the deputy governor. I know of a deputy governor who worked with Akpabio. He used to come here to complain to me about ill-treatment from the governor. There are deputy governors who can’t have the ears of the governor, even in public; but some commissioners do. So the issue of deputy governor doesn’t attract us too much.
After the primary polls, Umana emerged governorship candidate of APC and Udom emerged as PDP candidate; hence Oron became the loser. Some group of PDP members who Akpabio gave tickets in Oron came to me and said: “Sir you are the most senior party man from Oron; why don’t you come and work for Udom?” I said no, because Oron 2015 is dead. We played it to a logical end, but let these two candidates come and talk to us on what they have for us.
I told them that Umana has come to the Oron Think-tank, where the Oron Union and the Oron traditional rulers were, and made his proposal to us. I told them to go and tell Udom to come and make his proposal to Oron people, so that they can compare their programmes for the Oron people. But I have not seen Udom. He has not called Oron Think-tank or Oron traditional rulers to say I want to come and discuss with you people. Umana has told us that the deep seaport would remain in Oron; that he has a masterplan for Oron as a coastal area. And he has also promised to hand over power to Oron after his eight-year tenure. All we hear from Udom is his campaign. He has never been specific on what he is going to do for Oron. So Oron people are judging between the two of them and I hope people would learn. I cannot control the entire Oron; so I don’t know where their votes will go.
Curtailing the powers of the governors’ forum
The solution is to kill governors’ forum – whether PDPGF or Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). Kill it! It is not in the constitution. There are so many ways to kill it.
Make sure the party at the national level is strong; fund the party and make sure governors don’t use their money to take over the control of the party at the national level. Who tells you that the governors must be leaders of the party in their states? Is there anywhere in the constitution that says so? Let the party chairman be the leader of the party in the state and fund it. Anybody in the party who is being controlled by the governor should be sacked, and you would have secured the party.
Fear of Jonathan losing the presidential election
I want to say in all honesty that we have worked so much for Jonathan. In 2011, there was so much support for Jonathan. Nobody then thought he could lose even one per cent of the votes in 2011. But today it is a different thing. Even in the South East, when Jonathan went to Ekwueme, he was told he would not get the support he had in 2011. That is what will happen to him in the 2015 election. Even the president himself conceded that people who go for second term have 70 per cent probability of losing the election, particularly when small parties which were presenting different candidates come together to form a formidable group.
Again, the governors should be blamed if Jonathan loses the election. If the governors were just and fair; if they had unattached interest to project Jonathan other than their selfish interest in the entire process, Jonathan would have been sure of victory. Like I said earlier, the so-called consensus candidacy they gave to Jonathan wasn’t because they loved him; they contrived that process to use to it to blackmail Jonathan to reciprocate their plan to impose their anointed candidates. They brought the consensus issue to blackmail Jonathan and the party to give them powers to anoint anybody they wanted. They wanted that concession and that concession is what is going to destroy the party. That is what is causing problems today; that PDP which was a majority party is now the minority party in the federal house. Some of the governors are over-bearing in attitude and everything. They don’t care who they step on. The founding members of the party don’t mean anything to them. The elders in their state don’t mean anything to them because they believe that what money cannot do, more money can do. They have corrupted the judiciary, the party and every system. Today, the APC is using corruption as a serious campaign issue. They are not using performance as a campaign issue; they are using corruption because the evidence is available. I wish Jonathan had foreseen this.
