Former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and member of the House of Representatives, Sani Zoro, speaks on the measures being contemplated by the APC against its lawmakers who flouted its orders in choosing principal officers at the National Assembly. He also talks on other issues in the party, in this interview recorded by Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM.
Developments in National Assembly
First of all, I want to say that the 21st Century has opened up with drama and a lot of surprises in many lands. In the United Kingdom, for instance, we suddenly, some years ago, saw an unholy marriage between the Conservative Party and the Social Democratic Party. We never expected it. So it appears that the entire political terrain is undergoing shock waves, political waves and tremors. Therefore we are not particularly surprised that a drama of this nature has happened, although it has taken quite a number of Nigerians by surprise.
Let me also say that as far as members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and leadership of the party are concerned, this is not beyond management. Measures have been agreed upon that will first of all clean up the mess, manage the situation and de-escalate the crisis. This is the first thing we will do. I can assure you that those who masterminded the crisis, who thought they are going to benefit from it, will be surprised.
APC will bounce back for so many reasons. First of all, apart from the fact that the party has clear majority in both arms of the National Assembly, it is also in government, in full control of the executive arm of government. Then when you go to the states, Kano for instance, the entire machinery of government and followership is of the APC.
So is the case in some the states of the federation. As for those who went into an unholy marriage with a rival of the APC, apparently they must have done it out of desperation. It is also clear that many of them put their interest first before that of the party.
We have decided to remain loyal to the party because we had seen this kind of situation before. Some of us participated in the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), which had a similar crisis in the states it was controlling – Kano and Kaduna – between 1979 and 1983. Those who remained in the party actually triumphed.
Those who thought that because they were in government and because they were in control of resources they could actually sabotage the party were proved wrong. What I am saying is that we at both chambers of the National Assembly have the mechanism that will reconcile all the differences in no time. These differences can easily be reconciled. We have met with the leadership of the party and we are fully satisfied with the explanations that the party has made. We can assure you that this is not beyond the party to solve.
Measures contemplated by APC on the matter
The national publicity secretary (of APC) should be in the position to talk on that because he is the spokesman of the party. But I am saying, as a member of the House of Representatives, that we are fully satisfied with the measures outlined by the chairman of the party, first of all to clean up this mess, to de-escalate this crisis and to manage it and give early solution to the issue.
Senators toeing the same line
Though you cannot have an all-right kind of solution, I can assure you that the solution being lined up by the party, the presidency and the National Assembly, is triangulated. It will involve all the three major stakeholders, the institutional stakeholders – the presidency, the party and the National Assembly.
I can assure you that it will accommodate all the stakeholders, and at the end of the day provide a single template for everybody to queue in.
It is going to be on the reality on the ground. We want to de-sentimentalise the issue. The party is no longer interested in sentiments. The damage, if it is damage, has been done. We want to keep it behind and move on. We are moving on. We are no longer interested in what has happened. We are talking of the options that are available to us because we have to defend the government which we brought into place. We have to protect the interest of majority of those who gave us the mandate in the first place. War or fighting cannot do it.
Sanctions suggested by the party
That is why we are talking of options and choices. As a party, some of the options before it include carrot and stick – reward and punishment. To achieve control and discipline, every organisation, not only political organisation, must have these kinds of elements. So I believe that the ones that we are bringing to the table will not necessarily include extreme punishment and so on. No.
All those who fear that they will be disciplined, that the party will be arbitrary and so on, need not fear anything like that because this party is for change. And we are learning from the lesson that PDP installed. It was the PDP that was known for this arbitrariness. It was what killed the PDP and we don’t want to get into the trap.
Emergence of Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President not affecting APC dominance
The party is saying that the process that threw up these people, who are not members of the APC, is faulty. The party did not like it and it has made it absolutely clear that the party is going to work on the basis of reality.
Ekweremadu is not a member of APC. I am not sure of what will happen tomorrow because when he sees fire, maybe instead of losing that seat, he may even cross over to the APC. Of course so many Nigerians have done that. Don’t rule out anything. These desperate PDP people who want to be in government perpetually may also cross over to the APC, to avoid sanctions. That is a possibility. But what we are saying is, let us wait for the next few days when the party will roll out the peace template.