Chinelo Obogo
Former national caretaker chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi has expressed optimism on his party’s chances of winning the presidential election in 2019.
Makarfi who was a two-time governor of Kaduna State on the platform of the PDP said he believes that the performance of the ruling party will make it easy for the PDP to win the 2019 election, not only at the federal level but at the states. He also speaks on how the government can tackle the increasing rate of killings by Fulani herdsmen across the country.
It is believed that your leadership intentionally sidelined the entire South-West bloc from achieving its aim of clinching the chairmanship of the PDP. Is that correct?
First, there was no intention of throwing away the south-west or any other bloc from any part of the country. By the time we went to the convention, there was no political arrangement from the south as to where the chairman of the party should come from. We came in May and a convention was scheduled for August in Port-Harcourt, the PDP met in Port-Harcourt and micro zoned the chairmanship of the party to the south-west before August last year.
When we went to Port-Harcourt, because of interference from government, that election could not take place and our tenure was extended for a year. When we are approaching the December convention, the north met, and after our discussion, we maintained the micro-zoning. The south met but they could not agree on the micro-zoning. Before every convention, you meet, discuss and also take certain decisions.
The unity that existed in the south before the August convention disappeared before the December convention. When they met, they could not agree. Then they met again and agreed on all other positions except two positions which are the chairmanship and the deputy chairmanship. And they left that decision among themselves and even the south-east excused themselves from it but the south-south and the south-west could not agree.
When they could not agree, the south-west and south-south decided that the convention should decide who emerges the chairman and deputy chairman. The failure of a certain part to sit down and agree should not be seen as the failure of the entire PDP. Nobody directed the north to meet and maintain what they have done, I did not ask them, it was not in my position to do that and nobody stops the south from agreeing on certain terms. The failure to agree was what made the race open and politics is an issue of negotiation.
So they came to the convention divided, campaigning against each other and in politics when you are campaigning against each other and you want the rest to give you power, it becomes more difficult. So really, it was a local failure because the remaining part of the country had their agreement intact. But I think they did not see a reason to unite. It was at the venue of the convention when the election was about to start, some of them started going round to say they now have a consensus candidate while some others started going round disclaiming there was such agreement. So, in such confusion, who do you blame? You cannot blame anybody. Be that as it may, no part of this country should be taken for granted. Except you don’t understand the politics of Nigeria, that is why you will expect to win elections on the convention ground. Before you get to the convention ground, all the alliances have been formed and you will know whether you will win or lose before getting to the convention ground. You may not have the leadership of the party, you may end up having what is even more than the leadership of the party. As chairman of the party, you have limited powers even when your party is in government. Can you tell me how powerful the chairman of APC, Oyegun is today? I think where people should look up to is the executive because that is where policies are formulated and executed and that is where the interest of people you represent can be implemented. That is my personal opinion.
Apart from the Dickson committee, I know there is another committee being led by Dr. Nwodo with Dr. Bello Haliru and David Mark. They are complementing what others are doing just to ensure peace and accommodation in the party. When you mention that the party is absent in the south-west, I disagree with that. For me, you have to go gradually to achieve peace, anything you rush into especially where there is sharp division, and you are bound to fail. So the party is very conscious of these problems and we are doing all we can to harmonize. I can tell you that you will know our strength as a party when the elections come. Nigerians should stop looking at the big picture of ceremonial things, those things don’t win elections. You don’t go by the crowd to win elections. In 2015, which crowd we did not have as a party. Did PDP not lose elections? So, don’t be carried away by the crowd that attends a rally.
How much progress has your party made to reconcile warring factions after the convention?
Not many people gave us a chance before the convention, many thought the party was going scatter from the Eagle square but that did not happen. But that does not mean there was no fall-out of the convention. After any convention, there must be issues arising from the conduct of such convention but it is gladdening that the party remains solid and united. Before the convention, we anticipated that some issues may arise, that was why we set up the reconciliation committee which moved to work immediately after the convention. The current leadership also set up other two committees which consist of Seriake Dickson Committee and the other one led by former principal officers of the National Assembly to reach out to the aggrieved and to bring them back on board and to integrate them in a bid to provide a united front. To also provide a strong and virile opposition to the All Progressives Congress, (APC), which is in power. We have covered lost grounds, but that does not mean that there are still no issues but I am not in a position to know what those outstanding issues were because I am not the National Chairman of the party now. I have left as Chairman but I continue to give advice in areas where am needed and I am also handling issues I can handle on my own just to bring unity into the party without necessarily having recourse to the current leadership.
Recently, the APC stated that the party is now for restructuring after it initially rejected it. Many believed it is because elections are approaching. Where does your own party stand on the issue of restructuring?
I addressed a world press conference when this matter came up. I said that the APC is now like a chameleon changing colours. All I can say is that, right from the beginning, we in PDP were for restructuring. Besides that, the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai and the Chairman of APC’s committee said on television that restructuring is not important. The following day, I was featured and I spoke on all the conferences that were initiated. They were done by the PDP because it was during Obasanjo and Jonathan’s tenures that some of the conferences were done and some of the recommendations bother on the issue of restructuring. I also said restructuring means different things to different people, the starting point is to narrow down the understanding and proceed from the stage by stage because there are things you can do immediately, some on a short-term and some on a long term. Several of these issues being raised today are because of several issues happening within the country right now and we have to be sensitive about it. I believe running away from this issue of restructuring is like running away from reality. For a party to say because they want to win elections therefore they have changed their position, is the height of deception and it is for Nigerians to take them for who they are, people who will do anything just to remain in power not because they mean it.
There are many who still feel the over-bearing influence of the governors in the PDP is part of the reason the party lost the election in 2015. It is also believed that such played out in deciding who emerged chairman of the party at the December convention. How correct is this view?
During the 2015 elections, the north expected to be given the ticket, and to some people, that really mattered. But even at that, the language some of our members used in campaigning for 2015 was insulting to a certain part of the country. Also, the party structure was not used for campaign, rather, there was an arrangement in which TAN was used for the presidential campaign and TAN was just formulated by some people to impress those in power, it was not something structured. PDP is a structured party down from the ward level and when you abandon that asset and use something superficial; naturally there will be problems because it discouraged some people while some others became nonchalant. I can tell you that some governors were not even aware how campaigns were going on and no governor was a member of the presidential campaign council. These factors contributed to losing elections, not that APC won, it was PDP that threw away the elections. There could have been difficulties or challenges, but if we have acted differently, there was no way we could have lost.
At the presidential level, there was no question of over-bearing influence by any governor, because as I mentioned, no governor was in the Presidential Campaign Council. Many of them were on-lookers who only showed up when you visit their states to campaign.
The PDP has only 11 governors, so the people are working together with the governors we have and the governors are also showing their support. I have not seen where they are showing overbearing influence on anybody, if they have ideas, they share ideas and we implement it. Right now, you won’t find that in PDP because the situation is completely different. We are making use of all the assets that we have, whether present or former governors or former ministers. We respect the view of all who can add value to our party.
Some believed that PDP has not shown enough confidence and direction to convince Nigerians it is set to take over power from APC in 2019. How prepared is the party for 2019?
No serious party will want to continue to remain as an opposition party. The role of any opposition party is to take over power and that is what we set our eyes on right now. And I want to thank APC for actually making our job easy and I pray that APC continues to make our job easier as we move closer to elections. I do not pray Nigerians continue to suffer and that is why I believe the country will make the right choice by voting out the party in power. As to our preparations, all I can say is that we are doing all that is legally and politically allowed to achieve our objectives. It would be inappropriate for me to give a hint about what we are doing or what we are planning. It will amount to someone going to a battlefront and publishing the war plans; you have as well committed suicide before going for the war. We keep our plans to our chest but rest assured we are used to the politicking and we shall leave no stone unturned.
Does the PDP feel threatened by the Coalition formed by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo?
We don’t feel threatened. I can tell you that most of them are our friends and associates. They said they are not a political party but time will tell. If they turn out to be a political party, we will see how it plays out. Obasanjo himself said anytime they turn to a political party, he will cease to be a member. My take on it is that they will be like the Independents in the United States where you have Independent candidates, who look at the Democrats and the Republicans and decide where to swing at the last minute. That is what I feel it is, time will tell what their aims are.
What is your take on the re-ordering of elections?
The position of the law is clear on this. It is not what is passed but what is signed that becomes law. If the President signs it, it becomes law. We passed the same law during my time at the senate and then a court said it was unconstitutional and that it was INEC that has the power to do that. If that is the case, so be it. But for me, I think my take is, PDP should prepare to win no matter how elections are ordered. To think that elections should be ordered this way or that way is a lazy way of approaching elections. Whichever way it is ordered, we should campaign and work. I believe strongly that anyhow the elections come, PDP can win. So we should concentrate on main issues and not through any short-cut.
What do you think the APC-led government should be doing to tackle the issue of killings by armed Fulani herdsmen?
When I was governor, this problem was rampant but people did not know. It was similar to what is happening now; though the ferocity was quite different because there was no proliferation of arms; the herdsmen were just using cutlasses and arrows. The influx of some of these people because of free movement of ECOWAS has also made it difficult and it has complicated the matter. The federal government has talked about the issue of colony; but the word colony sounds offensive. Colonization to me means domination. Ranching sounds more business-like; anybody can go into ranching and you do business where it is feasible, you cannot do business where it is not feasible.