By Chukwudi Nweje
Adedeji Doherty is a former acting National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South West. In this interview he speaks on the fresh crisis triggered by the South West zone of the party and other issues.
The South West zone of PDP has gone to court to challenge the decisions taken at the 75th National Executive Council of the party. Does this mean that the PDP crisis is far from over?
I was shocked to hear that the former South West exco members took the party to court. I don’t believe they are being sincere or that they understand what the truce was about. Why would a party member after seeing what PDP went through under the Ali Modu-Sheriff era, for two years, still take the party to court because somebody is sponsoring them? I think it is evil and devilish in nature and I pray that the judiciary sanction them for bringing such a frivolous matter to court. Everybody knows that Makarfi won at the Supreme Court, and in view of that everything that was built by Sheriff does not have any basis. Under the amended PDP constitution, the NEC is the all in all in terms of policy formulation and rules that guide the party. At that national convention, it was announced that all state exco has been dissolved. That means that the Makarfi-led exco that were initially removed by the Court of Appeal was dissolved; the Sheriff-led exco that was recognised by the Court of Appeal was also dissolved. So there are no executive in those states including the zones. I know therefore that their decision to head to the court will not stand the test of time.
You mean those who went to court were prompted?
It is obvious. I was once an Organising Secretary of the PDP and then later acting National Vice Chairman South West. I know who normally goes to court and I know what he does in court and who he does it with.
What is the PDP doing to resolve the matter?
The party is meeting in the various states. In Oyo State, Alao Akala, Ladoja, Olajumoke, Akinjide and some others are coming together to form a bloc. In Lagos there is a little hitch because some of the members had mingled with the Sheriff group. I believe the leadership of PDP in Lagos is trying to decipher those that are core members of the Sheriff group and those that are loyal PDP members but may just be aggrieved. We are close to reconciling those that are genuinely aggrieved with the mainstream. Once we are able to do that I’m sure the PDP will move on.
What is your assessment of the APC both nationally and in Lagos State?
There is nothing that has happened. We are backwards socially, educationally, economically and security-wise. There is nothing we can point to that has been enhanced. It hurts me even as an opposition party member to say this. What have they been doing for the past two years? Maybe in the power sector they have recorded some sort of success. They may be working on something which may rear its head towards the end of their tenure. But whatever good we see today are things former President Jonathan and PDP put in place. The Treasury Single Account (TSA), EFCC, ICPC, all the apparatuses of fighting corruption was put in place by PDP. What are the major things APC put in place that they can say they came with? I can’t see it. If you look at the entire country, what is the feeling of the masses? The pensioners are hungry and dying. The young don’t have any jobs, so what can we say that is going on?
If you zero in on PDP and APC-led states, look at Lagos, a report just came out that Lagos is the second most difficult state to live in, a state that raises almost N50billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) every month? 36 percent of Nigeria’s external debt is owed by Lagos, a state that has over 50 different tax revenues and has the most double tax rate in Nigeria. Lagos State wants to use its own people to raise a N50billion bond and people say that Lagos is working? All the renovation that Ambode is doing, ask him how many contracts were signed by his predecessors on the same job before he (Ambode) came to complete them? The only thing that Lagos State has done well is that they are experts in knowing how to twist people’s arms to raise revenue.
Some APC loyalists are of the view that the country would have fared better if Buhari had not sidelined Tinubu in the scheme of things, do you agree?
Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a former governor of Lagos State. There are certain things he did I did not like but I know he would be able to put certain things in place that would move the nation forward. Tinubu knows how to pick brains. If he were given a chance in this Buhari-led government, I believe he would have brought a lot of hands that would have acted well than what we are getting from those there now.
Do you agree that the APC and PDP are flip sides of the same coin?
To the extent that our politicians need to get reorientation to know that they are there to serve the people and not only to enrich themselves. What I am saying in effect is that we should make sure we get the right people to work for the people. PDP has majority of the right people. Nigerians and our politicians need to understand that call to service is a call to serve humanity to enhance the people and achieve something and not just to enrich themselves.
If you look at it in retrospect, while the propaganda went on, all they could say of PDP was that people stole money.
But recently another report came out that N400billion had been stolen in the public service from 2015 to date under Buhari’s watch. So what we are saying is that a PDP that delivered on telecoms, that delivered 14 universities, that revamped the railways, a PDP that brought down the Nigerian Airways, restructured it and made it less a burden to the nation, that unbundled NITEL and opened up the doors of business and made Nigeria an economic hub in Africa, that is a PDP that Nigerians are yearning for. A PDP where the president and the people follow the rule of law and allow freedom of speech and collective discussion is much better than what we have now.