From Tunde Omolehin, Sokoto

Alhaji Kabiru Aliyu is the State Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State. He spoke on the real reasons the party lost the presidential election in 2015, and some of the mechanisms put in place make it victorious in the forthcoming general elections.

What would you say about the APC led-government at the state and federal levels?

I believe Nigerians did not bargain for what they are experiencing now. As you can see, the prices of household commodities have gone high. Go to the market, you will see that the price of foodstuffs which is most essential in our daily life has skyrocketed. Our currency purchasing power has also gone so low. A bag of rice sold at the cost of N6, 500 before PDP relinquished power is now selling at above N15, 000. Even at the state level, the situation is becoming worse. Take for instance, in the education sector; parents can no longer send their children to public schools because of the dilapidated conditions of the infrastructure. This is the administration that have declared state of emergency in the education sector and considered it as the topmost priority.

Since 2007, when Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, the erstwhile governor of the state from 1999 to 2007 left office, things have not change for better. I can go on and on to express the backwardness we are experiencing under the APC led administration at both levels.

Can you tell us what your party has been able to achieve even as an opposition party?

Immediately after we lost the 2015 election, the leadership of the party embarked on a reconciliation mission. A committee headed by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu was inaugurated. Some of the mandates of the committee were to find out why the party lost the presidential election, and how the party can regain its winning prowess. The committee also extended its opinion to the states, asking the states to submit reports on the way forward. Recommendations were made among them is that in future elections, the presidential slot should be zoned to the northern region.

Would you say the PDP could have won in2015 if it had zoned the presidential slot to the north?

I think that was one of the reasons the party lost the presidential election. Had it been the party leadership did not tamper with the zoning arrangement, PDP could have won the election. But we lost because the slot was allowed to go to the south. But that arrangement has been re-invigorated into the party’s system ahead of the 2019. Not only that, we also lost because the elites hijacked the party and assumed the ownership of the party. All these are against the will and wishes of the masses.

What is the party doing to avoid all these mistakes in future?

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If you have been following PDP activities after 2015, you must have seen these perfections. In fact, during our last congresses in April 2016, the party allowed people at the grassroots to elect their leaders at ward level, and for the elected leaders to thereafter elect their leaders at local government level and so on. If you observed carefully, you must have seen the changes made which were different from the past. PDP is now a serious party and it has now been returned to the masses as its real ownership. We have also realised that money is not everything in politics. Since the 2015 experience, we have decided to withdraw the use of money in our political activities. We want to really know who are the true party supporters and lovers of our party. We want to make the use of money in politics less important in our activities. We have also realised that the usage of social media platforms is critical in our electioneering activities. That was why we invited some international experts to train our social media practitioners on the new methods. We have improved tremendously in all these areas and that have aided us to quickly learn the act of opposition. But unfortunately, the APC has not learned the act of governance.

The APC is still dreaming in opposition. That is why the party members are always opposing themselves. And that is why I will say if there is going to be any election in both state and federal, those who voted or worked for APC’s success before will work against it. You can see what happened in Osun Senatorial election, which is believed to be one of APC’s strongholds in the south west.

In Sokoto, the PDP’s intra party rancour or rivalry is still well pronounced among its gladiators like Attahiru Bafarawa, Mukthar Shagari, Abdallah Wali and others. What is the party doing to unite these leaders?

I want to assure you that we have learned our lesson the hard way. We have realised that every one of us including these leaders have suffered because of lack of unity in the party at the state level. In fact, some of these leaders have also tried to have rooms in other parties, especially in the ruling party (APC) but to no avail. So, they have realised that PDP is their original party and they have no place to go. They have now decided to join hands and build the party. So, the intra crisis you are talking about may be a thing of the past by God’s grace. All of them have agreed to come together and work for the party’s success in future elections.

In recent time, we have seen some of your party stalwarts courting APC government in the state. What does that translates to?

I think you are talking about the Sallah homage visit to our party leadership, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa by the state governor. Many people are reading meanings into the scenario. But I can tell you that it is just the politicking way of the governor. We did not know why he (Tambuwal) decided to pay the homage on the former governor (Bafarawa). But, the governor similarly paid homage to other past governors including those that have retired to Zamfara State.

Can we know the level of your party’s preparation for 2019 elections?

The party is well prepared for the elections. We have members who have shown their interest in vying. We believe more members may still show interest before the elections. Our party is set in as much as INEC is ready to conduct free and fair election.

Will PDP accept mass defection from protesting members from other parties who are only coming into the party to get party ticket?

Politicians must have a way of dumping one party for another. That is part of politicking. I believed the PDP is a party for the masses. We will welcome anybody that wants to liberate the downtrodden. I also believe that the party has guidelines stipulated for any newcomer or returnee to the party. We cannot stop anybody from joining and contesting the party’s ticket if there is a waiver from the party authority. What I know is that there is no automatic ticket for anybody. People must follow the party primary guidelines before the ticket can be given to them.