The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party Hon. Debo Ologunagba in an interview with Trust TV said efforts are on to address the issues surrounding the choice of its Vice Presidential candidate and other, adding that the party has the capacity to resolve its differences.
The outcome of the nomination of Delta state Governor Okowa has thrown the party into some kind of crisis, what is actually happening?
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There is no crisis in the PDP, politics is about interest, consideration of interest, negotiation, in any human organisation, particularly in any political party there will be disagreement, but the capacity of that institution to reconcile its people amidst all the conflicting interest makes the difference. I think the PDP is well suited for that.
But let me say that the PDP is together, and because PDP is the only organic party in the country today, the history of the party is well known, it is the only party that was formed based on principles and policies and objectives and it is the only party in Nigeria today that is truly democratic and belongs to the people. Nobody owns the PDP, it is for the people. So you will expect that there will be differences, and when there are differences, people are expected to express them, we do not sensor comments, opinions. We allow free flow of ideas and opinions. That is why in the cause of this conversation on expression of different opinion, observers who are not truly close to the issues say there is crisis, but today there is no crisis in the PDP differences are expected in any political party and those differences are being resolved. We have organs, systems, procedures that allow for those concerns to be taken care of.
But the facts on ground do not support the claim that there is no crisis, because of the situation in Ekiti and also the inauguration of the Osun governorship committee, where only two governors were in attendance
I have had the opportunity of expressing this in different for a. The Osun inaguration, the governors of Delta and Taraba states were present while others sent in apologies. Most of them were outside the country. The chairman Governor Diri of Bayelsa, sent in an apology. They were not able to attend because of the time and we needed to put the committee in place quickly and that is not the sign of crisis. Because you don’t attend a meeting and you sent apology does not constitute crisis. Maybe as an observer outside you will see it a crisis and that is why I said the observers are not conversant with the facts. So let me say it here that there is no crisis, the governors were unavoidably absent and they sent in apologies and that is the situation.
How will you react to what Governor Ortom of Benue said about the choice of Okowa over Wike as the Vice Presidential candidate of the party?
Let me put this in perspective. Ortom is one of the outstanding leaders of our party, he is one of those that has put in so much to stabilise the party and he has done well and I know that he is a good party man. But like I said earlier, because we are of the PDP, people have their ideas and concerns and that is what Governor Ortom did. He has expressed concerns about certain actions that were taken and because that is consistent with the PDP those issues are being considered. He has expressed his views but that did not show that there is crisis, it shows that there is conversation and interests are being reconciled and that allows for reconciliation.
However, I am truly glad that Nigerians are focusing on what is happening in the PDP, because they recognise that is the only hope for the people, because we do not censor, we allow cross fertilization of ideas, issues to be discussed, placed on the table. It is not a party that gives instructions, where one man says this and it is it, like the APC. We are having this conversation because this is how our political party intends to govern Nigeria. In the APC I have not seen much of that going on.
This issue we are talking about how far have we gone with the APC and other parties in the country that are involved in this election process? Yes, PDP has challenges and differences within the party. We need to look at the other parties as well, so that Nigerians can have a fair idea of these parties and the people leading them, put them forward and let us interrogate them. Every Nigerian agrees that all is not well with Nigeria today and that is the fact.
In terms of internal stability, are you saying that the PDP is more stabilized than the APC to prosecute the election?
Absolutely and it is clear for all to see. When you suppress opinion it becomes an eruption, it is like a volcano, you notice at the so called convention of the APC, where people were said to have been produced by consensus, you see full grown old men coming out to cry, how do you explain that for a party that wants to lead and govern Nigeria they cannot even conduct a mere National Convention, which shows their dictatorial tendencies.
You said issues raised by Ortom are being looked into, is the party considering changing Okowa for Wike?
I started this conversation by saying that PDP does not belong to anybody, I think that should be the baseline. Ortom is entitled to his opinion. Ortom spoke about processes and says that he has nothing against Governor Okowa. What it means is that fundamentally he is not against the person of Governor Okowa, he is saying that certain things are supposed to be done in a particular way and we take cognizance of that as a party, recognizing the importance of Ortom in the party and of cause to the country. Let us not also forget that the choice of a running mate is the prerogative of the candidate.
But because we are a democratic party, Atiku Abubakar decided in the spirit of bringing everybody together decided to seek the input of all and it was given, but ultimately it is his choice.
But the committee chose Governor Wike?
The committee recommends three names of eminently qualified party men, outstanding in their rights. Wike is a phenomenon in the PDP. Sometimes in the PDP he was probably the only man standing for the party, he gave us the voice, the capacity. He has the compassion and the zeal of a party man. People should not forget at the convention, he said if he wins he expects people to support him and if anyone wins he will support the person. We know he is a man of honour, with a lot of energy, these issues we are talking about are legitimate issues and we have the capacity to look at them and say okay probably we should have done this differently, go through this process in arriving at the same thing. But the candidate has the prerogative to choose whoever he wants as his running mate.
How will you react to those that alleged the PDP has not been fair to Governor Wike?
People have their claim, but it is important to know that when people express their claims, it is listened to and that is the process we are going through right now. People have expressed their concerns these concerns are being looked into because the party has a process that works.
What is your take on the demand by Fayose that power should shift to the South ?
He is another leader of the party and he is entitled to his opinion and this is the beauty of democracy. When the party decides on a particular issue and it becomes a party position members are expected to follow the party decision. But the people can have their say.
Are you not scared of the exodus from your party?
I don’t know what you mean by exodus. Exodus is a massive movement of people, nothing like that is happening in PDP, in fact what you find is the influx of people into PDP, they had to call the APC senators not to move that is a threat, that is the dictatorship, that is where there is exodus and it is going to happen. In the PDP former presidents have left, former governors, ministers and the party did not die. Let me say that we are uncomfortable that members are leaving or these two members (Orubebe and Afegbua) are leaving and you talked about the third one that he might leave, it is still in the realm of conjecture and I don’t comment on conjecture, it may or may not happen, so I leave it at that.
