Akinjide Boasts: No Mercy, PDP Will Win 25 States Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide has seen all in politics, dating back to the pre- independence days. Now in his twilight, he x-rays the forthcoming elections in February, and gives it squarely to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP , in all of 25 states of the federation. He sees the alliance of some south west politicians and the North as crystalised in the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, as a gambit that is bound to backfire, vowing that nothing will stop his party, the PDP from sending the APC packing in the zone. Akinjide further warns proponents of parallel government to beware as they risk treason charges. On the insurgency in the North east, he says there is nothing new about it. “The problem in the North-east is not anything new. The problem has been there for the past 40 years or more. They have never supported the government at the centre.” He speaks on other election related issues including the reported endorsement of the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, retd, by the outlawed Movement For the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, and former vice president Alex Ekwueme’s insight that Jonathan may not get the bloc votes of the South east, among others. Excerpts. Nigeria is at the threshold of a general election, and for the first time in this dispensation, there is a major opposition party that appears to have what it takes, in terms of capacity to give the ruling party, the PDP, a big run. What is your own view on this? I don’t accept that we have a major party in the sense you have explained. If you know the history of this country, we used to have the NCNC, the NPC, the AG, which are very powerful political parties. At that time Balewa was prime minister, and I was in his cabinet. Later on Alhaji Shehu Shagari became the president, and also I was in that cabinet. None of the political parties you mentioned is as powerful as those political parties of those years which were in the opposition too. So, your question is not correct, and I can assure you that the coming election is going to be free and fair and PDP is going to win overwhelmingly. I like your confidence, but you know since 1999, PDP has dominated the political space. Suddenly last year APC sprang up from the ashes of ACN, ANPP, a rump of APGA, and CPC, and there were massive defections from the PDP to APC. The way they are going and their calculations in the North and the South west, the party is beating its chest to take over power from the PDP this year. That is nonsense. In the South-west, the PDP now rules in Ondo State. The PDP rules in Ekiti State. And I can assure you that the PDP will win in Ogun State, and very, very likely Ondo State. So after the election, the equation of the control of states will be different. I have very strong reasons to believe that PDP will win the South-west in the next election. I must make that very clear to you. In the delta where there are six states, the dominance of PDP is very, very strong, and I want to tell you in advance that the PDP will win all the six states in the delta. The same thing will happen in the middle belt. The PDP is extremely strong in the middle belt. It is the strongest political party there. In the North-west, the PDP is very strong, and in the North-east, PDP is the strongest political party. So if you take the equation of Nigeria’s politics objectively, out of the 36 states in the country today, I have reason to believe that PDP will win not less than 24 or 25 states total. Those who are putting false possibilities on television, radio and newspapers or magazines are wrong. After the election they will be proved extremely wrong. You excluded Lagos in your calculation of the states where PDP will grab power. What makes you think that PDP will not pick Lagos? Lagos is controlled by the opposition party now. I am aware of that. But if we have true free, and fair elections in Lagos State, and there is no dominance by one single individual, there is no corruption, I have reasons to believe that PDP has a very strong chance of winning Lagos State. That is my belief. I would like you to compare the present regime of Goodluck Jonathan and that of the Second Republic headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Both are true civilians. In both dispensations, the presidents were accused of incompetence. They used the word “inept” for Shagari and “incompetence” now for Jonathan. When Shagari rolled back to power in 1985, the military struck within three months. Are you not afraid that if Jonathan wins, the military may also intervene? Definitely, the military will never intervene again. And I want to assure you that one of the best governments ever run in the history of this country was that of Alhaji Shehu Shagari presidential government, and the worst governments ever run in this country were run by the military governments. I want you to name one military government in the history of this country that you can declare as being clear and clean. We had extreme detentions in prison, extreme removal of governors, dictatorships, and so on and so forth. And they were not elected into power. And if you look at the history of corruption in this country, the most corrupt governments in the history of this country were the military governments. In fact, if you look at the history of this country and the profile of the citizens, the most affluent and richest people in the country today, were those former military rulers, or governors, or people whom the military are using as front to hide their wealth. So, you must have gotten the arithmetic wrong. Some of them have established newspapers, either directly or indirectly, and radio and television stations, and they use them to tell all sorts of lies. Don’t let that carry you away. After the coming general elections, the card will be on the table face up. The main challenger of President Good luck Jonathan, Gen Mohammadu Buhari, led the military coup that toppled the democratically elected regime of Shehu Shagari in 1983. He has promised to stabilize the security situation in the country, and of course stem the tide of corruption which this government has been assailed with. Do you think it is a tall order for him? Buhari toppled a democratically elected government and we are witnesses to how he ran a despotic government for two years. This is the fourth time he is trying to come to power through the ballot box that he so despised, and on each occasion the people had always turned him back. I can tell you categorically that he will not win. Jonathan will still win overwhelmingly. I have reasons to say that, but I will not go into any detail now. The equation or alliance of certain people in the South-west to the effect that their presidential candidate will come from the North is very clear and it is going to work against them. It is going to make them lose many states and many senatorial seats and House of Representatives seats. I will not develop it more than that. When the results are declared, many people will be shocked and disappointed; because the PDP will win overwhelmingly. The main opposition party APC, has also declared that it will form a parallel government should Jonathan bounce back to power. As you insist that Jonathan will win, and against the backdrop of their threat, don’t you see a looming crisis? That is the cry of a loser. If you lose election, what you do is that you go and file election petition. There is a tribunal for those who feel unfairly losing the election. You don’t form a parallel government. I challenge anyone to show me anywhere in the constitution where it states that when you lose election, you go and form a parallel government. You cannot do that, if you do that, that will be treason, and it will be dealt with according to the law. Why is the present government finding it difficult to subdue the mounting security challenges and corruption on which the opposition party is basing their campaigns? The problem in the North east is not anything new. The problem has been there for the past 40 years or more. They have never supported the government at the centre. If you remember, when Waziri Ibrahim was in politics before he died, he formed his own political party. He didn’t support any national party. He didn’t support NCNC. He didn’t support NPC. During the Second Republic he didn’t support any other party. They formed their own group. Well, if they want to have their own political party, I have no problem with that. But what I have serious problem with is your engagement in terrorism, kidnapping innocent young girls who have committed no offence, and who did nothing but to go to school to be educated in order to develop their country. I can assure you that when the elections are held, you will discover that the PDP, will win all those states in the North-east where there are problems. I have no doubt about that. All we need is free and fair election. Going by current trends now, there appears to be so much apprehension in the air, that has elicited fears that if this election holds, there may be crisis or war, and this can lead to anything, including disintegration. Do you harbour such fears? There will be no crisis. There will be no war. Anybody who creates crisis or war is committing treason, and that person will be dealt with in accordance with the law. I have no fear at all, that there is going to be amity, and the winning party will be called upon to form the government at the centre. And those who win at the state level will also do the same thing. I think those talking like that are predicting their own downfall and the coming defeat. PDP has no problem with defeat, PDP will win overwhelmingly, fairly and the country will be in peace. P T O
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 21:58:17 +0000
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