APC FOUNDATION IS WRONG, COMBINATION FAULTY, IDEOLOGIES UNDEFINED- Doyin Okupe Dr. Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, in this interview with Obiora Ifoh, delves into the gains of registration of All Progressives Congress (APC), the real reasons why the Rivers State crisis has persisted and the possibility of President Goodluck Jonathan contesting the 2015 presidential election. Excerpts: The All Progressives Congress (APC) has at last been registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Is the Presidency not jittery because a credible opposition has come on board? The registration of APC is perhaps the most powerful, the most eloquent testimony of the openness, transparency, honesty and political liberalism of President Goodluck Jonathan. This would not have happened under many African presidents, especially when it is obvious to those who care to study the situation properly that there were obvious hurdles and obstacles to that registration, which could have been exploited, amplified and used by people of lesser integrity to frustrate the APC. This is a testimony that contrary to what you said, we have no fear whatsoever about APC registration, we are not in any way anxious. These are people that were beaten individually before and collectively, we will defeat them randomly. But we are glad that at least now instead of fighting three or four parties, we can concentrate on one and get it done. I can assure you that there is nobody in the Villa that is worried. For us, it is a good thing, a great development. I don’t know whether the opposition is credible enough, I cannot attest to that, but at least you know, what we have is that we’ve political parties that have been inept previously, that have been extremely weakened and of no serious political importance before now and have come together under one umbrella with an attempt to challenge the status quo . We will see how far they can go. With the registration of APC, do you think Nigeria is gradually drifting into two party system? No, I don’t think Nigeria is drifting towards two party system. More and more development will happen; people are more enlightened and as I said before, I don’t think APC will last for a long time because the foundation is wrong, the combination faulty and the ideologies are not clearly defined. The competition will almost choke them when the time really comes, so, we do not really take this as a very serious opposition. There will still be other parties, other tendency, I don’t think we are at that stage of two parties or even moving close to two party system. The President has been meeting with some governors because of the crisis in the party, there are some of the governors who before now have threatened to leave the party, they are meeting with the President; do you think they are likely going to change their minds? It is becoming obvious to dissidents within the PDP that there is nowhere else to go, that is why you hear everybody saying we are not leaving the PDP. There is nowhere else to go. So, it is better to fight and fight inside; it is better to present your case and let it be sorted inside. What you are seeing is clear cut announcements by those who are, I don’t want to call them dissidents, but those who are not very happy with the way situations in the party. They are telling the world, people who care to listen that yes our party may have its problems, faults, inadequacies, but there is no alternative than to be inside. There are more than enough reasons for people to leave, but you don’t leave a winning platform; it is politically suicidal. You hear something like 20 or 40 governors will join us, these are empty boasts and things that do not hold water. None of these governors as you can see for yourself is prepared to move. What they are trying to do is to move around and ensure that they are heard and at least maybe some of their demands are met, but nobody is going anywhere, because PDP is still the real party to beat. Shortly after the meeting with the four governors, we expected they would have sheathe their swords, but we read in the papers that they have gone to Sokoto State to see ex-President Shehu Shagari. Does that mean the interaction with the President did not yield the desired fruit? You must understand that these governors have their own agenda; they have already set this agenda long before now. They are just using the Rivers State scenario as an excuse. Whatever the agenda is, they know and God knows, but this continued move and perambulation show that there are things they are not telling us. It does not really matter, it is a free country, you can move around, consult around and do whatever you want, provided you stay within the law. What you are seeing is politics, like the President said, this is 2015 live. If I can deduce something from what you have stated: you are saying the governors have a hidden agenda that is probably not known to the President? I did not say that, but they have their own agenda. It is not what they are telling the Nigerian public. They are telling us that the real motivating factor is Rivers State and people keep talking about crisis in Rivers. How do you define crisis? There is no unrest in Rivers State, nobody is burning any house in the state; commuters, traders and businessmen are going about their businesses in the state, the governor is junketing abroad or rather having a good time. All these talk is just in the imagination of those who want to stoke the fire that does not exist. There is no problem in Rivers State, I have said it and I am saying it again. Amaechi has a problem with some members of the House of Assembly. Within the Assembly in the state, there are divisions and it is not strange, not unusual; over 18 Speakers have been removed in this our young democracy and nothing happened. I told you this is 2015 live. Everything you hear about Rivers State, about governors moving all over the place has nothing to do with that state. Rivers State is a political camouflage, you can quote me. The real thing is intense politicking by people with very serious interest in the polity or who have agenda they want to make sure manifests by hook or by crook. They are going all over the country, trying to mobilise support for what they want to do. Someone said that they tried to intimidate the President not to run because it is obvious they are insisting that there will be no open ticket for the President. If the PDP is a very serious party, which I believe it is, if the President decides to run, why should the party pick somebody else? The only advantage it will have is that it has an incumbent President who will not be telling Nigerians, vote for me I will do this, he will be telling Nigerians vote for me I have done this. All these people talking about no automatic ticket are saying what is politically unwise, impracticable and they cannot come to pass. I want to tell you that if President Jonathan, in fact, I heard Ango Abdullahi saying the North will win 2015 and the South will never do anything. Abdullahi is day dreaming, what he is dreaming about will never, never come to pass. President Jonathan has not decided and has not told anybody that he wants to run, that is the truth. If he decides to run, nobody can beat him, it’s not possible. The calculations, the odds, national supports performance index are all in his favour. About the PDP special convention, there is a court injunction stopping it, did it come up in the meeting of the committee? Yes, it came up. In fact, that is the first thing that the Chairman briefed us; he said that people are working tirelessly to get the thing vacated. I was told that those who went to court have addressed the press that they are no longer interested, they are withdrawing their case. So, the injunction is not an issue anymore. The convention is on course. 2015 is around the corner and Nigerians are worried that the President has not yet declared his interest either to run or not? If I have any worry, it is that by God’s grace, what we promised the Nigerian people that we would achieve, we will be attain 75 per cent of it by December next year. I think these are the President’s worries. Election and electioneering should not be on for three years; that can only be done in a place where there is so much joblessness and irresponsibility. Six months is enough for all the processes of electioneering, between primaries, conducting election, winning, losing and going to tribunal. This is not the time to campaign, those who are doing so have nothing to do, they are professional and political jobbers, not serious-minded and they have nothing serious to hold. About two months ago, you told us that the President was working on the complaint by the people from the South-West concerning marginalization; you said very soon that will come up, but up till now nothing has been done? What you should know is that government does not work that way, there is already work that is going on underground, I am aware. This issue is uppermost in the mind of the President and the Presidency. Every effort is being put in place to ensure that as much as possible, it will be possible to really 100 per cent correct the imbalance because in any case, two years have gone. What we need to do is to ensure, give people hope and confidence that whatever that had happened was inadvertent, it was not intentional and will not be sustained. I am telling you that it is going on, government is slow and steady; while you are balancing something, you don’t want to dis-balance the other side.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:22:37 +0000
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