How PDP will resolve crisis, sweep 2019 polls – Sen. Mantu
Ibrahim Mantu is a former Deputy Senate President and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT). In this exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, he spoke on steps being taken by the party’s stakeholders to resolve its le
Some PDP stakeholders have resorted to seeking a political solution after a prolonged legal leadership battle. How far has it gone?
Most of us believe that the political solution is the best way forward. We have gone far in consulting party organs and stakeholders, and will continue to do so until we are on the same page.
Would the political solution include asking Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi to step aside for a neutral body to conduct the party’s national convention?
The convention committee is expected to be composed of men and women of unquestionable integrity, whose primary concern would be to conduct free, fair and transparent elections at the convention, irrespective of who the national chairman of the party is. Once the convention committee is constituted, it takes over the management of the party affairs, which is to conduct credible and acceptable elections. So whether both of them step aside or one of them is in charge, the election would not be affected.
Some say Sheriff is acting a script written by the ruling party. What is your view?
If Sheriff is acting a script written by the ruling party, then Governor Wike and Governor Fayose must have been the persons contracted by the ruling party to impose Sheriff on the PDP because they were the ones who brought him against the will of the majority of us. Senator Sheriff says he never sought to be the national chairman of the PDP, but Wike and Fayose mounted tremendous pressure on him to accept to be the chairman of the party.
He said he reluctantly accepted so as to please his good friends. Of course some of us resisted the way and manner the governors wanted to impose him on us without due consultation. We considered their action most disrespectful to us and, therefore, had to put up a stiff resistance, which led to the group holding a parallel convention in Abuja, while those in support of Sen. Ali Sheriff went to Port Harcourt to hold their convention there in order to elect him as the national chairman of the party.
There is mass defection of PDP stalwarts to the APC. How do you feel about this, considering that 2019 is fast approaching?
There are defections of PDP stalwarts to the APC just as there are also defections of APC stalwarts to the PDP. There are politicians and there are ‘politicians.’ Many people are in politics for different reasons. There are those who join politics in order to have a political platform to have a say in the affairs of the country. There are those who are in politics purely for the achievement of their political ambition. There are also political entrepreneurs. This group sees politics as an investment. There are also those of us who see our involvement in politics as a ‘calling.’ Our pre-occupation is how to use our participation in politics to make things better for all, especially the less privileged and the downtrodden.
There is a hint that the Makarfi-led group is planning to form Advanced PDP in order to have an alternative platform in case Sheriff wins at the Supreme Court. What do you make of this?
I have been a member of the Makarfi group, but I am not aware of any plan to form Advanced PDP or any new party platform. Maybe I am not in the ‘inner caucus.’ We will like to fight to restore the lost glory of the PDP irrespective of who finally wins at the Supreme Court. The PDP is not about Makarfi or Sheriff, it is about well-meaning people coming together to save democracy and the Nigerian nation.
There is an agitation for Igbo presidency in 2019. Is this realisable?
While I appreciate the current policy of zoning political offices in order to give a sense of belonging and participation to all citizens of Nigeria, this should be seen as a temporary arrangement. We should develop and advance to a stage where people are elected on merit, rather than on ethnic or regional leanings. There are presidential materials in all the tribes and zones. I think what we should worry about is electing a detribalised Nigerian who sees the country as his immediate constituency; someone who would manage our resources prudently, a person that would add value to our raw materials through industrialisation, a leader by example, someone who would offer selfless service, a president who would observe the rule of law and govern with the fear of God. In a nutshell, we need a president who would give us good governance. I think we had better spent time identifying such a person than where he comes from.
You have consistently stressed that the PDP will bounce back. What are those factors that make you confident?
I have consistently stressed that the PDP will bounce back because the APC government has failed the people woefully. All the hopes and expectations of the people have been dashed and there appears not to be any light at the end of the tunnel. So, it is very clear to me that the PDP remains the hope of the people.
Some say you have dumped the Makarfi group for that of Sheriff; what is the true situation?
My role in the scheme of things is being misconstrued innocently by many and mischievously by a few of our members. There are those who, out of envy, want to cut my overbearing influence in the affairs of the party to size, and there are those who are fed with false propaganda against my person. Well, the truth is that I am genuinely concerned with restoring the lost glory of the party that brought me to the limelight. I am genuinely concerned about reconciling members of the PDP family because I believe that if we put our house in order, we shall surely sweep the polls in 2019. Luckily, I am the deputy chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee. As a member of the committee I should be seen as an impartial umpire who should be trusted by the players of both sides. If I were hostile to the Ali Sheriff group, they would have shut their doors against any peace proposal being suggested by me; no matter how relevant it may be to finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The National Caretaker Committee has challenged the Governor Dickson-led National Reconciliation Committee’s report, which you were part of, saying it was ‘hurriedly’ made public without input from various organs of the party. What is your view?
It is most unfortunate and uncharitable for anyone to challenge the Governor Dicksonled PDP National Reconciliation Committee’s report. As the deputy chairman of that committee, we spent sleepless nights strategising on how we could draw up a template that would accommodate all party organs and interest groups in order to have an all-inclusive convention that would produce national officers of the party that would be freely, fairly and transparently elected. Apart from recognised organs of the party in the constitution, we went out of our ways to include other organs that are not in the constitution but are relevant to having an all-inclusive convention.
It may interest you to know that all the organs listed in the template to contribute membership of the National Convention Planning Committee belong to the Makarfi group, except the 12 slots given to Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff. Indeed, our fear was that Sen. Sheriff would not agree to the proposal for lack of adequate representation of his group. We just said let us give it to him as a working paper. To our greatest delight and pleasant surprise, Sen. Sheriff accepted the proposal. Our hearts were full of joy and happiness that day. Honestly, I don’t understand where some people stand in the ongoing crisis. Otherwise, how can anyone who loves peace in the party reject our proposal?
How would you score the APC-led government so far?
The APC-led government has let the people down. Never in the history of this country have people gone through the sufferings and untold hardship they are witnessing now. However, the APC government has recorded huge successes in fighting Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East, but criminals are on the prowl while ethnic and communal clashes have become a daily occurrence. Kidnapping has become the order of the day across the nation. Armed robbers have intensified their activities on our highways and our homes. There is no respect for the rule of law and democracy is being threatened.