PDP’ll remain an opposition party for a longtime to come – Segun Oni
The PDP, recently had their national convention which produced Prince Uche Secondus as new National Chairman. How did the APC receive the development?
We congratulated them for successfully electing a new executive. We want to make it very clear that as a party, we are not afraid to have a virile opposition. We believe that democracy will do well in an atmosphere where there is a strong party in government and a virile opposition which they will be and continue to be.
From the initial reaction of the APC to the convention, through the National Publicity Secretary, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, your party voiced concern that the PDP had been turned to a regional party regarding what happened to the South-West. Do you share the same viewpoint?
I’m from the South-West. Therefore, I should know the sentiments and the feelings of the people of the South-West. Don’t forget, I was also in the PDP. And at a particular stage in the journey of the PDP, just before the end of their sojourn, they played this kind of card. I’m surprised that as they are trying to come back, they have started to play the card that led to their demise. So, I won’t say more than that. They should go and examine themselves. They have already picked a coordinate for failure. Definitely, they will become a regional party from the way they are going. But that is not our wish for them. Our wish for them is that they should be a virile opposition so that Nigerians will be able to compare us at any time or compare what we are saying on any issue.
As soon as the new PDP executives were elected, they voiced the readiness to dislodge the APC in 2019. Don’t you see the PDP as
a major threat to the ruling party in 2019?
Whatever they are saying, if wishes were horses, beggars will ride. There is no political party that will not say that it will be in power at the centre. Even those parties who cannot win a single polling unit, if you ask them questions, their belief is that their days will come when they will win the general elections and control the power at the centre. The question is: when will that day come? And for the PDP, I believe that their days will still be very long because they are not even addressing the fundamentals about why they lost it - something that was presented to them. They got Nigeria on a platter of gold. And they lost it. Now, they are trying to fight for it from the back. They were in the house. They were dislodged. They should know that it requires more than just talking or noise making. They need to go into serious thinking and plan their way. It won’t be easy and quick.
Don’t you see former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s exit as a very big loss to the APC?
The Yorubas will always say whenever there is a quarrel, every song will be interpreted as a proverb. Nobody will leave a party and not have anything to say about his leaving and what the party should have done better. We are not claiming to be perfect. Even if anybody breaks away from a band of angels and he is asked to tell his story, he will still have a few things to say negatively about a band of angels. The reality is that the former Vice President has left our party. He has gone to try his luck with the PDP. Let us leave it at that. Don’t let us see it as if it’s a measure from another planet.
What is the ruling party doing to address the challenges in Kano, Bayelsa and other States?
Every human organisation, anywhere in the world, will have its own challenges. It will depend on how they handle their challenges. It will depend on how they tackle whatever obstacles before them. If we find ourselves in a situation where everything is plain and there are no challenges, then we should be afraid because we will not be able to contemplate what is coming next and how soon it is coming. This is a normal practical human situation. And we are equipped enough to handle it. So, there is nothing for us to panic about.
There are still divisions between Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; Governor Yahaya Bello and Senator Dino Melaye among others. Don’t you think that these issues should be resolved before 2019?
Let me say effectiveness of this about the a team. The effectiveness of a team will lie more on the ability of everybody to resolve to work together in a particular direction; not to resolve to be friends; not to resolve to see nothing wrong in others, but to resolve to work together for the achievement of the same goals and objectives. That is, everybody plays its own part in the realisation of those goals and objectives. Playing your part will be a function of where you are standing. So, if we have not achieved a perfect utopian type of relationship in any state does not mean that we cannot win that state easily when all the forces are resolved in the same direction. You will see what will happen.
What is the update on the job of various reconciliation committees the party constituted?
In some cases, we have obtained reports and we will work on them. In some cases, we are still expecting. But as I said, a perfect team is not that team where there are no differences of opinions.
Do you think President Buhari can get the party’s ticket and go ahead to win the 2019 presidential election?
This is my personal opinion. And I have said it once. The way the president was able to overcome his health challenge is a miracle. And the time that was done, as far as I’m concerned, is like an endorsement of God. So, if he wants to run, I’m sure a lot of people will see him as already God-endorsed for the job again.
Has the APC fared better in terms of its performance regarding the electoral campaign promises?
We have done very well. I have no doubt. We promise security. At the time we came in, Boko Haram was flying their flags in so many places in the North-East as the sovereign owners of those parts of Nigeria. But today, no square inch of Nigerian land is occupied and owned by any other interest other than the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, on security, we have done very well. Yes, it is not very easy to conquer an insurgency and it dies off. One stage is to conquer it and the next stage is for it to die off completely. It is now at the stage of being completely wiped off. And I believe the military are doing their job. We must congratulate them. We promised another war this time on corruption. Corruption has not been wiped off. But at least, the impunity with which corruption was gallivanting all over the country has been nipped in the bud. Corruption does not now ride in Gulfstream jets, Bentley cars and so on. The corrupt people are now afraid. Some of them can’t even go about in the cars that they parked at home. Some of them are covering them with canopy because they know that corruption is no longer the vogue. The war continues. But we have succeeded so far.
We talk about the economy. By the time we came in, people were making all forms of projections. Some even said that there would be famine in Nigeria. Those doomsday projections, nobody owns up to them any longer. But they were there. We all were reading them. Today, there is no prospect of those doomsday projections coming to pass. Even the Nigerian Naira has stabilised. Some people were thinking that by now, it would have gone completely haywire. But now, the economy is being managed properly. It is out of the woods. And we will continue to move on. And I will say that there is also the hand of God there. As it is being managed properly, the prospects of increasing revenues even from oil next year are there.
The PDP said the $1 billion released for the Boko Haram war was meant to prosecute the APC presidential activities in 2019. Prince Secondus also claimed that the APC was building more prisons to keep his party chieftains. What is your take on those allegations?
First of all, the PDP knew what they did to this economy. Therefore, they will always think that that is the way other people are. We are talking of $1 billion. It is chicken compared to what these people looted out of this economy in the name of an election. How much they were busy paying marabouts, prayer warriors, and so on? They thought that was what we are returning to. They are being held captive by the hallucinations of the past. There is no way a thief will hear money and he won’t think it’s loot. With a thief, every money is either a loot or money for looting. So, whatever they are saying can be excused at least by people who were around when they were causing this havoc. They will think every other person will have their mindset.
Generally, what are the chances of the APC in the South-West?
The APC will win everywhere in the South-West. We will not just win it, but it will be won more solidly.
Why are you so confident?
We are beginning to see a new round of initiatives that make us very confident. Last weekend, we were in Ibadan to see the real movers and shakers of the PDP coming over to the APC. People like former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, former Deputy Governor, Taofeek Arapaja, and former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin and others - excellent and impressive politicians - people who held forte on behalf of the PDP then. So, that is the Oyo State angle. You will still see other States. I believe the PDP knows that their time is up as far as the South-West is concerned.
On a final note, I understand you still nurture governorship ambition in Ekiti State. How confident are you about this ambition that will pitch you against the incumbent Governor Ayo Fayose if you get the APC ticket?
Confidence? Only God gives confidence. But I want to say that we are satisfied with what we can see in the terrain right now. And we believe it’s a doable project. And God is with us. On the second aspect of the question, we know ourselves. Leave us and let’s see how it plays out.