2007: 'PDP Must Watch It'
SENATOR Ahmed Tijani Ahmed, Kogi State member, PDP Board of Trustees, and a factional leader speaks on the problem of political godfathers and godsons. He also touches on his grouse with the state governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris and his deputy, Mr. Philip Salawu; the ferocious Okene mayhem of Monday, November 1; his role in the episode made the reception organized to receive a decamping former ANPP Deputy Governor Patrick Adaba to turn sour. Ahmed warned that the ruling PDP might have to put its house in order if it must retain its status as the leading political party. He spoke to RALPH OMOLOLU ABGANA.
Monday�s unrest in Okene, and why accusing fingers must not point at you?
As a political leader in Kogi Central Senatorial
District, whenever there is a problem, I will want to
believe it is my responsibility to resolve it. As far as
I know, everybody is my supporter, since anybody that
occupies any form of political office within the
senatorial district came through me.
Does everybody see you as a leader?
Since every political office holders come from me, I don�t know how else they can describe me.
Expatiate on the phrase �come from me�?
When you recommend people for appointments, when the elected ones come through your nomination, they come from you.
If everybody came from you, why the conflict?
It is a big family, and I am like a father. When the children quarrel, the fact still remains that their father is their father.
Why is it that you are blamed for all political unrest in Okene?
When you control more than 90 per cent of the political population, detractors and opponents naturally want to believe that those who don�t share their own views are thugs. I don�t see how 90 per cent of the PDP members in Ebiralnad are thugs because that is what that implies.
An insight into the immediate cause of the November 1 riot in Okene
The problem has to do with the responsibilities of the state government and the party executive in the state.
The state government intrudes into the functions of the party, when, in actual fact, the party should be independent of the government in many ways. Of recent, the state government has taken over the functions of the party. For example, there were decampees from other parties who must go through the hierarchy of the party for the receptions and if government takes over these responsibilities there are bound to be conflicts and that was what happened in the case of Okene.
What happened at Okene is unfortunate, but I think I did everything possible to see that there was calm and orderliness. But I feel the police overreacted, possibly because they didn�t understand the political terrain in which they were doing their duties. I feel that they should not have dispersed the crowd in such a harsh manner, particularly when there were no signs of physical combat. What appeared to them to be high-toned utterances is the normal political behaviour during political rallies. If they (police) had not overreacted, the ceremony would have been without any serious incidents.
Media reports had it that you endorsed the Okene riot.
A national newspaper made the claim. I hadn�t any such interview with the reporter. I didn�t know where they got all that stuff they published. I am contemplating going to the court. I have taken the matter up with the management of the newspaper to withdraw their statements.
The State Executive Committee of the PDP is suspending you from the party.
The constitution is very clear about due process of discipline. In the first instance, the venues where matters of this nature are discussed are clearly spelt out. It should not be part of the services rendered by the state House (of Assembly). The purported announcement was made in the government house in Lokoja and I do not see how a fair hearing of any matter can be done where the opposite parties would not even have free access to the venue of the meetings.
I do not know whether what they did can stand the test of time. The functions of the party are not done in the government house and I cannot believe the party hierarchy can take up matters that are strictly not of their own responsibilities.
The rift between you and Governor Idris and his deputy Philip Salawu, whom, I assume, you nominated to the office of the deputy governor.
Philip Salawu is simply occupying a post that had been zoned to Okehi Local Government from the Central where he comes from. It is unfortunate that he is not representing Okehi people to their satisfaction. I believe that if they had the opportunity, they would have made a better choice. It is obvious that he is not putting through the ideas of the people. Being the highest political office holder in the state government, we feel that we should re-direct his priorities, to make him fall in line with the political thinking of the Ebira.
I had to intervene in this re-direction over six months ago. But when it was obvious he was not taking to corrections, we had to do extensive consultations with elders from the area. We were still in the process of re-directing him to a political course of the generality of the people, but it would appear the deputy governor is not going to listen to complaints of his constituents.
What �political course� is this?
A political course of the Ebira people, in terms of appointments, sharing of political dividends, physical infrastructural development and other imbalances and unfair distribution of amenities which we have all noticed over the years.
And what are the sins of Governor Idris?
The present leadership came in without a structure and he is attempting to build personal structures against the structure that put him in power in the first place. This has contributed to the unhealthy political unrest. The people that put him there are not the ones he is patronizing.
The success of Idris came about by the fact that most PDP stalwarts united to remove the ANPP government and resolved that anybody who was the candidate would receive the same support as he did. He was not known in the party and he didn�t even know what was the party�s structure. I don�t see how the grassroots could have given him the votes as he claimed.
But the governor claimed he contested against 18 other aspirants and defeated them despite his newness in politics?
If he, as an individual, won the first round of the primaries, all the votes of all the other 18 contenders put together formed more than 70 per cent of the total votes. How could he now claim he had won without the co-operation of these 70 per cent? Idris had 59 votes in the first round and all other votes were more than 150 votes. How could he have won if other people did not co-operate with him during the general election? Even the primaries were never an easy ride because it was decided through run-off when there was no clear winner, after the first ballot.
Public perception is that the whole issue is all about 2007 and power shift.
Power rotation has gained grounds in more than 80 per cent of the states and any political association that is able to evolve this is bound to score points. The irony is that power rotation has even been practiced at the local levels and was responsible for the stability in majority of the local governments. If the system is followed at the state level, we are bound to witness more salability in some of the states experiencing political crises. In Kogi State, power has concentrated in one single senatorial district since the state was created in 1991. This is an aberration and that is what the people of the West and Central and even the East are struggling to put right. It has nothing to do with personalities. It is a clear case of fundamental struggle for self-determination.
What is the attitude of the national leadership of the PDP to the lingering crisis in Kogi State?
As a member of the board of trustees, I have reported these anomalies to the national executive committee and the trustees as well as the national working committee. But it would appear that no serious actions have been taken to study and analyse the problems. What is giving rise to this attitude baffles a lot of political stakeholders and stalwarts in the state.
A reconciliatory meeting was reportedly brokered in Abuja at the instance of the National Chairman.
These meetings are not done with sincerity. They just treat matters superficially without going into the root cause of the matter and that is why no meaningful reconciliation has been achieved.
The problem of godfathers against godsons has been a recurrent decimal in the nation�s political arrangement of late.
The problem of godfatherism cannot be totally ruled out because nobody can go it alone in pursuance of a political ambition. As long as there has to be a collective effort, you cannot rule it out that people would like to invest in the attainment of some of these political goals.
The most important thing is that people have to be sincere and honest in all arrangements that have been put in place before political powers are attained. Problems arise because people go back on their promises and assume different political colours immediately they assume political powers. They hinge their actions on the protection given to them by the constitution. The dangerous consequence is that the two parties resort to violent means to settle scores.
Let�s take the Anambra crisis, for an example. Do you think there will ever be an end to it?
What is happening in Anambra State is a serious case. A situation where the sitting governor cannot carry out his constitutional duties calls for a review by the Federal government.
Governor Ngige alleged that the Federal government was behind his travails
I am not in a position to adjudicate on the Anambra crisis. All I know is that if the state governor feels there is a way the Federal government has failed in some of its responsibilities, why can�t they sue the Federal government. It goes to say that they have not exhausted all the legal processes.
The general feeling of the public is that the ruling PDP has failed to manage its success.
So far, PDP has not come out with a clear-cut policy about equity and fairness, especially in a country like Nigeria with shades of ethnic nationalities. If they do not take this into consideration, soon enough, whichever party is able to adjust to this wind of thinking will certainly have an edge in the future.
A wind of political change is sweeping all over the country. Some people call it power shift but I prefer to call it power rotation. In extreme cases, where two out of three groups are shut out of power for more than eight years, there cannot be a basis for political stability.
I think there is serious need to look into and find policies relating particularly to zoning or power rotation and sharing if the party is to survive 2007. Some political parties are just waiting in the wings to take advantage of people trying to perpetrate themselves in power, to the detriment of the feelings of most of the minority groups in the country.
There is no doubt about the fact that in areas where one particular district tries to dominate others, it is bound to spark up re-alignment of their aspirations. Again, if there is instability in the component parts of the country, there cannot be stability in the whole country. PDP has to look into its internal policies in other to be able to keep this leadership.
But I assure you that the PDP is in the process of evolving strategies for retaining governance over Nigeria beyond 2007. And I know some of the political bigwigs are aware of the risk in overlooking the problems I have just enumerated, and would try to design strategies that are suitable for future elections.
Would you say the Federal government�s reform has achieved any success?
I really think the measures the government is trying to put in place will go a long way to ease the suffering of the people. The strike actions by Labour are precipitated by the fact that the leaders have it as a duty to protect the interest of ordinary Nigerians.
It will take time to see the benefits of the measures being put in place by the government. Economic problems cannot be solved overnight. The problems are tied to global trends. For example, prices of crude oil in America or any developed nations automatically reflect on prices of crude oil in Nigeria.
Since we have all agreed that we would deregulate, prices of oil are bound to change. The question is, by how much. If you want to answer this question, you will have to think about other economic factors. You have to relate it with our infrastructural structures, the efficiency, level of development, etc. All these factors will go into determining the cost and these are factors that create problems. They are not what we can solve over night.
The measures necessary to kick-start the refineries are being put in place, but it takes time for them to manifest. Other areas that are being improved upon, like electricity, roads, and communications are factors affecting oil prices. It may shock you that 70 per cent of the cost of food is built into transportation, especially for those in the urban areas. Transportation depends on good roads and availability of fuel. So you can see the whole economic indices is a vicious circle. Anything that effects one part is bound to affect the whole circle unless and until a comprehensive improvement are done you cannot expect solutions.
