Hajia Maryam Ciroma is a former Minister of Women Affairs and ex-National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, she speaks on the party’s dwindling fortunes and its struggle with internal wrangling, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
You attended a meeting of concerned PDP leaders in Abuja. Where does that place you in the sort of balance of power within the PDP at the moment?
The people you saw at the meeting are all leaders of the PDP. And the concern of these leaders is that, at the moment, PDP is in serious turmoil and 2027 is fast approaching.
If the PDP is not united, it will be difficult for the party to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). We know that the country today is in serious challenges and Nigerians are looking for an alternative.
That’s why we call ourselves a democratic country. If Nigerians are not happy with the government, they have the right to make a choice. That’s why every four years we must have an election. So, the PDP now is concerned that we have these challenges in the party, and if we don’t come together, then we are in fact disappointing Nigerians.
Therefore, we have to come together, have a meeting and see how we can remobilize the PDP for the party to come back to where it used to be in 1999.
Were you part of the series of meetings that took place in Abuja?
Yes. We are leaders of the party. We had a meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and I am a member of the BoT. We also had a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and I’m also a member of the NEC. So, that was why I was at the meetings.
But you’ve also been attending meetings of the opposition coalition…
Yes, because I’m concerned about our country. As I was part of the meeting and that meeting did not say that everybody agreed with what was said because I know that there were issues in the party and the issue is that we have the different groups in the party like the Governors’ Forum.
We also have the Ministers’ Forum and Former Governors’ Forum and all that. And as long as we don’t come together and say that is the right route to take, we will not get it right. When we are talking of democracy, we are talking of majority voice.
Wasn’t that what happened when Senator Samuel Anyanwu was accepted by everyone, at least by the majority, as the person who ought to remain as national secretary?
Actually, there is confusion as I’m talking to you now.
There’s confusion because the issue is that some groups met with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and they were telling us that they had a meeting with INEC and that the commission told them that what the signature of the national secretary they have in their portal is that of Anyanwu and that if Anyanwu did not sign any letter from PDP, INEC will not respect that letter.
But I was a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) before. I was a National Women Leader of the PDP and I know that the deputy national secretary is a member of the NWC, which means that the deputy national secretary can sign a letter for the party. I don’t think that that has changed.
Are you saying that they’re making up a story about INEC?
As far as I’m concerned, that is the situation in the PDP. Why is it today that INEC will say they will not accept a signature from
Politicians of today are not thinking about the country. Personal interest is what is now driving them, but it is taking us down. That’s why we say there’s no democracy
anybody except Anyanwu? So, if Anyanwu travels and there’s an emergency in the PDP, happens? What we need to know is that PDP must be straightforward.
PDP must come up with the truth and say this is it and then it must be what they said, because the constitution is there and it is our backing.
What the constitution says is what we follow. So, some people cannot just come up with stories and say that is what INEC said. Can INEC now sit there and dictate to political parties? No, they cannot dictate to political parties.
They have their own roles to play in Nigerian government. Whether it is the PDP or the other parties, all the parties have their own roles to play. So, I don’t think what they said is the right thing.
Would it be fair to say that the governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde and the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, have bowed to Nyesom Wike?
I don’t know anything about that. I’m not a member of the Governors’ Forum, so I don’t know anything when it comes to our governors. But what we are saying is that the assumption in the PDP is that Wike has taken control of the party. That is the assumption of everybody.
I am a founding member of the party, and when it was formed, we called it Peoples Democratic Party. It means it belongs to the people, not a single person.
Everybody in PDP has a right. That’s why we say Peoples Democratic Party. And we have an umbrella as our logo. That implies that everybody is under the umbrella. And when we say PDP, we say power to the people, meaning the people have the power, not a single person.
So, as far as I’m concerned, we will not allow one person to control the party. That is not democracy and that’s not what Nigerians want. Nigerians must decide who governs them. We don’t want a situation where one man will be dictating for a political party.
Is that what our founding fathers wanted? No. Everybody must have a voice. If we don’t agree, we come together. We come and say, these are the reasons I don’t like this. That is what democracy is all about. But for us to sit down and say, oh, we cannot say anything because somebody is there and that whoever plays the pipe dictates the tune.
What does that mean? Is that now democracy? That is why the group I met with agreed that we will not allow just a few people to come and destroy democracy in Nigeria, because if PDP is destroyed, all the other parties will also go. So, as you rightly said, when there are issues in the party, it is dangerous for the party. That’s why these people are coming together.
These leaders are coming together to ensure that this problem we are having in the party are resolved otherwise, we will form a coalition of every Nigerian that is concerned about this country outside the PDP. Every Nigerian, whether you are in the PDP or in the other parties, we are Nigerians.
Unfortunately, politicians of today are not thinking about the country. Personal interest is what is now driving them but it is taking us down.
That’s why we say there’s no democracy. People appoint who becomes what. If I’m a governor and my tenure is finishing, I will try to see who I can bring to take over the position. That is not what the people want.
That is why we have leaders who want to control the party. As I’m talking to you, we are planning our national convention, which will produce members of the NWC, and everyone knows that the NWC plays a critical role in determining who becomes what.
That’s why you see our leaders struggling to ensure that they have their way, so that they can now plant whom they want, and who will in turn do their bidding and not what Nigerians want.
How can you prevent that from happening?
That’s what we are trying to do now with our group.
We have people of the same mind; people who believe in the unity of Nigeria, people who believe that Nigeria must continue to develop. Look at the situation we are in; I’m very sorry to say that nobody is happy.
A mother cannot sit at home and be happy because her son cannot go to school. So, what we are now saying is that a party can’t be controlled by one or two people.
You’ve made the point but how do you intend to stop that from happening?
What we are saying is that we have learnt our lessons from what is happening in the PDP.
So, once we have this coalition, we will not allow one or two people to control the party. What we are saying is that if the PDP cannot do what they are supposed to do, then we’ll all leave the party.
We are not talking about anybody in the group; we are talking about Nigerians. And this group that are coming, as I said, we have learned our lessons from the problems in the PDP. We will not allow personal interest to destroy the group because as I said, the group is all about rescuing Nigerians.
So, everybody will have his own opinion. If the group says, oh, we have nobody but Atiku, why not? He’s a Nigerian and he can contest election if he wants to contest election.
But if the group says, no, we don’t want Atiku, we want A or B or C, of course the A or B or C will get it because that is democracy.
Given all these, do you think PDP can make up for lost time and be able to come back before 2027?
Yes, but that is if the leaders come together now because we don’t have time. If the leaders can say, oh, we have to put our personal interest behind us and let us get it first, then we know what to do.
Would you be disappointed if you were forced to leave the PDP?
Nobody can force me to leave. I love the party, but I love my country more than the party. So, as far as I’m concerned, the way the situation today, I’m not happy. And if my party cannot help salvage the situation, I will leave.
What about the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum?
You are asking the wrong person that question because I contested against Damagum for the position of deputy national chairman.
People will say, oh, that is her political view because even if he is doing the right thing, she might come and say he is not getting it right because she is not the person in charge.
Of course, politics is all about people’s views and what they think about their leaders and all that, so if people think Damagum is not getting it right, it’s their views and they have the right to express their views.
If the acting chairman is aware of this, then he needs to change, so that he can, at least, move the party forward.
Where do things go from here; are you throwing the gauntlets down for the PDP, saying it’s either you do this or we leave?
Yes, everybody knows that Nigeria of today, we need a very strong opposition party otherwise we are going nowhere.
So, if PDP can look back and say what we are doing is wrong, we must get up and get it right, and to get it right, we need to do A, B, C, D and we are going to do it, we will all stay there and support the party.
But some people are even suggesting that the government is manipulating PDP to ensure that the PDP dies.
So, it’s very, very unfortunate if that is the true situation because PDP was formed, as I said, for Nigerians. Therefore, if it will not be there for Nigerians, why should we remain in the party?
