Chief John Oyegun is the chairman, Manifesto Drafting Committee of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview, he speaks on his involvement in the formation of the party and what they intend to do differently from the ruling party. ANAYO EZUGWU reports
You were responsible for helping to bring the APC from the margins of politics all the way to Aso Rock. How much do you think about what this country used to be and what it potentially could be in the future as you play your role as a leading member now of the ADC, especially as chairman of the committee that is drafting the party’s manifesto, that you hope will convince Nigerians to look favourably at the party in 2027 as you managed to do with the APC in 2015?
This time, we have a big message, a total different message. We have to start with the apology, saying sorry, we have disappointed you repeatedly. It’s not as if it is the last government. And of course, a lot of people in the ADC come from the APC as well as the PDP and all of those who were participants in the drama that has landed us where we are today. But we tell them, this time it cannot be business as usual.
Even in the way the party is being run and the way it is being organised, up to this point in time. You know, there are no governors, there are no major office holders. So, there’s a major sacrifice being made by virtually every strata of the society. When I say every strata of the society, I mean those who are managing down below. They are carrying out everyone’s responsibilities, for which we don’t ask them how they manage to it.
But people say that what you’re hoping for in the ADC is that the APC will be thrown into confusion because there are so many people coming in with so few positions. And when that starts to fall apart and people start to look elsewhere for tickets, they are going to come to the ADC…
Well, there’s no other party, of course. The point I want to make is that as of now, the only attraction in the APC for people who are joining in droves is that they believe that they are going to make the difference and they are ready to make sacrifices. That is the first indicator that these people know that things are bad. These people have looked at the leaders of this new party, and believe in them. And they are ready, as a result, to make the sacrifice that is required.
The other issues of the drove of people in the APC, who are all lining up, I want to confess to you, we are very pleased that virtually all the governors have transited into the APC. You know how it started? I think Delta or somewhere, one of these states, there was this thing from the red flag from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). They waved the red flag on fraud of N1 trillion, a month later, the whole of Delta PDP walked into the APC.
And since then, it has been an unending queue. I wonder how they are able to cope. To rescue Nigeria is a mission we must undertake –Oyegun So, the struggle for the future becomes very clear. In fact, designing the kind of campaign that is going to come in the future, it is the people versus the oppressors made up of so many governors and so many political actors all under one umbrella with all their sins forgiven. It’s going to be a most interesting campaign period.
You are a former national chairman of the APC, which made you a prominent member of the ruling party at one stage. But now you’re in the main opposition party and Nigerian politics is such a divisive issue mixed with ethnicity, religion and region. Against these backdrops, where do you sense that the ADC is when it comes to the empathy and feeling and hearts of Nigerians?
I’ll try to cut a long story short. Yes, I was national chairman of the APC, six months or less into our assuming office. Fairly alarmed, I went to Mr. President on a one-on-one talk. I said, Mr. President, this is not what the people were expecting.
This is not what, from the way we campaign and the rest of it, they were expecting from you. They wanted a bit of the old President Muhammadu Buhari, the sparks, the fire and everything. And he explained to me, Mr. Chairman, no, no, no. I have learned my lesson. I said: I beg your pardon; what kind of lesson? Don’t forget at that time, a lot of prominent Nigerians took their holidays abroad just to be sure and see what this new sheriff in town would be like.
He said, no, he has learned his lesson. He wants to now show the people that he’s a true civilian president in Agbada and that he learned his lesson from a few drug guys, young guys that were dealt with during his military regime. So, apparently, he was still in a traumatic state after those experiences.
We progressed from hunger to starvation as a nation. There’s no meal at all. People virtually have to scavenge. That is the situation we are in today
By the time we finished the conversation, I said, oh God, we’re finished because if he’s not ready to be strict, if he’s not ready to ask people to face consequences, what did we do all this for? Weeks later, months later, years later, I was proved right. And of course, it became business as usual, only that there are a new set of tenants in Aso Rock.
That was a shocker. No problem. The next man was streetwise. And I said, well, he’s more of a politician and will know what to do. But with the very first speech he made, he landed on this issue of fuel subsidy.
My initial shock was, good Lord, this thing is going to have a traumatic impact on the population and should have been prepared for. It is not only about preparing countermeasures, but to prepare the minds of the people that this is what the implications are, this is what it is costing the nation and the rest of it.
Before he finished his speech, the first indicator was fuel prices, from N182 to N600, N700. That was the first shock. And we still up to today have not recovered. We progressed from hunger to starvation as a nation. There’s no meal at all. People virtually have to scavenge. That is the situation we are in today. The security situation, if you notice, it is creeping. At that time, we were talking of Boko Haram in Borno State, and it was contained.
Everybody thought it was unique to Borno State but it is creeping down South gradually. The latest, of course, was the Kwara State incident. And you don’t see anything coming out of the box. As usual, the security chiefs are ordered to take immediate action. The Kwara one, the credible local sources, said the security forces arrived 10 hours after the attack started. So, you cannot but help thinking, look, where did we get all this wrong?
You’re charged with drafting the ideas that you’re going to sell to the Nigerian people. As you draft that manifesto for the ADC, and you keep in mind all the things you’ve just told us that are the problems that you see from the party that you once chaired, what idea do you believe Nigeria genuinely needs that must go into that manifesto?
If I knew, I wouldn’t say it here publicly. But the truth of the matter is I don’t have all the answers. Senator David Mark has put together a team and the only charge we have is that we have to think out of the box. We have to have answers. The one thing that cannot be tolerated is business as usual.
You entered politics from public service many years ago. What did you think politics was when you first stepped in and how wrong were you?
Wrong; I don’t think I was. Different; I am, no question about that. But the reality is I’ve never wanted anything in politics that I have not achieved. So, the immediate lesson from that is that good people or different people let me not call myself good, different people can survive and succeed in politics. Yes, there are all the types of characters in politics.
And when neophytes come to me today and say, I want you to be my mentor, I usually ask: What job do you do? That’s my first question to them. Nobody who does not have something that can put bread and butter on the table can be a serious factor in politics because you will just become a tool of anybody who can give you the wherewithal. I am glad by the way because we have been noticed.
The APC is a dire straight; they have accepted that this is the alternative party. There’s no other person to abuse, no other party to abuse apart from the ADC. I am pleased because if we were ignored until the election, then something is wrong. We haven’t made any impact but what my sojourn in politics has made me strongly believe is that Nigerians are basically decent people and they are looking for decent personalities to entrust the affairs of state to.
If there is ever a credible mass of that kind of people, we will have a different nature of politics and a different style. That is what we are hoping for and we are putting together in the ADC. Yes, we’ve been in all sorts of parties that have done all sorts of things. But as they say, you wake up, that is your morning. So, for all of us, whatever we have contributed, we ask that people should now look at us as new.
One thing people are going to be looking at very closely is how you will manage the process that throws up who is going to be your presidential flag bearer. How challenging will that be?
There can only be one candidate. So, the basic thing is that we are all going to do the arithmetic. If you run, what is the arithmetic like? If there’s a combination, what does the arithmetic look like? So, we are going to be very pragmatic.
To all of us, this is Nigeria’s last card. Nigeria has an existential problem and that’s why we say we are a rescue movement for the nation. We have an existential problem and we cannot afford to mock up this process. We see the suffering in the face of the people. You’ll be very surprised at what the people think; what they are going through.
