Chief Dele Momodu is a former presidential candidate and a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). In this interview, he speaks on INEC’s refusal to recognise the party’s leadership and the interference of the ruling administration in opposition parties, among other issues, EVINCE UHUREBOR reports

Ahead of ADC’s April 14th National Convention, how do you respond to this in light of INEC’s pronouncement on recognizing both the Nafiu Bala faction and the David Mark faction of the ADC?

The huddle was not unexpected. If you had followed the political trajectory, since this administration came to power, you know that from day one, this administration demonstrated clearly that it did not want any opposition. It started fighting for the next election, and they were able to install their enablers, their enforcers, who would do the dirty jobs for them.

So when ADC came into being last year, we could feel immediately that some people rushed to court. I remember speaking to a dear friend of mine, who is like a brother to me, Dumebi Kachikwu. Actually went to his office in Abuja to speak to him, Dumebi, I hear you are fighting this new coalition, and then we had a heartto-heart talk. And I reminded him, I said please don’t let anyone use you to scatter this democracy. I gave the example of Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe.

Can we kindly get some clarification on your quickness to accuse the APC-led government of being complicit in the quagmire that the ADC and other opposition parties are currently facing and was it the APC that offered you the choice of ADC when you knew that the party was immersed in a lot of litigation?

So that is why I was giving you a scenario. I’m a good student of political history. And I’m also a student of literature where I was taught what is called the sociological approach to issues. You must know the background. So don’t let’s just go there. It’s not APC. There was no quarrel. I was there at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja. There was none. Everybody embraced, including those who have denied that they were a part of it.

That’s why I’m giving you the background that I knew that the first person to appear on the scene was Dumebi, and I went to Dumebi’s office because it’s my friend and brother trying to appeal to him that don’t let anybody use you like they used Arthur Nzeribe, Otunba Abimbola Davis to try and scuttle June 12th. There is a background to this. This is not the first time. So all this, it was not APC. Look that is why Nigeria will not make progress, because we try to hide behind one finger.

I love that scene from Chief M. K. O Abiola. The truth of the matter is that they left ADC to carry on with its activities in the hope that Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, Kwanwaso, Rotimi Amaechi, Tambuwal, and all of them will never be able to work together. It was a miscalculation. That’s number one. The second miscalculation was that the APC in its arrogance of power tried to cause chaos in all the major opposition parties. So Wike took over PDP.

I expect that if Asiwaju will not protect anything else, he will at least protect our democracy because we went through this route before, and we knew what we suffered, both at home and in exile

The speed at which INEC approved the Wike-led faction of PDP will tell you something. The so-called electronic, on the day of election we should be able to activate our technology. The speed at which they shut it down knew that these people had a different plan. And the speed at which the president signed the new electoral bill into law, you will know there was more than meets the eye.

So where I’m going, is that it’s unfortunate that today all you need to kill a party is for one disgruntled person to just go to court and say there is a faction, and they will shoot you down. Once you cause confusion within a party, they will tell you there is a faction. And now it is the duty and business of lawyers to start arguing forever. The Wike-led PDP is alive, courtesy of the federal might. There is no other way that Wike, a man who openly did anti-party, openly, and said I already have my candidate in advance.

And then you will tell me, oh, the court said they are right, and the other people are wrong. Please, my mission is to appeal to President Tinubu, because most leaders, when they are in power, no one tells them the truth. People tell them all is well. Oh, you are a master strategist. But we must remember our contemporary history. It is not too ancient. 1993 is just behind us. And at the rate we are going, we will soon be back to the NADECO days. I guarantee you that.

Because the second mistake they made, as I was saying earlier on, was for them to scatter all the parties, and then leave ADC, maybe temporarily. So by leaving ADC temporarily, they just suddenly realized that the exodus from the other parties is heading in the direction of ADC. So because they thought ADC can never be cohesive.

The moment Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso joined ADC, see the multitude of crowds. Look, between last week and today, over half a million new people have registered in ADC. Despite the fact that INEC says we don’t recognise David Mark, we don’t recognize Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. It tells you something. That a very quiet, peaceful revolution is brewing in Nigeria. And if it is mismanaged, then we will go back to the days of June 12, 1993.

In spite of everything that has been going on these past days, analysts are saying that courtrooms seem to be now the ones deciding elections more than voters. What is your comment on this?

That’s why you could see very openly that top government functionaries are investing heavily in the judiciary. It’s part of the strategy. Look, when you weaponise poverty, what do you expect to happen? So people are poor, people are broke. You see people, some are doing village boys, some are doing city boys. Rice is being distributed left, right, and centre, without stew, without soup.

That’s what they have reduced Nigerians to, just give them rice. Their heads will be correct. It’s unfortunate. I expect that if Asiwaju will not protect anything else, he will at least protect our democracy because we went through this route before, and we knew what we suffered, both at home and in exile. So, it’s frustrating, it is embarrassing and it is scandalous that we want to reduce Nigeria to a one-party state or a one-man rule. It may take a while, but it won’t work, I tell you.

Even some of the people who are doing these things on their behalf, when you meet them behind the scenes, they say, we cannot talk o, we’re sorry. And I keep saying this to Asiwaju, because I know one day he will realise that a lot of people have misinformed him about the state of affairs in Nigeria. People are suffering, and all you’re interested in is distributing rice.

Your party is calling for the resignation of INEC leadership. So, where would you specifically say INEC faltered on this and how would you hold INEC responsible for the decision not to recognise both factions?

INEC faltered by becoming the judge in the case. INEC had no business. It’s an internal affair. And if INEC did not know what to do, INEC should have gone to court to find out the true interpretation. INEC is not adhering to anything. INEC is adhering to pressure from God knows where. And I’m saying it boldly on television. INEC is not responding to courts. INEC is responding to pressure.

And it is clear. And that pressure came heavily on them after the declaration of Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso. That is the thing. There is what we call cause and effect in philosophy. There was a cause and we saw the effect. And the good thing about this era of social media is that everything is captured somewhere. And you can see how people are bringing in a deluge of documents, deluge of pictures and deluge of videos.

So do you now trust INEC to be neutral ahead of 2027?

INEC should have been neutral. It was not the job of INEC to interpret or misinterpret, in fact they misinterpreted the court’s order. The court did not say INEC please go back to a man who is disgruntled, a man who signed documents with his own hands not under duress. There is no court that told INEC to do that. And I watched the body language of Professor Amupitan when he was speaking to my brother Dr. Ruben Abati.

And I just shook my head. And at any rate we all know that politicians, since it is the responsibility of the presidency to appoint the INEC chairman you can be sure that they will not appoint someone who will be hostile to them. That’s another point that we must make. So how did they arrive at this man? So what was special about him? What did they promise him? What did he promise them? I watched him.

And I did a little bit of psychology. So it was obvious to me that the man was under pressure. And if you want to know the mindset of this government all you have to do is to watch one of the Wike’s interviews because Wike is a man who will not like to hide one, where he belongs.

And the role he is playing he likes to take his own credit. So he will not wait for you to give him the credit. And you can see anytime he talks, don’t worry we are going to court we are going to do this thing. They are going to shoot this down. He even said INEC should have recognised the guy.

If the opposition fails to unite, do you think that the race is somewhat over? How can the opposition fail to unite?

The man who came second in the last election Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is in the coalition. Have you heard him complain about the coalition? The man who came third according to INEC and the Supreme Court, former Governor, Peter Obi, is in the coalition. The man who came second after Tinubu in the APC primary Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is in the coalition.

The man who came fourth in the last election Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is in the coalition. The former Governor of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal is in the coalition. Mr. Lia Elimoke is in the coalition. All these great people, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is in the coalition. As any of them go to court to go and fight but they got a weak point, picked on the weak point and it has brought the roof down.

That is it. And it’s very clear what is going on. You see, the ruling government inadvertently or maybe it was even advertent went all out to destroy all opposition parties. So what then happened was that people would not sit in the same room then realised that the enemy of my enemy is my friend so they all went so right now there is an alternative whether Tinubu likes it or not.

He didn’t plan for that alternative but that alternative was forced on Nigeria and that’s why in defiance people are now registering in ADC that whether you recognise ADC or not we will continue with our processes because we will not allow you to distract us, we will not allow you to slow us down until victory is achieved. And I guarantee that there is nothing they can do about it. Nigeria will not be a one-party state. Nigeria will not be a one-man rule.