Chief Sanya Atofarati is the Southwest zonal publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, he speaks about the political development in the opposition party and the chances of the party’s gubernatorial candidate in Ekiti State, Dr Wole Oluyede, at the polls. ADEWUMI ADEMIJU brings the report:
The leadership crisis within the PDP has led to the emergence of two factions. In Ekiti State for instance, the governorship election is fast approaching. How realistic do you think the chances of the party’s candidate are, and what measures are you taking at least to prevent campaign fallout?
By the provision of the Electoral Act, which is also subject to some provisions in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a candidate must be nominated by a political party. Which the party has done in compliance with the extant laws.
The party has nominated Dr. Wole Oluyede as its candidate in the election coming up later in the year. Now, if you agree with me, every where in the world where democracy is practised, you will realise that the percentage of core politicians are less than 15 percent of the electorate. So, it suffices to say that the role that a political party is expected to play in the nomination of a candidate has been fulfilled.
So, the target is to the electorate, because it is the electorate who will determine who governs the state. So, in view of that, the party, the campaign council ought to pay more attention to the electorate, rather than the internal wrangling that might be facing the party, which is not beyond control. You will find situations like this in every democratic setting across the world. So, when people pitch their tents, it is understandable under democratic settings.
But many people have the opinion that the national crisis has weak- ened grassroots mobilisation for the PDP. How are you tackling this, and what assurance can you give to voters in the gubernatorial election that it will not be used as a bargaining chip in the course of national struggle?
No.! No! You see, Ekiti has a very distinctive case at hand. Like I said before, whatever is happening within the national hierarchy is resolvable but as far as Ekiti election is concerned, the PDP in the state is united, strongly behind a singular candidate.
There was no dual nomination from Ekiti State PDP, as far as the governorship candidate is concerned; the PDP in Ekiti State only has one singular candidate in the person of Dr. Wole Oluyede. There is no contention as regards who is the candidate of the party. If you say there are factions. No! There are no factions, there are only groups and these are understandable.
Voters are confused how will your party, with national crisis, rescue the state at least in terms of development and campaign agenda?
I have said it repeatedly that these are two different issues. If you are talking about the party’s dispute at the national level, it has no consequence on the election that is coming in Ekiti State. Currently in Ekiti there is a coalition of political parties, eight political parties, that have volunteered, come together to say they are supporting the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party as their own preferred candidate.
Governorship candidates from these political parties are stepping down for the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party because they understand his credibility. They all agree that he is the best foot to put forward and again, like I have said, the people of Ekiti State are the judge in this election. The electorates are the judge in this election. Performance of the current administration is a leeway for any political party to win this election. So we are not even struggling with the APC.
No, we are struggling with the Federal Government and that is why I will continue to appeal to the Federal Government to understand the need for vibrant opposition in the country because any democratic society without a vibrant opposition is as good as no nation. So in view of this, if the people are ready, who really enjoys the public appeal? Who enjoys the appeal from the civil servants who are deprived of their entitlement? Who really enjoys the public appeal from the market, from the traders whose lives have now become so miserable? Who really enjoys the appeal of the public?
The okada (commercial motorcycle) riders, the drivers’ union, every sector in Ekiti State is yearning for a government that will be their own rather than the government of myself, by my uncle, for my cronies, which is what Ekiti people have witnessed in the last four years. If you look at it, you will agree with me that even the President is not even in agreement with the government of Ekiti State under his own political party. Yes, that is the reason why you have not seen Mr. President visit the state since the inauguration of this government. He has refused to visit because he has nothing at all to come for.
He has visited other states commissioning projects while Ekiti state reverses the case. You see the recent campaign flag off of the governor done about days ago by the party, you could see that Mr. President was conspicuously absent at that time.
This is to tell you that (Governor Biodun) Oyebanji is not popular because he has failed the people. So now the people of Ekiti State, particularly the electorates, are looking for alternatives and they have seen that the only alternative available before them is the candidacy of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede. So we have no problem with whatever is happening within the party.
So, I can tell you sufficiently that the party has the capacity to resolve its crisis internally using the internal dispute resolution mechanism of the party. So we have no challenge.
Do you think it’s possible for the APC to conduct the campaign rally without the approval of the president?
Mr. President has only saved his face because it would have been very humiliating for him if he had visited. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to believe that The President has any capacity of giving approval or disapproval because the President is not the owner of the party.
The political party is different from the governance or administration of any government. So, whether he gives the approval or not, that is not even the subject of debate. What we are saying is what we have come to say to APC to allow vibrant opposition. I earlier made a comment that if you only recognise candidates produced through processes monitored by the commission, we only solve the causes of parallel families.
How confidents are you of your candidate’s chance? And what’s your plan B if the court rules against your faction?
There is no pending matter in court. We were the ones who took INEC to court because of its delib- erate omission of our candidate from the ballot. We took INEC to court and we got a judgment against INEC at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Yes! There was another contender from the primary in person of Dr. Funso Ayeni who went to court against the primary and at the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti the court nullified the process of the primaries. Then we went to the Court of Appeal in Abuja on this matter and the court ruled unambiguously that the court has no business into the activities of political parties because it enjoys autonomy.
Again, the process of the primaries was done in line with all the extant law on the party’s own constitution and the Electoral Act. So, there is no pending case. We only have one candidate that has been further legitimised by the court of competent jurisdiction.
With the crisis at the national level, what is going to be your party’s plan B if the court rules against your faction?
No! I have no faction. Trace your record back. I was elected as the zonal publicity secretary in 2021.
If you as zonal publicity secretary say your party has no faction, what about your guber candidate in Ekiti State?
No, my candidate has no faction. There is no faction. Let me tell you the history. You see, there is something called status quo ante bellum, which means what was the status of the party, what was the status of the structure before matters were taken to court and that was what was ruled upon. That was why the court ruled in betrayal.
What happened was that the then acting National Chairman, Ambassador Illyasu Damagum and the then National Secretary, Senator Iwanyawu were the ones who jointly wrote this letter of notification of primaries to INEC and they were the ones who conducted the primaries.
So there was no contention ahead of that time. There was no problem within the party. There was no leadership crisis within the party at that time. So, what we had was a united party and it was the united party that conducted the primaries. So there was no faction of any kind.
So if your party wins, despite the national crisis, how will you run the state when the national leadership is still divided? Tell us three concrete priorities that your candidate will undertake to the benefit of the electorate?
Ekiti is an agrarian state and that is the reason why my candidate is prioritising agriculture. Agriculture will absorb sufficiently, not less than 60 per cent of the current unemployment status in the state. We are prioritising agriculture.
There is going to be government owned farm, in all of the federal consistencies in the state. We are taking cognisance of the fact that Ekiti state is judged widely across the country as a state of the literate, which means it should prioritise education. We are known to be a state with one household, one professor, which means Ekiti people are well literate.
So, we are prioritising education and I’m sure you have seen the dilapidated state of infrastructure in the education sector in the state today. As much as we are planning that people will have sufficient surplus in food production and food security, we are also taking into cognizance, the health of the Ekiti people. Now, you understand that the PDP has a candidate, who has been in the medical profession for over four decades.
He has wide experience. He has consulted with different international organisations across the world. So at that, we are taking health so seriously. You have asked me to mention three, but never forget that there is a need for us to ensure the security of lives and property of every citizen in the state.
