Chief Dele Momodu is a former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the crisis rocking the party and why it may be difficult to resolve it before the 2027 general election, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports
The is PDP imploding and shooting itself on the foot as its own worst enemy. What do you have to say to that?
There’s no question that we have a very big crisis in PDP at the moment. You can look at it from two different directions. One is internal and the other is external. Some people, who lost the primary election in 2022, are still sulking. They have not recovered from it.
They are inconsolable and the interesting thing is that they virtually moved to another party. But either they love PDP so much or they hate PDP so much, they are not able to vacate PDP. The other is that Nigeria is moving in the direction of a one-party state.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is so scared of opposition that right now crises are being orchestrated from party to party, especially the leading opposition parties like PDP, Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). It’s obvious what is going on. No one is in doubt about that but how this will end, I have no idea. So, we’re watching.
You don’t want to mention the names of those who left your party and went to another party but seem to be causing the problem…
When I said people who lost the election, I mean, the crisis started from the then-governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, who lost to Atiku Abubakar. It was hoped that he would be a running mate to Atiku. That didn’t happen and I think that is where the problem started. I’m a good student of history, so I like to situate things within a historical context.
The crisis in PDP started from the moment Nyesom Wike lost the primary and also lost the bid for the running mate. And when I say moved, I’m not talking about physically, but maybe spiritually.
He’s within the APC today, but he’s yet to find the courage to physically join APC because he knows he will not be able to wield the kind of power that he wields in PDP right now, where his friends are holding sway.
And he’s encouraging them, empowering them to keep PDP under the water. I don’t know for how long they will be able to succeed, but this is what is going on.
It looks like you’re singing the same song as the PDP National Policy Secretary, Debo Ologunagba. He calls it a third force, and he refers to APC as a third force. Is this not proof PDP’s incompetence, lack of direction and unity?
If you have a government that is wielding all the state power against opposition, what can you do? Wike would not be that powerful if he did not have the backing of the ruling government. Everybody knows that.
The fear of PDP is the beginning of wisdom for APC, so everything will be done to intimidate, bully, destroy and scatter PDP to the winds, and that is happening already
So, the tragedy of it for me, as someone who joined others in fighting for democracy in the past, is that we never envisaged a day when Nigeria will come under a civilian administration that will make it very difficult for the opposition to thrive.
I have nothing against the government of President Bola Tinubu, but I’m worried that as a man, who made a huge impact as a prodemocracy activist, it is obvious that his cronies are misbehaving all over the place and making it difficult for the opposition to thrive.
I remember that under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Asiwaji Bola Tinubu became our star because he fought tooth and nail against that government.
He spoke up and we all supported him. And that is why I believe he got to where he is today. So, he should just leave everything to God. He has achieved what Chief Abiola could not achieve. He has achieved what Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua could not achieve. What Chief Olu Falae could not achieve. It’s only God that gives you power.
So, don’t give up on that God that made you the president. Let others breathe. Don’t worry; if God says you will do it, you will do it. I don’t have anything against anybody doing four years, eight years, or whatever number of years they can do. But let us at least have a semblance of democracy.
It is very important to me, and I’m praying that he will not waste this opportunity to deepen democracy in Nigeria. That’s all. I’m not talking about the economy. I’m not talking about anything else. I’m talking about the democracy that we all fought for.
Some people have said that it was the zoning arrangement that brought about the genesis or the root cause of PDP-seeming implosion. Do you agree with that?
No! You see a lot of people forget history very easily. Our party’s presidential primary was thrown open. That was why someone like me was able to buy the form.
It was thrown open, and the organizers of that event were very close to Wike, and I will mention in particular the governor of Benue State at that time, Samuel Ortom.
They threw it open was why everybody bought the form. There was nothing wrong with the zoning of the party but if the party said everybody and anybody can run, and they ran, you cannot complain after accepting that decision.
Who is the national secretary of your party, Samuel Anyanwu or Sunday Ude-Okoye?
I am not a lawyer. There are legal puzzles still ongoing, so I would rather keep quiet till maybe the Supreme Court rules on the matter.
But my personal opinion was that if not for people who were deliberately orchestrating crises in the party, there was no reason for my good friend and brother, Samuel Anyanwu to still be the secretary of the party because he got the ticket of the party to contest the gubernatorial election in Imo State.
You cannot hold the ticket of the party and then you are still the national secretary of the party simultaneously. That didn’t make sense to me, but that is the tragedy of our situation right now.
There seem to be so many issues in PDP. There hasn’t been a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for a long time. Why has it been such a seemingly impossible task for a party like PDP to hold its NEC meeting?
Let me say before I answer your question that PDP is not synonymous with crises. APC has its humongous crisis. APC is the only party t I know today that won the election and they are still behaving like an opposition by blaming their immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari.
That’s a bigger crisis for me, when every day and every time they speak, they are blaming the old man who left power nearly two years ago, and they are in the same party.
So that’s aside. PDP today is in crisis because as Yoruba say: The witch cried yesterday, and the child died today. Who does not know that it is the witch of yesterday that killed the child? It’s as simple as that.
There is nothing else to say more than the fact that the fear of PDP is the beginning of wisdom for APC, so everything will be done to intimidate, bully, destroy and scatter PDP to the winds, and that is happening already.
One keeps hearing you talk about APC being the problem of PDP but Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP says PDP is dead. Who is the party’s leader in River State?
I don’t know if the NNPP is alive or if the Labour Party is alive. So, if people say PDP is dead, at least some sympathetic undertakers at Wadata Plaza are still keeping it fresh.
They are creating it from time to time. They will tell you there will be a next meeting in October, October comes they will shift it. It will be in February, and February will come they will find one flimsy excuse or the other also to make sure it does not hold.
So, it is the same sympathetic undertakers in Abuja, who are pinning the PDP down on behalf of the ruling party. It’s simple. And other parties are involved, not just PDP. You can see the crisis in the Labour Party and you can see the crisis in NNPP and all of them.
It’s nothing new but my appeal to the president is that he is a great pro-democracy politician. Power is not worth all this. Allow others to thrive. If they defeat you, fine. If they can’t defeat you, everybody will go home. I believe so much in democracy and I believe the president has the right to contest again. And if Nigerians feel he has performed, so be it.
But if they think he has not performed, then, I mean, we can see what happened in America. Donald Trump was kicked out four years ago, he’s back today as president. In Ghana, John Dramani Mahama was kicked out eight years ago, today he’s back. So, sometimes a woman has to test two husbands before she will know which one is better.
People have tested PDP, and now they’ve tested APC, so let Nigerians be the judge, but I’ll be very excited to see a thriving democracy in Nigeria because Nigerians suffered so much for this democracy. It didn’t just come on the platter.
How can democracy thrive when a party that held power for 16 years does not seem to know how to get its house in order?
You do not know the power of the ruling government in Nigeria. I’ve always said that the president of Nigeria is the most powerful in the world, not Donald Trump.
People are already challenging Donald Trump. Tell me who can challenge a president in Nigeria today? I am telling you, it is very obvious that, look at the National Assembly, where you expect to find the separation of power, everything is yes, yes, yes.
People have tested PDP, and now they’ve tested APC, so let Nigerians be the judge, but I’ll be very excited to see a thriving democracy in Nigeria because Nigerians suffered so much for this democracy
The judiciary is struggling to find its feet and to do things. At least, they are trying now, and we’re happy that we’re making progress. But the next level should be the legislature, where you expect our leaders to be able to challenge the executive. But every day, it is yes, yes, yes. As I said recently, it seems we have reached a dead end, and only a miracle can bring us back on the right track.
The acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum said if the party suspends Wike and he joins APC, how does that help the party. That seems like PDP has given up…
PDP has not given up. You see, I’m a part-time politician. I’m not a career politician, so I can speak freely, and I will always speak freely.
Even under the military, we spoke freely. The acting chairman, knows why he’s saying what he’s saying, because he’s part of that charade, and that’s why they are keeping him there to continue to frustrate PDP.
So, if he says, oh, if you sack Wike, Wike is only one man. I mean, when we were fighting the military, I never heard the name Wike. And PDP made Wike whatever he is today.
I was watching his projects on television, and I dropped my hat to him. I always say that. He’s a good guy. But when it comes to anger management, when it comes to fighting his enemies, there is nobody Wike cannot insult. See the way he insulted an old man, like my big brother, Adolphus Wabara the other day.
He said ‘if he’s my father, I will disown him.’ How can any child say he will disown his father? It is a father who can disown a child, not a child disowning his father. So, you don’t say things like that. He has insulted virtually everybody because he did not get what he wanted.
There’s another day, he’s a young man. I’m not sure he’s even 60 yet. Today, he’s one of the most powerful ministers in Nigeria and he knows the job, he knows how to deliver on projects, let him just concentrate on it and leave PDP alone.
When some people were aggrieved against the PDP in those days, you knew that even Atiku left the PDP, Bukola Saraki left the PDP and Aminu Tambuwal left the PDP. So many top chieftains left. If they had destroyed the party, would there be any party for them to return to? That is why we are all watching now, sit down, look, that, okay, let them finish whatever they want to finish.
By the grace of God, the maximum they will do is eight years. So, after that what next? Can you believe that Buhari has already spent eight years and he’s gone, and his party is now attacking him? It’s not about how long you stay in power; it’s about how well you stay in power.
That’s why I’m advising a lot of people who are goading Tinubu on. They would think they love him, no, it’s self-preservation. Because they lost out in one party, they ran to Tinubu and now they are using him as an umbrella when they should be holding the broom. That’s what is happening they are just using Tinubu as their umbrella.
Going into 2027, there seems to be a challenge of whether the PDP will adopt a South-South candidate. What do you have to say to that?
As a democrat, I don’t worry about whoever is adopted. That will be the decision of members of PDP if the party survives till them.
But from what I’m seeing right now, I don’t think they are ready, especially our NWC I won’t be surprised if they announce that they are not interested in contesting the presidency in 2027 or they just go and bring one dummy.
It seems you’re giving up too on PDP from the way you’re sounding…
No, I believe in miracles. I was born in a church. I’m a child of destiny and diversity. So, I don’t give up, I believe in God. There is nobody God created that God cannot handle. So that is why I’m not bothered at all.
