…says ‘we joined ADC to rescue Nigeria, not out of anger’
A former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and a one time Commissioner for Housing in the state, Hon. Rahman Owokoniran, was also the Zonal Secretary of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he talked about his decision to dump the PDP for the African Democratic Party (ADC). Excerpts:
Your exit from the PDP recently caused some ripples. What informed your decision to join the ADC, considering the fact that you’re a top-ranking PDP member?
For me, there are two reasons for that decision. One is that the party (PDP) wasn’t showing enough seriousness as an opposition party. Two years after the election, they were still unable to settle down to business as an opposition party. In my discussions with a few of the leaders, I told them that time was of the essence if we indeed want to take up our position as a major opposition party in this country. But there was no unity. The party was separated into two factions. You have the ones that said they want to keep the PDP running, and the other one, following the declaration of the Minister of the FCT, who has already declared his intention to support the ruling party. And the struggle goes on and on. You can imagine a party of our own position in this nation, unable to hold its national executive meeting for over a year. They kept postponing the meeting and the last one they did in May, they did not even address the issue of the national secretary that was hitherto troubling the party. (Nyesom) Wike made it clear that he was not ready to reconcile with anybody, to call him to any meeting. For me, that doesn’t portray seriousness.
From your position as a leader of the party, who do you blame for the crisis within the party?
Well, I blame the leadership, generally. I blame the leadership of the party that is the NEC. I am saying this because the NEC is a policy-making body whose decisions will eventually be ratified at the convention. So, the inability of that body to take decisions was irreconcilable. I cannot imagine.
What do you think was impeding NEC from acting decisively on the lingering crisis?
Well, the only issue that has polarised and made decision-making impossible was the fact that there was gross indiscipline during the last election to the extent that some of members decided to vote for another party other than their own party during the last election and the party could not take a decision on them, with regards to these anti-party activities that went on. And the same people appear to want to take over the party now. But we would not be here if we had a serious, focused, and disciplined party.
With regards to the decision of Wike to take up appointment in the current government, at what time did our party take a decision that we are in a national unity government?
There was no time we took such a decision. He acted on his own. Perhaps there were people who were complicit in that executive committee that don’t want to be exposed. That’s why they couldn’t do what they were supposed to do. I’m not saying for sure I know, but I’m saying that the atrocity committed by Wike is being helped or aided by the rest who probably are complicit. So, in that kind of situation, it became impossible for them to make the right decision. That’s why they got it wrong.
And from what you see now, do you believe PDP can get out of this?
If they have come this far, there is no way. All this passion that they are doing is only to address certain indications in the air. And they have always done it, and they will do it and do it again because they are not focused. We don’t have a party; we don’t have a policy direction. And if you don’t have that, you’ll just be doing firefighting. They went to a meeting and trouble eventually broke loose when they went to this Governors Forum meeting and came up with a communique, saying that they are ready to stand alone. They are not interested in any coalition and that anybody that wants to join should come and join them because PDP is an organised party, is a party with institutions and so forth. It’s the behemoth, so therefore, parties should join them and not join parties. So if a party that has not been able to hold together, that has not been able to make decisions, is now coming out to bluff their stand, the public is not fooled.
What alternative do you think ADC is providing that prompted you and your members to join it?
Well, for one, I think we will have democracy as it should be run because we lost it since the time of (former President Goodluck) Jonathan. Even Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wasn’t too familiar with democracy. But when Musa Yar’Adua was there, he was democratic and we knew he was taking us in a direction. And Jonathan followed that footstep. But ever since then, Buhari, we’re not even sure, we knew we had a president in office for a long time. He wasn’t talking to us, everybody was just doing their own thing. But, you know, now, it’s like we’re in a military administration.
Why do you say so, what are the things you’ve seen?
Officials of this government are ruling us as if we are a captured people. If they had done a survey to know the disposition of Nigerians to the coastal road they are building from Lagos to Calabar, I’m sure less than 20 per cent of our people would approve of it. And you can speak to so many policies that the government is undertaking. Look at the removal of subsidy. He had not even resumed office let alone of preparing to absorb the shock that the policy would have on the people before carrying it out. So, if he has any regard for the people’s contribution, those are the things he should pay attention to. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they know that there is hunger in this land?
But the government has always assured that these are temporary sufferings that Nigerians will have to go through after some time and they actually said that the dividends of all these policies are already manifesting…
They have to say something, but even when they want to say those things, there should be a time factor to the promises that they are making to the people. In the last two years, they’re saying the same thing. Temporary, we are coming. We’ve been hearing that one now for ages. What are the indications that is going to happen? What are the indications? In this country today, the majority of the people cannot even trust their party.
So, are you confident that the ADC will make the necessary impact considering that the party like the APC is a conglomeration of many tendencies that the government has labeled as disgruntled?
No, they got it wrong. Nobody is angry. Those people are not angry, neither are they hungry. So, that’s not the issue. The issue is, we have a country, so we can’t watch it run down. We have children, so we watch them put in helpless positions. We have properties, and the value of currencies is going down. When President Tinubu was campaigning, he said, if I can’t give you electricity within two years, don’t vote me back into office. Let him make that kind of commitment. If by three months before my election, I do not bring petrol down to $180 per litre, don’t vote for me. Let him make a commitment to the people. Since he came in, there has always been a propaganda administration. And that’s just what they have done.
ADC is a party of people with different tendencies and ideologies. People argue that possibly it might be difficult for the elements within the party to bond together because of differences. Do you see this as a challenge for ADC?
The question is: how did ADC come together? Is it between two parties? No, it’s between a lot of parties. Were they not able to work out their differences? They did. So with ADC, they will work out the differences because they have a purpose. If you don’t have a purpose, there can be nothing but petty disputes.
What is the purpose of ADC?
We want a country we can call our own. We want to live in a democratic environment. We want democracy. That’s what we want. We want to have a voice in how we are governed. The environment during military regimes was more liberal than what we have now. For instance, when former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida wanted to collect IMF loan, he subjected the issue to a referendum where people were made to have their say. This is not the case as we speak. Nobody can criticise the current government and those who are bold enough to challenge them have been harassed.
If ADC is voted into power, what do you want to do differently from what we have now?
I just said it all. Everything I said we are yearning for as a party is a functional and democratic political environment and this is what the ADC will do when we get to power.
The incumbent president is a Yoruba man. Do you think the ADC will make any appreciable show in the South West?
Our people in the South West are human beings. Are you saying that their votes will depend on the fact that one of their own is the president? I don’t believe so. If they are living the same pain that everybody is living, that will determine where their votes go. Don’t forget that in the last election, Tinubu who is a son of the soil lost in Lagos. So, if the South West considers him not to have treated them right, they will vote the way they want to vote. I don’t see any reason why the South West would vote differently from any other zone.
