Chief Ejiofor Onyia is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees (BoT). In this interview, he speaks on the outcome of the102nd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting and zoning of the presidential ticket to southern Nigeria, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU writes
Would you say that the 102nd PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting was a success?
Yes, it was a very pleasant meeting. One thing is certain that PDP is coming back. I think we are now exiting our time of squabbling and all sorts of problems and the party is coming back together to serve the nation the way we have served it before. So, with what we’re doing now, there’s no more rancour. We have set up committee for zoning.
They have done their job. We are also doing some constitutional amendment to put things right because the constitution that we have created some misunderstanding and a few things have been missing in the constitution. So, we’re trying to do that now and it will be presented at the convention.
Which particular misunderstanding and misreading of the constitution are you talking about?
Well, part of what started the problem that we’re facing today is the issue of the change in the constitution from the time we bequeathed the constitution to the party.
As a founding father, I was one of those who reviewed the constitution originally before it was given to the party and what was stated there was clearly that before any candidate who is holding a party office goes for elective office, that candidate must resign. That was what we bequeathed the party originally.
But somehow, I think as amendments were being done, the wordings were changed from shall to may and that’s what created the initial misunderstanding in the issue of the secretary ship. So, we recognise that. Hence, we decided, okay, let’s settle this matter. Let it go, but then, there will be a review of the constitution and I’m sure that will be taken care of.
The expectation was that the Tom Ikimi-led disciplinary committee would present its findings and that some people will get the stick. Wasn’t that done?
I’m sure the findings have been presented to the National Working Committee (NWC), but it was a popular opinion that the NWC should keep that finding. We’re trying to reconcile our members, so it’s not time to wield the big stick yet.
When people are contrite, you allow them because this is a political environment. We’re not in a school where you punish according to offence. So, for political purposes, we need to allow everybody, show remorse and come back to the system and then let’s pursue the goal of the party, which all of us agreed to do originally.
People misunderstood a lot of things in the system hence they took different decisions and we have tried to reconcile those ideas and let people know that they made mistakes. A few things were taken for granted, but that is no reason for us to keep fighting. It’s time for us to come together.
If actually people are fighting within the party, it shows they have interest of the party at heart. So, it’s not like they want to destroy the party. So, now that everybody is agreeable and nobody wants to destroy the party, let us come back together and help Nigeria with the good policies that PDP has always put in place.
You’re telling Nigerians that the rebels are showing remorse but some members of the G-5 governors are still involved in anti-party activities. For example, Nyesom Wike said he is going to support President Bola Tinubu while still in PDP for the 2027 elections. What do you have to say about that?
That’s personal to him but I believe that in the heat of misunderstandings and everything, he’s doing what he’s doing, but as soon as the party comes back together and everything is working out, he may have a change of mind.
But I’m not going to speak for him. He has to speak for himself, but most of others who were with him in that G5, are back to the system and they’re now working with the party.
From the outcome of the NEC meeting, the presidential slot is going to the South and Umar Damagum is now the substantive chairman. The aide to the FCT Minister says this was the crux of the matter and that the party has seen reason but he is asking, is it too late?
Well, it’s never late in the day to have a reconciliation and looking at what prompted the disagreement and what some of them have done. If the party had wielded the big stick from that time, the situation would have been worse. Io it was better that we let this calm down.
We allow people to exhaust themselves. Unfortunately, we lost the election because of the crisis, but then what next do we do? Do we now destroy the party and start dispelling unnecessary discipline?
We allow things to calm down because there were too many problems within the party and we decided to tackle them one after the other, without making any noise about it. So, for now, we have been able to settle most of the problems.
The party has come back together. In fact, if you were at the NEC meeting, there were quite a lot of people that were not expected to attend but they were there and showed interest. Example was a former governor of Bauchi State, who was the chairman at the time we lost election.
It is very clear the we did better when you compare the standard of living when PDP was in power and what we are suffering now
The immediate past governor of Enugu State was also there. You see, quite a lot more of them are there. Samuel Ortom was there but Wike didn’t come. Probably, I take it that it’s his duty as minister that is keeping him away.
But most of the people were there and I believe everybody’s mind is now focused on restoring PDP for Nigerians. Nigerians need PDP and PDP needs Nigerians. So, that’s what we’re working on for now.
You can’t talk about PDP without still talking about the FCT Minister. He rejected the zoning meeting that was recently concluded in Lagos and the South-South Caretaker Committee is insisting that Dan Orbih must be accepted as a national vice chairman South-South. What do you make of these?
I wouldn’t want to speak for the FCT Minister. We have a party and we have an executive of the party. We have the constitution that guides activities of the party. As of today, the FCT Minister is working for an opposition party.
He’s not holding any executive position in the party and he does not have the power to decide what the party does. So, he can react anyway, like as an individual, but that does not stop the party from doing what the constitution has provided for the party to do. We are all members of this party. I’m a founding father of this party, not a founding member.
I was one of those that started this party from beginning and he wasn’t; they all joined us. They’re members, but everybody has equal right. Nobody exercises a higher right than the other. The only people with higher right are those given the authority by the convention to act on behalf of the party.
That is how it’s supposed to be. So, if he’s disagreeing with what the party is doing, that is unfortunate. We’re in a democracy where the majority will always have their way and the minority having their say. That’s the way it works. So, the minority cannot begin to determine what the majority should do, otherwise, we go into an anarchy and that’s not what we need.
The party announced that the national convention will hold in November, but Wike is saying he wasn’t consulted. Is this not an indication that it is not yet Uhuru for the party?
We have organs of the party and the process of the convention has gone through the organs of the party. Why wouldn’t the convention hold? The convention must hold. Now, somebody wants to disturb the convention, that is an offence, and I don’t think a man of his status will descend to that level of coming to disturb a convention.
He’s free to exercise his rights but I don’t know any court that will give a judgement against what a party decides to do. So that’s his prerogative, I don’t know, and I don’t want to join issues. He’s a member of the party, and we’re expecting him to come and follow the party to victory.
What clear strategy has the party designed to rebuild public confidence and boost its chances of reclaiming power in 2027?
For now, you’ve got to understand that the time for politicking has not even started. It is time to build the system, to get more followership; time for campaign hasn’t come. We’re jumping the gun. We’re talking about 2027 now. You want us to start criticizing what the government is doing now.
If we start now; by the time it’s for election, it becomes still. After the convention, we will have a new executive that will start moving the party in the direction we want it to go. But be that as it may, it is very clear the we did better when you compare the standard of living when PDP was in power and what we are suffering now. We are not forgetting so soon and let me tell you what we forget so soon.
In 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove subsidy. It was a policy to remove the subsidy, but it was going to be done in such a way that will not bring immediate hardship. Who stopped it? Who organised the nation against it as though it was a sacrilege? It was this same APC that organised everything against Jonathan from removing subsidy.
If we had removed that subsidy at that time, the effect will not be as drastic as it is today because at that time, the economy was a little bit stronger. But at the time Muhammadu Buhari eight years had come, the economy of Nigeria had gone to shambles and immediately President Tinubu came in, he removed it at a time people were really suffering from the APC bad governance of the former president.
So, I don’t think we need to talk about that because it’s self-evident. Compare that situation with when PDP was in government. So, what is the point talking about? We are not yet ready to bring out issues. Until we finish our convention, we have a set of new executives that will carry on the new policies and the direction we are going to bring to this country.
What do you make of the talk that the party is wooing Jonathan to foin the 2027 race and that the former president has given conditions, one of which is that Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have to return to the party and that erring members must be weeded out. Is there any truth to this talk?
I’m just hearing it from you that he has given conditions and these are the conditions he’s given. It would be a pleasure to have former President Jonathan back to PDP to help complete the work he started. We would like to have him, if he can come. Nigerians have missed a lot of things due to misconceptions and unnecessary wrong decisions.
Jonathan was moving this country forward. He had a good team and the country was moving well. People created false information all over the place just to remove him from power. Have we gone anywhere since then? Where has Nigeria gone since then? So, if Jonathan is willing to come back to complete what he started, we’ll be happy to have him.
