EXCLUSIVE: Ex-President, Obasanjo, turns down pleas to help revive PDP

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has rebuffed repeated pleas from concerned member of the Peoples Democratic Party to help revive the party following its defeat in the March 28 presidential election.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who flew the PDP flag in the March 28 election, lost to his All Progressives Congress challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state.

The party, which has ruled Nigeria since the return of democracy 16 years ago, also lost its majority status in the National Assembly just as it won a fewer number of states unlike in the past election.

With the defeat, the ruling party will now take on the opposition role as from May 29 when Mr. Jonathan hands over power to Mr. Buhari.
Since the defeat, the party’s senior members have been bickering with one another with some demanding the exit of its National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and other officers, who are accused of working against the party during the election.

Concerned about the future of the party, some of its leaders have been reaching out to Mr. Obasanjo to return to the party and help build it ahead of future elections.

The former president had in February directed a fellow PDP member and ward leader to openly tear his party membership card at a forum in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that among those persuading him to return to lead the party were serving governors and federal lawmakers who believed the party should play viable opposition in the next dispensation.

Mr. Obasanjo’s close allies said the anxious party men have been pressuring the former leader, who was the first elected president on the party’s platform, by either visiting him or through telephone calls.

This newspaper learnt that the former president, who was also the PDP leader and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, has repeatedly rebuffed the request to return to the party.

Sources close to him said at some point he told those mounting pressure on him that rather than returning to the party he would encourage viable opposition from other standpoints.

“I’m done with party politics here on earth and in heaven. Period,” Mr. Obasanjo was overheard telling a PDP chieftain who telephoned him recently to raise the matter.

Mr. Obasanjo was also said to have told some people pressuring him that he could have considered returning to the party had his membership card not been publicly thorn before the general elections.

He was quoted as saying his membership card has been shredded and that “as it is now, a goat has eaten up the pieces”.
Mr. Obasanjo confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview that he has been under pressure to return to the PDP but vowed not to do so.

“I’m not ready to discuss partisan politics because I’m done with it,” he said.

After a meeting with Mr. Jonathan sometime in February, the outgoing governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, had assured that the PDP would beg Mr. Obasanjo to return to the party.

“When a father is angry with his children, the children should beg him. Baba is more than a party man. He is an icon, a national symbol and a leader and inventor, a creator of all the institutions today in Nigeria from the president to the governors, who are his own sons, are all his creations.”

“And so when a father is angry with his children, we will only say we are sorry to him. But then, we cannot be renounced for whatever it is…….We might have made some mistakes, but abandoning us is not the solution because the country is first before anything else. So, he is our Baba even up to the president.”

But Mr. Obasanjo told PREMIUM TIMES he has foreclosed any possibility of returning to the PDP.

“I agree that Nigeria needs a strong and viable opposition and I will continue to encourage that,” the former President said. “I will continue to do that even without belonging to a political party. I have moved beyond party politics.”

Mu’azu Wanted Ambode As PDP Gov Candidate – Akiolu

Out of the numerous governorship candidates in Lagos State why didyou choose Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress as your candidate?  It is only Almighty Allah that knows everything. Let me be honest with you, I do not play politics. But if you look at things, you have to consider what is best for the development of your people and the one that can bring good tidings for your people. From 1999 to 2007, when Bola Tinubu led the government, it was by the grace of God and prayers of Lagosians and my ancestors that saved us from what somebody who I don’t want to mention did. I will not mention his name because I have been persuaded by our highly respected Awujale in Ijebu Ode, and Tinubu. Sincerely, if I disclose some things, it will shake this country. I am not afraid of anything, I swear by Almighty Allah. But a tortoise does not come out completely from its shell; you only see its head. When that problem (withholding of Lagos State allocation) started, I prayed to God. In my life, I do not condone criminality and I don’t encourage it. Somebody somehow, because of his desperation and because he felt after Almighty Allah in Nigeria, it is himself, wanted to destroy by all cost, Tinubu and some other people but as God would have it, that didn’t happen. What Ambode displayed at that time impressed me. Despite all the tribulations, he stood firm and his loyalty and commitment to the progress of Lagos State impressed me and since then, I have been having my eyes on him that may be in the future, if the opportunity presents itself, and he has the opportunity of becoming something in Lagos, I will encourage him in his aspirations. You said you don’t play politics. But would you have supported Ambode if he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party?  Well, I can tell you in all honesty, I went to Mecca as the head of Nigerian delegation and I met the present Chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu. He is someone I have known for a long time. He is a very close friend. In Mecca, there was nothing he did not say to convince me to support his party. He told me support him but I told him what Almighty Allah had shown to me regarding Ambode. He said I should convince Ambode to defect to the PDP and they would adopt him as their candidate but I said I no. I told him that I did not hate the PDP. Some very good people there are my friends. The late Funsho Williams was very close to me and I had a very high regard for him. He was a peace lover. When he was murdered, I was shaking. Some top PDP chieftains were arrested over his murder. By the grace of Almighty Allah, I, the Oba of Lagos, requested and demanded that they be released. I went to the State Criminal Investigation Department at Panti to shout at the police to release them because one officer said something which I would not want to disclose and I said that if anything happens to the former Minister of Works, Adeseye Ogunlewe, I would expose them and I was instrumental to his release. He is still alive and is still my very good friend. I was in his house about two weeks ago and he comes here every time. So, it is not a question of hate. My concern is the growth, development and the best for Lagos and Nigeria. But you once said it was not the will of God for the PDP to rule Lagos. Does it mean that if a qualified person from the PDP steps forward, that person can never be governor?  There are still good people in the PDP. I am not saying that. Don’t misquote me. There are many good people like Ade Dosunmu and even Jimi Agbaje, who is my blood relation. But it is unfortunate because there are some things I don’t want to disclose. Their hatred of Bola Tinubu is the mistake they are making. He is an individual they don’t understand. You know Jesus said in the Bible that ‘Father please forgive them for they know not what they do’. And the Tinubu that they wanted to destroy, see what God has helped him to do for Nigeria. The Bible said the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The art of politics and getting things done for now, can only be done through Bola Tinubu, which they do not understand. Some people say I always agree with him and it is because they do not know me. I have no friend or enemy and I don’t have a reservoir of knowledge but God has found me worthy. We argue on many occasions and at times, he suggests reasonable things which I concur with but sometimes, I will convince him to accept my own and as a son to a father, he has no choice but to obey me.

You just said Agbaje is your blood relative. Won’t your family be upset that you went against your own blood to support another person?  I am supporting the progress of Lagos, I am not against him. After the election, I spoke to him in the morning. Alhaji Lateef Okunnu and I spoke to him and later that day, I heard that he congratulated Ambode. You know, there are some people that do things on their own while some others are influenced to do things. Agbaje is a very matured person and comes from a very good background but their own understanding of things is different from my own. A week to the governorship election, there was a meeting with Igbo leaders at your palace where you said they would perish in the lagoon if they did not vote for Ambode.  Look, let me tell you something, if you know me, you will know the kind of person that I am. I am not God. I can be confident on some things and if it is the will of God Almighty, it will come to pass. But before that, what I know is that the people of Lagos suffered for no just cause, and those among them who are members of the PDP did not like the injustice (withholding of federal allocations) that was being meted out to the people of Lagos at that time but they did not want to talk. That is hypocrisy which is not good. At that time, I was confident according to the wisdom of God. It was on May 14, 2014 when I was invited to Ambode’s book launch. I asked them what book launch they were doing. I told them that they could call it a book launch if they wanted but I had seen it in my palace in Iga Idugaran that Ambode would be the next governor of Lagos State and that God would make it so. And I prayed to Olokun Olosa (the gods of the sea) to make it so and it came to pass. I am not God but with prayers and the support of everyone, you will see how well he will perform. And it is the wish of this present governor that the person taking over from him should do better than him. Governor Babatunde Fashola has done a lot. We are equal in the eyes of God but we are not equal in the love of God. So what is your relationship with the Igbo community?  Some Igbo people are my very close friends like Pascal Dozie (Chairman, MTN Nigeria). Even the Obi of Onitsha came here to see me a few days ago. The former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika (retd.), and many others know the kind of person I am. If you go to the Dosunmu and Nnamdi Azikiwe areas of Lagos Island, you will see my many valuable commercial properties. In fact, 99 per cent of them are occupied by Igbo people. All the medicine sellers in Isale Eko, nobody dare molest them in those areas because they know me and know that I will protect the Igbo traders. Eze Odimegwu, who is a former CEO of Nigerian Breweries, is still my best friend and many others. When you go to a place, you have to respect the host leaders, particularly the traditional leaders there because you are coming to benefit from our success. The people of Lagos are the friendliest and most accommodating people in Nigeria. Those who orchestrated the entire incident (the lagoon incident) know themselves and I tell you, those who came here on that day understood me a lot and have even been coming since then. After we had that discussion on that very day, they all sat down and ate pounded yam and panla (fish) and drank wine. We were all in a happy mood. The few incurable bad people wanted to twist the issue for political gain and were talking nonsense. That is their headache. I don’t want to say much but the man who spearheaded this thing was the one that first approached me and said that he would bring some of the Igbo people that won election to me and that he wanted me to appeal to my son, Bola Tinubu, for him. He wrote a letter of appeal in his own handwriting and everything is still in my possession but I will leave that for now. His life is all about money but there is no happiness in that money and that is what is disturbing him now, pushing him here and there. About four Igbo have been elected to the House of Representatives and House of Assembly in Lagos. What is your view of this new trend of non-indigenes dominating Lagos politics?  Well, if they say they have won, then good luck to them. And if it is the choice of the people for these candidates to represent them, they should go and represent them in the best interest of Lagos and Nigerians. The man that allegedly promised to hand them the deputy governorship slot and four commissioner positions and elevate the status of Eze Ndigbo to that of Oba of Lagos has since denied it. It was all a political gimmick because I am sure they know that he was only deceiving them. As a matter of fact, prominent traditional rulers in the South-East have been writing us to say that they are not happy about the large number of Eze in Lagos and they are not happy that we recognise them here in Lagos. I told them that Lagos accommodates everybody but if they want to behave in excess and go beyond their bounds, we will bring them to order by the grace of God. If Agbaje contests again in 2019 or 2023, will you give him your blessing?  He is a Nigerian. He can contest 20 times. It is his inalienable right to contest and God Almighty and any occupier of this house, anything he feels will be in the best interest of his people is who he will bless. What do you see of President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat? I am not hiding it. I have personal respect for President Jonathan and he has the highest regard for me and he knows my stand on the politics of Lagos. When he came to Lagos to campaign, I did not hide my admiration for him. He came to pay homage to me here in the palace before campaigning. I first met him when he came with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yar’adua’s brother and I were very close. I took Arabic lessons in their late father’s house in Ikoyi when he was a Minister for Lagos Affairs. Yar’adua came with my good friend, Bode George and on that day, I saw that sign of leadership on Jonathan and I told them to bring a special chair for him. But whatever you have is what you use in winning. When a matter is in court, I should not comment on it. By the grace of Almighty Allah and my ancestors in this house, the Governor-elect, Ambode, will rule for eight years with a good performance.

Buhari And The Challenge Of Unpaid Salaries

Nigeria’s President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, no doubt, has a huge burden upon his shoulder. Nearly every sector throughout the country is threatened.  The sixteen years’ reign of the People Democratic Party, PDP, has been a matter of one step forward two steps backwards.  The economy is currently in comatose. The nation’s foreign reserve has been  depleted. To worsen things, inflation and unemployment is at an all-time high while  corruption is rife.  The truth, however, is that Nigeria is actually in trouble.

One of the very daunting tasks that General Buhari and his team would have to tackle, in earnest, is that of unpaid salaries. In the last sixteen years, the norm in budgetary planning, formulation and execution has been for recurrent expenditure to be excessively higher than capital outlay. This is not, in any way, peculiar to the Federal Government (FG) alone as nearly all the state governments in the country operate a similar unproductive budgetary planning.

The consequence of this is the poor state of social and physical infrastructure across the country. Almost all federal roads are in terrible conditions. The  PDP-led government, after sixteen years in power, could not fix the nation’s refineries as we continue to import refined petroleum products.  This is what happens when a nation fails to prioritize its developmental needs. No nation in the world, not even the almighty United States of America, touted as the number-one economy could develop via the kind of budgetary system we have been operating in the past sixteen years.

High wage bills, as well as escalating cost of governance, remains a major threat to the survival of democracy in the country. Presently, aside the various Federal Government agencies and parastatals that are being owed various degrees of salaries and emoluments, about twenty six (26) State Governments in the country are owing workers salaries in arrears of months. The State of Osun readily comes to mind here as the state has been singled out for target of media attack on this issue. I am piqued about this though  the state is not the only one in this dire financial strait. The Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was, in fact, the first person to call national attention to this financial disaster in 2013, when he alleged that the FG had declared war on the state as allocation dropped to 40%.

It will be difficult to query his record as a worker-friendly administrator. In some states, in order to ensure workers go home with something; salaries are paid in bits, and my lawyer friend told me this was a breach of contract.  Expectedly, in most of the States, workers are threatening to go on strike in a bid to press home their demands for prompt payment of their wages. Things are not looking up at all.

With the decline in revenue accruing to the Federation Account through the sale of crude oil, some of the states might not be able to pay workers salaries, not to talk of paying arrears of pension and gratuity being owed pensioners. As things stand, the amount that stands to the credit of each of the states monthly is not enough to pay workers’ wages, and this means all other similar recurring expenditures would suffer. A few of them that try to embark on capital spending do so through loans from banks and bonds earlier negotiated, which must be serviced regularly at huge cost.

With this stark reality, it has therefore, become highly imperative for the incoming Buhari administration to take a holistic view of the whole issue with a view to saving our democracy from  imminent collapse. Bureaucracy is meant to help drive the pace of development in a democracy. In any nation where bureaucracy has become the problem rather than the solution, democracy would  become endangered. This is where General Buhari, and his team need to take decisive steps to save the country from what has become a chronic and nagging problem. As a stop-gap measure, one is actually canvassing that the incoming Buhari administration bails out the states that are owing excessive workers’ wages by offsetting such, and give them enough to pay pensions and gratuity. We have done it before.

Unpaid salaries have always plagued civil administration in Nigeria. Military takeover, had always been the quick fix, but with its recurring nature, it’s obvious we have not found the solution. Yes, government is always the biggest employer of labour; we cannot continue to bring idle hands into governments without a commensurate analysis of what is actually needed. This is to avert undue labour disputes that could cause needless troubles in the land. A sound employment policy would still address the problem of unemployment.

Equally, the idea of the Federal Government entering into wage negotiations on behalf of the State Governments should be discarded. Since the revenue base of each state differs, it would be inappropriate for both the Federal Government and the Labour Unions, to force State Governments to pay their worker’s wages being paid by the Federal Government. Each State Government ought to employ and pay according to its capacity. Equally important is that labour unions must desist from the incessant act of demanding for an arbitrary wage increase. While the work force deserves better pay packages, government has responsibilities to the larger society through the provision of social amenities and infrastructures.

In the same vein, governments across the land need to cut all avenues that open the door for wastes in governance. We have taken the issue of taxation too lightly in this country. No nation attains greatness without the adequate contributions of the citizens in the forms of taxes. We must start emphasizing our tax systems to make governments and citizens more fiscally responsible. Democracy is about bringing development to a greater number of the people. It is about human and capital development. It ceases to be democracy when just a few individuals or groups corner the commonwealth while the rest of the society languishes in abject poverty. Now that change has come, it is, indeed, the right time to get things done in the right way in order to get the right result. God bless Nigeria.