Eddy Olafeso is a chieftain of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and former Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation. In this interview with OSAGIE OTABOR, the former National Vice Chairman (Southwest) speaks on issues bordering on the next general elections
What is your view on the number of persons that have indicated interest to vie for the presidential tickets of both the APC and the PDP?
It shows how deceitful the political class has become in the last few years. With the quantum of problems Nigeria is facing and the perilous situation we have found ourselves and the existential problem in the country, one would have expected that anybody coming out to run for the presidency of Nigeria will, first of all, do self-evaluation to ensure that he is eminently qualified before he comes out. There are a few of them that are of sterling quality but the majority of them are ragtag presidential aspirants who cannot even run their families, not to talk of running a nation with this magnitude of challenges and problems. To me, it is part of the insensitivity of the political class to continue to embarrass the poor masses of this country and I think we must open our eyes and ears to be able to, as much as possible, cut down as many of them that we know are part of the critical problem facing the country today. I am not speaking as a PDP person, but as a citizen of Nigeria who is equally going through what many ordinary Nigerians are going through. Lack of Infrastructure, insecurity, economic failure, and quantum of them, the country is comatose and yet we have all these people running from pillar to pole. There was a tragic train attack that is over a month now, the terrorists are still keeping hostage, these people have never mentioned this incident wherever they go, not to talk of those in captivity. It’s a shame on the nation.
In your view, what is responsible for the high number of presidential aspirants, despite the huge money attached to the nomination and expression of interest forms?
They have cornered the resources of this country. That is what they are telling us. The only people that have the money are those politicians that were given responsibilities yesterday, ministers, mention them, they are those running around and they are ready and willing to pay the money no matter the amount; N50m or N100m. We must democratize the process of electing leaders. The party must be strong enough to command and control its members to do what is right by their own constitution but what we see today on daily basis is the whittling down of the powers of the party and the emergence of very powerful party individuals who do not care about the institution in the country. Individuals are richer than their country and stronger than the institutions. This is dangerous for democracy. From those we are copying or learning democracy, the highest they can pay to run for an office is $500 and people contribute money for them. Here it is the individual aspirant that has all the money and he buys whoever he wants to buy and when he gets into office, he forgets everybody. Please tell them Nigerians are dying. Why can’t they listen to us? Is there anyone out there in the political class that can listen to Nigerians at this moment? To let them know what we are going through? There is needless death, hunger and hardship. Please tell them this country is no longer at ease. That’s the reason an individual will be bold enough and say; yes, I am buying a form for N100m or N50m. Some of us in the past paid N21m to obtain the form for the governorship. Yes, maybe some of us by the virtue of our record sacrificed and vowed that if we get to power we will change everything. But, what are these people looking for? Even the party that failed us colossally for the last seven years, we can see a quantum of people coming out on that platform; to do what? These are people that have praised the president for the best policies ever enunciated in Nigerian political history and supported him on daily basis. What are they coming out to do? To further pauperise Nigerians and the country the more? Or create further insecurity and a leadership vacuum in the country?
If all these signals we are getting from all the places are true, how can you hold an election in an insecure environment? Each day, you hear about people being killed. How can a free and fair election be held in such a very terrible atmosphere? But, I pray it holds. The truth is that the major political parties have held the country in jugular but the country will still end up with one out of them at the end of the day. You cannot see surprises in Nigeria’s political arena because everything is defined by money. You cannot find a surprise; a PRP candidate cannot win. National Conscience Party (NCP) cannot produce a president. It’s all about money. This is to show how much they have destroyed the political environment.
What are the implications of the failure of the consensus arrangement by some governors in the north? Do you think it will augur well for the presidential aspirants?
It did not come to me as a surprise that there is not going to be a consensus. Nobody works for the betterment of society today to the point of willing to relinquish his own ambition for society to thrive. Or to say this person is better than me or I am better than this person or this person might be able to do the job; it doesn’t exist with the political class. For some of us that have it, it is because of our education and probably our home training that says you’re not more important than the society in which you find yourself and that we can all collectively salvage this nation together. So, it didn’t come to me as a surprise that the consensus failed, but we should continue to try. There are few aspirants out there that can help salvage this nation, but the majority of them are just jesters and jokers.RELATED POSTS
The agitation that power should be shifted to the south is being challenged, especially in the PDP…
I have listened to it all and I have taken my time to analyze all the submissions. There is a basic truth in some of the arguments, especially in some of the zones that have not been given the opportunity to produce the president in the past for whatever reason.
Like the Southeast?
Yes, like the Southeast. I understand their callings; I understand their plight. But, at the same time, we must begin to drag ourselves away from those things that have held us down for more than six decades and continue in a new format and system of looking up for the best among all of us, without having to make it a geographical matter. They can come from anywhere; it could even be in Jonathan’s village again; it could be anywhere and it must not be a situation where you stick to your gun that it must be this. We all must learn to make sacrifices if this nation will survive and each moment must regulate our expectations. Part of the reasons why we have failed for all these decades is because of poor leadership. If we don’t get it right in 2023, I am afraid the history of Nigeria will come to an end, as it is known today.
What stand do you think the PDP should take if they want to be victorious in this next general election?
To the best of my knowledge, there is no final decision by the national leadership on the submission of Ortom’s Committee, but be that as it may the open discussion among some of us is to give everybody an equal chance to present exactly what they have for the country; the solutions to the problems that are bedevilling us in this country today: Security, economy and corruption. The APC emerged in 2015 to solve the above problems, but suddenly they are institutionalising them. Suddenly, some people jailed for corruption are being pardoned for no cogent reasons. Those are the critical things we must look out for.
What do you think of Chief Afe Babalola’s recent call for an interim government for six months to tackle the disagreement over the constitution?
I can feel the frustration of the elder statesman over the issue and workability of the current constitution. Go and write a constitution in heaven and hand it over to Nigerians, they will supplant it. They’ve been doing that and I think that’s the reason the elder statesman said let’s take a pause in the next six months and let’s see what we can do. But, to me, it’s clearly different. A bad constitution can be made good by the operators of the constitution. This begins with the value system; it begins from your own heart, from responsible leadership; it begins from the position that you’re not serving yourself but serving the people. So, for me, if the new constitution will bring about value orientation and the political class will take a new look at the country, it will be a welcome development. But, for me, even what we have, as defective as it is, can be made to work, if we have fairness and equity as the base of our relationship with every other person. What happened to the Federal Character? What happened to all things that were injected into the constitution to balance it? What happened to zoning? What happen to regionalism and what happened to all the years of economic development and all the theories we have propounded? Everything has been thrown into the Atlantic Ocean or the Sahara desert. So, our ability to run this country will depend on value re-orientation. This generation has failed virtually all those coming behind us. So, whether you change the constitution or not, if you still allow the current political class to operate it, they will find a quagmire to put the nation.
Is there any merit in the recent call for a unity government by Papa Ayo Adebanjo, the Afenifere leader?
As I said, it’s borne out of their frustration. What exactly did the constitution say? This constitution did not work against the nation being united and that is the reason we have all the principal positions in government being zoned to specific people. That, to me, can bring unity if it’s properly managed and operated by those that are saddled with the responsibility of doing just that, but would they do it? If a party wins an election like during the PDP era, nobody looks at your party to be able to give a responsibility for which you have to prove yourself to be efficient and professional. Look for the best hands in the country, not on the basis of the party they hailed from. The parties, whoever is in power must constantly look for the unity of the country and to me, no matter what you call it, unless you do that, this imbalance will continue. The constitution did not say that Nigeria must not be united; it is the operators that decided that. It will not work unless our value orientation is equally considered.
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