G-5 governors not bigger than PDP – NWC member

Timothy Osadolor is a member of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party as well as the Deputy National Youth Leader of the party. In this interview with DIRISU YAKUBU, he speaks on the crisis rocking the party which last week, culminated in the decision of its National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, to step aside from his duties

What is your take on the performance of the PDP in the 2023 general elections?

Well, the election has come and gone, and it may not have ended the way we expected and the way it should have ended but first, we thank God for life. We thank God there was no major incident that would have led to the destruction of lives and property. We thank God for a peaceful election even when it was not credible. We thank God that we are alive to be able to pursue our stolen mandate that the Independent National Electoral Commission gave to whom it pleases. The 2023 election was more or less like an allocation than an election where INEC would just sit down and be allocating figures arbitrarily to those whose faces it liked and those he felt should be given. But we believe that voting is one phase of the election and post-election is another. We are exploring the court process. I think in the first phase, no matter how abysmal the rating might be, we are hoping that the second phase which is the post-election phase, we will get justice.

The PDP lost the presidential election in core PDP states such as Edo, and Delta and in the entire South-East states of Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states. Was this a result of the Peter Obi factor?

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Let’s give it to Peter Obi and the movement that he led. They did major destructions among the PDP votes but that is not to say the participation of INEC was not a factor. The South-East has been agitating for the presidency and Peter Obi became a lifeline for them. I won’t fault those in the South-East that wanted to vote for Peter Obi. But we also saw cases of voters placed under massive duress to vote for Obi. We saw instances of voter intimidation in many places in the South-East. Elections have come and gone which is why parties can now go and prove their case in court.

As Governor Nyesom Wike threatened, Atiku Abubakar lost Rivers and the states in the G-5. Looking back, do you think it would have been better for Iyorchia Ayu to go since that was the demand of the aggrieved governors?

First and foremost, the five aggrieved governors had no moral justification ab initio to ask for the resignation of the national chairman. If the NEC which is the highest organ of the party gives Senator Iyorchia Ayu and his executive a clean bill of health, I wonder how Governor Wike and his co-travellers think the party would bow to their wishes. It was an aberration that was taken too far, it was a dream that he (Wike) dreamt for too long that was  unnecessary and had no place in reality. Yes, PDP lost the presidential election in those states you mentioned but we won in Yobe, Kebbi that can be considered as strongholds of the ruling party.

Senator Ayu has stepped aside in obedience to a court order. The Rivers State governor emphatically said a few days ago that Ayu was gone. Do you truly see him coming back?

Ayu is a democratic and he is a man of high pedigree. That he obeys the laws of the land gives credence to his character and his person. It also means that he knows what he is doing, he knows what is good in the interest of the party and in the interest of building and strengthening our democratic processes. He will come back because the grounds upon which he was suspended are faulty and shaky and they have no basis in law. The restraining order was purported, it wasn’t given on the strength of his suspension but instigated by state actors through puppets executives in his wards which has no place in the constitution of the PDP. I mean people who have no right in the constitution of the PDP to suspend the national officers were arrogating themselves powers that they didn’t have.

Gov Wike cannot determine the fate of Senator Ayu. The man he brought to distract the party who happened to be his fellow governor all lost in their bids to go to the Senate. Ortom, Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi all lost. He should have saved them if he is that powerful.

This is the pattern that led to Uche Secondus’ exit. He was first suspended by his ward in Rivers, then a court order followed, and he was gone. Do you see Ayu surviving this?

Uche Secondus’ exit was premised on similar routes but let me tell you that Senator  Ayu and this current NWC will not fall victim to the shenanigans of Governor Wike and his cohorts. That it worked for him before does not mean that it will work for him again. Don’t forget that when Uche Secondus was being removed, his NWC became split and voted against him and the NEC also ratified his exit but that is not the case here. I am sure that in the next few days, a NEC meeting will be convened, and I am sure that the elders and the leaders of the party will sit down and put their best foot forward. I see Ayu surviving this and leading PDP to victory again. I see the party become more united, bigger and better under Ayu. I see a rebirth and a renewal of the PDP spirit under the Iyorchia Ayu-led working committee.

A school of thought believes that Governor Samuel Ortom is fighting back in response to his loss of a senatorial bid. Do you share this perspective?

I don’t know what he is fighting for. The seat was never his birthright, it was never assured to him, it was never given to him by inheritance or by way of merit. If there is anybody that is an example of a classical failure and disappointment as a governor. He should go to church since he is a Christian for penance, rather than looking for the mandate that he was never given. The truth is that Ortom is a disappointment, and he will go down in the history of this country as one of the worst ever elected public officers in Nigeria.

Ortom failed his people, and they paid him back by rejecting his bid to represent them in the Senate. That is a simple truth. You don’t have to come from Benue to know that the stewardship of the man is nothing to write home about.

The PDP is bigger than five governors and all the governors in this world. All these governors and senators are members like me. We are all part of the party, we are not bigger than the party, so the party itself will take decisions in its best interest and not in the interest of Governor Wike or any other person. What they should be doing now is writing reports on how to hand over their states back to their successors and those that are succeeding them and not meddling in issues that are far and above them.

Umar Damagum has taken over in acting capacity in line with the constitution of the party. But this will not satisfy the yearning of the G-5 governors in the long term. Do you see them renewing their agitation?

Umar Damagum is a fine gentleman and a seasoned ambassador. I know he will manage this office well till his principal, the national chairman comes back to resume work. You can’t take it from him, he is a party man who understands the intrigues playing out and what the issues are. Nigerians heard what he said when he addressed his first press conference. All I can say is that the PDP is lucky to have a man like Damagum in charge of its affairs at a time like this.

A few party chieftains are calling on the national chairman to resign, having failed to lead the party to victory. What is your take?

For those that are calling on Ayu to resign, let’s first go back to their units and their wards. How many of them won, and how many of them worked and stood by the party? See, you cannot be a black pot and be laughing at a black kettle, no! That Senator Ayu is having this challenge today does not mean that we should all rally around to stone him, to hit him harder even when he doesn’t deserve to be treated so unfairly and poorly. Senator Ayu could not have been in those over 176,000 polling units across the country. Was he the one that made those leaders lose their polling units? If we want to build the party, let’s build the party; if we want to have a party, let’s have a party, the issue of name-calling should be put aside for now and let us tell ourselves the truth.

Let nobody grandstand to say that it would have been better for Ayu to go. Was Ayu the one that made Ortom lose the Senatorial election? Was Ayu the one that made Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu lose their elections?

The truth is that we sabotaged ourselves and our leaders were too comfortable with the brand that we were marketing. Some of them didn’t even go home, and some of them did not network. They did nothing.