‘Tambuwal has truncated northern presidency in 2015’

Dr Dejo Raimi

Dr. Dejo Raimi, medical doctor turned politician, is the Secretary- General of the Southern Forum. He served as Secretary to Oyo State Government (SSG) in the administration of the late Chief Kolapo Ishola. Raimi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) shared his views on the presidential chances of the north come 2015, the sixyear single term controversy, the wranglings in the PDP and other national issues with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE.

At present, the PDP in many states is in a dilemma as a result of series of suspension and counter suspension of members of the party by various factions of PDP?

We are not serious about it and since there is no serious election before us, we can afford to play with political words like suspension and expulsion. Suspension and expulsion of members is not only happening in PDP but that of PDP is given prominence by the press because we are in power. We are not only in power at the federal level; we are strongly in power in about 26 states. So we have the grip of the country in our hand. We are all brothers and politics is about expression of interest. PDP members are only playing games with the acclaimed suspension and expulsion of some of the party members.

Has Yekini Adeojo been expelled? His daughter has been made a Commissioner by Governor Abiola Ajimobi. Are Adeojo and Ajimobi in the same political party? But if you want to query Adeojo, he will tell you his daughter is above 21 and therefore he cannot tell her which party to join. On the other hand, the emergence of Adeojo’s daughter as a Commissioner may be a compensation for his anti-party activities that made PDP lose the election. The same thing was done for former Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin; two aides of Folarin are in Ajimobi’s cabinet. So definitely Ajimobi is compensating them for one reason or the other.

So you believe some PDP chieftains worked against the victory of PDP during the last general election?

There is no doubt that some PDP chieftains worked against us. We won the election and I have never had a doubt in my mind that we won the election. Since the history of politics in Oyo State, we have never had to wait for the result of election in any local government within Ibadan. We have always been waiting for the result from Igbeti, Kishi and other towns outside Ibadan but everybody knew what happened in the last general election. How can INEC be waiting for the result of Ibadan South-West Local Government Area where the collation centre is for over 24 hours? We were all there waiting for results and after some time soldiers came.

We decided to investigate and we discovered that the rigging was high-powered. It has a touch of federalism because we saw the hand of Abuja in the rigging. As at the time we were waiting for the votes from Ibadan South-West Local Government Area, PDP was leading with about 39,000 votes. We had started jubilation and I was about dressing up to go and start celebrating in Government House with former governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala when somebody told me that he is suspecting something happening somewhere. We did our investigation and discovered that the rigging was being perfected by some people.

Are you saying the presidency worked against the interest of the PDP in Oyo State and South- West considering the woeful performance of the PDP in the election?

I knew of a meeting just before the election between Mr. President and Bola Tinubu in the State House in Lagos. I knew they met but I don’t know what they discussed. Few days to the presidential election, Jonathan came to Lagos State and some of us visited him. But to our surprise, the second day, Tinubu went to visit him and they locked themselves up and discussed for almost two hours. They must have discussed something and I was later worried because I don’t know when they became so friendly.

The meeting later became more suspicious when ACN presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu scored meagre votes in Lagos and Jonathan scored about 2.5 million votes during the presidential election. ACN convinced Ribadu, the former EFCC boss to come and have their ticket, not knowing that they want to give him political baptism. They baptised the boy and yet they went to vote for Jonathan. So the suspicion that there was agreement between them looks a bit real. I was reliably informed that we were negotiated out and we were compromised by the presidency. ‘You give me all the votes in Lagos and everywhere and I will close my eyes to whatever you like to do in your South-West.’ That was the compromise.

But the South-West still lost out in producing the Speaker of House of Representatives, which was zoned to the region?

We haven’t lost anything. We have not seen the end of the power tussle. I believe we are playing high tension politics. Those who thought they were so wise politically to have taken that Speakership didn’t know that we set a trap for them and they quietly entered into it. They are fools. They can’t have the Speaker now and think the North will still produce the President in 2015 since the Speaker is from Sokoto State, a core North state. The trap that Jonathan set for them for 2015 has caught up with them by forcing themselves to be Speaker. So whether they like it or not, Jonathan will be the first to enjoy the six year single tenure he has sent to the National Assembly.

Are you saying Tambuwal has truncated the North’s chance of producing the President in 2015?

Yes of course. He has not only truncated it, he amputated it. The North is holding the Vice President, Senate President and Speaker positions at the moment, so how would they produce the President in 2015. Tambuwal has really truncated the chance of the North in 2015. Sokoto people have realised the repercussion of what Tambuwal did and they have told him to go and resign but he cannot get anybody to deliver the letter to because nobody will take his letter of resignation. He should continue to remain as Speaker since he has already been recognised as Speaker.

What gave you the assurance that the Northerners have entered a trap by producing the Speaker?

The North has already entered the trap. We the inner caucus of the PDP in the South-West went to Abeokuta and we all decided to nominate Muraina Ajibola because we all knew that the North will nominate somebody and Tambuwal was in their caucus. When they nominated him, we decided that we were going to fight it. We all backed Muraina Ajibola, we campaigned for him and everybody was ready to vote for him but things changed when we were told that Mr. President’s wife imposed Mulikat Adeola-Akande on us. It was too bad for such a thing to happen and that is how we blew away our chance of producing the Speaker.

They should have known the culture of an average Hausa man that they don’t believe in the leadership of a woman. Therefore, looking at the culture of the North, it should have been very clear to us that an average Northerner when it comes to voting will actually not vote for a woman unless it is absolutely necessary. It was a trap for the North. They cannot take the Speakership and still expect the presidency to be given to them in 2015. They are presently occupying the seat of Vice President, Senate President and Speaker; therefore they cannot produce President in 2015. In this present administration, out of the six geo-political zones in the country, it is only the North-East and South-West that were denied the opportunity to produce Principal Officers at the centre.

Therefore, to balance the equation, I believe the National Chairman of the party must come from the North-East and the position of the National Secretary must go to the South-West because those are the two disposed or marginalized zones. The two zones deserve to be compensated because they delivered totally for the PDP during the presidential election. The North-East delivered totally for the party in all the states in the zone. The South-West also delivered and despite the influence of the ACN in South-West, Oyo State produced the only PDP senator in Yoruba land. We are also entitled to some of the goodies of democracy.

How confident are you that the National Assembly will pass the six year single term into law considering how Obasanjo’s third term bid was thrown into the dustbin of history by the then legislators?

They will pass it into law. We have done our homework very well and we have engaged lobbyists. We are lobbying them and we are confident that it will become law and Jonathan will be the first person to enjoy the six year single tenure. I believe that the statement by President Jonathan that he is going to spend only one term is a mere political statement because I cannot say my President is telling lie; he is talking politics. He is going to do two terms and he will contest in 2015; he will return and do another six years.

This is not third term and the lobbying for a six year single tenure is quite different. The man has told Nigerians that he is not going to benefit from it and that the bill, if passed into law, will start not with immediate effect in 2015. I believe that four years is not enough for anything to be completely and efficiently carried out. And if you noticed what happened between Sunday Afolabi and Bola Ige, you will know what second term syndrome can cause. It can be bloody and lead to civil war. I believe that in six years, anybody who cannot finish his programme within six years, that programme is not worth starting at all. So I support it and it will pass through the National Assembly. We have done our home work very well. We have majority in the House of Representatives and we are fairly comfortable in the Senate too. We also have 26 states government and we need to pass through only 24 to get the constitution amended. So, it will pass through.

Nigeria recently celebrated its 51 years after independence, what is your take on the present state of the country?

We have not done badly at all. In the world today if they want to talk about powerful nations in Africa, the three names that will come to mind are South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria because the countries stand out far from all the countries in the African continent. We haven’t done badly as a nation. We are multi ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious and yet we still remain as a country. If we could survive the 1967 Biafra War, then there is no more obstacle; we have passed the stage of disintegration. With the division of this country into 36 states and into six geo-political zones, those who are forecasting disintegration before 2015 are agents of calamity and woe. I don’t foresee any disintegration of Nigeria again since we were able to overcome the Biafra War. If we could surmount that and still remain one 51 years after independence, it means we have realized that our strength lies in being together. We need only two things in this country; security of life and property and cheap source of energy. Once we get those two things, Nigeria would become automatic leaders worldwide considering that we have population of about 160 million. With that population, we form a very big market for any industrialist. We only need to ensure the safety of life and property of the investors and also ensure a cheap source of energy so that they will not depend so much on generators for production.

Culled from National Mirror