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G-5 governors can still return to PDP, say Ologbodiyan

With less than a month to the presidential election, Kola Ologbodiyan, one of the Spokespersons of the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku and his running mate, Dr. Ifeayi Okowa, examines the chances of the party and the various challenges it is contending with in this interview with GEOFFREY EKENNA

Let’s start with Project Atiku in 2023, we know him as a vice president and businessman, he served under President Olusegun Obasanjo and has contested about six times, what makes you think 2023 is the year Atiku will become the president of Nigeria?

This year is about Atiku because he is a pan-Nigerian, he has prescribed operatable solutions to the challenges confronting our nation, be it the issue of division among us, be it the issue of disunity, be it the issue of restructuring or economic, whichever angle of our social vices that we come from. Atiku has projected solutions and as such Nigerians are rallying with Atiku, with the belief and hope that he is coming to make a difference. For these reasons, I believe it is Atiku’s time to preside over our country.

The reason for this is not farfetched. Atiku was with President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 when Nigerians believe they had the best of life, and the process and timing between 1999 and 2007, as well as 2007 and 2015, were the historic period in terms of prosperity for our nation and people, and as such, they want their good life back which can be achieved with Atiku Abubakar.

You were talking about the 16 years of the PDP but the APC came in with so much noise about the PDP messed up Nigeria, the $16billion electricity scandal which Atiku has admitted, the PDP was dragged by the APC for all sorts of mess, thereby, portraying the PDP as a very corrupt party whom Nigerians should not vote for in the future, even the APC candidate is campaigning on that now…

…but what we can see are Nigerians who have lifted the water and have also lifted the oil and they know which is heavier.

Nigerians who are the butt of this governance also know which of the two administrations has done them well. It was convenient for APC to come and lie to Nigerians; it was convenient for APC to come and tell Nigerians that where you are now and you think you are enjoying can never compare to where we are taking you to. We are taking you to a realm of Eldorado and Nigerians without knowing that these are just a bunch of liars who have come to mislead and misguide them followed them until they discovered that they are taking on a journey to nowhere, and no matter how a man travels in a wrong direction, the day he dsicovers himself that this journey will lead him to nowhere, he must make a turn back. That is the current situation in Nigeria. Nigerians have discovered that APC has no hope; APC has no plans for them, that they are just leading them on a journey to nowhere and there is a period which they can use as a basis of comparison. They have experienced life under the Peoples Democratic Party and they have come to the conclusion that APC has failed them. Is it the cost of living? If one wants to eat boli and groundnut successfully, one will need to cough out N2000. As we speak now, what is the value of their minimum wage of N30,000? How much can it fetch people? If one has a motorcycle, one must buy fuel, the totality of our lives revolves around PMS largely and what is the cost of a litre of petrol? It is about N300/litre, how many litre of petrol can the totality of N30,000 fetch? What’s the quantity of fuel workers use to go to work and return from work? To fuel the generator, if there is no electricity and these people came and told us that they would solve all the economic problems, they would solve the issue of corruption and fight insurgency. There were the three promises used to beguile Nigerians. If you look at their presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he is running away on campaigning with the structure of his political party or on the promises of his political party. That is why he is misguiding and misdirecting them to look at what he has done in Lagos, the question is ‘what did he do in Lagos?’ The only thing he did in Lagos is appropriate to the achievement of his predecessors as well as his successors in office and by claiming that he did them, he is almost claiming that he created Lagos and he is not God, it is only God that we can ascribe the creation of Lagos to. So, Nigerians have seen through all these lies, because they wanted government at all cost, they came and lied to us about the party and government that was leading us into prosperity, and now they are taking us on a journey to nowhere.

The PDP is coming into this election in a disadvantaged position in terms of the number of states they controlled, most of the North-West and North-East states where the bulk of the votes are coming from are controlled by the APC. APC has about 22 governors, and PDP has about 13 governors, what gives you that confidence?

If we look at the 2023 election, there would be a huge difference, it would be likened to what will have in the 2015 election. In the 2015 election, PDP controlled the parties and government in the state and when people said they were done with the PDP at that time, just as they are done with the APC at this time, it is about the ordinary people.

The states you were referring to in the North-East, North-West and North Central, have you nor heard that when APC goes there to campaign, if they shout Nigeria, the response is Sai Atiku, that tells you something; that presupposes something; that suggests the fact that people have reached a consensus on the fact that they cannot bring APC back to power. They have reached a consensus that the presidential candidate of the APC is not fit to preside over our country and as such, they have looked at the array of…

…that’s a strong word when you say the APC candidate is not fit…

I don’t understand what you mean by ‘strong word.’ If a man goes into a campaign to address Nigerians and his speeches are incoherent his communication is not reaching the people he is addressing, how does one describe that? So fitness is not always about health, it is about your ability to communicate with the people you are addressing.

For me, Nigerians have attained a consensus on the fact that they cannot reward failure and they will not reinforce failure and as we speak today, APC depicts failure, suffering, misrule and as such Nigerians don’t want to have anything to do it for them again, even APC in Adamawa State where President Muhammadu Buhari was screaming Nigeria, people were responding Sai Atiku.

They believed that when he wanted to attain the position of President, they supported him by voting for him which made him the President, he has finished his tenure and he said he has tried his best, Nigerians have said that his best was not good enough and whatever he has done, he is leaving office on May 29. Nigerians want to bring a president that will be able to respond to their yearnings and that President would be Atiku Abubakar.

Between the APC and Peter Obi, who poses a bigger problem to the PDP? Because when talking about the demographic of the election, as even confirmed by the INEC Chairman at the Chatham House, it will be decided by youths who are the ones driving Peter Obi and there is another candidate with a humongous world chest…

We have no fears in this election because we have the people who are the backbone with us. Like the name of the party connotes which is Peoples Democratic Party and I just told you that the people are almost at the point of consensus on the fact and necessity of the Atiku presidency, whether we are talking about youths or despondence of government on one side or the other, the people are determined to elect Atiku Abubakar and that answers the question.

Does that include the G5 governors?

It includes every Nigerian, whether they are governors or ordinary mortals, who have not seen the manifest failure of the APC and who do you think in clear conscience will now support a party that has brought our nation into a situation of almost relegation and another four or eight years under the APC, I don’t think Nigerians would wish that.

Talking about the G5 governors, what are the hopes that in the next 30 days to the election and up till today, Wike is not still supporting Atiku. Have we not got to the point where it is difficult to reconcile between Atiku and the G5 governors? I don’t think we have reached a point where it is difficult to reconcile because we are speaking to humanity, neither are we speaking to iron or wood or stone.

We are speaking about human beings that can disagree at any point and that can reconcile and live a further harmonious life at any time, as such it is humanity that is involved here, as a result of that, I believe reconciliation can be achieved at any point, even a day to the election.

So you are optimistic…

I am very optimistic. The ordinary people have suffered too much hardship under the APC and I don’t believe that anybody wants to drag Nigerians back into these hands of suffering again.

But there is this school of thought that after Buhari who is of Fulani extraction has spent eight years. How do you see the implication of another Fulani man taking over from him?

We had an arrangement in our own party, we had a zoning process from which the South-East, and North-East are yet to draw from and a party in its wisdom went for a convention and elected a candidate from the North-East, meaning that we are left with South-East. I apply myself to the wisdom of my party. I apply myself to the overall decision of the delegates of my party who went to the convention and elected Atiku Abubakar. It cuts across the six geopolitical zones.

If Atiku finishes, will your party go to the South-East?

This is a hypothetical question and as I have always loved to say we don’t work by hypothesis in PDP.

….why I asked that question is that ordinarily after Buhari’s presidency, it is expected that it would come back to the South

Buhari didn’t contest the election in the PDP…

We are talking about the President of Nigeria…

…but there is a party system and party structuring, it is not only the North-East or South-East that has not produced a president since 1999 till date. North Central has not produced one either. If in the wisdom of a party, the decision was made that for the 2023 election, it should rather go North-East or South-East and people from these zones went into the election and a candidate emerged from the North-East. We cannot as a party be talking about the fact that it shouldn’t have been North-East because the North-East is also disadvantaged, these are the issues. I cannot as an individual make a commitment to what a party would do but I know that the PDP is a party of wisdom, reliability, fairness, and justice, and at the make-off time, we will implement that.

How much does it help the Atiku course, that his principal former Olusegun Obasanjo, who is basically known as the spokesperson of the Generals, that he keeps damaging and not supporting?

I don’t understand what you mean by damaging. I have something in my record here that I would want to read to you ahead of the 2019 election. When people say that Obasanjo is damaging Atiku, I found it strange. Obasanjo is also expressing his opinion and desires. Ahead of the 2019 election, this is what Obasanjo said to Atiku: “You understand the economy better, you have business experience which can make your administration businessfriendly and boost the economy and provide jobs for our youths. You have better outreach nationally and internationally and that can translate to better management of foreign affairs.

“You are more accessible and less inflexible. You are more open to all parts of the country in many ways and when you become a Nigerian President which Insha Allah you will remember what we did together in government. We ran an administration by Nigerians to your Nigerians where merits and performances count more than blood relationship or friendship”.

That was Obasanjo’s comments ahead of in 2019 election…

One cannot just say that was 2019 and we are in 2023. This is his testimony that can form an epitaph that would go into records for Atiku Abubakar and Obasanjo has not said what I said here, I didn’t say so, it depends on what you choose to believe, you may choose another position but this is my own belief and this what I have chosen about what Obasanjo said. As far as I am concerned, Atiku is waxing among Nigerians, Nigerians on a daily basis are reposing further confidence in President Atiku Abubakar and they cannot all be wrong.

Why do you want Nigerians to elect the PDP again?

The PDP is a party of Nigerians; it is a party that understands the nuances of our nation, it is a party that Nigerians know has been a problem solver before APC brought all sorts of lies against the party. The PDP is known as that party that has driven the economy in a manner that has impacted on the lives of the people. If not PDP, which other party will it be. Is it a party that came to tell the people lies and has spent about eight years in office without even an understanding of the command structure of the nation? Is it a party that places Nigerians on autopilot in which agencies of the government are fighting each other in a rudderless manner? We have had enough of APC rule, Nigerians believe so.

I understand the PDP has already shared positions ahead of the 2023 elections…

That is not correct. I have not seen that trademark. Ahead of every election, there will be subterfuge and blackmail, I think this is one of them being said to disparage the party of the people. One of the G5 governors told me that part of his problem is that when a question was raised about what it will be for the South-East, Atiku couldn’t give any response. I am not aware and I didn’t participate in their meeting, but I know and I can say for a fact that that is not the way government operates.

…and you are confident.

Very confident.

Do you believe honestly that by May 29, 2023, Atiku Abubakar will be sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

I am confident that by the grace of Almighty God and Insha Allah, Atiku will be elected as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come February 25, 2023, and will be sworn in as the president on May 29, 2023.

Can you tell me what the PDP will do differently now?

We have a lot of things to do differently. For instance, Atiku is already talking about providing a stimulus of $10 million that will help the Medium and Small Scale Industries; we didn’t have that in 2019. The challenges of our nation today indeed are different from the challenges we had in 2019.

He has also said that in 1999, we never had a situation of internal strife bordering on war the way we have it, he said he would engage with all the people who are clamouring for this division in our nation, we didn’t have this challenge in 1999, the challenge we had then was not having enough number of policemen. Atiku alongside his boss, President Obasanjo, immediately ensured the recruitment of 10,000 policemen to manage the insecurity of the country. I believe Atiku has a commitment and he would live by it.

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