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Ebenezer Babatope, a former minister of transport, and member, board of trustees (BoT), of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Editor, spoke on the PDP’s plan to take over power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019; why Nigerians must vote out APC; PDP’s determination to return Nigeria to path of prosperity and the hypocrisy of corruption fight by the present government. Excerpts:
Beyond your reaction to the declaration by the President on his second term ambition, observers say that the development may have placed a serious challenge on the PDP. To what extent do you think PDP is bothered about the development? Again, do you think your party has a candidate that can command mass appeal?
If you followed my response; I said we rely on the Nigerian people to say never again would we allow the APC to return to power; we will never again underestimate the power of the Nigerian people. President Buhari has the right in a democratic system to two terms. For us in the PDP, we are not bothered about the number of terms he wants to stay. We are confident that with the help of Nigerians we will defeat him in 2019. The Nigerian people should join us to send them out because the APC government has failed. It has foisted poverty and hardship on the people and has failed to redeem all the promises it made to the Nigerian people. So, Nigerians are the ones who will ensure that APC does not return. Again, we rely on the supreme grace of God. By the power of the Almighty, APC will not return. The PDP is going to be battle ready; already we are battle ready to sack the APC. God Almighty will lead us.
If you are talking about a candidate that will match that of the APC, we have them. Some of the aspirants have made their intentions public while some are yet to do so; but we know them. We have Alhaji Aliyu Gusua, even though he has not declared openly; I am aware of his ambition; we have Atiku Abubakar, we have Sule Lamido; we have Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, Gombe State governor; there is also Alhaji Kwankwaso who will soon declare for the PDP. The party will provide a level playing field for the aspirants to go through the process and emerge without issues. And whosoever that emerges, will receive the support of everybody. This is the new spirit and our National Chairman, Uche Secondus is serious about it and he wants everyone in PDP to see him/herself as one. There is no more division in the party. We are going into the election as a united force.
Critics say that PDP’s response to the President’s declaration was so mild and unexpected of an opposition. They say that the PDP should have made a bone out of it and reel out reasons Buhari must not be voted again, but your party missed it. What went wrong?
PDP did not fail, but we have our strategies. We do not give out our strategy. We will soon come out with our strategy. It is too early to make it public. We are not going to reveal our strategy to them to know where we are coming from and we don’t want to be predictable. But one thing I assure Nigerians is that we have learnt our lesson. Unlike what happened in 2015, we left President Goodluck Jonathan to fight his own battle, which is not right; this time; we are all going to do the fighting together.
Don’t forget that our Chairman, Secondus has openly apologised to the Nigerian people that never again shall PDP take them for granted. He told the Nigerian people that we are sorry and that they should forgive us. It was no pretence; it was a genuine appeal to Nigerians to forgive us.
That apology was straight from our heart and we are going to do things differently this time around.
Critics also say that the opposition appears dead in the face of obvious maladministration in the country. They point to the absence of shadow government, which the leading opposition ought to be providing. Why is it that the PDP has allowed the APC to operate without any form of vibrant opposition?
It is not true that we are not playing our role as a vibrant opposition. We have our style and we know what we are doing. The leadership of the party is alive to its responsibility. Now, concerning President Buhari’s declaration, I have said earlier that he has his constitutional right to contest again. We have many aspirants now showing interest for the ticket and we want to give them a level-playing field for them to compete for the ticket. Now, when we name our candidate you will then sufficiently tell people what we have and can boldly respond to some of these things without putting the chances of any aspirant in jeopardy. We know what we are doing and our Chairman, Secondus, has said it that the process is going to be very free and fair.
Many Nigerians today believe that it is not desirable for PDP to return to power no matter how poorly the APC is doing. For such people, any other party could be tolerated, but not PDP. You hear people say that both PDP and APC have failed, and that they are looking to see a credible alternative. What word do you have for those who have this view?
My appeal to the Nigerian people is that they should forget the past. We have apologised as a party and promised never to take the people for granted again. My appeal to Nigerians is that we should not make the mistake of returning the APC to power. It will be a costly mistake that would destroy this country. Voting the APC again is easily giving themselves up for another four years of misery, poverty and everything that is negative. APC government has foisted poverty on the people. It will be in the interest of the Nigerian people to reject the APC and give the PDP their votes. We have learnt our lesson and we have asked for forgiveness. We also appeal to fellow Nigerians that they should remain calm. I assure you that we will return the country to the path of prosperity once again.
The APC has rolled out two lists of looters and is also promising to come out with another one that it claims with surprise many Nigerians because of the calibre of people whose names are there. What really do you think about the lists or are you among those that think it is an ambush to cow members of the opposition?
How many people have been tried in the court over corruption allegation in the country? It is all about propaganda. Who are those on that lists? Once you return money, you are pardoned and become one of their own, or once you move over to their party they strike out your name. They promised to fight corruption but corruption lives in them. They claim they are clean but we are all operating in the same political market and we know who is corrupt and who is not. They are just deceiving themselves and some Nigerians who do not understand their antics. They even included the name of Uche Secondus and said he is corrupt, can you imagine that? Corrupt how? They know they are just playing game and we know them also.
You talked about APC entrenching poverty in the land; do you think that the PDP has the capacity to return Nigeria to the path of prosperity if it wins election in 2019?
We have more than capacity to make Nigerians happy again. Nigerians can today testify, having felt the impacts of the two parties. Ours was a positive impact; today they are getting negative impacts. We will come back with greater strength. We are ready. We are battle ready.
We know that the APC also has a few fighters among them, but we are ready for them. The man in Osun- Governor Aregbesola is a fighter; Bukola Saraki is a fighter, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a fighter, but we are going to defeat them this time around.
APC appears to have powerful propaganda machinery. They say that in politics all is fair; Since Olisa Metu left as the publicity secretary of your party, nobody is giving the ruling party sleepless night by way of verbal engagements the way the party is doing to the PDP. Why is it so? Does it mean PDP has been frightened into submission?
Very soon you will give us a pat at the back because we are preparing and coming out with some programmes that would bring to the front burner the inadequacies of the ruling party and the Nigerian people will see clearly that we know the weaknesses of those ruling them. We are coming. We are coming out with programmes that will shock Nigerians and at the same time, interest them. All that we are asking for is that the media should also be fair and give the opposition the necessary voice.
