Why INEC Recognised Wike’s PDP Will Shock You — Umar Speaks

Umar Sani is a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview, he speaks on the fate of the party, why the comment by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on the party’s financial strength to sponsor candidates for the presidential election in the 2027 general elections doesn’t hold water. The politician says Wike’s group scuttled the reconciliation because it has the backing of the government, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:

Following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Ibadan that the party should go and reconcile and resolve its own internal matters, there were talks about reconciliation and hopes that the PDP would reconcile But since then, we haven’t heard anything about reconciliation. Wike in a recent television interview made it clear that the PDP doesn’t have the capacity to field any presidential candidate in the 2027 election. Where are you with reconciliation, and is it certain that PDP is not going to field any candidate?

Let me start by telling you that reconciliation has broken down. There’s no more reconciliation. And this is because when we started the issue of reconciliation, the idea was that everybody would return back to status quo ante, which is, of course, the question that has now been agitating the minds of Nigerians now. That word status quo ante bellum. Now, going back, we suspended our NEC meeting and our caucus meeting. We suspended it in good faith to ensure that we don’t take certain decisions that will go against our reconciliation efforts. They were supposed to suspend the convention that they slated so that we would sit down at a roundtable and agree on certain steps to take. Now, the efforts started with the discussions between Governor Bala Mohammed and Nyesom Wike. Now, Wike came out openly to say that after having that discussion, that Bala said he was going back to tell his people and that at the end of the day, he didn’t see Bala again. He didn’t hear from us again, it was just a strategy to now try to put the matter forward so that Nigerians would think that we’re the ones that don’t want reconciliation. When Bala decided to open up, he said that he met Wike and they had a discussion and Wike told him that there’s no reconciliation, and that he would go ahead with the convention and that no position would be sacrificed.

He would take everything because he’s the conqueror. We were wondering which conqueror, is he a conqueror of political parties, a conqueror of Rivers State, or is he a conqueror of the Nigerian judiciary? But that notwithstanding, we said since he said we would continue, but how can we continue when he has already taken everything? So we decided to file papers. The court that he felt that gave him that mandate, that recognised a caretaker committee which is unconstitutional, which is not within the constitution of our party and which was not sought for by either parties in the Federal High Court Ibadan, is what we have challenged. It has gone to the Court of Appeal in Ibadan and the Court of Appeal that gave us the advice that we should go and reconcile. We’ve now gone back to them to tell them that the reconciliation has failed and so the matter should be determined on its own merit.

Even though Wike has denied there being a faction in the PDP, what is the way forward for your faction of the party and do you agree with him that the PDP has not worked enough to gain grassroots support in the last few months, maybe perhaps because of all the challenges you’ve had and so should just leave the presidency alone and focus on sub-nationals?

I’ve repeatedly said here that the agenda of Nyesom Wike is that he’s standing on the mandate of President Bola Tinubu. He said in 2027 he’ll support Tinubu. So all his efforts are geared towards that direction and so any statement he makes with regards to that is intended to create that illusion that the party cannot bring or cannot sponsor a presidential candidate. In the history of our party, it’s not the PDP that normally gives presidential candidates money to run campaigns. First and foremost, all other members of the party, governors and everybody, could they contribute towards that? Apart from governors, the person who is coming must also have sufficient war-chest. When Wike was campaigning for the presidency in 2022, when he went around to every state, he would tell them, just leave the ticket for me. Give me the ticket and I’ll do the rest. What would he use to do the rest? Is it not because he thinks he has sufficient money to be able to run for the presidency? Our party has all the structures intact across the state. It’s a party that hasn’t changed a name. It hasn’t changed its logo. It’s still the party that it is. It’s just being bastardised. It’s just being fragmented, they’re causing trouble here and there. Otherwise, the PDP is capable of presenting a presidential candidate.

You say you have the structures, so which structure does Mr. Wike have, which he says is the PDP’s, and then which structures does your faction still control?

The Wike’s faction of the PDP is an extension of the All Progressives Congress (APC). You can see that after the APC has held their convention, the next convention was a department in the APC, which is the Wike faction that held their own convention immediately after that, and that it was immediately recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). And after the immediate recognition by INEC, again, the federal high court, where we asked the judge, Justice Abdul Malik Joyce, to recuse herself, immediately gave judgment that the party office should be open, you can see, is well-structured, predetermined, and arranged in such a manner as to give them undue advantage. But we’re not bothered because we know that justice still remains in this country, and we believe in the efficacy of justice, and we believe that justice will reign. Now that all attempts to create chaos within the party will fail, because our PDP is one that has an existing structure of the Board of Trustees (BOT) led by Adolphus Wabara, and we have the National Executive Committee (NEC) led by Kabiru Turaki, and we have the National Working Committee (NWC), and those are the authentic ones, and those are the ones that are recognised. In the Social Democratic Party (SDP) versus INEC, the commission chose to recognise Shehu Gabam as the chairman, but the Supreme Court said, no, you don’t have power to recognise anybody. It’s the party that has the power to recognise who they want to recognise. And they did recognize Dr. Sadiq Abubakar Gombe, who is now the National Chairman of SDP. So we’re very confident that when the legal issues are settled, it is the party that will determine how it goes forward, and not Wike or any of his factions.

In terms of political strategy and the time that you have, that your faction of the PDP should collapse its structure to work in alliance with the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for a stronger showing in 20027?

We’re not even saying we cannot participate. What we’re saying is that we trust in the capacity of the courts. We believe that the courts will naturally do justice to this matter. And when in doing justice to it, the court will compel INEC to give us extension of time to be able to put our house in order and put our candidates forward. That is what we have in mind. So, we’re not even removing ourselves from the contest. If you’re removing yourself from the contest that is when you begin to think of an alliance with another political party and with which party are we going into alliance, it is all the other parties with leprosy fingers? The ADC is now enmeshed in a legal tussle. The definition of what is status quo ante bellum, it is still bedeviling them. And then we’ll now come and join with them and then all of us will perish. No, that’s not the way forward. Our way forward is to remain as a party.

If you lose out in this legal tussle, will you say INEC has been complicit in destruction of opposition structures in this country?

I want to know whether you are a soothsayer or you are Paul the Octopus that you will have forecast the future. I’m asking you whether you are a soothsayer or you are Paul the Octopus because you’re putting the cart before the horse. This is something that is before the court. You have already determined the outcome of what will come. We know that the government hand is in, but again, it’s left for the Supreme Court or other courts to be able to determine for themselves whether they want to fall into the hands of government or whether they want to do the right thing.

Supposing they want to do the right thing, what happens?

In the case of Rotimi Amaechi versus the PDP, the Supreme Court decided to do the right thing, and then Amaechi became the governor of Rivers State. So we’re hopeful that the Supreme Court, based on their utterances and based on their recent decisions, will do the right thing. But if they choose not to do the right thing, of course, there must be a way forward. And that is our top secret, we won’t reveal it.