Chief Patrick Agbe is from Cross River State and is an ex-officio member of the PDP. With that position, he has a voting right in the party’s NEC and was present during the last NEC of the party.
He told TNN in this telephone interview the untold stories of what transpired during the meeting and also gave a hint on what he thinks may happen to the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.
Excerpts:
You are an ex-officio member of the PDP.What were the undercurrents that played out at that NEC meeting in Abuja a few days ago, which the public did not know?
Well, I think most of your reports like we have been reading; Wike won, that person won, is not correct. The NEC which we had, which was taking place for the first time; after Ayu’s removal for over a year, we’ve never had NEC, it became the first time, where at the caucus meeting Ayu formally tendered a resignation as the National chairman of the PDP.
Also, he tendered the withdrawal of his court suit which he was contesting the position by the removal with the court order. With that, it was clear that PDP no longer has a party chairman and it became the first NEC to inform the NEC that the seat of Ayu is vacant but by the provision of the constitution, our constitution does not allow for a vacuum and are stated clearly that once the national chairman is no more, either by death, by resignation or impeachment, the deputy national chairman from the zone which the chairman was coming from will take over, so as not to allow for a vacuum. So by that pronouncement and tendering of resignation of Ayu, it officially moved Damagun, being the deputy national chairman from the North, to take over as the chairman.
Also, by the provision of the constitution, it also says that the replacement of the chairman must come from the zone in which the outgone chairman comes from, to complete his tenure and that will be done in consultation with the completestakeholders from that zone and Ayu comes from the North Central and in North Central he comes from Benue State. So, having notified NEC that Ayu is no longer the chairman of the party, it behooves on the North Central to go and produce a chairman. But that chairman will be presented in consultation with all other zones.
If you can remember, Ayu did not emerge by election. Ayu emerged by consensus and that is the same way we want to still go about it. So, we could not go into an election, given that that provision of the constitution has not been fulfilled. If we had gone otherwise to say there must be an election for that day, which the other parties thought that the Atiku’s faction was going to do, it was going to provide for a parallel exco where some members will not agree.
So the NEC decided to work strictly with our constitution and that is to say, our constitution stipulates that there should be NEC at least every quarter and the next NEC has been fixed for the 15th of August, which by then, the North Central zone must have met, produced their chairman and in consultation with the other five zones. So on the NEC being the 15th of August, the new chairman will be presented to NEC by consensus and probably be sworn in and Damagun returns to his position.
Also, on the issue of Rivers State while people were saying Wike won, Wike won, I did not see what Wike won. The caretaker committee in Rivers State which Fubara had raised an alarm was also asked to stay on hold, that was the resolution from both the caucus and the NEC.
So, are you saying those who think Wike was the man of the match were wrong?
Very, very wrong. I would rather say Atiku was the man of the match because Atiku was a member of the caucus who sat and agreed to follow the constitution. The other people had thought that Atiku was going to force his way for the removal of Damagun, but if he had done that he would have gone against the constitution and if there was anything Wike would have wished, he would have wished that Damagun should be sworn in as a substantive chairman.
If you remember, since when Damagun took over as the acting chairman, there hasn’t been any NEC meeting. So even in his acting capacity, he was never confirmed. So he was officially confirmed as the acting chairman on the NEC that took place on the 18th and he was going to act for three months, after which a new chairman was going to come in.
Moreover, there was an issue which has never been reported. It is not everything that was discussed at NEC that you see on the media because when we come to critical issues all the press men will be out, it is what we want you to know that you will know.
Are you aware that we hade an issue with the national secretary? There was a court order removing him and a counter court order which of course Damagun admitted before the NEC, that there was an error on their part; the National Working Committee because Anyanwu being a national secretary who left to contest an election in Imo State did not tender his resignation, which was wrong. He couldn’t have gone as a candidate for such an exhalted position of a governor and still holding on to the office of the national secretary and those things were also resolved in the caucus that in South East the zone which Anyanwu comes from who had initially sent a replacement for Anyanwu should go ahead and re-discuss and resolve the issue after the acting national chairman had admitted that it was an error on their part. But some of these things will definitely be ironed as we have put in place a constitution amendment committee.
So where does Wike stand; in the eyes of the NEC, in the eyes of the PDP where is Wike and what is his state?
Well, I can’t say but he was in the NEC as a member, being a former governor. He was still in the caucus. So the issue of all of those who participated in antiparty activities has not been dealt with and moreso the disciplinary committee was reactivated. So, as it stands now, Wike officially is still a member of the PDP, still a member of the caucus and a member of NEC until the disciplinary committee comes out with a report to indict him or otherwise.
So if you were to send a memo to the disciplinary committee concerning Wike and the others who worked against the PDP during the 2019 election, especially the G5, what would you say?
Well, for somebody like Wike, I would recommend for his expulsion from the party for reason that you cannot be working openly against the party. He had addressed his G5 to work against the candidate of the party. Wike is not the first person who ran election and lost. You should work for your party, if you are not ready to work for your party just go and cast your vote and go away. So Wike openly addressed his people and told them that at the appointed time, he will tell them who they should cast their votes for and like you could see the activities of the G5, everybody worked from his own direction as God would have it, all the G5 governors, apart from Makinde, lost their elections and lost their states, which was a clear pointer that they were not even on ground at the time they needed to spend to carry out campaigns and sensitize people. They were busy flying from one point to the other and causing problems. So they inherited the problems, but for the man who led them, who was using his private jet to fly them; Wike, for me the party should expel him.
If today I am disenchanted with the PDP, I will not stay in the PDP and cause problems, I will better leave quietly. You cannot say that you sponsored the party. People formed this party, sponsored it to the point you came and inherited it; so if you were spending money, you were spending money because of your interest, like every other governor has spent money in the party. Of course you have benefitted as a governor under the PDP. So if you spend money on the party it’s not out of place.
I am not paid as an ex-officio member of my party. I don’t get a salary, but as a governor, you get a salary, you get estacodes, you get other things as you are traveling, benefits which you got from the office, the office which was given to you by the political party. I only get sitting allowance. So if you become a governor and you are now paying people in the party, you are not doing them a favour, you are only rendering services.
What future do you see for PDP in the next few years in Nigeria? What future do you see for the PDP in Cross River where many people are leaving almost on a monthly basis?
Let me start from the question of the future of PDP in Nigeria. PDP for now is the only hope of opposition in Nigeria and if you saw how the NEC was, the stakes were very high. A lot of people who expect Nigeria to be better had prayed for that meeting because if PDP had scattered on that day, that would have been the end of democracy because the country will more or less be running a one-party system. That is what the APC is trying to achieve because if we had allowed these crises which some people had preempted, that Damagun will be forced out to give them opportunity to form a parallel government, we were going to start losing our National Assembly members, our state house of assembly members on the basis that there is crisis.
If you remember, this scenario was what played out in 2014 preceding the 2015 elections, where Buba Galadima created a new PDP. That was exactly the opportunity they attempted to have but even that PDP laid down their arms, accepted to work together, work with their constitution. I tell you, the future of PDP in Nigeria is great. And come 2027, PDP will cling back to power.
It is natural when you go to a state that does not have sitting governors. For instance, Cross River State does not have a governor in the PDP. Our excos, state excos, local government, ward, they don’t get any stipend and a lot of people who survive on government patronage from the party no longer enjoy that. So, it is natural to see this movement. But this movement going to APC, you will still see the movement towards the buildup to 2027, people moving back to the PDP. So the backward and forward movement is actually what politics is. So I don’t see anything wrong in it but I know there are some people that will never move. Some of us were created to manage the crisis and make the party to be strong again. So I don’t see anything wrong and I don’t think that movement will end PDP.
Let me tell you, in Cross River State where I come from and most especially Ogoja Local Government, are you aware that two weeks ago we had more than 1,500 defectors from the APC into the PDP, just in five local governments? So how then do you say that PDP is migrating into APC? We might be migrating in the South but in the North where I come from, we don’t have a governor here and that we don’t have a governor, they also do not have appointments. We have a senator, the senator is our governor in the PDP here and that is why you also see that movement in the North but this movement is not only in the North, it just started in the North, it’s going towards the Central, and it will hit the South soon.
