Abdullahi Adamu is a former Governor of Nasarawa state and a Senator. He leads what one might describe as the pro-establishment wing of the nPDP bloc in the APC. To him, the bloc has never had it so good, saying the Muhammadu Buhari administration has been very fair in his dealings with all members of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC. He cautions the Baraje group to not stretch its luck too far.

Why exactly did you visit the APC leadership?

We represent interests within the defunct new PDP. We felt because the merger of nPDP with the APC took place in 2014 and since then every party in that merger is supposed to have lost identity and we now have one identity which is the APC, our party.

Some days ago, some colleagues, brothers of ours in the defunct nPDP came to the national secretariat of our great party and made a presentation to the national  chairman of our party to the effect that the government and our party were beginning to not only intimidate their members, but also added that they have not been getting patronage as they would wish to, and that they were being pushed to the backyard of the mainstream of APC in government. So, we felt a sense of responsibility and duty to, as members of the defunct nPDP, which of course started with me, in my house and we ended in former Kano state governor’s residence and all the meetings up to the signing of the merger with the APC, we were fully involved and we feel that at this point when the government and the party are facing very important challenges, that all hands would be on deck to steer the ship of state in unison with the president and the party. Unfortunately, some people have chosen this moment to be the time when they would pick up issues with the government and the party. This is very diversionary and we believe that we should come and give another account of the situation that we know is the truth. Anybody who wants to challenge our submissions is free to challenge us and we stand by every word that we have said. We did not want to bother the national secretariat by flooding the premises with a crowd of our members because the place would not even accommodate us but the guys that came under the leadership of my brother, Baraje were only four and we thought we should limit our number so that it would be manageable and we didn’t want to send the wrong signals as to our mission. That was why we limited the number of those that went to present our case to the national chairman. The chairman received us and we talked to him, we presented our letter to him alongside some members of the National Working Committee NWC of the party.   We made our mission clear.

What is important is that we completely dissociate ourselves from the presentation by  Baraje and his co-travellers. If anything, you would recall when the National Convention Planning Committee was put together, my dear brother, Baraje was named a member and from his own state, there was a protest that he be removed and they said Baraje and his team, as far as they were concerned, were not working in unison with the party, and that if anything, they were just waiting to cause more damage before leaving the party. The other signatory to it, the Secretary of the defunct new PDP, my brother again, retired Brig. Gen. Oyinlola who was the governor of Osun state at a point in time. He, as you all know has already left the party. He left before the letter that he was signing. He is my brother and I joke a lot with him. He is on AWOL and we hope that there will be a rethinking of position. They have the right to their opinion. We are not denying this but that right must be exercised in a manner that portrays the truth but nothing but the truth. The truth is that what is in their letter is not the truth because ordinarily, if you seek to make a presentation on behalf of a group of people, even though the nPDP is supposed to be non-existent at this point in time, you have a duty to invite people and do some consultations before coming out and not that you will pick one or two friends to go and speak against the party, against the government. I think that is an abuse of trust.

Did your group ask the party and the president to ignore the letter from the Baraje group?

We went to the national leadership and we made it absolutely clear that we dissociate the nPDP membership from the letter submitted to the party which placed blames on the president and the party. We are members of the defunct nPDP. There was no consultation. There was no meeting anywhere. If they say there was a meeting, let them bring to you here the minutes of the meeting, its venue, attendance list and all that.

Does this mean that there is a division within the nPDP bloc?

To start with, the party, nPDP is supposed not to be existing any longer since the merger. That is very basic. If the merger was in good faith, you cannot four years into that merger come and start trying to create the impression that you are different and then you complain on behalf of people that you never consulted in the first place. If there was that consultation, may be we would have been willing to come but from the presentation that we have read, that they made to the national secretariat, we completely dissociate ourselves from it.

What will be your assessment of the Buhari administration in terms of carrying along the nPDP?

As far as we are concerned, there is no where any government in the world would carry everybody 100 percent or satisfy the interests of the entire members of that party that is in power. It has never happened anywhere in the world no matter how endowed and Nigeria is not an exception.

Government at the federal level is not only the executive branch in isolation. It includes the legislature as well. The APC government, deliberately or not, has a balance of power among the various parties and groups that merged to form the APC at the federal level. While the Muhammadu Buhari led CPC got the president, the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu led ACN got the Vice President. We the nPDP eventually got the combination of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives though under somewhat questionable circumstances.

All of these offices control enormous amount of patronage and instruments of reward. It is strange that we did not see any qualms when the Senate President and Speaker dispensed with about 200 appointments including committee chairmen without asking for nomination from Mr President, Vice President, the APC as a party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as party leader, Baba Akande pioneer national chairman and a host of others. Is that not marginalisation? If we the nPDP did not view that as marginalisation then we do not have the moral justification to accuse the President if he appoints his ministers without seeking our nominees.

All the key stake holders of the nPDP were accommodated as follows: Sen. Bukola Saraki as Senator and Senate President; Hon Yakubu Dogara – Member of House and Speaker House of Representatives; Sen. Abdullahi Adamu- Senator and Chairman Senate committee on Agriculture; Sen. Adamu Aliero- Senator and Chairman Senate Committee on Customs; Sen. Magatakarda Wamako- Senator and Chairman senate committee on education; Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso- Senator and Chairman senate committee on national planning; Sen. Danjuma Goje- Senator and Chairman Senate committee on Appropriation; Sen. Abdulaziz Nyako- Senator and chairman senate committee on special duties; Sen. Uchendu- Senator and vice chairman; Gov. Aminu Tambuwal- Governor Sokoto State; Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje- Governor Kano state; Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed – Governor Kwara State; Sen. Jibrilla Bindow- Governor Adamawa state; Sen. Atiku Bagudu- Governor Kebbi state;   Alh Kawu Baraje- Board Chairman and many others that became senators, members of the House of Representatives and many positions too numerous to mention.

The only key members that were left with nothing were Gov. Rotimi Amaechi and Hon Dakuku Peterside who lost the Rivers state gubernatorial election and were promptly accommodated by Mr President. While Rotimi Amaechi was appointed Minister of Transport, Peterside became the DG NIMASA. It will be most uncharitable to down play the significant contributions and rare courage of our group in the south south led by Gov. Amaechi who is from the same zone with the then incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan.

We cannot hold any of the above mentioned positions whether elected,   appointed or a combination of both and yet complain of marginalization. These positions are enough to cater for the nPDP family within the APC in the spirit of fairness and justice if each of the beneficiaries of these offices extend same spirit of patronage to the members of the defunct nPDP and the APC at large.

The case is the same at the party level. All the party officials promoted by key nPDP stake holders are still holding their positions in the party. How can we then complain of marginalisation by the party? A simple fact sheet is as follows; Sen. Danjuma Goje (nominated National Youth leader), Sen. Wamako/ Gov. Aminu Tambuwal (nominated National vice chairman north west, Alh Inuwa Abdulkadir), Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso (nominated National Treasurer, Alh Bala Gwargwarwa),

Sen. Bukola Saraki/ Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed (nominated National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi), Gov. Rotimi Amaechi (nominated National vice chairman south south), Gov. Bindow (nominated National vice chairman north East, Comrade Mustapha Salihu), while Sen. Abdullahi Adamu (nominated National Vice chairman north central, Hon Zakari Idde).

These party officials are involved in running the affairs of the party and contributing in decision making at various levels. In addition, other members of the nPDP holding legislative and executive positions are involved and making their contributions on government policies and decision making at various organs and levels of governance.

We must address our own greed

The APC has been very gracious to us but we must not over stretch our luck. We have concentrated in pointing accusing fingers at the President and Party while we fail to look inwards to address the greed, selfishness, witch hunt, injustice and high handedness exhibited by some leaders of the defunct nPDP in privileged positions today against our fellow members. We only remember that the nPDP ever existed when it is time to advance our personal and often selfish interests. Let us be careful not to become a cancer to any house we seek to join or be masters in destroying every house we help to build. We must introspect and change our ways.

Many members that worked so hard for the nPDP are being attacked and ridiculed by some leaders of the group. May be it is time to call a meeting of the defunct nPDP, lock ourselves in a room and tell ourselves the bitter truth. Many of us have questions to ask some of our leaders. Perhaps, if we had done that in the first place, there would certainly be no reason for Alh. Kawu Baraje to approach the party and even give an ultimatum. We should be more concerned with using what the APC has offered us in many generous ways to advance the cause of our members and the party and country at large. We have more than enough not to complain if some leaders in the nPDP will be less greedy.

We believe that the nPDP has many leaders of high integrity but we must be careful not to use the group to cover up for any individual who runs foul of the law. We must support the anti corruption stance of the government and ensure that the law takes its cause in accordance with the laws of our land without minding whose ox is gored. We will resist any attempt to smear our government through posturing or using the platform of the defunct nPDP as shield against crimes that might have been committed against the state even before the merger of the defunct nPDP and the APC and beyond.

You have accused Baraje of not consulting you. You have also spoken on behalf of the defunct nPDP. Did you make any consultation?

If we didn’t, we would not do the presentation that we have done now. We consulted. But find out about the other group. We asked our members whether they were consulted by Baraje and they said no. So, who did they now consult?

The Baraje group complained of intimidation by the presidency and the party. How true is that assertion?

If you know what is going on today…I am from the National Assembly but I am not here to talk to you on behalf of the senate. What I am saying today is from me as a person, Abdullahi Adamu. If you go through what is happening to APC members who were in the defunct nPDP, they would not have dared to come and say that anybody was intimidating them. The intimidation we see today under the watch of those who are complaining is more than anybody could have imagined. But like they say, you know what they call the master’s voice. We know who did the presentation here and we know who they represent.

 

There is the issue of congresses and convention. Some analysts feel that if Comrade Adams Oshiomhole becomes the national chairman of the APC, that the ACN bloc would have had too much concessions made to it…

At this point in time, we are in a democracy and it is not for me to speculate. The chairman of the party….we have not gone to the convention. The person who presented the paper to you on behalf of their group is a member of the National Convention Planning Committee and the convention has not held yet. So, we have not gotten there, we have not elected a new national chairman, so, it would be out of place for me to start talking of the implications of him being elected as chairman. It would be preemptive and I do not want to be caught in that. When we get to the bridge, we shall cross it.