Ahmed Makarfi
The Chairman of the National Caretaker
Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, speaks with TOLUWANI
ENIOLA on his plans for the party’s convention, allegations against his
committee and other related issues
What is your assessment of the
preparations towards the December 9 Peoples Democratic Party convention?
We are definitely on track. On Tuesday (last
week), we completed a three-man delegate election. We have 774 electoral
delegates. The others comprise 233 delegates already established by the constitution.
The reports have yet to come in (as of Wednesday). We expect the reports to
contain appeals from any aggrieved delegate. Such complainants would go through
an appeal process. We are also expecting other reports from the electoral and
appeal panels. If the reports of both panels tally, then there will be no
problem but if there is a clash in the reports, we will definitely look into it
to have an authentic delegates’ list. Other sensitive materials are being
printed as I speak while other plans are in the works to secure the venue to
ensure that the convention goes on smoothly as planned.
With complaints from aspirants on the
methods for the convention, do you foresee a situation whereby the convention
may be shifted to address the issues?
I don’t think that we will have any reason to
postpone the election. I have never thought about postponing it. Why should we
postpone the convention? The only reason may be logistics but I believe we will
be able to get the minimum that is required for us to hold a successful
convention. I honestly think there will be no reason to shift the date.
What measures have you put in place to
ensure a free and fair election of the national officers?
The fact that the 2019 general elections are fast
approaching has led to an upsurge of interest in this forthcoming PDP
convention. This, of course, is expected. It is natural for people to be
apprehensive. In spite of these reactions, we must be calm and ensure that
things work out well. For instance, I have been called all kinds of names. But
the caretaker committee, in all fairness, has left its doors open to address
any grievances and settle it. We have vowed to make the convention to be seen
as free and fair, especially as the state chapters work with us to compile the
final delegates list. The election and appeal panels do not conduct election of
delegates. They only compile results and transmit them to the headquarters as
well as listen to appeals. It is the state chapter that conducts elections and
makes it available to the panels for compilation. Where a panel submits a
report, which is different from what the state conducted, we will be able to
fish out those ones when we compare the reports. We assure everyone that only
validly-elected delegates’ names would be compiled. We have adequate number of
agents at each polling and collation units. All these are done to ensure that
the process is transparent and fair.
A former Deputy National Chairman of the
PDP, Chief Olabode George, and a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran,
were some of your supporters when the caretaker committee had issues with the
sacked faction of the party. Why do you think they are raising issues about
your credibility to oversee a free and fair convention?
I don’t know their reasons for speaking the way
they have been doing. It is normal to be apprehensive but the issues raised by
Prof. Adeniran were more specific. Adeniran gave examples of five names that he
claimed would be sympathetic to a particular national chairmanship aspirant
during the convention. Five names out of 216 names! For God’s sake, if a
committee is made up of 216 names, and you are telling us that five people
among them would be sympathetic to an aspirant, what of the 211 remaining? Who
will they be sympathetic to? If you analyse each and every person, they are all
aligned to one person or the other. So, it isn’t a fair way to look at things.
You can’t just pick out five and make an example of them out of 216 names. It
does not make sense. Second, we asked the states to nominate. We also asked the
other organs of the party, such as the Board of Trustees, National Assembly
members, former governors and so on, to nominate, which they did. So, why
should there be complaints? To us, it does not make sense. George was not
specific on any issue. He only overreacted by making general statements.
Adeniran only gave five names (of people that would have sympathy for a
particular aspirant). We will go through the complaints and ensure fairness.
George and Adeniran should stop overreacting. We will do our best despite the
bad names they have been calling us (caretaker committee).
What is your reaction to the calls for
your resignation by some aspirants who doubted your ability to maintain
neutrality?
If the call for my resignation is the consensus
of everybody, and not just the wish of just one or two people, so be it. Let me
make it clear, however, that it was not one or two people who put me in this
position. If a convention had demanded us to resign, we won’t be here. We are
not here to represent the interest of anyone of them. We are here to represent
a balanced interest. I won’t resign unless a convention asks me to do so.
Do you think the failure to give them
undue advantage is responsible for the series of allegations raised against the
caretaker committee?
There is no aspirant that didn’t make efforts to
see us (caretaker committee).
What did they want to see you for?
They want to get our support and discuss issues
with us. Even the candidate that they alleged we have been working with, I have
never sat one-on-one with him. I am not also aware that the so-called preferred
aspirant has sat one-on- one with any member of the committee.
Is it true that you want a particular
aspirant to emerge in order to work towards the realisation of your
presidential ambition?
There are also allegations that some of them are
being used to support the presidential ambitions of someone within the party
and those of some people who are intending to join the party. Let us assume
that is my case, what about allegations against them that they are sponsoring
people who have yet to join the party? In any case, who among them has not
spoken to me if I had interest in this matter and what was my answer? My answer
has always been this, “Let’s get it right with this convention first.” He who
comes to equity must come with clean hands.
But do you have a preferred candidate
among the aspirants?
I don’t have a preferred candidate. Each delegate
is going to vote based on his or her preference. I am not going to hold the
hands of anybody to thumbprint. It is up to the delegates to choose whoever
they want at the election.
Will you consider contesting the 2019
presidential election?
At the moment, I have no reason to consider that,
especially with all the troubles in my head. My priority is to go to the
convention and ensure the process is free and fair and ensure we wrap it up as
a family.
The senator representing Ogun East
Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu, has accused you of plotting to destabilise
the party in the South-West. How do you address this accusation?
Who is in court all over the South-West and
Abuja? Is it not Buruji? Who has been taking the party to court? Is that not a
way to destabilise the party? Who financed a parallel congress in Ondo State
and a court case which went up to the Supreme Court? Was it not Buruji? Who
financed a parallel congress in Edo State and even took the party to court? Was
it not Buruji? So, from these observations, who is destabilising the party?
But he claimed you chose to relate with
only one faction of the Ogun State chapter of the party.
They (Buruji and others) were invited by the
committee. They didn’t respond to our invitation. What they wanted was to be
given complete control while we relate with the other people as inferior in the
party. We said that was unacceptable. We insisted that everybody should come to
the negotiation table equally to ensure a fair representation on both sides of
the divide. That was not acceptable to him.
What about his allegations that you were
flagrantly disobeying court orders?
There is no court order that we disobeyed. Let
Buruji mention one court order that we disobeyed. One of the courts said we
should not discipline him, which we obeyed. Besides, the court gave an order in
respect of Ogun. Instead of complying with the order, Kashamu went to a
magistrate’s court, conniving with some policemen to get people arrested. How
will you leave a high court and descend to the level of a magistrate court to intimidate
people? It is very obvious that Kashamu is part of those trying to destabilise
the peace already established in the party. I have not known him for so long
but those who know him have not spoken well of him.
Do you think he is working with Ali Modu
Sheriff to frustrate you?
It may, or may not be so. I believe he is only
fighting for his personal interest. You have heard that he introduced the
franchise of the PDP in the South- West. He was collecting money to sell
candidacy to people contesting on the platform of the PDP; that is what we have
been trying to do away with.
With the way things are, don’t you think
this convention would plunge the party to another protracted crisis?
All I can say is that we will try our best to
ensure it ends successfully. The most contentious issue is the national
chairmanship election. It will be better if the aspirants could resolve their
differences before the convention. If they don’t, we will proceed to the
convention and the delegates will elect whoever they want?
Are you saying the best thing is for the
South-West to form a consensus on the national chairmanship?
The position of national chairmanship was not
ceded to the South-West; it was ceded to the South generally. If the aspirants
can put their heads together and have a consensus candidate, so be it. I won’t
use my position to force people to do anything. In the North, when they
micro-zoned, they didn’t even invite me to the meeting in the North.
Do you regret taking up the job so far?
No regrets. Of course, there will be clash of
interests as we head to the convention because of 2019. People should know that
power comes from God. There is no success that we can make if it is not God’s
will. We are going to be open, transparent and ensure fairness to all. We have
also told them that whenever they see us going wrong, they should come and
discuss with us, we will make amends. A situation whereby you choose to go
public with all sorts of allegations instead of discussing with us is not
healthy. George and Adeniran should be more civil about the way they go about
with the issues.
