Without coalition among political parties, even PDP cannot win 2023 election -Byron

Adeshina Fagbenro-Byron was the presidential candidate of the Kowa Party in the 2019 election. In this interview, he reflects on the election, the worsening security situation in the country, why restructuring is the only panacea to Nigeria’s development crisis and why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) must humble itself and form alliance with other political parties if it intends to return to power in 2023 among other issues. PATRICK OKOHUE reports.

**********Many people were surprised that you became inactive at the latter stage of the 2019 presidential race, what really happened?

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I think up till November 2018 if you count seven or eight candidates in the race my name would always be there. But when they started doing polling for candidates who would take part in the debate, prior to that time there were also talks about the presidential candidates, especially among the young candidates, I was in all the discussions, especially the one that had Sowore, Donald Duke, Ezekwesili, Mogbalu, we went for several of those meetings, but we could not arrive at an agreement is issue for another day and you would realise that even the Kowa Party we were in the CUPP and that was the platform and strategy that we thought we had a good opportunity.

For two things, if you read my development plan I warned that these things happening now would happen. I was very clear in what needed to be done and how we needed to do it. So when our party decided to join CUPP it was predicated on three reasons. Firstly, the need to restructure the country and secondly to upstage APC and thirdly to form a broad based government.

The argument was that PDP on its own could never win APC, for the fact that people were disgruntled with APC does not mean that people had forgiven PDP. PDP ought to have realised that they had a major image problem. The only way you would go into an election like that no matter how rich you are is to form an alliance with people who have a more credible image than you.

APC could never have won the 2015 election if it did not go into alliance with other parties. Buhari himself had a credibility problem in 2015; people had the fear that he was extreme in his religion and ethnic beliefs. But in order to redeem this he had to associate with others. PDP should have done the same thing under CUPP, but they allowed pride and belief in money and it pushed the party into reneging in its agreement with CUPP.

The agreement was that all the presidential candidates under CUPP should come together and choose a presidential candidate and a vice-presidential candidate. It was agreed that this was not an entirely a PDP affair, but a coalition affair. At the CUPP it was agreed that the president and the vice should not come from PDP, but they just picked their vice and forgot all of us at the CUPP after all that. And then we also had a meeting where the presidential candidates were asked to come and endorse the presidential candidate, Obasanjo, Oyinlola were there, I never stepped down, I refused. There were other forces pulling in the APC and PDP. This is just to say that I did not step down, the only platform I would have stepped down is the CUPP platform.

Going back to pre-November, I said that I was not invited to the debates, which makes it look like I was no more in the race. But in August last year after the 2019 election and they had assumed office, I got this letter from the organisers of the poll and debates; that it was a computer error that excluded me in those polling which caused why I was never invited to any of them. I was in the race and had a pedigree; even Oby Ezekwesili came out to say that the person he wanted to debate with was me. So I think I was deliberately excluded. But I am happy that the organisers admitted that in the letter. I was a candidate and I never endorsed Atiku, probably if the CUPP platform had worked maybe I would have stepped down, while a candidate emerged.

PDP was a bigger party; but if the vice-president was chosen from another region, the party would have done better in the presidential election, but the PDP was arrogant, short-sighted and it was clear that the arrangement was met to fail.

************But the assumption then was that most of you were bought over by the ruling party to scuttle Atiku’s ambition?

That was the fault of INEC, by registering more than 35 political parties in a day. It was part of an attempt to delude the system; it was called divide and rule. But the Kowa party had integrity and I was a strong candidate, we had our own supporters.

***********But apart from not being invited to debates you were also not visible with campaigns and not seen on the street?

Yes, I must admit this, there were issues and there were internal problems in the party. Funding was part of it. Atiku did not win but he had funding, for me there was deliberate sabotage on my campaign from within the party.  The debate thing was very critical too. But within the party it was misunderstanding, people who did not believe in themselves, some within the party were dragging us toward APC, some toward PDP.

People wanted to see your hand, and I told them I was not backing out. There are episodes on television, even on national television where we had these CUPP thing discussed and I said I would not back down. But as we are pushing forces were pushing us back, I needed just one debate to prove.

***********But is consensus candidate a bad option considering the system we run?

It is not bad at all; that is why I emphasis the role of CUPP, and I say today the only way opposition can win in 2023 is to resuscitate and solidify the CUPP. Without that, PDP cannot win in 2023, it had not yet found its credibility. They must step down from their high horse. They must admit their inadequacies, it is not about money, spread, and it is about attitude and credibility.

************Since you contested do you agree with the result of the presidential election and the PDP server claims?

For me I would not get into all that server issue. Personally I think the strategy of the opposition was wrong and they gave opportunity for Buhari and APC to win. Yes, there was rigging in all side. APC won, but having a vice-presidential candidate from the South East was wrong.  The South East was not going to vote for the APC in the first place. So it was wasted energy, the vice-presidential candidate of Atiku should have come from the South West to go directly at APC; Osibanjo played a key role in APC’s victory.

The South West was the battle ground. It was a failure, but they did not listen and learn. I know how they operate; I contested for a chairmanship position in PDP in 2001, so I know how they operate.

**********So you agree APC and Buhari won?

APC won the election, someone has to win. We can see for the fact that someone won. I did not say he won the election free and fair. When you throw your valuables on the floor, when someone picks it up you don’t call that person a thief. The votes from the Northern states like Kano, Borno and the rest have always been suspicious, but the PDP had benefited from it before so you have to come to equity with clean hands. I was not in a position to challenge the votes in Borno, I was not there. But you know Nigerian politics, on the day Buhari was campaigning in the North, 600,000 people walked into Nigeria through the border from Niger unchecked by custom, immigration and the police. They said they came to campaign for someone they called their brother. If 600,000 people can come in during campaigns, imagine how many would come in during election. So that is why we are saying when you have power restructuring is inevitable.

You are also a lawyer, do you agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Atiku petition on the election?

Atiku went to the tribunal on wrong premise; if I was his lawyer I would do my argument on the basis of where I noticed that votes were manipulated and inflated. Everybody saw that there was underage voting. You can’t say on that basis the election was not credible. But PDP did it in other areas. PDP should have challenged the results in some states. Someone sold Atiku a dummy on the server thing; if you say I have a server and I said I don’t, how do you want to hold me? The bad spot were questionable votes in some states by the time you cancelled the votes it would have reduced Buhari’s votes in total.

**********The Kowa Party has just been deregistered by INEC, how do you react?

No, we won election in the past.  The current speaker of the Bayelsa House of Assembly was elected on the plate of the Kowa party, but he defected. Do INEC want to make Nigeria a one party state?  They want to make it a winner takes all, that is the logic. I know 70, 80 parties could be cumbersome for INEC but not all parties should contest election.

Some parties may not be registered to contest election; their intention may be towards public service. Others may not have agenda to win election outside Lagos State. I may be in a party to advocate for environmental issues and so on; we have the Green Party in the UK and several of them in the UK. But INEC should be sophisticated enough to say if you have not won election in certain places or certain number of elections; you would be limited to state election or local government elections only. But ones a party is registered, you have admitted that they are qualified; so a party that was rigged out in an election you would say they are not qualified to contest again? You never know the sense or nonsense in a decision until you stress it to the extreme. Are you saying if a party won second place in a governorship, or presidential elections they have not done enough?

There is a problem with the process; nobody begged INEC to register large number of parties in the first place.

***********The assumption is that most of the parties are being used as front and are not on ground?

It is up to INEC to do investigation before registering them. When did ANC win election in South Africa? But they were formed around 1920’s, but they did not win any elections until in 1994. So INEC is behaving much like a service agency of the ruling class and the ruling class mentality; that if you don’t have money, if you can’t have this go away.

Their clam that the majority won is not true because democracy is not for the majority. It is for the people who include the minority, it is to protect the minority. You can’t say that if a company doesn’t make money or something it should be deregistered. A company is formed for economic reasons; political party is for political reasons, it is wrong.

***************What is your view on agitation for power shift to the South in 2023?

What I would say is that rotation of the presidency is internal agreement of the PDP; so you know many people in PDP joined APC.

But personally to me, this arrangement of sharing positions is not based on merit, but a gentle man’s agreement. I don’t know when it was decided that we should rotate power.

**************But is it now fair, considering the divisive nature of Nigeria?

No, the fairest thing is to allow someone who can deliver emerge, contest and win election on merit. Even if you have a president from the North, the zone would still suffer poverty. If you have someone from the South, they would still suffer same poverty.

Rotation is not the solution; it would only guarantee fairness to political distribution of the money. It would not guarantee fairness and good governance to the North or South. When you bring someone who lacks the capacity to deliver the people would suffer.

If people can hire staff based on competence, why not do same for Nigeria? But they would not, because of the love for sharing of the country’s resources. I can say that it is not a question of North and South, if you restructure Nigeria into workable and manageable system it does not matter who becomes the president it would work. When you have a structure that is based on rent system and distribution then you are not calling for capacity you are saying it does not matter. El-Rufail says power should go to the South; I would ask him to seek for the restructuring report first and read what it says.

Most leaders in the South West don’t care about the presidency now; we have had it before it did not yield anything. Most leaders in the zone are clamouring for restructuring of the country. There are many Nigerians questioning the basis of having one country and those people have legitimate reasons.

***********But the Igbos think it is their turn?

People would continue to be marginalised because there is a history. During the country’s first coup, second coup and the civil war, opinions were formed about the different ethnic groups. So I agree the Igbos are victims of marginalization, but everybody are being marginalised in some ways. Who is more marginalised than a woman and child in Borno State and a woman in Zamfara State who is trying to walk to the farm?

The security situation is bad and it was predicted. The government is using kid-gloves for Boko Haram; the right thing is to review the security apparatus and personnel. The President does not want to widen his scope. I believe there is plenty of collusion. So what is happening is failure of intelligence or deliberate refusal to use intelligence or intelligence going to wrong hands.

************Do you regret contesting the 2019 presidential election?

No, contesting in the 2019 presidential election is the best thing I ever did, because firstly; I was able to throw out the issues. I did what God wanted me to do. There was fire on the mountain and I shouted. Though, the financial implication may be much, but if I want to be president I must be ready to make sacrifices. Secondly it was a beautiful education that I would never learn in any school. If another opportunity comes I would contest in 2023.