Former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Peter Nwaboshi currently represents Delta North Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In this interview, he expresses hope that a member of his party may emerge next Senate President in the event that the incumbent, Bukola Saraki loses his case at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) and is removed from office.
In view of the ongoing trial of the Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), a number of permutations have been going on; we heard that some forces have suggested to him to resign his position to allow for implementation of a ‘soft landing’ plan. You are one of his supporters; do you think he should throw in the towel at this point?
I’m a lawyer, 27 years in the bar. He is not guilty. He has not been proven guilty. Let us first of all get to the point that he has been found guilty. The man has taken a plea of not guilty and the law is very clear. He’s deemed not to be guilty until it is proven. It’s a matter before the court. The prosecutor has the duty to prove his case, before the onus will shift to him to defend. If the prosecutor doesn’t have a case, then what is he defending? Take the example of Hon Ndudi Elumelu; that was how they removed him as Chairman of Power Committee because he was taken to court. In the end, he was cleared. Look at the former Senate President –Senator Adolphus Wabara. He went to court. People were saying he is in court, that he should be removed. He resigned as a result of pressure from the public. He went to court and won. The other woman in the House of Representatives, former Speaker Patricia Etteh; in fact the House changed its own position. But they had achieved what they wanted to achieve. There are so many examples like that. The man (Saraki) is going to court and he is obeying the court order. Until it is proven that he is guilty, no amount of blackmail will make us shift our ground and our support for him. In any case, my party the PDP resolved in our meeting to support him. So, there is no basis for him to resign.
But it appears the soft landing option looks like an olive branch. You don’t think he should look at that option?
What is soft landing? There is no soft landing. The case is on. Are they going to withdraw the case? Let him go through the distance and let us see who is right. I have my reservations about the rulings they have given but let us see what the court will say. You can even see what the Supreme Court said; you can see the position of Professor Nwabueze, one of the best legal minds in this world; he has even made his own position known.
We understood that some members of the APC, some of whom also belong to his group, Like Minds Senators have been meeting to unite the APC in case anything happens. Don’t you think this will be a threat to PDP support for him?
Well, I wish APC the best of luck if they are making that wild goose chase. But I want you to mark what I’m saying; I was the first to address the press in Port Harcourt and I told them that Saraki was going to win the Senate Presidency and I gave them my reasons. Then, nobody ever thought that Saraki was going to win. People were saying that APC had decided. But it was clear to me that he was going to win and I had to address the press. I said Saraki was going to win and that he was going to get my vote. Eventually, we went there, he won. If, but God forbid, because we don’t see it coming, by chance Saraki is removed; I can tell you that PDP will produce the next Senate President.
But you don’t have the numbers
What numbers? We only need three and we have it. The calculation is very clear to me. The calculation is very clear for PDP. We know what it will take us. When I told them that Saraki was going to win, I did a lot of mathematical calculations based on the facts on the ground and it is even clearer to me now that the PDP will win it. We will win it. If anybody is thinking that a PDP man is going to vote against a PDP candidate, he is telling you a lie. We have people and we know how to get the people from APC. We will win and that will be very interesting. What is happening in America is going to happen in Nigeria. America has a Republican Senate but the executive is led by Democrats. So, it’s happening in different parts of the world. I can tell you with what’s on the ground that we will produce the next Senate President.
But then the PDP has number seats outstanding. You have one in Anambra, three in Rivers and one in Kogi, wont that constitute a hindrance?
Take note that we have gotten one in Kogi. The outstanding one in Kogi is also PDP and I can tell you that if you do the elections in Kogi 20 times, the PDP will win. Our candidate is leading. The first Senator has been sworn in out of the two elections that they did there. In the second election the PDP is leading with over 40,000 votes already. So, we know what we are calculating. The three in Rivers, we are leading. The ones in Imo and Anambra, we will win. There is nothing called APC in all those areas. You have seen it in Rivers. It’s clear to the whole world that there is nothing that will make APC to win Rivers. Whether you do all the magomago, it’s so clear to Nigerians now. Nigerians now know who is making noise. So, we will get those seats. But even without those seats, we have our calculations. Even if they don’t do those elections, we have our calculations well wrapped up. Don’t forget it’s going to be by secret ballot. It’s not going to be by open ballot. That’s what our rule says and we are not going to amend the rule before we do it. So, we will go in there to use the present rule we are using and do a secret ballot. I can assure you that we will win.
What if the APC is able to reign in their members like they attempted to do before June 9 last year. What if they perfected that process this time?
Is that person (from APC) going to write the names in the chambers? We will walk into the chambers and only you and your God knows what you are writing. Let me make it clear to you; if PDP had wanted the Senate President in June 2015, they would have won. It is some of us who felt that we should assist, so that they don’t accuse PDP of trying to frustrate the present government of President Buhari. We didn’t want to be accused by the Nigerian people that we want to frustrate Buhari’s government; that we had just left power; we don’t want the man to rule. That’s why we brought in an APC Senate President. Otherwise, how many were they on the floor that day? We would have won. Ekweremadu contested with Ali Ndume and he won with the block vote of the PDP. He got fifty-something votes with the block votes of PDP. If the PDP had said okay we want to take it (Senate Presidency), how man were they on the floor that day? We would have won and the person would have been sworn in and that would have been the position. This time, Nigerian people are now seeing that what you call change is not the change. Nigerian people have now seen that the APC has been there for almost a year now and people are crying, dying on the streets. So, Nigerian people now know it’s not the PDP that is frustrating them. We are tolerating and allowing a lot of things because of the APC leadership of the Senate. But they want us to demonstrate that we are the representatives of the people and that’s what we want to do.
But do you think the avenue for peace option is closed as things stand now?
I’m not a member of APC. I’m a very proud member of PDP. When you tell people this is the problem of governance, they don’t understand governance. APC has now come to govern; Nigerian people have now seen the capacity of the APC. So, it is clear to Nigerian people. You said we were doing this and doing that, but Nigerian people were not passing through what they are passing now under the PDP. I don’t know the peace option they are talking about. If there is a peace option among them, the earlier they allowed us to do our work, the better for them. But if they don’t want it, we wish them the best of luck. All I know is that those people who are talking; the leaders of APC, will not be there on the floor of the Senate when we will vote. We will be there on the floor, we will vote and we are confident. We know the mathematics, what is on the ground.
No comments:
Post a Comment