2015: Why ACN is jittery – Senator Akinyede

By Uju Mbanusi
Erstwhile chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and
Financial Crimes, Senator Sola Akinyede represented the Ekiti South
Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011. Akinyede was a member of
the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1989 Constitution, a
delegate to the National Political Reform Conference and subsequently,
Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the Federal University of
Agriculture, Umudike. In this interview, he responds to issues
affecting the polity and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Excerpts:
Is the APC a threat to your party, the PDP?
Let us go back a little bit in history. In 1999 the Alliance for
Democracy (AD) and the All Peoples Party (APP) entered into a
political alliance which saw Chief Olu Falae running with Alhaji Umaru
Shinkafi against President Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo was elected
with 18.7 million votes (63%) while Falae got 11.1million votes(37.2%)
In 2011 there was a spirited attempt bythe Congress for Progressive
Change and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) toforge an alliance
against the PDP. The alliance did not work. However, in that election
PDP had 22.5 million votes (59.6%) while the combined votes of both
CPC and ACN was 14.3 million votes(37.8%)
Why is this so? PDP is the only truly national political party in
Nigeria. PDP won 23 States plus Abuja in 2011 as against others. CPC
won 12 States all in the North and was not able to get the
constitutionally required minimum of 25 per cent of the votes in any
of the 17southern states, while the ACN won just 1 State.Minority
regional political parties
It is obvious that CPC and ACN are minority regional political parties
deluding themselves and believing that a merger will give them a
nationaloutlook. PDP is the only party that has all the major ethnic
groups as well as the minority ethnic groups in the North and South
substantially represented. So if ACN and CPC are to merge today as
APC, history tells us that APC is not likely to poll much morethan
that 37%. APC will be lucky to score 40% of the votes in 2015.
But your party, the PDP is in crisis?
Politics is dynamic and that dynamism involves a perpetual jostling,
and contest for power, positions and ideas. In the process cleavages
are created. What you call crisis are cleavages which are natural
occurrences in any dynamic political system especially in a developing
democracy like ours. The most important thing is the ability to manage
these cleavages like the Italians have done. Since 1999 the PDP has
demonstrated its ability to manage its differences.
How do you react to claims that the PDP is marginalizing the Southwest?
There are provisions in our Constitution that ensure that every part
of the country is assured some measure of participation in governance.
The American political scientist Harold Dwight Lasswell defined
politics as 'Who gets what , when, and how'. That 'who' does not
necessarily refer to an individual, but to a group of people. The
reality of politics is that when you are not in the room where
decisions are being taken,you are more likely to get the minimum
rather than the maximum.
In 2007, the South-West was in that room in the person of Hon Dimeji
Bankole and the South West got its due. But in 2011 the situation
changed. In spite of the fact that the PDP zonedthe Speakership to
the South-West, the ACN a Yoruba party with some sprinkling of
some non-Yoruba peoplevoted against the southwest candidate, Hon
Akande-Adeola to ensure that a South-West person did not enter that
room.
Some people were surprised by this action, but those of us who know
the ACN very well know that their politics is driven more by the
private and personal interests of their leaders rather the collective
interest of the South-West. It is imperative that the South-West
ensures that they are inside that room by not only voting massively
for the PDP but by ensuring that their votes are not rigged by the
ACN.
How is your party on ground in Ekiti State?
There is a widespread misconception that the ACN is completely in
control inthe South-West. The reality is that in a free and fair and
well monitored election ACN will lose in most South-West States. Don't
forget that the loss of Oyo and Ogun States by the PDP in 2011 was
self-inflicted. Where the election is not well-monitored, the ACN
governors ruthlessly deployed their thuggery and rigging machine.
Before the Ondo State governorship election, a colleague of mine in
the Senate had asked me what would happen. I said Labour will win, PDP
willcome second and ACN last. This is what happened. If ACN was that
popular, at worst it would have come second.Coming to Ekiti, since the
court awarded the governorship seat to the ACN in 2010, the PDP has
been intact. I can count on one hand the number of PDP leaders who
have decamped to the ACN. On the contrary it is the ACN that is
jittery. A few months ago, a chieftain of the ACN in the State Mr Ayo
Jeje had concluded plans to decamp to the PDP. He was murdered on the
eve of his decampment. The State Chairman of ACN Chief Jide Awe and
others have been charged to court for the murder. In a free and fair
and well-monitored election PDP will win