From Gyang Bere, Jos
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. George Daika, speaks on Atiku’s chances in 2019.
From your assessment of the APC government, do you think Atiku would have been a better option?
I believe Atiku would have made a better President than Buhari. Atiku is a core politician, not a dictator. He knows the political intrigues in the country, and he understands the suffering of Nigerians. He would have adjusted his policies and most of his decisions to address the current challenges, unlike President Buhari who has taken decisions without weighing their implications whether the country is affected negatively or not. We also know that Buhari is coming from a military background, and that regimented life is still in him, where they believe and operate on decrees, but Atiku has been a Vice President; his contribution to the development of the Nigerian economy is well noted. He has the attitude of embracing and tolerating people across the geopolitical zones. I think he would have made a better President if he were given the opportunity by the APC. I will have no option if he decamps to PDP and the party decides that he should run for the presidency. Some of us are praying that he should cross over to PDP because he is a founding member of the party, and once he comes, I believe he will replace Buhari.
We have had prominent people decamped from PDP in Plateau state to APC including Senator Joshua Dariye, do you think he is seeking cover because of his case with the EFCC?
It is true that Sen. Dariye crossed over to APC for some obvious reasons. I had a personal discussion with him and some of the reasons were as if he was just seeking for a safe haven. He is believed not to be comfortable with the present PDP in the state because some people he contested elections with, in the past are now at the helm of affairs in the party, and have reconciled, leaving him alone. He felt that there is nothing good about PDP at the moment. He believes he has a bleak future in the party. That was why he defected to APC, not necessarily because he wanted to contest election.
There is no faction in PDP, be it in Plateau or at the national level, except the leadership tussle that has to do with just the chairmanship position between Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff and Sen. Ahmed Makarfi. We all know that Sheriff is being used to destabilize PDP by the APC government because they have nothing to offer and they still don’t have anything to offer. At the moment, they are scared of the level at which PDP is going, that is why prominent persons in the party have been associated with one corrupt charges or the other, just to weaken the acceptability of the party. We are not happy over the level of corruption in the country, but the fight should be holistic.
Most people who moved from PDP to APC have been accused of one form of corruption, some of them, indicted by one panel or the other, but I am surprised that immediately they cross-carpeted to APC, they were given cover. This is based on my observations. We have quite a number of them, people who are just seeking soft landing and protection, and the APC actually provided them the enabling environment for political reasons, due to the statement made by the National Chairman recently. He said that if those who have one problem or another other cross over to APC, they will be protected. For the chairman of the ruling party to make such a comment publicly, it shows that the country is heading towards lawlessness. I expect the President to caution him if really he is working towards bringing sanity into Nigerian democracy, but he did not, because they are looking for individuals that will help expand their political cause instead of the interest of the country.
Look at the case of the SGF too, there are organisations established by law to handle such allegations, it is neither in the capacity of the President nor within his purview to clear issues of financial allegations against any person. It is quite disheartening. He should have allowed them, just like in the case of judges when the NJC called for the judges to step aside for them to be investigated and the President accepted the idea. He should have done the same thing in the case of the SGF too, who ought to have stepped aside also to allow room for proper investigation and such investigation shouldn’t have been carried out by a panel set up by the Federal Government; it should have been the anti-corruption agencies, either the EFCC or the ICPC. The whole thing shows that the President had interest in the SGF’s case, which is why I said the fight against corruption by the president is lopsided.
Are you insinuating that the President is witch-hunting some PDP top shots that are against his return in 2019?
It is not just a feeling; from the actions of the anti-corruption agencies, it is glaring to all Nigerians that they are fighting PDP, not corruption. A lot of people that are indicted within the APC have not been questioned or investigated, but because of the position of some people in PDP, they are being harassed unnecessarily on a daily basis, including some of the governors who have immunity, some have had their accounts frozen and people are arrested indiscriminately. The APC government tried to entice PDP followers to APC. Where it did not work, they used intimidation and harassment to compel them to join their party at all cost.
What do you think is the interest of Sheriff in the PDP?
He is there only to destroy the party. When it was discovered that he was nursing the ambition to contest the presidential election in 2019, the elders of the party said no, he should step down for proper party convention. Since then the APC took advantage of the misunderstanding and started sponsoring him to destabilize PDP in fear of the 2019 election because they know that Nigerians are disenchanted with them.