…South-South Zonal Secretary says party is bleeding, in theatre with no surgeon around
• Opens up on Governor Diri and Wike relationship, NEW Associates rally in Bayelsa
From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The South-South Zonal Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), George Turnah, has x-rayed the crisis rocking the main opposition party, saying that the current state of the party is tantamount to a patient in theatre bleeding with no surgeon around to attend to him.
Speaking exclusively with Sunday Sun in Abuja, Turnah said what the party needs to do now is to reorganise itself for future elections.
The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the PDP in Bayelsa State also disclosed how thugs, allegedly working for the government, almost thwarted a rally billed for the inauguration of the Bayelsa chapter of The NEW Associates, a group loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
He expressed surprise that Governor Duoye Diri could exert such animosity towards Wike, whom he said, supported him during his second term re-election bid.
The Bayelsa State Chapter of the NEW Associates rally generated a lot of controversy. What was the fuss all about?
Well, I am also very surprised with the way the entire rally thing was completely taken out of contest by the Bayelsa State Government, maybe the governor. You will recall that the governor, when we issued the public notice for the inauguration of the NEW Associates, Bayelsa State Chapter Structure, and a mega rally in solidarity with Mr President, had during the security council meeting, raised the alarm that Minister Nyesom Wike was planning to come to Bayelsa to be hosted by the NEW Associates. The governor said he had a Facebook report suggesting that Wike was to be hosted in Bayelsa and that the Facebook report had my phone numbers. And, he went ahead to direct that the rally must not take place anywhere in Bayelsa. As a governor, he is a leader and there are quite a number of people who owe their allegiance to the governor. Coming out with such a strong statement, first to state that a Nigerian must not visit Bayelsa and then, that a group must not exist in Bayelsa and that a rally, not protest, must not hold, for me, that was quite inciting. The governor also presented me as the enemy of the people or enemy of the Ijaw nation because he qualified his stance with the fact that Wike had insulted Ijaw people and so, George Turnah says he is bringing Wike to Bayelsa. He should take Wike to any other place and not Bayelsa. So, that was quite, I mean…. Well, that was the background that created the agitation, the controversy and all of that because a lot of people started forming opinion. That was plain on the mind of our people. So, some groups then came up to say oh, we are also holding rally for the governor, same date, same venue. We moved on when we got close to the 12th of April. On the 11th, we reviewed the situation and we saw that clearly, there was going to be breakdown of law and order. I mean, it was obvious that if we went ahead with the rally on that 12th, there was going to be crisis. As peace-loving people, people from a responsible organisation, the New Associates, we towed the path of peace and we shifted our programme. We postponed our rally to the 26th of April. But these supporters of the governor and all of them, came out to also announced the postponement of their rally to the 26th of April. That 12th, nothing happened in Bayelsa. No rally, no gathering, no solidarity, nothing! So, these were a bunch of mischief-makers, people who were out to look for trouble. And to say that they tied their loyalty to the governor, they came out openly to say that they were supporters of the governor. A governor is expected to be the chief security officer of the state, one who should be interested in the peace, safety, security of lives and property. We said well… So, 26th of April came and we did all we were required to do by informing the security agencies, mobilised our people responsibly and we ensured… In fact, the venue we took was in a remote environment, far away, off town, just to ensure that we discourage people who had no business from coming. We ensured that those who would be there were only people that would be accountable to us. But again, desperation! We got down there, the place was filled up to capacity and we were expecting the arrival of our special guest when armed thugs invaded the venue. The media, everybody scampered for safety. The African Independent Television had mounted their Outside Broadcasting Van for live coverage, but everybody ran away. Sporadic shooting from the forest behind the stage and it was a disaster. But I must comment the security agencies – the police, the military and all of them. Combined force! They went into the bush, attacked and chased the hoodlums. The security personnel remained in the forest until we finished the programme that night.
So, the programme went ahead?
Yes, the programme went ahead. Of course!
Contrary to what we heard that everybody ran away?
Everybody ran away and after normalcy was restored, people started coming back. Of course, not everybody! A large number of people had gone, but those of us who were there, we were committed to seeing that the programme held. It would have been very bad to say that such a programme cannot hold; a peaceful programme in a state, in this country, that people cannot gather peacefully as guaranteed by the constitution. Then it would have been a failure on the part of the security agencies. So, they ensured that they restored normalcy and we went back there and had it. It was successful. We had a successful rally and the inauguration of the NEW Associates.
From what you just said, ab initio, why didn’t you inform the governor about the rally? Didn’t you know there were going to be political undertones, considering the political tension between both major parties? Why did you convene a rally in Bayelsa? Why didn’t you go to Rivers?
This is a private organisation; it has nothing to do with the governor.
(Cuts in) But you served under this same governor…?
No, no, no, that is a completely different thing. Yes, I am of PDP, he is PDP. Yes, I worked for him, worked for my party, he became governor first term, second term; in fact, I was his agent. Yes, I was. Yes, I was his agent, more like his returning officer in my party.
So, it means the two of you, at a point, were close…?
Till tomorrow, we are close. We have no personal issues.
Why didn’t you inform the governor?
Maybe he didn’t wait. I would have, perhaps. They just took the flyer, showed to him and then he said ah, it was a Facebook report.
With your level of closeness, the first person…
(Cuts in) No, no, no. I don’t owe anything to the governor. If I want to do wedding, assuming, if I choose to invite the governor, fine. If I don’t want to invite him, I won’t bother.
But a rally is not private gathering?
No, the rally is private. It is a group.
It is not, it is an assemblage of people…
Yes, that makes it private. It is not a government programme. It is not a government programme, it is a private organisation. As an association, people came together.
And you chose the state capital…
No, it doesn’t matter. You can have a programme anywhere. What is important is that even in protest, what you are required to do is that you notify the security agencies. They did not say go and write the governor or inform the governor or you take permission from the governor. You notify the security agencies and we did. You talked about political undertone. I never knew. I never knew that there existed any political misunderstanding between Governor Diri and Nyesom Wike because, I mean, we just had election in Bayelsa, governorship election, and the governor of Bayelsa State came to Wike to ask for support.
You are confirming that?
Yes.
When you say support, what kind of support?
He came to meet Nyesom Wike, His Excellency, to ask for support.
What kind of support?
Whatever support.
Logistics?
Including logistics, including political, technical, everything.Tactics, everything that would make him win election. He did, he did, he did. I can tell you he did. And Wike obliged. Wike obliged. That’s a fact! I was with the governor when INEC declared him elected and he gave his victory speech. In that speech, he thanked three persons. The Governor of Delta State stood by him while he was making that speech, Oborevwori, he stood by him while he was making the speech. The first person he thanked was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the second person he thanked was former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the third person he thanked was the Honourable Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, for helping him secured the victory for which INEC had announced him winner before he even turned to thank his colleagues governors of the party, Oborevwori, who was standing there with him. The other governor who was there with him was Kefas. So, how would I have known that there existed any acrimony between him and Nyesom Wike? In fact, when Minister Nyesom Wike wanted to be president and sought the presidential ticket of the PDP, Governor Diri did not support him.
How do you mean?
We were all in Abuja here. The governor directed all the delegates from Bayelsa to vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. So, when he visited to seek Wike’s support for his re-election, it was surprising to some of us that Wike could forgive easily and embraced him and offered support. Look, a fact, let me even say it here: beyond the political support that Wike gave, he also gave him financial support. He did.
Can you give us figures?
He did. Minister Wike gave him financial support as part of encouraging him. You know that when you are going for governorship election, a lot of expenses.
Can you give us figures?
It is not in my place to tell. It is not in my place to tell. But Minister Wike…
Are you sure?
I am 100 per cent sure that Minister Nyesom Wike gave Governor Duoye Diri financial support from his pocket to help him prosecute his second term ambition.
Did the money pass through you?
The money did not pass through me. Maybe if you ask Governor Diri, he will tell you. I knew money came.
People felt you were promoting Wike against the governor. Again, was the rally really necessary in Bayelsa?
Why should I not promote Wike assuming that was the case? Politics is interest. Wherever your interest lies, that is your political family. You can promote. Even in your establishment, people have interests. You can align more with the Editor-in-Chief or you align with another person, so that is the interest you defend and protect.
The NEW Associates is a grassroots-based political organisation that believes in the political ideology and philosophy of the Honourable Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike. And, it is a vehicle for which we intend to support the future vision of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that is 2027, going forward. The platform is such that we have been galvanising grassroots support to help Mr. President succeed in office during this first term and our analysis shows that the president has done well. So, we have resolved to further that conversation to say look, gentlemen and ladies of Nigeria, this president has done well from our analysis, can we give him another term, especially that he represents the Southern presidency? Now, if any other person comes today to be president from the South, there is the tendency that the person will ask for a second term. That will be against our principle of equity between the North and the South in terms of sharing presidential power. That was why some of us, after President Buhari had finished eight years, we’re of the opinion that power should shift to the South. When our party brought Atiku Abubakar, it was clearly against the principle of live and let live. And you saw the verdict – Nigerians rejected it outrightly at the poll. So, we are saying that look, except there is an extreme situation where the president has completely failed, if project Nigeria is an issue, our progress, our unity, our development, we have no prospect, we are not seeing anything, we are not certain that with this president, Nigeria is going to survive, then we can ask him to leave. But if the government is up and doing, because we are seeing clearly, we may not be where we want to be, but clearly, there is a movement towards achieving our goal, then you support the president because what keeps us together must matter in this country. What keeps us together must matter – our unity. And we must understand our diversity. Nigeria is a unique country. We must understand that uniqueness. So, when President Tinubu finishes, it goes to the North. At that time, if there is any Southerner who wants to be president, I, George Turnah, will say no. I will support the North. So, when we see people trying to… I am a very straightforward person.
The NEW Associates, how many state chapters do you have?
I was coming to that. When you say why Bayelsa? It is because it is a national movement. Yes, everywhere. I can open my Whatssap to show you Abuja… I will show you now, you will see New Associates.
When was it launched?
It is ongoing. We have done in Bayelsa, we are going to be doing in other states. Look at (showing activities of NEW Associates on Whatssap to The Sun team) NEW Associates Delta, NEW Associates FCT, Abuja, etc. So, it is like that. See Whatssap groups in Cross River, in Akwa Ibom, everywhere. As we have launched in Bayelsa, I have said this over and over again, you will see us across the country and when we finished going round the 36 states, we will then do the grand finale in Abuja where we shall formally be calling on Mr. President to offer himself for further service to this nation in 2027. Formally and possibly, that is the day that our grand patron, His Excellency, E.N. Wike, will also be in attendance and then, together, we will ask Mr President to come for a second term. But, that is after we might have gone round the 36 states. And we made that very clear that look, Minister Wike was not coming to Bayelsa. There was no invitation for him to be in Bayelsa. There was no intention. We just wanted to inaugurate the Bayelsa chapter, so is Minister Wike going to be going round the 36 states because we want to inaugurate the New Associates? No!
Is the minister aware of this NEW Associates?
Of course, he is aware. He is the grand patron. We had his birthday in Rivers State, you will recall. It was organised by the New Associates; the recent thanksgiving in Abuloma, in Rivers State, that he attended, was organised by the New Associates. So, it is a well structured organisation. It is not a faceless organisation. It is a group and that was why we were worried when the governor completely misunderstood everything and misinterpreted and then played mind games on Ijaw people that oh, Wike is coming to Bayelsa, Wike… But if Wike was even coming to Bayelsa, what is the problem?
It is possible that he was misinformed? Why didn’t you take that step to go to the governor?
We did, we did. Look…
(Cuts in) Did you meet with him one-on-one?
No, no, no. I don’t need to meet with him. When the governor came and it was obvious that he had completely misunderstood everything, even the honourable minister issued a statement through his media assistant to say that look, I am not coming to Bayelsa, but these people who want to have their rally and programme, it is within their constitutional right to do so. I was also on Arise (Television) and several other media and I said it clearly. I even addressed a press conference, I said, Minister Wike is not expected to be in Bayelsa, so all this whole crisis was not necessary. Again, the troubling thing for us was that the governor said Wike should not come to Bayelsa because he insulted Ijaw people. A leader in this country, in the status of a governor of a state, that opinions held by Nigerians, if I have a personal opinion about anybody or group of people, that automatically grants personal non grata on me not to go to a part of this country? That was least expected and must be condemned by every Nigerian because if you do that, state of anarchy… Now, I just say that because you are here and you are light in complexion, you must not come to Bayelsa, Bayelsa will not like people who are light in complexion, go to Igbo land. No, that will be sad.
From what you have said so far, it shows that there is discontent between the FCT minister and the Bayelsa State governor. So, why did you decide to support Wike against your governor who has been your friend, whom you even supported to be governor?
Why are you saying that I supported Wike against my governor? Are my governor and Wike in any contest? Are they contesting for anything that you know that I have chosen to support A against B? I am not aware. There is no contest between Honourable Minister Wike and the Governor of Bayelsa State. There is no contest. And if I say that we are supporting Wike to support Mr President, so, are you telling me that Governor Diri is not supporting the president? Except you say so. If you say that oh, why are you fully supporting Wike to support the president when Diri is not supporting the president, then I can fully understand. But Governor Diri may need to come out to say he is not supporting the president before I will be able to say anything.
What happened between you and Governor Diri?
Nothing.
You even said in this interview that you were even his agent during his re-election?
Yes, I was. In the last election, yes I was.
So, what happened?
Nothing.
During a press conference, recently, you spoke about how in Diri’s second term, you were not appointed immediately…?
Those are not the issues. Those are not the issues. Not everybody will be appointed. Appointment is not the issue.
What is the fate of the PDP in the South-South?
The PDP is strong. The PDP is strong in the South-South, we are united under the leadership of Chief Dan Osi Orbih, the national vice chairman of the party in the South-South.
With some of your governors openly saying that they are going to the APC? Delta has already gone…?
Yes.
And you are still saying that the PDP is very strong in the South-South?
Very strong, very strong.
How?
PDP is strong.
How is the PDP, are you going to prosecute the 2027 elections?
You will see for yourself, the next cycle of elections. That a governor moved to APC does not mean that the party in the state has collapsed. After all, it was the party that won the election for the governor.
Will you support a PDP candidate in 2027 or you will still continue with your support for President Tinubu?
I have told you and I have given an analysis here that look, we have a Southern presidency as at today. This Southern presidency is expected to last at this time for eight years of two terms. President Tinubu of the APC, sadly so for my party, is the president from the South. If we bring any other president from the South, the person would want to seek second term. That will truncate this understanding of North-South dichotomy in terms of sharing of presidential power – eight years here, eight years there. Live and let live. My party missed out because of people who are not straightforward. You see, leadership is very important. President Buhari had finished eight years of the North, even Northern governors championed the movement of presidential power to the South, but our own party, the PDP, missed it. Rather than stick to what keeps us together as a nation, they took our presidential ticket to the North and Nigerians gave their verdict. They rejected it. People from the South and the North rejected it because it was not going to promote our unity. Today, perhaps, we would have produced a PDP president from the South in 2023. So, PDP as opposition needs to put itself together. Let’s have a break. Let’s give ourselves some space to say look, we take this period to reorganise ourselves so that we don’t rush into another cycle of elections that will be disastrous.
Look, people will not understand this analysis that I am making. In 2019 when President Muhammadu Buhari had just finished his first term and he was going for a second term, PDP fielded Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Look, if Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had won that election, he would have done second term. To tell you that what I am telling you is very sensitive, our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, even had to promise to do one term. Go and check the history. He promised that if he was elected in 2019, he was going to do one term because you must be sensitive to the fact that Nigeria has the North-South dichotomy. Why did he promise that he was going to do one term? Because he knew that there cannot be any conversation wherein you will come and tell the people of Nigeria that you want second term after President Muhammadu Buhari had done four years. You have done four years and you want another four years to be 12 years. Nobody will listen to you. So, we lost that election. But if we had taken sometime to say gentlemen, can we reorganise ourselves, allow President Buhari who had already commenced a Northern eight-year in quote, allow him to finish, can we look at the South and prepare a presidential candidate that can offer alternative to this nation in 2023, maybe we would have produced a president in 2023.
As in, the PDP?
Exactly! Look, political parties must not field candidates in every election for the fun of fielding candidates. We win election to provide alternative to the people. At all times, what matters is the interest of the people. So, I am now saying let us not make the mistake of 2019. President Tinubu is occupying the presidency on behalf of Southern Nigeria, devoid of party affiliation. Allow him to complete the eight-year term of the South. Let our party put ourselves together now, look into the North and prepare a presidential candidate that will be sellable and that can provide alternative and that can implement our manifesto and deliver to Nigerians in 2031.
How about Jonathan? Jonathan can complete the second term and good enough, he is from Bayelsa…?
I agree with you. Former President Jonathan, I can’t speak for him, but the much I know is that former President Jonathan, for some time, has concerned himself with playing the role of an elder statesman, keeping this country in check and together, watching over activities of the government and seeing how that aligns with the aspirations and hope of the people as a father. If you say former President Jonathan, is the PDP tailoring its efforts? Assuming let’s say okay, let’s field former President Jonathan to complete his term because there is one term being owed PDP and owed former President Jonathan, is that the grammar that the PDP is speaking? If that is the grammar that the PDP is speaking, they should let us know and let Nigerians know. There is no time. The election that you are talking about is just by the door. So, if that is the conversation that PDP is having, that oh, we know that it is Southern presidency for eight years, we cannot field another candidate that will come and ask for a second term, but the PDP has a term that is owed former President Jonathan, it is time, we concede our ticket to him and all of that, let them come out and say so. But until you say so, as you are asking now, it is assumption. You are just assuming. As politicians, you can’t put your cards on assumption. When the time comes and if that is what the PDP is saying and that is what the PDP is looking at, then we can begin to look at it because for now, mine is that we cannot field another candidate in the South that would want to do a second term and truncate this our North-South peaceful sharing of presidential power. We will not support it. We believe in this country, we love this country and we want to keep this country together. When it is the turn of the North, we will support the North and when it is time for the South, we will support the South.
On April 22, the PDP set up a caretaker committee for your state and that of Edo too. What is the status of the zonal working committee leadership?
The zonal working committee is intact, under the leadership of Chief Dan Osi Orbih. It is firmly intact and we are doing our best to provide leadership for the party at the zone. And I can assure you and that was why I said look, the defections you see are not things to worry us. Very soon, we will come up with a clear plan. Like I said, you see, the party in the South-South, we believe that we need to reorganise our party, refocus it and reposition it for future elections. Not to crash in and crash out. Anything that we want to do now other than preparing ourselves is crashing in and crash out. Even Nigeria as a nation, if we are having World Cup or African Cup of Nations or world games or whatever games, you know that if we are not prepared, we don’t go. You pull out. It is not a must. You must not feed a presidential candidate for the fun of it. You feed candidates because you want to win election. At presidential level, it is expensive both in human and the financial aspect. Putting resources together is expensive. It is not something you just for the fun of it, you crack. Anambra, do you know that nobody bought PDP form for Anambra governorship election? Are you aware? Because the party, as at today, is not ready. So, you cannot for the fun of it say oh, this is our candidate for Anambra. You want to escort people. You go into an election to win. So, we are not ready. I am not speaking for the party, but as an individual. We are not ready. When the party calls for a meeting of leaders where we will put our ideas together, we will tell them that look, we rather let’s pull out, withdraw from presidential election in the next four years, let’s sit down, lock ourselves and…. Look, the patient is in the theatre bleeding, no surgeon. No surgeon. We need to tackle that, put ourselves together and look ahead, prepare, give projection, and highlight all your challenges and then take steps towards achieving results. By the next cycle of election, what is four years? The important question to ask is, is President Tinubu, this Renewed Hope administration, leave APC, President Tinubu, is he on the right track? Is he delivering? Is there prospect? Is there hope for the common man? Our welfare as a people, is the government dispensing happiness for the greatest number of people in the country? Is the administration bettering the lots of Nigerians? Those are the parameters we look at. If there is a likelihood that there is light at the end of the tunnel, if you are seeing that clearly, the government is on track and there are prospects, you support it. In doing so, it is project Nigeria you are supporting, not APC. It is project Nigeria you are supporting.
As the caretaker committee chairman for the PDP in Bayelsa, are you relating with your governor?
Of course, you know that it is not in our constitution. But conventionally, the governor is the leader of the party in our state. The state working committee which I chair in acting capacity, we will meet any moment from now and when we meet, we will take steps to meet with the governor and brief him of our existence and we will also find out his vision for the party and we will try to see how we can marry his vision with what we are coming on board with, all to deliver for the betterment of the party in the state. We must reposition the party because the party has lost a lot of grounds. In the last couple of weeks and months, we have been losing members and these are serious, vibrant, young people who have a lot of energy. We had Engr Udengs Eradiri left, former president of the Ijaw Youth Council. That is a great asset. A lot of people have been leaving. Recently, a very intelligent young man, J.P. Owoupele, left and it saddens me to see the future of the party… That is why my administration of the party within this brief period, we will focus on harnessing our young potentials, the youths. We will target the youths and see how we can reposition the party for tomorrow. And then, our women, because the women are a critical component in party politics. So, we will also ensure that we give to the women, a platform that will enable them excel and we will put the party on the path of growth and development and progress and galvanise grassroots support to ensure that by the next cycle of election, we will win all our elections.