From Sola Ojo, Abuja
Elder Yusuf Danbaki is the chairman of Labour Party in Kaduna State.
In this interview, he spoke extensively on the ongoing internal crisis plaguing his party at the national level, maintaining that Julius Abure’s tenure as the chairman of the party has expired just as he described the current economic quagmire the country is facing as a result of President Bola Tinubu’s faulty economic composition premised on political compensation devoid of experts and technocrats. Excerpt:
There is a lingering leadership crisis in your party, and anyhow you want to look at it, it will reduce the expected internal synergy in the party. So, how would a house that is divided against itself stand?
Yes, like any other political party or organization, there is always a transition period, and sometimes this transition comes very easily, and at other times it comes with challenges because the occupants do not want to leave for certain reasons that are personal to them. The truth is in the Labour Party, we are going through a transition period and not a crisis period. This transition is a result of a vacuum that was created in the party. Section 2, Sub-section 23 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), provided that every political party conducts an election every four years. It is rather unfortunate that at the expiration of four years, the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) could not conduct an election that met the standard or the requirements of the Constitution. As a result of that, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not monitor the convention that they claimed to have had in Nnewi, Anambra State, having fallen short of the requirements of the law, hence now a vacuum that needed a doctrine of necessity to fill. Going by the position of the National Executive Council (NEC), where we have statutory members and elected members. The statutary members are the elected governors and members of the national and state assemblies. So, they converged on Abia with other key stakeholders, including presidential candidate and gubernatorial candidates, and decided to set up a caretaker committee under the leadership of Senator Nenadi Usman, to pilot the affairs of the party and lead us towards conducting an inclusive and expansive congresses from the ward, local and state levels which will then snowball Into a national convention – meeting all the requirements of the law. This is where we are in the party.
But you still have some of your card-carrying members and supporters loyal to Abure. Are you not worried about the cracks within your party?
Yes, you know people are ignorant of the reality on the ground, especially our supporters and followers at the grassroots level. However, we are doing everything possible to get them enlightened so that the development doesn’t cause any serious division. We are also in talking terms with the leadership of Abure appointees at various levels to sensitize them so that they will not see it as a political coup, but rather a necessity for us not to be delisted among the political parties. I think this enlightenment is getting down from the state to the local government and ward levels, and our people are beginning to understand that yes, there is a need for this change to move the party forward. It is only Abure and maybe a very few others who should not be more than 900 across the country that are giving the impression that we are divided.
So, what is the position of your presidential candidate in the 2023 election and other top politicians elected under your party on this development?
If you have been following the trend of events, they were in Abia. As it stands, Abure and his NWC are the only ones left out in this. Peter Obi, his vice, Ahmed Datti, Alex Otti, his deputy, and all the members of the national and state assemblies are in one accord. Not a single one of the people in this category is against what has been done. That is why we are calling for their understanding to come to terms with the realities that everything that has a beginning must have an end, including the political offices.
Talking about reaching out, have you thought about the likely consequences of what you call ‘transition” as seen in other political parties in the past, was that ‘transition” not partially led to your candidate emerging third in the Edo election?
No, Edo people are well enlightened. They understand what is going on in the party. The Obidients and all the party structures in the state were solidly behind Olumide Akpata.
What is your assessment of those elected on the platform of your party, are they performing as shining lights or they have joined the bandwagon of selfish political class?
The image of the party is key. It is not just about those elected, but that of the leadership of the Labour Party. I must tell you that when Peter Obi joined the party, Nigerians had this impression that they had a new party that was going to do things differently and rightly. But over time, elections have shown the weakness of the Abure-led leadership, and that is what has given Nigerians the impression that it is of no difference with all the parties. That is what we are now working hard to change. All these corruption changes here and there are not good for a leader of a party that is coming to save Nigerians from the current situation. With the person of Nenadi Usman and other members of the caretaker committee, we have begun to see a new horizon. It may interest you to know that I have been receiving calls from members of the PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC) that now the party has a reliable leader, they are going to jump into the party. So, the performance is not seen from the angle of the performances of those elected, but from the party. However, looking at what Governor Otti is doing in Abia, he has distinguished himself from all other governors in terms of people-oriented projects, programmes, policies, acceptability, and performance. Again, lawmaking is a collective thing and since the leadership of the house is in the hands of APC, it becomes difficult to use that to assess our members in the National Assembly.
Let’s talk a little about Kaduna; there have been talks about your 2023 gubernatorial candidate in Kaduna State, Dr Jonathan Asake, leaving the party. Is that correct, sir?
Asake was our gubernatorial candidate in 2023 who stood his ground against pressure to step down. He is still the one all the party members rallied around. He is still standing firm. But I do not think that the Labour Party is so autocratic that he will make himself the sole candidate ahead of the 2027 election. It is democracy and that means as many as possible people can join and give the race a try when the time comes. One thing we can assure the Kaduna people is that we are going to throw out the best to compete with others. It could be him or someone else.
Okay. A few months ago, your party and Kaduna people lost a member representing Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency in the green chamber of the National Assembly, Hon Adams Ekene; where are you on his replacement?
We are still waiting for INEC to give us a timetable for that election. We felt that the late Ekene lived honourably. He did so much for his constituents. He distinguished himself within a short period of time to the extent that the people of Chikun and Kajuru wouldn’t compromise when it came to the party that would continue with what Ekene started. I can assure you that the people are resolute in their decision to support our party. All they are waiting for is for the party to come up with another credible candidate as well. At the right time, we will release the identity of the person we believe will truly continue with the legacy Ekele left, and we are not going to disappoint the people. We are not just going to fold our hands because the people are with us. We are also going to do our best to protect our votes when the time is ripe because we know that other parties are not relying on the people’s vote. They rather rely on stealing votes.
Political analysts are saying with the coming of Uba Sani, the opposition parties, including the PDP and LP in the state, have been silent. Should I copy that?
There is a saying that an empty drum makes the loudest noise. It is not that we are silent, it is just that the time for us to make the noise has not come. You see, when we say Uba Sani, we are talking about an individual. It is one thing for the people to like the person and another thing to like the party. The APC in itself is where the problem lies and not Uba Sani. Yes, we are seeing a deviation or a departure from what we used to see from the arrogance of power that the former governor exhibited. So, when we look at it closely through policies, programmes, and appointment lenses, is there any difference? The difference is just in their personalities. One is aggressive and bitter, the other one is friendly and calm. One is slim, the other chubby, and so on. So when it comes to the programmes, policies, and projects, I’m yet to see any difference.
What’s your call on your party members and supporters in Kaduna State?
The message is already on their body. Their body is already telling them that they have made a mistake. Everybody is feeling it. There is no fuel station for APC Muslims or Christians. We are all feeling it. And if we are all feeling it, it is expected that all of us will know what to do next because repeating a mistake means foolishness. I think people are wise enough. There is no other time that we need a real change than now. Even those in the ‘ruling’ APC are not happy with the way things are turning out.