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• Says movement’s ex-members across party lines ‘ll regroup under new name
From Idu Jude Abuja
Dr Peter Agada, a presidential aspirant of the Labour Party, has set his legal cross hairs on the party, accusing it of fundamental infraction against the 1999 Constitution and its own constitution.
Agada is an architect and former Director of Finance of the Obidients Movement, which stunned the political establishment and shook the country with its sterling performance in the 2023 election.
His 20 years experience as the initiator and brain behind the Congress of Nigerian Professionals proved pivotal in the successful and intimidating emergence of the Obidients Movement.
In this interview, he makes significant revelations and offers insight on how the new movement he is building will spring surprises in 2027.
First let’s talk about the issue of the zoning formula. What is your position on this?
Labour Party is a very democratic organisation like most other parties operating under the constitution of Nigeria, and on what democracy is defined as. Zoning is not enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, there are four key items where it is mentioned that mention the presidency. It said that when a party violates its constitution, by introducing zoning where it is nonexistent the court must intervene.
And I can tell you that the LP constitution does not give room for zoning. Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, lists four qualifications for presidential candidates, and zoning is not even part of them. It talks about age, and other things but where you come from or the geographical location is not part of them. So zoning is not in the federal or LP constitution. Zoning is essentially a gentleman’s agreement, by parties just for balance of power, fairness, equity which the Labour party stands for, and if the party says, let us zone to the South this time and zone to the North another time that’s fine but such positions are usually rectified by the National Executive Council. Such a matter is taken to the convention ground. We held the convention and zoning was not mentioned for ratification. There was no mention that the presidency was zoned to the South.
What we have is a spur-of-the-moment statement by the Chairman, but is not what the NEC leadership said. I am challenging what the chairman said.
Do you have the impression that the party hierarchy is working for a third force, preparatory to 2027?
I don’t know about that and I am not among the group, but what I know is that this so-called zoning, was not discussed during the immediate past convention.
So, I went to the party headquarters and submitted a letter of rebuttal and protest demanding that they accord with the requirements of the constitution. I was called back by the Appeal Committee and the tone of the voice is now different. I think they are quickly reconsidering the fact that they should expunge that because it doesn’t align with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that of the party. But I think they are looking at direct primaries just the way it is written in the party constitution. And if it fails to go that way the constitutional provision will be involved.
During your screening exercise, did you agree to comply with any decision made by the party hierarchy?
Yes, and only on the fundamental understanding that the party must call a NEC meeting where the National Working Committee members will rectify such.
Some aspirants were disqualified because of improper financial concerns about their ability to fund campaign. Do you think that’s right for a party to do?
Ok, I was also asked such questions during my screening, especially how I will sponsor the election campaign. I carry this youthful nature and a sense of humility. And looking at me I don’t carry this aura of a rich man, no but for an architect that has practiced for 29 years, and a very successful one as such and running one of the largest businesses in acoustics in the world, I can tell you that my last project, one out of many, was 10 billion naira and I have been doing that for the last eight to 10 years. And I asked the gentleman who put the question forward to me, do you think I should be able to? On my own I should be able to provide the capital base for my campaign, at least the seed capital first because no election is run by the presidency alone. It is not even constitutional. There will always be a fund raising to generate campaign money. So I am in support that the screening committee should be able to see one’s financial base before even talking about fundraising. And for your information, I have put in over N400 million to this whole process that has brought us where we are now. And there will still be some more before I become a candidate of the party. So they asked the question and I answered them appropriately so it is important that people who are running for political offices have this base capital. Yes, if not how do you run the election?
How do you pull yourself out of that place where people can see you as an aspirant?
A lot is going on right now, people are calling me here and there and I am just from one of the groups. Some who came to Abuja for one gathering or the other and they want me to sponsor them back to base. And look any time you walked into that Party office people came around you expecting something from you because you are a presidential aspirant. Look if I come in as a leader of the party, every aspirant must submit his or her audited account and tax clearance before becoming a candidate. So in a nutshell I can tell you that the party this time is on the right track. Absolutely correct. You don’t bring people who got finance from moneybags and claim party candidacy. You must show us your financial track record your two to three-year audited account. For example, there is information that the other guy who came as my rival was just picked from somewhere and sponsored but when you demand tax clearance, three to four years of tax clearance, you will see somebody’s history. There is a saying, ‘follow the money, if you want to learn about somebody. So these are ways of determining capable candidates so we don’t go about wasting our time.
Before now you were the Financial Director of Obidient Movement. Do you think this group has the capacity to deliver this time around?
The Movement Nigeria is my brainchild, which resulted from several years of experience in running civil society organisations and professional movements. I started to run civil society, movements or professional associations in 2006, when the Congress of Nigerian Professionals was established. Incidentally, I am the Global President of the body. We are a group of Nigerian professionals based at home and abroad, but the majority of us are now outside the country performing well in various fields. So what it means is that we are a group of professionals who came together to think of the good of the country. We gathered and picked 15 thematic areas of development and started to write policies in what we need to do, what was being done best overseas and how to adapt global best practices to the Nigerian situation, in terms of educational and health policy that will affect the ordinary man on the street and make government easier. So we call that template, Labour Directory, and we have been doing for past 20 years, since 2006., we have been doing it beginning from 2006 to date. Then Prof. Pat Utomi of The Big Tent met me in 2010. We joined forces and began to produce policy documents for governments. That was how we wrote documents for people like Pastor Tunde Bakare and even late Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidency. That was how we were developing until Mr. Peter Obi came on-stream. And when he came on stream, he met me as the Director in-charge of the Support Group Councils of The Big Tent numbering about 550. It was a coalition of several groups working under The Big Tent. Then with the support of Prof Utomi, I collapsed the support groups of The Big Tent into a body, which also had the EndSARS, another group of people and which eventually became what you now know as the Obedient Movement.
So the Obidient Movement didn’t just arise from nowhere, it is a conglomerate of several support groups that came together and we decided to use the name Obidient Movement instead of The Big Tent, to give Peter Obi’s presidential candidacy a push. So when the Obidient Movement came on I had to drop the position of chairman of Support Group Council and picked another responsibility, which is Director of Finance. So the Obidient Movement didn’t teach me how to develop ideas, but rather it learned from me from my wealth of experience in the last 20 years. Don’t forget that the Obidients Movement was formed just three or four years ago. Before then I had been behind the Congress of Professionals for 20 years with over 80,000 professionals scattered all over the world subscribed to where we had been developing policies like a tree with over 15 branches for Nigeria’s development.
So moving forward from the Obidient Movement, is to carry my wealth of experience over the last 20 years and create a more organic and general movement that has everyone coming on board, even if you were previously in APC, PDP, LP and others. This is what is called the Movement of Nigerian People. They are from different backgrounds and different names. The Obidient Movement has already been branded with Obi but this time around we don’t want to be branded with any human being. We want to be more organised and not like the Obidient Movement. We want to be structured, orderly, and professional about how we want to run. I want to apply what I know in practice, order, form and structure which is what I do as an architect. I want to run the movement like I run my organisation. It was a struggle for me when I was with them because they operated like an amoeba – formless and shapeless.
In case the LP decides to enforce direct primaries where you will be facing the incumbent, will Nigerians see you as a serious contender or one of the pretenders?
Well did you know that Peter Obi was a threat to the last government and rumours had it that he won? Do you know how he gathered that crowd? Okay, the Obidient Movement wasn’t a registered organisation at the Corporate Affairs Commission, are you aware? So it doesn’t have a bank account after several attempts at the CAC. If you go there to register Movement Nigeria, they won’t register you. How we did it was that I wanted to register TMN Nigeria Limited, and that is The Movement Nigeria, they didn’t know the meaning. So I have a registered organisation, I am legal. Then for me to register the Obidient Movement I had to create an acronym: O for organisation, B for building, I for Integrated, D for Development and E for economic, so by the time you take the last word it forms Obidient. So that was how I scaled it. Even at that I was still to get it registered when I had resigned. So till today, it still has not opened a bank account. You have an organisation without a bank account but was vociferous like a tsunami, how did you think it was managed? Remember no organisation is run without finances. So I was literally by the grace of God driving the affairs. I know what we did to get that followership. And now by the grace of God, Obi decided to travel to ADC, and now the NDC, you know the principle of electricity, when it moves through a wire, it loses current. What happened was that a lot of people were left at the LP, ADC, and NDC. Those people are still hanging everywhere and I will pull them back. In fact, right now they are even coming to me. I am not talking of people of low character. I’m talking of big people coming back to me. Let me become the candidate, a trumpet will sound and I will have these numbers back. In fact many of them will abandon Obi’s camp. Because they will see their Director of Finance is contesting so will move with him. But that is not my main strategy. I have five kids in my house alone. They have been of voting age for four years now and this same phenomenon has happened in many families. In fact statistics have it that over 23 million Nigerians have just entered voting age and are not yet card-carrying members. We are going for those people.
How are you going to achieve that?
Oh, it’s technology-driven and when you are ready, I’ll take you to my head of technology and he will put you through.
From your explanation, it seems you are not just coming to show your posters…
Absolutely, the difference between Peter Agada and Sowore, Fela Durotoye, or people who have come like me in the past, is that I have a strategy which has been tested and the effect of it has been seen in the Obidient Movement. Try me again when I am calling the shot then, out of pride or whatever it was, there was a challenge. I repeat I was the one funding the movement.
Did you just develop the ambition of running for President alone or was there a misunderstanding between the two of you?
I told you the problem I had with the Obidient Movement is the problem of organisation and structure but not Obi as a person. This is because Mr. Peter Obi is my mentor for life. Obi is a man of impeccable character and his foresight in driving development is the same as mine. I can tell you that we are driven by the same ideology. The idea of a lean government, curtailing waste, saving and with do-it-yourself (DIY) development principle.
The difference is that I met him and I challenged him on structure but he didn’t buy that idea, and that is his feeling till today. I have a knack for organisation, and that is my training. In my training, a line must be straight, vertical and horizontal. You must plum; in anything I do, if I notice any jagajaga I am out of the place.
Could it have been better for the two of you to put your heads together to ensure that 2027 is achieved?
Well I don’t want to mention names but he has actually sent someone. I am waiting for the time for such. It is about saving Nigeria, it is not one man’s business. I am out for whatever we can do to save Nigeria, even if I am not on top of it. But for now, I am moving ahead.
Do you see this zoning formula in LP as a way of giving the incumbent a leeway?
If your question means if somebody is micromanaging or controlling the party, the answer is yes. If I fail in this mission, take it that the LP is being controlled by some people.
What if Obi calls you, and at the same time the LP gives you the ticket? How would you manage both?
That is another beautiful thing, because we will go straight into the party merger. It is when two parties decide to work together. I would ask the LP of their opinion and if they say yes, I will run to Obi very fast, the speed will be very fast. But this time around, it will be on terms and conditions because he is no longer my Oga. This time he must accept the structure I draw and it is going to be a sweet one because he is from the South and I am from the North. It will be good for the President and Vice-President, but I will draw a structural way of that merger, it is no longer the principal and boy thing. It will work.
How do you plan to raise funds for your campaign, knowing full well the INEC guidelines on campaign expenses?
See, there is a mix of methods of raising funds. As you say, abroad it is different and back here it is also different. As you know Obi is out there abroad and part of what he is doing is fund raising, I hope you are aware of why I won’t do the same. If Obi likes let him call for an open debate, he cannot stand me because most of the things that he speaks, we wrote There is a concept of consumption to production Obi knows it at level three and it is an idea in his head he wrote it but level two and three or ground zero, that is engineering, the back end of how it works, we wrote that. We are the policy framework developers, Mr Pat Utomi and a group of others. So if Obi debates me, he will collapse. Listen to what I am saying, who has the word that draws the crowd that brings the money, of course we know where that stands. It is the same principle, he is talking and they like him because he left savings, yes but I will tell you people my own also. At least if people check my background and his then they would know whom to vote for. And that is to say that we have the capability also to tell people what we will do and they will support us. That is the simplest way to raise funds. Bring it to the people and they will buy into it and it is done in multiple ways. The one Obi is doing right now is one way and Pastor Tunde Bakare called me a few days ago and told me another one, which is another way. But I can tell you that I bought my form with 50 million naira. I did it all by myself. I spent money moving the whole delegates across Nigeria apart from the ones from the South East and South South to Umuahia for the convention, put them in a hotel, gave them food, and brought them back. I have been funding the Obidient Movement alone, The Big Tent, and recently they were in my hotel to hold a summit and it was free of charge and you can imagine N150,000 per night apartment times the number of delegates from all over the country. It was on me, both fees and transportation. So I have shown financial capabilities, I have shown seed funding and it has reached the point that this will be funded by everyone and I think that what they are waiting for is for me to blow the whistle as a candidate; that’s all.
