Hon. Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, a former three-term member of the House of Representatives from Nasarawa State recently spoke with newsmen in Abuja on the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in the state. CHIBUZO UKAIBE was there for LEADERSHIP.
HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THE FORTUNE OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY(PDP) IN NASARAWA STATE AFTER THE 2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS?
Talking about the fortune of Nasarawa PDP now may not make meaning without recalling some past events. PDP has been a household name in Nasarawa State where it has been the ruling party since 1999. And as far as I am concerned, it (PDP) is not in government but it is still the ruling party.
This may be difficult to comprehend because it has lost some offices, especially the office of the governor. This is so because many things went wrong; so many things were not conducted and managed the way they should have been.
However, what gave birth to what we have today as the government of Congress of Progressive Change (CPC) is still PDP. Every member of CPC today was a member of PDP where he was compelled to shift camp to where he felt he would get justice, fairness and equity. It is unfortunate that at the highest level at the state, the party was messed up.
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YOU SAID THOSE WHO LEFT THE PDP TO CPC LEFT FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE AMONG OTHERS; WERE THESE QUALITIES MISSING IN THE PDP?
At a point, they were missing. How could a party endorse a candidate and say there is completely no room for others? The party said it endorsed the then sitting governor and there was no room for any other interested person. That is not democracy; there was no justice in that; there was no equity in that; there was no fairness in that.
So a number of us who felt these fundamental qualifications of democracy were not there, decided to shift camp to where they felt there would be fairness, justice and equity.
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AFTER LOSING THE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION, PDP BECAME DIVIDED INTO TWO FACTIONS;? LED BY FORMER GOVERNOR? AND NOW SENATOR, ALHAJIABDULLAHIADAMU AND HIS SUCCESSOR, ALHAJIALIYUAKWEDOMA. WHAT LED TO THIS FACTIONALISATION?
The genesis of this division is predicated on what I had earlier said. As a leader, you embrace all and after embracing all, you try to be fair to all. Fairness in leadership is centred on performance.
The government of PDP in Nasarawa led by AlhajiAliyuAkweDoma lost focus completely. As a stakeholder representing my people, I went and met the governor and drew his attention to some important issues. I told him that look if you take assessment of government structure from Mararaba to Lafia, there is one structure or the other that was built with tax payers’ money. So we cannot afford to leave these structures to lie fallow. I told him that as an advocate of private sector driven economy, I would not advise government to have anything that will add to its financial burden. I sighted the Karu International Market, Meat Processing plant in Masaka, Nasarawa Packaging Company on Akwanga, FarinRuwa Hydro Electric Project in Wamba, Fertiliser Blending Plant in Lafia as examples. I said you either privatise them fully or you put them on long term leases. Of course, privatising or putting them on long leases was not going to change the locations of these industries or structures, and they would generate revenue and employment opportunities for the state as well as open up the state to investors.
I sat with him many times and he promised to do something but he never did. I then decided to put them in writing because I am aware that anything not written is as good as not existing.
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ARE YOU SAYING THAT LACK OF ADHERENCE TO THESE ECONOMIC POLICIES WAS WHAT LED TO THE FACTIONALISATION OF PDP?
It is not about Wadada, AbdullahiAdamu or AkweDoma, no. The elites, having realised that AliyuDoma, was not forthcoming began to be disenchanted. They began to complain and withdraw not from the party but from the government. That continued till election time, and the party machinery in the state worsened the situation by blocking every contestant and made AliyuDoma a sort of demi-god. That was what led to the withdrawal of the present governor, Tanko l-Makura, from the PDP, because he was not treated fairly. AliyuDoma virtually became a dictator in democracy. The mass movement of people from the PDP was not because they were disenchanted with the party but with style of governance at that time.
What happened before the coming of AliyuDoma was that major stakeholders within PDP in the state compromised for no just reason. We had a group in Abuja consisting of Hon. Musa Elayo, Jibrin Sabo, Solomon Ewuga, Senator Sodangi and others. At a point, I told them we must come together and create a very cohesive and united front; that if we did that, Adamu will have no choice than to come to us because he, by nature, is a team player and if he sees all of us, he will find his way to us, then we will determine who takes over from him. We came together but those of us having ambition compromised because everybody wanted cheap and free ticket to be governor. So the political class lost focus.
And you will agree with me that you can’t be a governor for eight years without having interest in who succeeds you. So our traditional rulers capitalised on that and soldAkweDoma to Adamu. And as someone who respects elders, he agreed with them. Doma as at then was someone people respected and regarded for his antecedents. He was permanent secretary and deputy governor; he was this, he was that. But thank God, I have been vindicated. I and Doma met twice, the first meeting was in my house when he came to seek my support. The second meeting was at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja where I told him sir, I will be most sad if somebody of your age will be my governor, but if that is what destiny has for me, my joy and happiness will be that your antecedent will not disappoint us.
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THE YUNANAILIYA- LED EXCO OF PDP IS ACCUSING SENATOR ABDULLAHIADAMU OF WANTING TO HIJACK THE PARTY IN ORDER TO PLANT HIS LOYALISTS DURING THE COMING PARTY CONGRESSES IN THE STATE, WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS?
I don’t understand why he would want to hijack the party. Has he ever lost the party? He has never lost the party; Adamu brought PDP to Nasarawa State and was governor for eight years. Yunana was the party secretary before he was elevated to chairman of the party under Adamu.Adamu brought AliyuDoma and funded his campaign. And Senator Adamu’s victory in the last election showed he is still on ground. This group of PDP concerned persons, which Adamu is a member and leader is coming together not to fight anybody but to reposition the party so that the lost glory of PDP will be brought back.
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IF ABDULLAHIADAMU HAS THE PARTY, WHY DOES HE WANT TO CHANGE THE INCUMBENT LEADERSHIP?
As far as Nasarawa State is concerned today, AbdullahiAdamu is the leader, the father and the rallying point of PDP in Nasarawa State. All the present excos of the party still go to him. He may not be the best politician in the state, but he is still the rallying point. He is the nucleus, the engine room of those agitating for change within the PDP structure of Nasarawa.
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PARTY SUPPORTERS IN YOUR CAMP HAVE INSINUATED THAT MEETINGS OF PDP EXCOS ARE BEING HELD IN DOMA’S HOUSE IN ABUJA; ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THAT?
I have heard about it but I am not worried because I know as Bob Marley said you can fool some people some time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Whatever they do, will come to nothing; AliyuDoma is a father and if you say all elders of Nasarawa should assemble, I will pay him my respect. But if you call him political leader, count me out because he has lost that respect as a political leader. We all rallied round him as a leader and father, unfortunately he has failed. So politically, I will not be where he is because I am convinced he has nothing to offer me.
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WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO ALLEGATIONS FROM THE DOMA CAMP THAT ABDULLAHIADAMU WORKED AGAINST THE PARTY IN THE APRIL 2011 ELECTION?
Why are people making baseless allegation? If he (Adamu) worked against PDP, he would not have won in his zone. I and Senator Adamu come from the same senatorial zone and we won our senate seat. But PDP lost the zone of the sitting governor at the time. And who was the sitting governor? AliyuDoma. So how would you now say Adamu worked against PDP? It is like saying Adamu left his zone and went to AliyuDoma’s zone to work against him (Doma). Therefore, if Adamu won in his zone and PDP lost in Doma’s senatorial zone, it means that Doma was the one that worked against the party.
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WHAT IS THE BASIS OF ALLEGATIONS OF FRAUD AGAINST THE YUNANAILIYA- LED EXCOS?
They took the party’s money and lent it out without due process. Documents are there to show that they lent the party’s money to Doma Local Government. And that alone is enough reason for any conscious, right thinking leader to say since this had gone to public, I have voluntarily, honourably resigned my position in the party. But knowing well what our antecedents are, every leader tries to take people for granted. They are still there sitting tight; these documents are clearly indicting, the signatures of the state chairman and secretary. We don’t hold grudge against them but for this singular act which is a clear case of corruption, they should give way for the national secretariat to put together a protem leadership that will oversee the affairs of the party from now to the end of the congresses. And if any of them clears himself of these allegations and feels he has enough followership, he can contest in the congress.
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