Orji Nwafor -Orizu Esq is the National Chairman of a pro democracy association, the Society for Advancement of Democracy. In this brief interview with Our Senior Correspondent, Abbanobi -Eku Onyeka over the weekend in Abuja, the senior lawyer hails the PDP for electing Barr Tanimu Turaki (SAN) as the National Chairman of the party, saying that if rallied round, he will return the party to its lost glories.
He among others advised the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and his followers to live the PDP alone and join the APC or form their own political party, pointing out that he can’t be more APC in the PDP. Excerpts.
Qtn: As the National President of the Society for Advancement of Democracy how do you see the speed at which almost all the governors are decamping to the All Progressives Congress (APC)?
Ans: It is democratic for people to change to any party of their choice, but the underlying factor that is a problem from us is the consent; the person went to office as a governor under a particular party, say the PDP. It means that his people voted him in as the PDP. So going to move into the APC, does he not need the consent of his people? If he now moves into APC, as his own party, because he became a governor under another party. So he started making nonsense of the people.
To me, those governors looks as betrayers of their electorates. I’m not yet interested in their political party. I’m interested in their electorates; those who gave them power, under a particular party, that particular party they gave them, they may decide not to go on with that party, but that will be a decision of the electorate, not of the governor. So a proper governor can only decamp if his people wanted him to. But I’m not seeing it going on. We members of the Society for the Advancement of Democracy don’t think that such behaviour is advancing democracy.
Qtn: Some believe that such massive decamping isn’t only dangerous to democracy, but has turned Nigeria into a one party state, what is your take on that?
Ans: Tinubu in APC, went for election in Lagos, where he was a governor, and Peter Obi beat him. So what I’m saying is that like in Anambra my state, no governor can tell us, go and vote for this person for President. Nobody can say that; people vote for whom they want to. So that governors decamp to the APC, is not a guarantee that the electorate will vote for the APC because of those governors.
Practically, can Soludo tell people of Anambra State to go and vote for Tinubu,
for example, or the APC, and the people will obey it. So the governors’ influence or one party system, or they are congregating on one party, may be a strategy, for 2027 election. It is something that can work and can boomerang because Peter Obi, I still call the young man, became a presidential candidate, and this his presidential candidacy didn’t have a cancer.
Qtn: With your position in the Society for the Advancement of Democracy sir, what people like you say matters a lot. Based on what happened in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently, do you see Tanimu Turaki (SAN) as a person fighting for democracy really, having been elected as a national chairman of PDP, although there are other factions. Can you make a comment on that area?
Ans: What happened in the PDP calls attention of my organization, because we have been looking for democracy.
Democracy is easy to get done. A party is not an individual. It is the collective decision of the people that make up the political party, and then they met and gave notice of the convention. They tried to stop it, but party members said, No, we are in control of our party. They went to Ibadan for the convention and elected to Turaki as the national chairman of the party.
They sacked some people, these decisions taken at the national convention of the party can only be changed in the next four years when they have the next convention, because convention is the highest organ of the party, and it can be changed by National Working Committee or by the party chairman.
So those who they have sacked remain sacked, whom they have elected, remain elected. That is the truth. if he is not the chairman, who then is the chairman? Anyanwu says he’s the national secretary, up to December, then December is next week. The only crises they are having is Wike
Qtn: What is your view on the stand of Wike and others who were who were sacked for treating their sack with a wave of hand?
Ans: And they also said they sacked all of them. Somebody is telling himself lies, by arguing that he has t been sacked from the party. If Turaki is the chairman of the party; Turaki by the way, is a highly respected Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I know that he must have looked at the legal implications of what they are doing, and took a decision on what they are doing as the chairman. He can pilot the PDP.
All the PDP needs is followership. They don’t need governors. You don’t need governors. What you need is followership, because I do know during a presidential election, the APC is not likely to beat PDP in Anambra.
Let me use this opportunity to say that the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has no apologies to anybody. He can join the APC, because he can’t be more APC in the PDP, and there’s nothing wrong going to change to the APC, or they can form his own political party and take charge of things on general party where he can dictate, if not, they should leave PDP alone. They have done enough damages to them taking all their governments.
Qtn: What is your advice for Turaki as the newly elected chairman of the party?
Ans: What Turaki should do is to go into leadership of the party in truth and justice. Let him make sure that those who left the party due to crisis, some out of anger, some out of not being treated well, and for whatever reason, they left their party, let him do what he can to bring them back to the party and and get on.
Let him do the best: Reconcile for those who want reconciliation. But for those who don’t want reconciliation, I don’t see a problem because they will come back to give him problem.
Qtn: Let’s digress a best sir. America has threatened to come to this country to address what they see as anomalies in the first place. Do they have rights to come into a sovereign nation like Nigeria and since then, kidnapping and all sorts of killings has been on the increase. Could you speak on that and how do you see that in a democracy?
Ans: America for a long time, has been acting as the senior prefect of the world. I do not subscribe to it personally. America is not supposed to violate the international sanctuary of non interference. But America is free to address issues, before I can answer that question, we should state where Americans are operating now: Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel Syria and these are not American countries. So I don’t know why, being a security they allow them to address the injustices.
Once that you tamper with democratic principle in a country, America comes out and does its best. I don’t see Muslims who are telling Christians, let’s fight. The only thing that is not being addressed by Nigerians in this world, Christians are being molested. Muslims are molested. That Christians are being killed. It’s not good for us. That is an admission, and that’s killing in our country. In the bill of running away that it is not Christians, that it is Christians and Muslims, we are mixing up and then admitting that there is killing in our country. If we say there’s murder in the country, we have not yet got the report
of any Christian organization, taking knife and gun and clubs and going to a Muslim activity and killing the Muslims. What we have gotten so far as against the religious killing is where Muslims go to kill the Christians.
Qtn: Irrespective of the warnings from America, the spare of kidnapping, banditry, among others are rising daily, how do you see that?
Ans: Yes, the people who are doing the kidnapping are trying all they can to destabilize us as a country. So I listen to America’s legislators life.
Qtn: As a lawyer, can we have your view on the sentence passed on Nnamdi Kanu?
Ans: I don’t know whether my comment as a lawyer is necessary, because you know something in the brief, in the case. The person who holds the case, knows the problem or issues more than those of us outside. So we’ll be talking nonsense. I don’t think that any lawyer will now be talking about what is the correct thing to do. The only thing that I’m saying at the top of it is that those who are handling that case should be careful.
Qtn: What is your assessment of appointments being made by Mr President?
Ans: I’m from the southeast.The President does not appoint people from my place.
Prince Nwafor -Orizu
