The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, speaks on the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, how it will benefit the opposition, the plot to impeach Tambuwal, among other issues, in this interview with JOHN AMEH
These are not the best of times for the country’s majority party, the PDP. What do you think?
My reaction will not be different from that of most Nigerians. It is a welcome development; it is one of those strange things in life where something that appears to be negative is actually welcome. It tells you the depth to which the People Democratic Party has taken Nigerians, and naturally, they welcome it with implosion. It is good for our democracy because I believe that it will take us away from the downward slide that we are experiencing in Nigeria. For something to be good, sometimes you need to spoil it before you repair it. I believe that with the current happenings in the PDP, the opposition will only be strengthened. We are actually excited about it, so long as the split is handled in a very mature way and it doesn’t lead to violence, we are excited.
You said the crisis was bad for the PDP but good for the opposition. What is in it for the opposition?
There is a saying, ‘United we stand, divided we fall.’ That leg of the ‘united we stand’ is what you see in the All Progressives Congress. We are united. The PDP is divided and they must surely fall. That is the advantage for the opposition. We welcome the progressive elements among them to the APC. People talk about strange bedfellows, PDP is actually the one with strange bedfellows. Within the PDP, there are a few progressives who mean well for this country. But, because of deception and political miscalculation, they found themselves in the wrong party. We talk to some of them in the House. They are in the PDP but their heart is with the APC. They have tasted the party, they have seen it and they know what it can offer the country. We will welcome them. Even those of them who are not progressives, but ready to shape into the ideology of the APC, we are willing to welcome them.
Is it not too early for the opposition to celebrate, especially since the break-away PDP members are in negotiations to return to their party
Whichever way the chip falls, it is beneficial to the APC. If they settle, it is beneficial to the APC, if they don’t settle; it doesn’t take anything from the APC. We have a momentum right now. People were not looking at the disintegration of PDP to form APC. Whatever is happening with the PDP now only came as a plus to us. Either way, we remain on top. We do hope that they disintegrate; but we are not celebrating. If there is celebration, it is not for us as a party, but celebration for Nigeria. Some of us see the hand of God in this whole development. The coincidences are just too much. First, our registration was against all odds, followed by the disintegration of PDP. Now, there is an attempt to reconcile, which is also not happening, all to the benefit of Nigerians.
What specific benefits will APC government at the centre offer Nigerians?
You will see a replication of what is happening in the APC states at the centre with an APC Federal Government in power. Two, for you to move forward in this country, you need to change the structure of the country. You cannot build something on nothing.
You need a smaller centre that will devolve power to the states and practise true federalism. The centre we have is burdened by 63 items on the Exclusive Legislative List, whereas they should not be more than 10. Why should the Federal Government be building prisons in Ogun State or Adamawa State for instance? When you give the states more autonomy, automatically, you are giving them more money in terms of revenue allocation. Resource control is something that the APC government is interested in, like the people in the South are clamouring for. What we have now is more of a unitary system where states go cap in hand every month to ask for money. When we change that, everything else follows -health, electricity, infrastructure, agriculture , state police. Look at what is happening today in Rivers State; a governor is being stopped by the police because of orders from above.
Are you sure the northerners in the APC are supportive of true federalism? They prefer a bigger centre like what we have today.
If you say northerners were against true federalism the way you put it, I don’t know how much they are against it now. It is about dialogue and listening and being convinced by a more compelling argument. If you hear them talk now, you will know that they are for it. It is about talking and convincing people. I think we have been able to convince them and they have been able to convince us in some areas too. There will be divergent opinions, but certainly, we are going to reach a consensus. We have gone past when they used to disagree with us on the issues of federalism. In principle, we all believe in restructuring the Federal Government.
Let us talk more about the House. Are we likely to see a situation where the majority will become the minority in the House in the light of events unfolding in the PDP?
The dynamics of politics, whether in the House or anywhere, makes it a game of numbers. If our number swells in the House, that is the APC, definitely that is the meaning of the word majority. If every other person joins you and the number swells, by operation of law, automatically, you are the majority. There is nothing anyone can do about that. It means that a lot of things will change in the House. It will present, not an anomaly, but an unusual scenario in which the ruling party is one party and the majority in the legislature is another party. That has happened even in the United States in recent times. As it is today, the Democrats are in power at the centre but the House of Representatives is controlled by the Republicans. Sometimes, it even helps because it helps to push the doctrine of checks and balances. That is why I have consistently said that there is a hand of God in this whole thing happening with the PDP.
Will that imply a change of leadership in the House?
How does it affect the leadership of the House, starting from the Speaker? I think events will unfold and we shall see. Let me say that I can almost say with confidence that the Speaker, despite the PDP legislator that he is, he (Tambuwal) will remain the Speaker, whether the majority changes hands or not. He has overwhelming support and he did not become the Speaker because of his party. Besides, he has been doing well, managing the House excellently. He has been nationalistic and he will remain the Speaker. Whatever will happen to other positions down the line, I cannot hazard a guess. I can only speak for the Speaker, but I cannot speak for the other positions, should anything happen.
In the APC today, we have 137 members; but when you are talking about the entire opposition, it is about 160 members. Although, none of the progressives in the PDP has moved over to the APC yet, we are on the sidelines waiting for them. We are ready to receive both the progressives and non-progressives in the PDP. We are also expecting some of those who have not joined the APC from APGA, Labour Party and so on. From there, gradually, we will progress to take over the majority in the House.
How far will the current rumoured bid to impeach the Speaker, owing to the crisis in the PDP, go? Where is the opposition in this?
I don’t see impeaching the Speaker happening. Not because of the fracas in the PDP at the House or whatever. What happened (fracas during the visit of the Baraje-led faction of the PDP to the House) was strictly a PDP affair, not a House issue. Forget about what happened; whether the Speaker was supposed to receive them, whether he should not receive them and all that. If the Speaker had received the New PDP caucus outside the National Assembly, it would have even been labelled as clandestine by the same PDP people. By reading their letter and receiving them in the open, it meant that the Speaker had nothing to hide. It is a shame that we recently condemned the Rivers State House of Assembly for misbehaving only to degenerate to that same level of behaviour. We have to understand certain things. The House of Representatives is the people’s House. Anybody or group can come here. Forget whatever appellation these people give themselves. They are party leaders, whether they are new or old. Why would anyone expect the Speaker, after reading the letter, to say ‘I am sorry, I cannot receive you.’ The Speaker did the right thing. If the same thing happens tomorrow, he should do the same thing; if Bamanga Tukur writes him, he should receive him. There is nothing stopping anyone from coming to the House. These same people went to the Senate and nothing happened there.
Punch
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