June 06, (THEWILL) – Chief Bayo Dayo is a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the last Presidential Primary of the PDP in Abuja and issues affecting Ogun State and Nigeria. Excerpts:
What is your perception of the recently conducted Special Convention/Presidential Primary of your party, the PDP in Abuja?
It was a well organised primary. It was well conducted and very nice, indeed. But of course, people are complaining that the presidential candidate should have been from the South, based on our zoning system in the PDP constitution. But the Nigerian Constitution does not make provision for zoning. And that is the issue. The constitution is what Nigeria is based upon. The party’s constitution, yes it is good and we have to abide by it, but you cannot go to court on party constitution. The only constitution that applies in the court of law is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And there is no provision for zoning of the president in that constitution. That is the only thing people are shouting about now. Although it is morally right to give the position to the South, since the present government is from the North, that is just an arrangement within the PDP.
Another complaint by the people is that a lot of money was spent by the aspirants. There were records that delegates collected millions of naira. What do you think that portends for our democracy?
That is the situation in the country generally. If you go to any organization, you will start spending money on the people you meet on the way, right from the gatemen to the messengers that are going to pick up the files before you get to your destination. Most of our civil servants now are contractors. All the jobs that are supposed to go to the people go to these civil servants and they become overnight millionaires. Money has spoiled everything in Nigeria. So it is not only in politics; it is in everything. You cannot do anything without giving out money.
Those who are going to good offices are expected to spend money. By the time they get there, they would have been heavily indebted and they will be looking for money to repay their loans. That is the problem we are facing in Nigeria. It is in every profession. You are walking in the street and the police will be asking you for money. Anywhere you go in Nigeria, everything is based on money and you are expected to put some money in your pocket when you are leaving home. When you live abroad you only live on a debit card. Whatever you buy, you use your debit card. But in this country, everything you do is based on cash. So it is not only in politics but in everything. That is what is damaging this country. Corruption is everywhere. It is in every profession.
So talking about spending money at the primary, it is not a new thing. Now it has gone so high that before you become anything, even a councilor in a local government council, you will spend millions of naira. I mean you spend millions before you become a councilor, not to talk of council chairman, House of Assembly and so on and so forth. Everything is based on money now in Nigeria. That is the situation we have found ourselves in.
Last year, you said that it would be better for the PDP to have a candidate from the North. Are you satisfied with what transpired at the party’s last primary election?
Yes, I said so.
How do you see the emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of your party?
When we talk of a private arrangement within the party, we agreed within ourselves that we would zone some offices. But when you are in opposition, it will be very difficult for you to follow the zoning system. It is either you want to win an election or you want to zone and lose. If we had zoned the presidency to the South, even though the South is entitled to it, we would lose the election. This is because the people in the South can understand, but most of the people in the northern Nigeria don’t know what is going on. You just need to mention the name of a Hausa man, then they will start voting for him, no matter what you say.
You see, the problem we are having in Nigeria is the population. When you go to a street in Kano and you need 500 youths, you will get them in a matter of minutes. Where would you get such a large number of people in the South? No, we don’t have many children. We base our children on our capacity. But in the North people just have as many children as possible. Those children are the ones causing problems now.
If we are serious and we want to win the election, there is nothing we can do other than to go to where the population is very thick so that we can get votes from there. If you take anybody from the South, yes, we will clear our minds that we have done the right thing but we will not win the election. That is the situation.
So Atiku is as good as anything because if we pick a southerner we will not win the election. Tinubu is the most powerful Yoruba politician today. But I can tell you if the APC chooses Tinubu as its presidential candidate, as powerful as he is, the northerners will not vote for him and he cannot win the election.
Politics is such a game that it needs a lot of calculation. If you don’t do your calculation right, then you will lose. It is either we calculate to be in government or we satisfy our people by zoning and lose the election. It is either of the two and that is the situation we have found ourselves.
Are you surprised that the ruling APC has not been able to put its acts together to conduct a presidential primary?
I am not surprised. This is because when you have a bad leader, nothing you can do that can be smooth. The world is moving like a jet, you need people that can move with the world and not the people that do not understand what is going on around the world.
When you have a bad leader, no matter what you do, you cannot be okay. People have realised now that they actually have nothing to offer. If they have anything to offer, why is it taking them several months to produce a candidate? Knowing fully well that they are going to have a consensus candidate, why are they asking 28 aspirants to pay N100m each? Having known that only one of them will emerge president, they are not going to refund the money.
When you look at Page 18 of the APC nomination form, they will tell you to fill page 18 and on that page 18 they tell you that you will have to resign or withdraw from the race voluntarily. If you don’t sign page 18, they will not consider you. And on that page 18, it is stated that you are to sign a letter of withdrawal for a reason best known to you. You sign that before they can collect the form from you. What kind of party is that?
Where will you resign in advance so that eventually when they don’t want you they will just help you to put a date and submit it for you? I don’t know of any other political party that behaves like that after collecting N100million from each of the aspirants. Is that fair to the people concerned? But that is the kind of party you call APC. We don’t do that in PDP.
Although I see a good thing in the Yewa axis of the APC because they did a lot of work to put a round peg in a round hole. They agreed within themselves to come down and go for a lower position, in order to make the party win the election.
What of your party, the PDP in Ogun State?
In Ogun PDP, the elders should put their heads together and do the needful, if the aspirants will allow us to do it. But the situation we are in now in Ogun where aspirants are not looking for the leaders, but the leaders are going to aspirants in their houses. Everything has changed, but I prefer to stay in my house. Whoever needs my services will have to come to me. I will not go to any aspirant’s house because I want to take money from him. No. If you need our knowledge you must come to us and ask for it. Without respecting the elders, things will not go well in Ogun PDP.
Now that you mentioned Ogun PDP, a few weeks ago, the party had two governorship primaries. What are you the elders doing to foster unity in the party?
When I had a disagreement with the late Buruji Kashamu, the disagreement was based on unity. I was working hard to have unity in the party. If a party is united, then there will be as many aspirants as possible. Now people have realised that the party can win the election. That is the situation in Ogun State.
We are now united, we are all together and we are in a position to win many elections, but they do not give the elders enough opportunity to use their talents. Some people are dictating. They are telling us that is the man who will go for this and this is the one that will go for that. And when we tell them that it doesn’t work out this way unless we listen to one another and allow the elders to settle our differences, there is no way we can make it. That is what is causing problems in Ogun PDP now.
With the unity of the party, of course, many aspirants will come in. They will be willing to contest in the party. But some aspirants that do not want other aspirants to come in, they want to be sole candidates. I disagree with that. I know Ladi Adebutu has been spending a lot of money to keep the party going for a long time. But that does not mean that other people will not use the opportunity they have in joining the party and tell us about their interests. It is for them to tell ustheir interests, and it is for the elders of the party to talk to them and arrange things the way it should be. We cannot say because we have Adebutu, we don’t want to see anybody else. No.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
