Chief Clarence Olafemi is the former Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly and ex- Ag Governor of Kogi state.
In this interview with OYIBO SALIHU, the chieftain of the People Democratic Party (PDP) speaks on the gale of defections from the ruling APC and its implications for the 2019 general elections among other issues in the nation’s polity
Recently some aggrieved members of APC at the National Assembly and some state governors defected to PDP, what is your reaction to this development? There was a meeting in Abuja recently where about forty political parties in the country signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the purpose of coming together as a formidable force ahead of 2019 elections.
I attended the meeting held at Yar’adua Centre in Abuja and coincidentally the event took place at exact place where in 2014 the APC held meeting that brought them to power.
Honestly, if anybody is claiming that the recent meeting and the signing of MOU does not have significant impact on any election, such people are only trying to console themselves.
There is no way any person can convinced me that the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki is not important in Kwara state politics.
Since he joined politics, the Senate President has made himself acceptable to the people of Kwara state and I have not seen him depleting in his popularity and the support the people of Kwara gave him and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwoso is another quiet person that has made his mark in Kano politics, so whatever noise some people are making is a mere side talks that do not contain an iota of truth.
Tambuwal, Ortom are Political Strong Forces Also, Aminu Tambuwal as a seating governor is very relevant in his state and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state have his supporters too, so for APC to claimed that the defection cannot affect the political fortune of the party, I see it as being economical with the truth.
This is exactly what the PDP said in 2014 before the elections and the effect was very clear to people at the end of the 2015 elections.
You are one of the political big wigs at the forefront of merger in 2014, why did you dump APC for PDP? The fact remained that we all came together from ACN, CPC, ANPP, some factions of APGA and some aggrieved members of PDP which I belonged then to form a brand new party and we named it APC.
We believed that Nigerians needed a change in governance and a change in everything and that was why the party slogan was ‘change.’ We put in all our best because we were fighting a sitting government, thinking that the man we were fighting for knew what he wanted as he had struggled for the position three consecutive times.
I did not expect that when the position of president eventually reached his hand he will not know what to do with the power.
Yes! He is fighting corruption, but it is not good to jettison other section of governance that are germane to Nigerians.
Everything that has to do with the country was mortgaged to him and one will expect that the president will have a minimum template which Nigerians should not go below it.
Buhari is Running One Man-Show When we all laboured to bring the APC to power, we thought that all of us will come on board and help the president to run the affairs of government effectively, but to our dismay after the victory people we did not see during the merger struggle, during the rigorous campaign exercise were the people that hijacked the president.
These are people that have been recycled for many years that they don’t even have anything tangible to offer as far as governance is concerned.
Many of us sold our property, committed our precious time for the success of the election, but today all the efforts were in vain because some people who did not know the stress we went through formed cabals and surrounded the president and derailed him from achieving the core value of the slogan called ‘change’.
Since we cannot fight or challenge them, I, including some other aggrieved persons decided to leave the party for them.
Even the greater part of the tenure of President Buhari was spent in hospital abroad and the vice president is not a politician but a technocrat.
In a democratic setting, the political class supposed to be at the forefront of governance because in any government that technocrats dominate the cabinet and the key element of the government, such system will only be more theoretical than practical and the resultant effect is failure in all sectors and that is exactly what happened to APC government.
The government has been making a lot of noise without action and that is why it took the federal government more than three years to move for reactivation of the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill that could have generated a lot of revenue for the government and created jobs for young Nigerians who are roaming the streets.
What is the chance of PDP in 2019 elections considering the recent defection into the party? If the leadership of the party properly manage the decamping of some members of other parties into its fold, then there is no way APC can win elections in 2019.
That is why I am calling on the leadership of PDP to properly manage the decampees, because those that have defected to PDP are equally strong politically.
On another hand, if it is not managed as expected the aftermath of it will be one in, three out for PDP which will not be healthy for the party.
I foresee the mass exodus of people from APC before now and when I mentioned it in one of my interviews with some national dailies, nobody in the party takes me serious and today it has started manifesting.
They allowed the problems in the party to accumulate to a level that no option other than members moving out of the party.
Don’t you think lack of internal democracy complained by members in the past will still be a problem in PDP? First and foremost, the leadership of the party has identified lack of internal democracy and imposition of candidates as the major setbacks that militated against the success of the party in the last elections and there was an assurance that this time around the members’ right will be entrenched in the party.
Running Foul of Internal Democracy Also, in every political party there is always the temptation of running foul of internal democracy and right now it depend on the leadership of PDP and they have vowed not to encourage imposition and impunity which is the only hope for the party to survive.
Honestly, there can never be a perfect system, but let there be transparent democratic management of the MOU.
The success recorded through the recent defection to PDP should be managed at the level of wards, local government, state and the national level so that the party can bounce back once again.
So far some politicians within the PDP have indicated their interest to vie for President, whom do you think possess the political clout to effectively challenge President Buhari? As far as I am concerned the likes of Atiku Abubakar , Ahmed Markarfi, Rabiu Musa Kwankwoso, Tanimu Turaki and those who are still consulting before they make their intentions known are qualified to rule the country.
All of them have some level of experiences, but the experience to lead the country are not the same.
If I am asked personally as Chief Clarence Olafemi who do you think has the capacity to challenge the incumbent president, I will choose Atiku Abubakar for obvious reasons.
First, he was the vice president of this country for eight good years, he has seen it all and there was nothing that happened that time that he was not aware.
He has the leadership charisma and he is a courageous man who don’t easily surrender to challenges.
Secondly, this is a man who is successful in managing businesses and economically he knows the problems of the country.
The president of America Donald Trump is using his knowledge and experience gained from managing his chain businesses to the management of America and he is succeeding by creating massive jobs for his people.
Atiku has that matching quality with Trump.
If he is allowed to manage Nigeria’s economy, there will be no African countries that will come closer to Nigeria and thirdly, he came from area where there is challenges of insecurity, Atiku will put it on a front burner to ensure that he tackle the problem immediately.
Are you still nursing the ambition of contesting the Senate position in your district? I have a culture and traditions and I don’t believe standing outside and begin to criticise.
I preferred to struggle and win election than waiting for political appointment the way some people do in every election.
I am in the race and am aspiring for the position of senator to represent the people of Kogi West Senatorial District.
I am putting in everything to ensure that I achieve my aspiration.
I am very confident that I will pick the ticket on the platform of PDP.
I am sure that when the time comes my antecedents in politics and my achievements will speak for me.
If I can established a college of education technical, Kabba , awarded the contract for the construction of roads, provided motorised boreholes, pay the school fees of the children of the less privilege in the state when I held sway as acting governor for sixty days then if given the opportunity to represent my people at the National Assembly I will do more than I have done before.
