A member Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Shuaib Oyedokun, tells FEMI MAKINDEreasons behind the South-West’s acceptance of zoning the party’s chairmanship to the North East, President Muhammadu Buhari and other matters
What is the resolve of the South-West Peoples Democratic Party on the zoning of the party’s chairmanship position?
The South-West had resolved to accept the product of the zoning arrangement that was done at the national level that for now, the chairman should be retained in the North and particularly the North-East. In place of that we were able to secure three principal offices with the national working committee out of 12. Before then, we were divided and some people thought, “Would it not amount to selling out, when you deserve something and you are declining” while some said, “we want it by all means.” They had their reasons but I think the better reasons had prevailed. That is our position now, unless something else happens.
Some people said the zoning of the chairmanship position to the North-East was to favour Ali Modu Sheriff. How true is this?
His name was not mentioned in the zoning arrangement. But for those of us who favoured it, we have our reasons. One, today, we believe that the PDP is substantially strong in the South-South, South-East and viable in the South-West but the whole of the North are turning their back on the PDP because they felt offended and we have to persuade them like we did in the case of Chief MKO Abiola when Chief (Olusegun) Obasanjo was given a slot in form of compensation to the South-West. We are particular about the North-East for two major reasons. One, you will discover that the North is the real battleground where the PDP must work hard to make a mark. Personally, I give examples whenever I am discussing this.
When (President Muhammadu) Buhari was preparing to fight the insurgency, he shifted the military base to the North-East (Borno State), as the Command Centre. Not only that, he also picked a native of that region, someone who knows the terrain very well, as the Chief of Army Staff. Now, we can easily draw a similarity between what Buhari had done and what the PDP is doing. It is a political war. We are struggling to possess that region and just as the Yoruba would say, “when you prepare your farm to grow kolanut and you discover one growing at a spot, would you uproot it or nurture it?” And being a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, I was one of those who opposed him (Sheriff) vehemently. But when this man came almost by accident, he did something I was surprised about: there was problem in three states in a day and he was away in Chad. Immediately he got the information, he flew down to Sokoto; came down to Lagos; went to Port Harcourt and eventually slept in Abuja the same day. If he doesn’t have the means it would be difficult for somebody who is ordinarily a chairman to move round the whole country in one day.
A chairman may be competent, he may have the administrative know-how coupled with the physical strength but to start booking flights through the airlines without knowing if they would go or not would not be easy. You don’t just do things because of your own interest or insist on having something whether good or bad. I have been in politics for some time, and I am saying it very humbly, even if it (the chairmanship) comes to the South-West I consider myself and people consider me as one of the possible beneficiaries but what about the interest of the party? We believe that because of those two reasons let it (the chairmanship) remain like that for now and fortunately we had given a chance of producing the next presidential candidate to the North.
