By Eric Elezuo

As the loggerhead between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, continues to draw attention in the political, stakeholders from within and outside the party have wondered what is in stock for the party that held power for 16 unbroken years as the all important 2023 Presidential Election approaches.

Consequently, a chieftain of the party, and former presidential aspirant, Aare Dele Momodu, has proffered that only a face to face meeting of the two gladiators, without a third party, will calm their nerves and restore the opposition party to winning ways among many things.

Dele Momodu spoke to Channels TV, and these are excerpts:

Everyone is wondering what exactly is happening within the PDP at a time when it should actually be playing the

lead role as the leading opposition party. It is immersed in its own internal crisis what do you make of this? First as a journalist and then as a politician…

Well, as a journalist, I’m not surprised. We have a Presidential Election. In Nigeria, it’s a game of almost winner takes all. So, the stakes are very high so there will be quite a number of fisticuffs here and there. If you go into APC, they have their own crisis. If you go into other to the other parties, they have their crisis.
In PDP, it’s unfortunate that we’re yet to settle the fallout from our primary election. Of course, we just played video of the Governor of River State. A man we call the governor of governors. He’s been one of the best governors if you ask me in Nigeria; if not the best but unfortunately, I don’t know how come my party, and my candidate Atiku Abubakar has not been able to pacify him. Maybe there is more than meets the eye. But from my own personal investigation as a journalist, I’ve been told that last year Alhaji Atiku Abubakar met with Governor Wike and wanted them to run a joint ticket and an agreement was reached. And thereafter, Governor Wike decided that he’s running on his own because of the party constitution which normally would have ceded power to the South.
After eight years of Buhari, we all expected that power will come to the South. And that’s one of the reasons I contested, but I knew as far back as March this year that Governor Wike was interested. Although he had not told anybody then I’ve been with him in Port Harcourt. In fact, I stayed with him far more than I stayed in Lagos because we were doing some work with him just like Channels TV. We call him Mr Projects and he’s been launching projects after projects. So, I sent him a letter and I copied two people; Chief Mike Ozekhome, and I copied the immediate past Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke in the letter. I told him that “I know you want to run for the president of Nigeria”. I did the same thing as far back as 1991 with Chief MKO Abiola. One of the talents I have is that I can read the mood around me. So, I knew Governor Wike was interested but he didn’t tell anybody. He kept it close to his chest and I advised him. I said as a democrat, I’m not going to ask you not to run but from the feelers I’m getting around, you are going to have a lot of resistance. You have a lot of enemies who will pretend to be your friends. Wherever there is money, wherever there is power, you will see people pretend. I’m one person that will advise you no matter how big you are; from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Governor Wike. I always intervene at such moments. So, I told him to please have Option B.

It is good that you are fighting for power to return to the South but you may not be the sole beneficiary. With this, I pleaded with him and I said, I’m running. I’m your friend. I’m your brother. I’m running, if you support me, I’m sure we will get it and I went to the extent of even announcing a kind of shadow cabinet in advance. It’s something that fascinates me about England where you have an idea of who becomes what. For me, if you give Governor Wike an opportunity to fix electricity in Nigeria, he will do it. If you give him the opportunity to fix our roads, he will fix it. But what everybody says about him is that he’s too volatile. So, when I told him that, he got angry that “what did they mean that I am  volatile and all that. So, that is the excuse people use. You see, presidency has a lot to do with your temper and temperament.

But Mr Momodu, it will seem as if these painstaking efforts to appease Governor Wike is an acknowledgment by the leading opposition party that they can’t move on without him…

No! It’s not that they can’t move on without him. It shows how important he is in the equation of things in Nigeria as it stands. I told you, if you have a man who is your best governor, across board and across party lines. Wike stands out as a fantastic performer. And leadership is about performance. So, today, the fear of Wike is the beginning of wisdom in PDP.

There is no question about that!
So, by PDP’s calculations, if Governor Wike is not appeased, how many states in the South-South will the PDP lose in the presidential election?

I’m not sure PDP will lose any state in the South-South. I’ll tell you why, the Vice-Presidential candidate is from the South-South. Governor Wike would expect that his candidate for governorship who is running on the platform of PDP will win. So, if you destroy PDP, how will his candidate then win the gubernatorial election? So, it’s actually true situation for him but he’s very smart. He knows the game he’s playing. What he wants to do is to force a deal with the party. That’s my own reading of the situation. He is a very smart politician. I’m sure eventually the party will lead a deal with him. If I were the candidate, I told you just now I already offered him if I was a candidate that “Governor Wike if you support me, I will do for you what President Buhari did for Fashola.

Fashola had three portfolios at the time in Nigeria. So, if you don’t get what you want, for me, Fashola is even almost more important than the Office of the Vice President. So, what I will advise Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to do today is to sit down one-on-one in person with Governor Wike, and agree on deliverables. If possible, sign an agreement.

But one of the issues that have played up until now is the entire party structure. Well, maybe I should even ask you this as far as you’re concerned, and from what you can see, what exactly is the issue in contention here? You’ve talked about the North-South rotation. There are those who are wondering if the Chairman of the party ought to have resigned. There are those who are saying maybe the Vice-Presidential candidate should have gone to someone else as opposed to Dr Okowa. Don’t also forget that the issues of internal crisis in the party predate the primaries. There are so many other issues at the center, and in the various states of the federation in the PDP. So, for you, what exactly is the issue if there is a central issue?

One, the governor believes the party should have respected our zoning principle or formula or whatever you want to call it.

Number two, he believes that zoning would have favored a southern candidate.

Three, he believes that of all the Southern aspirants he is the one who has the capacity to deliver victory to the party.
Then, number four, initially, there have been videos of Governor Wike saying he can’t be Vice-President to anybody. But I think members of his group were able to persuade him that “look you’ve labeled too much for this party. You’ve made so much contribution, why don’t you accept such offer. Number two, I heard there were three names on the list that was given to the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Wike was on that list. I believe he thinks he should have been the one to make that Vice-Presidential candidate.

Which is why I want to ask because your insider information that you led with when you started your commentary was that ahead of the presidential primaries, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, approached Governor Wike and said let us run a joint ticket but Governor Wike said no that he would rather run on his own. So, when they were to present names to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to choose a vice presidential candidate, why didn’t he go with Governor Wike who was preferred of that committee?

I think, by then, some things had changed. That’s again according to my own investigation. Remember and this is one of the problems; the manner that Governor Tambuwal stepped down for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Wike was grieved because we have passed that stage, and no one was supposed to be allowed to go back to the podium to make an announcement and tell the delegates who to vote for. That was part of the problem but again if Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had picked Governor Wike as VP. Some people in his own circle of influence will be of the opinion that it will be a spite on Tambuwal who step down. Because Wike would have lost nothing. A Vice-President is almost as good as a President anywhere in the world. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President. So, a lot of people were feeling that it would have been a slap on Governor Tambuwal who stepped down for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Now, in trying to solve problems there is need to understand where it went wrong perhaps that would give them an inkling in terms of how to approach it. Now, there’s a reconciliatory committee that’s been set up to see how they can address this matter. But what do you think went wrong between Rivers State Governor and the National Chairman of the party because at a time, they appeared cordial. There were images everywhere how they had that rapport. But all of a sudden, things went sour. How did that happen?

Well, in a normal situation, if the presidential candidate is from the North then the National Chairman would be from the South. But in this case you have the presidential candidate from the North and then you have the National Chairman also from the North. So, what the Wike camp is saying is that, “this is unfair, this is unfortunate, and this should not stand”. And that’s why they were asking that the National Chairman would have to go. So, it’s all about cordiality.
Of course, that cordiality broke down the moment, number one, the party jettison the zoning formula of the party and then settled for a northern candidate.
It’s normal that people will be aggrieved but it is about crisis management. As I said if I were in the shoes of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, I will meet with Governor Wike one-on-one, and face to face. No third party, and let them iron out their differences because we’re dissipating so much energy and there are other presidential aspirants who are complaining that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has never reached out to them. That he is waiting for them to approach him. And I’m using this platform to appeal to our candidate that if we must win next year’s election, we must work harder at reaching out to everybody. Everyone counts because the election of next year is going to be like no other. For the first time, we are going to have two mainstream political parties being challenged by a formidable third force. So, every vote will be very important, every stakeholder must be reached out to.

I’m trying to see how I can avoid making this a double barrel question. So, the thing is how much time do you think the PDP has to address this challenge before they move on to the next step, and what options do you think will be there for the governor because we’ve seen different while there are speculations that he could opt out and go to the APC. Persons in APC and Rivers State are leaving APC and joining the PDP. First, tell us how much time do you think they have, and what options will be there for the Rivers State Governor?

For me, Governor Wike is a very principled man. He has vowed repeatedly, and if there is one thing, he has been consistent about, it is his love for PDP. I believe he will not leave PDP. What he is doing is a mind game. He’s playing a mind game, and he’s very good at it. He keeps them guessing. He’s a very smart human being and as I said, I’ve interacted with him long enough to know him. He’s a principled man. If he goes to APC, what shall it profit him?

You know, even in South-West, we just won Osun State. Nobody thought we’ll be able to win Osun State, and I congratulate my good friend, Senator Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke for that feat.
But you can see the way the party leadership of PDP all came together and we were able to dislodge APC in Osun State this tells you that if PDP can work together, we have it do more; because APC has messed up Nigeria spectacularly. There is no question about that.

What does the River State Governor have to lose if he doesn’t throw his weight behind your party candidate?

He may lose his governorship candidate because you can’t come to me in the Presidential Election and say don’t vote for Atiku, and then, the following week. you come back to me and say vote for my candidate in PDP. I mean, that would be a very dangerous game to play. I know he’s smarter than that. Governor Wike is not a foolish man. He’s angry, legitimately angry. There are many people who are angry in the party and that’s why I’m saying it boldly here that the party must do everything possible. Because there is this attitude, they are worrying about Governor Wike but there are others in the party that they should worry about as well. They are very important. The next election is not going to be an easy one.

Are you one of those whom they should worry about?

No! They shouldn’t worry about me too much. I’m a part-time politician. I’m not a career politician. I’m back out at Ovation; working at Ovation but if they need me, they will reach out to me, and I’ll do what I can. I supported the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Governor Peter Obi in 2019. I wasn’t a member of PDP. So, I operate without being in a party. When I supported Buhari in 2015, I wasn’t a member of APC. So, I’m a part-time politician. But I know there are a lot of disgruntled elements who will not speak up and they must reach out to them. If they want their names, they can ask me and I’ll tell them.

Well, we are interested since you have said that you know there are a lot of other disgruntled people – would you like to give us hints?

The hint is that, there are a lot of presidential aspirants who felt that immediately after the primary, the party was going to bring them together under one umbrella; so that they can all collectively work for the candidate but everybody is roaming around like orphans right now. That’s the truth! A lot of our other aspirants are roaming like orphans not all of them have Ovation International to go back to. So, I’m back at work. I’m traveling all over the world. I just came into Nigeria yesterday.

I’ve met with Senator Dino Melaye; he came to see me in London the other day, and there are other people talking to me who are also very close to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and I’ve been telling them that look there is so much work to be done, and they shouldn’t take it for granted because it’s going to be easy this time around. Every stakeholder must be accommodated beginning with Governor Nyesom Wike.

Well, I’m just trying to put a face to the other presidential aspirant. I don’t know whether or not people were able to secure votes on that day or not. Do you think that this is regardless of whether or not they got votes from the delegates on that day?

You see, I don’t want to wash our dirty linen in the public. Getting votes does not matter from delegates. That’s not a general election. I didn’t get any vote. And as I said at the end of the exercise, I said “I paid for nothing and I got nothing”. That is the same thing I’m going to tell you today, I paid for nothing. But in terms of influence, and I’m not being modest, a lot of us have the wherewithal to influence the thinking of the people. There are people who have the credibility that will influence a lot of people; especially the young ones. Every day, they call me what’s going on? Which direction should we go? Can you tell us the antecedent? Because these days people don’t even know the history of some of our politicians half of the governors that we all pay homage to are just known within their own states. If I ask you to name 36 governors in Nigeria right now, even as a journalist, you will struggle. So, there are global players in the party. There are intellectuals. If you look at America, no candidate will joke with the intellectuals around. Even the President of America defers to the intellectuals. But in political parties in Nigeria, we pay so much attention only to career politicians. With this, I am advising my party to reach out to the intellectuals because they can give you the formula.

I’ve been involved in presidential campaigns now for nearly 30 years since 1993, and I know what it takes. That’s why a lot of people still accuse me of being one of those who brought Buhari to power. So, if I had the influence in 2015; almost eight years ago to do a lot of work for Buhari. This tells you that 7 years after, I’ve grown in experience and in exposure, and I know what our candidate needs. So, I pray that we do the needful so that our party does not waste this opportunity. APC does not deserve to come back to power.

Well, a committee has now been constituted from what we understand. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa will be heading that from what we hear, and what he has also confirmed. The question for me will be how much success do you think that this committee will be able to get?

It depends on how broad-based the umbrella is, but if it is just to pacify a few big people, the problems will not have been solved. I am telling you even as an aspirant, there were days before our elections that you will get you will receive a text message a meeting of the presidential aspirants will be holding at so and so place and time, but just to get there, and no one is there. And no one comes to explain why. Although the big people will be reached to say why they canceled the meeting but all the other smaller, so-called smaller, will not be reached. I am telling you, you cannot practice such discrimination in a party and expect to have peace everybody counts in this election. Governor Fintiri is a gentleman that I know and I respect and I pray that if he will walk with a broad-based coalition of party faithfuls. I’m a loyal party man. That is why even last weekend, you could see my intervention when I pleaded with Governor Wike that please sheath your sword. You don’t need all this stress, don’t take it too far, and there’s another tomorrow.

You’ve talked about a formidable third force but for those who are also factoring in the NNPP. So, if you could look ahead and talk about the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Elections, we haven’t had it this way before with at least three or four persons that are being prominently talked about. What do you see playing out because some think at the end of the day if things continue this way, we may just have ourselves a runoff what do you think?

Well, we’ll be lucky to get here with the runoff. I hope it’s nothing much worse. I’ve read the interventions of Chief Afe Babalola; talking about an interim government. I’ve read the interventions of Mr Femi Falana. We may be playing with crisis, if we’re not careful. For me, as a political analyst and as a journalist, I believe that the two mainstream political parties APC and PDP are still in the lead. As I have said, there is a challenger. A very very powerful challenger in the Labour Party. It remains to be seen how far they will be able to galvanize the people.

But let me say very quickly, there are three main factors that will determine the winner. The race card as they call it in America, we call it ethnicity here, is going to be a major factor. Anybody with wishful thinking can say it doesn’t matter. It will matter!

The second is religion and then money. Because you need a lot of money to mobilize your agents nationwide. We saw what happened in Osun State. Only two mainstream political parties were able to mobilize enough resources for their agents. Because if your agents are not present, it’s going to be difficult. The third force will have to invest also in “other lower candidates”. The lower candidates must work to have senators, they must work to have members House of Representatives, they must have members House of Assembly, they must have others like that. So, that their party candidate can then have what I called the foot soldiers. You need foot soldiers. It’s not enough for people to say “yes, I’m supporting A and B”. There are structural arrangements to it. I like to call it, there is method to madness in Nigeria. But as a today, the two mainstream political parties are sitting pretty. I don’t think they are afraid yet.

PDP has a very good chance. Trust me! With a Vice-Presidential candidate coming from the South-South, it can be assumed that we are going to have the South-South. Labour Party will do very well, especially in the South. I don’t know about the North. I have not really followed their progress in the North yet but I can see the movement is sweeping across.
APC, of course, has an edge with about 22 governors or thereabouts. This means they already have the structures but those structures may be weakened. Like I said, APC just lost Osun State. That should embolden PDP that they can actually take on APC.

But you said earlier about Governor Wike having the need to depend on the PDP otherwise his own anointed candidate would not have his way. Don’t forget that Segun Mimiko became governor on the platform of a relatively unknown party at the time. Don’t also forget that even the presidential candidate of the APC changed party. Literally, what some would say retired from some political party and created his own and became governor on the platform of a completely new political party. So, looking at those things wouldn’t you say there could be some upsets?

Oh, there’s no question about that. But what I’m saying a state is different from the national. In a state, you have fewer constituents to deal with. At the national level, you are going to deal with as many as possible many ethnic nationalities. Even in America, race is a factor you have those who are white supremacists, you have those who are liberal, and in Nigeria, trust me, you will see that on the day of election, a lot of that will come into play. There are those who say “look Tinubu whatever you want to say about him, he’s a Yoruba man, he is a Southerner, we want power in the South, we are going to vote for Tinubu.

You say that Governor Wike is a principled man. So, should we believe him when he says that he hasn’t instituted a lawsuit?

No! I don’t believe he did. He will announce it. Governor Wike is not one man to hide behind one finger.
But our investigations prove to the contrary because sources say the lawyer said they have been paid and they’re going ahead with the suit.

No. Let me tell you, I also read yesterday that there is one of our aspirants that he was the one who instituted it. It is possible that some people will fund him behind. Governor Wike said something technically which maybe you missed that you cannot sue after two weeks he said it with his own mouth.

You’ve spoken about what the PDP candidates should do. You’ve spoken to what Governor Wike should do, but you not spoken about what the PDP which will fly the colors should do.

No, I’ve spoken to it. I spoke about Governor Fintri trying to reconcile people in the party. That’s on behalf of the party. What the party needs is unity. With unity, we can win the election. We saw it in Osun. Osun was a good test case for us and Senator Ademola Adeleke. Nobody gave him a chance. I know so many of our friends said no it’s not possible.

Technically, Tinubu is from Osun State, from Iragbiji. The Governor is very close to Tinubu. All the governors of APC were behind the Governor of Osun State. Yes! We defeated them. It is the mood. And what PDP needs to do today is to create the same mood we created in Osun. We created the mood of possibilities.
Okay, well, we are looking forward to that mood.

Thank you so much Chief Dele Momodu, former Presidential aspirant of People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and publisher and Chief Executive Officer, Ovation International.

Thank you so much. Thank you!