ANAYO EZUGWU 
Shehu Gabam is the National Chairman of Social Democratic Party (SDP). In this interview monitored on Channels Television, he speaks on the state of the nation, President Bola Tinubu’s administration and moves by SDP to take over power in 2027, among other issues. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
How do you describe our democracy considering what you see today?
We have abandoned our values, principles, and the foundations of democracy that we cherish as a copycat of the presidential system of democracy, explaining what the leaders have said from Bishop Matthew Kukah to President Olusegun Obasanjo to Peter Obi and a host of others.
We also listened to what former President Goodluck Jonathan has said. It’s extremely painful that a journey that started innocently when people left the military administration, came together and formed a movement that led to the formation of political parties from 1988 to 1989 has gone this way.
I’ve never thought that we would get to the point that we are today. The entire philosophy is to entrench our democratic culture, and ensure the participation of every Nigerian irrespective of tribe or religion.
I was part of that founding member. I know the wisdom. I know the philosophy behind the founding fathers of the party. Some of them paid the supreme price. They were sent to prison, but today nobody remembers them and the entire characteristics that define democracy are no longer in existence.
A nation that wakes up every day with killings, maiming, barbarism, kidnappings, insecurity, hunger and poverty contradicts every definition of democracy all over the world. A nation that will wake up and citizens cannot afford to feed themselves two or twice a day has contradicted the entire definition and responsibility of democracy. Now, all this has been directed at the presidency. The president is aware.
We have mentioned it; we have appealed, make corrections, make adjustments. But it appears that the president has lost sight of the fact that he was part of this journey at a point. He was in exile at a point at the point that the nation is struggling and fighting to restore democracy.
Today, he happened to be the president of Nigeria by an act of destiny and everything that he was looking for is available in Nigeria. There are the most brilliant, most intelligent people who would have guided, and generated ideas on how to drive the process.
They were all sidelined, including political parties that ought to have provided a buffer because we are talking about a country after election. Once you are sworn in, your responsibility is how to move the country forward but none was put into consideration. And of course, what remained is what we are seeing today, the kind of balkanization of the system.
This is the kind of destruction we are seeing in a nation where we have a democracy guided by law. We have a constitution but you have a leadership of a nation that will go outside the rule of law, outside the constitution and make a pronouncement that is creating a very hot atmosphere that we are facing today as a nation.
I feel sad about it because I invested all my life fighting for democracy, restoration of democracy. We feel ashamed that we are at a crossroad where you cannot fault former President Obasanjo by his experience being in the military, an elected president. President Jonathan compressed and condensed his submission. You cannot fault it. I’ve also listened to Wole Soyinka, very precise to the point.
Rotation is an internal understanding of a political party. It’s not a constitutional thing. If the stakeholders at the appropriate time sit down, agree and say let us zone the presidency to a particular geopolitical zone, we’ll abide by it
What are we talking about? Can the president believe that all these people are wrong? Can he believe that all of us are wrong?
Can he believe that the media institutions that are custodians with some information and intelligence of what is going on in the country are also wrong by advising him? Unfortunately, we are a nation where so many sycophants have taken over the system.
From what you are describing, what is democracy under Tinubu’s government and how would you describe it?
Well, let me say that in every democracy, not just about Tinubu, it is about the safety of life and properties of Nigerians. If you take the statistics of what is going on, you know that the government has failed in terms of providing law and order in the country.
Why do you say that?
Are you aware of the level of insecurity going on around the country? I’m sure you are aware. Even last week or so, the kind of people were kidnapped, people were killed and people were maimed.
Now, yes, there are areas which you can say there are improvements. The number of kidnappings has dropped, but it has not stopped. Now, in a nation that cannot fit its citizens, you are talking about democracy here that cannot fit its citizens. What position are they taking in terms of defining their government?
In a nation where you cannot get justice, where the judiciary delivers judgement based on what they think is right, not based on reality and facts available to them, which the president lays as a foundation for the decision he has taken in Rivers State because he mentioned about the Supreme Court’s judgement as it relates to Rivers State.
Now, we are in a nation where the judiciary is not living up to expectations of Nigerians; a nation where you have the strongest arm of government, the National Assembly, not living to the expectation of Nigerians, they go outside their own rules in conducting their business without reading and understanding the implication to the nation.
I think virtually every factor that you are looking for, you are shopping for anywhere in any shopping mall, that define democracy, have been violated under the Tinubu government. That is the reality we are facing. Not to talk of human rights abuse, not to talk of intimidation and harassment.
Would it be fair to put all the blame of the past administration on this government that is less than two years in office?
There is nothing like that in governance. Governance is about continuity. President Bola Tinubu is aware of the rotten situation or the rotten system he inherited. He promised to fix them.
He campaigned on them, and at a point, he said that if I do not provide electricity to all Nigerians within four years, don’t vote for me again, which means that he understood clearly what he wanted to do, what he wanted to achieve, and what are the deliverables. He has analysed them. He concluded that he will solve the problem. Now, one of the things he has inherited is insecurity.
There’s no doubt about it. It’s not just him. Even the other administrations inherited that. In 1999, there was a report that there would be pockets of crisis across the geopolitical zones. So, every president that came into office got a security report and intelligence of what the country is going through.
So, what we expected is that the president would prioritise what he wants to achieve. The first thing he did was remove the subsidy. In a nation that was already enveloped by poverty, insecurity, rascality, and lack of deterrence, the subsidy was removed.
Which was a campaign promise by most of the presidential candidates at the time…
They did not say they would remove it 100 per cent. This is not the first time subsidy was removed. Every president that understands the dynamics and the peculiarities of his own country knows that you cannot go all the hug and remove it completely. You have to do it bit by bit, so that you feel the pulse of the people, of the citizens.
You seem to be describing Nigeria as derailing under this government. What is your fear?
Not just under this government. I fear that he inherited the system that was derailing. I expect that he will stop the derailing. That was my expectation.
I’ve always said that my expectation of President Tinubu is that he will perform better than even former President Muhammadu Buhari.
I have nothing against him as a president, but I have everything against the policy that they are pursuing that has no human face. That doesn’t recognize the dignity of the citizens. I have mentioned it, maybe for the sake of repetition, the protection of the life and property of Nigerians.
Would you say that security is worse off right now than about two years ago before this government came into office? What is the improvement from what you know? Do we have improvement in the agricultural culture that is related to insecurity?
Farmers cannot go to the farm. It depends on where you’re talking about in the North-West. In Katsina State, there’s still banditry going on.
In Zamfara State, there’s still banditry going on. Part of Kebbi State, there’s still banditry going on. Part of Kaduna State, there’s still banditry going on.
You can exclude Kano and Jigawa states. But in all these states where you have banditry that has been entrenched, it has been reduced but still constitutes a major threat.
In your assessment, how would you describe this government in terms of focus, purpose and performance based on promises made during the campaign?
I have said that before. Governance is not about an individual. There’s nothing like monopoly of knowledge and wisdom. That is why there’s a division of labour in governance. The cabinet should be up to date with the reality of Nigeria and with what Nigerians are facing.
You can imagine the post by the youth corps member that turned into controversy because she was crying that she cannot afford to buy a crate of egg. She was threatened. Is that democracy? Is that freedom of expression as enshrined in our constitution?
The NYSC as an institution is threatening her? Do they know what she goes through? These are millions of people who are dying in silence. Please spare time and go to the hospital. People cannot pay their bills. They are dying because of sicknesses.
There’s no attention. If you take somebody who needs medical attention in the hospital, the protocol associated with admitting him, he will die before he’s been admitted to the hospital.
Is that one of the reasons why your party has suddenly become the beautiful bride to most politicians and those who are aggrieved in the APC?
My responsibility as leader of the party is to consult as much as possible. I’m not going to disclose those I’m consulting. It is within my strategy to give everybody his respect but in due course, we’ll cross the bridge. But we are on consultation.
We are reaching out to people that will create an impact, that will change society and make sure that we have a great country.
So, the consultation is ongoing. I don’t want to make Mrs Aisha Binani an issue, but let me tell you this. Virtually every day, we receive decampees into SDP from every state of the federation. If you check, you will see there are over 300 resignation letters from VIPs.
Some of them were senators and some of them were ministers that are joining the party. So, it’s not about just one individual. Some of them are not really from APC. Some of them belong to other political parties. Like the ones I received, they belong to about four political parties.
Talk about the ones that we know, who are prominent like Nasir El-Rufai and Mrs. Binani, who was an APC governorship candidate in Adamawa State in the 2023 elections…
Binani has not joined SDP. If you follow Nasir El-Rufai’s trajectory in APC, he said that APC left him. APC left him a long time ago. And he made up his mind also to leave. And of course, I’m a leader of a political party. I’m to provide a base for every politician, irrespective of dissent.
That is why we have multiple political parties registered by law. And we are not antagonistic to this present government. We did not create their problem. I’m a leader of a political party. My mission is to take over the government as a leader of a political party.
What else is my mission? The mission of APC is to retain power. The mission of the PDP is to take over the government. PDP was in government for 16 years. So what is wrong with what I’m doing? I’m doing it within the ambit of the law.
Are you retaining your presidential candidate in the last election?
He was our former presidential candidate. We have not conducted presidential primaries. INEC has no release timetable for the presidential primaries.
I don’t know where the issue is coming from. Look, we have not discussed that. That has not come to discussion at all. And I wouldn’t want to go into this.
Is your party going to be the face of the coalition that a lot of people have been mouthing?
We are ready for that. We have our court of conduct. That is why we told everyone, anyone who is willing to join SDP should go and join as an individual in his ward in his local government or
Anyone who is willing to join SDP should go and join as an individual in his ward in his local government or his state, so that we can build a party that will look like the ANC of South Africa
his state, so that we can build a party that will look like the ANC of South Africa where the party is supreme.
You’ve worked with Atiku Abubakar, is he coming to your party too?
I won’t get there until we get there. Let me tell you, SDP is an excellent platform for any career politician and anybody who wants to join politics. We make sure we abide by the rules. We make sure we are very strict. We make sure there is also there’s deterrence.
Nobody is indispensable as far as the party is concerned. Once you breach the law, the law will take its course. There must be discipline in the political party. So, what I’m saying is that the party is open to any genuine Nigerian who wants to join the party and aspire to any position.
The moment you register as a member of the party, you can contest from councillor to the president. There’s no restriction at all. Unless we are in a situation where a waiver is needed, the party will sit down and consider giving a waiver. There are a lot of groupings and meetings going on.
I’m not part of those groupings. I’m not part of those coalitions meeting that is going on because I am a chairman of a political party and I’m not supposed to be part of all these group discussions going on. They have their conflicted interests embedded in those meetings that are going on. But the moment they made up their mind, this is their decision, they want to join the SDP, SDP will welcome them 100 per cent.
But your SDP is not ready for the coalition? What do you mean by coalition?
They can form a force and join as members of SDP without any precondition because the moment you start giving conditions, there is a rivalry for crisis. And it’s a crisis we are avoiding. We are running away from the crisis because every movement has its virus.
So, if you don’t have a strong antidote to that virus, you better maintain the status quo, and make sure that you pilot the affairs of the party up to the point of elections or primaries where people will be properly elected without interference of the judiciary and so on because these days, functions of parties have been taken by judiciary.
The functions of INEC have been also taken by the judiciary. So, we have to be very careful how we navigate through this difficult period that we are in our democratic journey.
Does your party agree with the belief in the unwritten rotational principle that the South should retain power?
You said unwritten. Yes, we had that case up to the Supreme Court, the case of Donald Duke versus Prof. Jerry Gana. Rotation is an internal understanding of a political party.
It’s not a constitutional thing. If the stakeholders at the appropriate time sit down, agree and say let us zone the presidency to a particular geopolitical zone, we’ll abide by it.
We are democrats; we will not force our way all through. We expect that we are there to provide a clean slate for every Nigerian to aspire to whatever position he wants to aspire to.
What role will El-Rufai be playing in your party?
Nasir El-Rufai is an asset and you know that. He’s a workaholic and we believe that he will add value to SDP. We don’t have a monopoly of knowledge and wisdom. We need people with extra capacity to add value to what we are doing. And no party knows it all.
When you have a convergence of people that believe in the future of Nigeria, believe in the supremacy of the institution, that can punish people, that can create deterrence, that can create an opening, then you have a party that you can be proud of.
You cannot have a party that has a manifesto and you elect the president and he starts implementing his agenda. The manifesto of the party is also supreme.
Anything outside that, the party cannot stand the test of time. President Tinubu is an individual. Nigeria has produced a lot of talents and brilliant people as leaders of the country, both in the military and civilian administration.
What I’m going to say is that President Jonathan invested heavily to return to power and had some brilliant people in his cabinet. But because of some missing steps, he lost the election.
Anyone can lose election. It’s not about individual’s strategy. If there’s brilliance, if there’s efficacy in power, they wouldn’t have been making the mistake they are making today.
So, it’s left for individual analysis and perception. We believe that there are surplus of talents untapped in Nigeria, who can provide leadership.
So, do you think you can beat President Tinubu to this game in 2027?
As a party, my strategy is to beat APC and to unseat them from power and it is very possible. You forgot that PDP was in power for 16 years. APC went and packaged what they needed to package at that time because PDP refused to do the right thing and they dislodged PDP.
You’re talking about somebody who has been in office for two years; there’s no need for comparison. The feeling is you need to take the pulse of the country.
As politicians, we don’t operate with guns. Our gun is our thumb. And we’ll apply it when the time comes. If the government is doing the needful, probably there will be no need for such a thing.
If they were listening to the feelings of Nigerians and free consultation services being offered, probably they might be lucky. I think the game is up for them.
And I’ve said it the last time, I did not mix words. Jonathan lost the election two years before the election. Go and check the statistics.
