Umar Sani is a former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former Vice President Namadi Sambo and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on crisis in the party, threat by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to deal with PDP governors and the disciplinary committee set up by the National Working Committee of the party, among others, ANAYO EZUGWU brings the excerpt:

How did the Peoples Democratic Party get to this point where a member, Nyesom Wike overrules the Board of Trustees, insisting that he is the leader of the PDP in Rivers State and that any governor that tries to interfere in Rivers politics would face crisis in his state?

Let me start by telling you that the state of the Peoples Democratic Party currently is that it is a party that is wobbling and fumbling as Coach Fanny Amun will say because we do not have a stable leadership. Our leadership is not complete because we don’t have a National Chairman.

We have an acting National Chairman and all other positions are intact but the acting National Chairman is the one now running the show and the party is unstable because it is divided into factions. While some people want the acting National Chairman to continue, which is the Wike faction, the other faction led by the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the last general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, wants a substantive National Chairman to emerge.

So, this has placed our party in a very precarious situation where the battle for the soul of the party is very loud and clear. The introduction of Wike’s shenanigans into the party is because, for the first time, the PDP Governors Forum has now taken the bull by the horns to speak the truth.

Previously, the governor’s forum where neither here nor there and so, they left the party at the whims and caprices of the two warring factions. Now that they have decided to wade in, they will correct all the inherent anomalies because, with the constitution of the PDP, it is very clear who is the leader of the party in a particular state.

The governor is the leader of the party in the party in the state and he has to have the structures of the party in that state. No other person supersede him or overrides him in the running of the affairs of the party because if that is done that is a recipe for crisis because we cannot afford to lose Governor Sim Fubara to another political party.

If he feels he is not in charge and he cannot run the affairs of the party in his state, naturally he will look for an avenue where he can adequately do so and that would be catastrophic for the party. So, I welcome the decision of the PDP Governor’s Forum in Jalingo and I support their thinking that they have to do the right thing.

I think Governor Bala Mohammed is now providing the needed leadership that the party requires. I think what they have said is not an empty threat and they would naturally do what is right. And there is no way, for instance, for anybody to say he will cause crisis in any state unless he is saying he will use the instrument of the Federal Government to cause crisis.

But just being a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory cannot go and cause a crisis in any state because he is not the Commander in Chief and he does not have the instrument to cause crisis. I don’t know what type of crisis he means and if he means political crisis, I think all the governors are in charge of their respective states.

So, he cannot go there and cause any political crisis for them. Perhaps, there is another type of crisis he is looking at but whatever crisis it is, I think it is an empty boast and he cannot do anything.

I urge the National Working Committee to follow the pact of the governor’s forum to do the right thing in Rivers State because we cannot afford it at this time we are looking for ways and means to be able to clinch the presidency to now be in disarray.

Our party is getting stronger every day and you can see that Nigerians have come out to condemn the All Progressives Congress (APC) and they have come out to protest against hunger and bad governance and so, their natural alternative is the PDP.

As it is we are looking forward to electing a National Chairman who is competent, has the capacity and the will to drive the party to the next level

How can you aspire to win the next general election when your house is in disarray and one man is holding the entire party to a ransom?

This is an issue of separating the grains from the chaff. When the PDP National Working Committee or the National Executive Committee did not take action against Wike in the past it was because the governor’s forum, which is one of the strongest pressure groups within the PDP, was neither here nor there like I rightly mentioned.

Now that they have taken a stand, you see, he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Within the National Working Committee, some were brought in by Wike, there those who were brought in by Bala Mohammed, there are those who were brought in by Senator Aminu Tambuwal and there are those who were brought in by the Governor of Oyo State, and so it is a combination of people bringing people together.

Now that the governors have decided to wade their stick, the optimism is high and don’t also forget that the National Working Committee is not sleeping. Recently they inaugurated the disciplinary committee of the party and they submitted the name of Nyesom Wike to the disciplinary committee for disciplinary action.

It is left for the disciplinary committee to examine whether Wike is guilty of anti-party or not and whether he needs to be sanctioned or not. The work of the disciplinary committee would show where the National Working Committee is heading and it will show the seriousness of the National Working Committee in taking the necessary steps in the right direction to reposition the party.

Don’t forget that the governor’s forum did not say this is what we are going to do to Wike, they said they would persuade the National Working Committee for them to be able to do the right thing. I think the pressure group that is the strongest is now involved and they have already taken a stand.

Previously, they were wobbling and fumbling like I said and some of them were even going to his office during their trial period when they were in court soliciting for his support. Now that they are firmly on the ground and they have seen the danger that his action is posing to the party, I think they have now decided to do what is right.

My optimism is based on these two factors, that the disciplinary committee is there to do their work and that the governor’s forum is there to put pressure on the party to do the right thing. These two things are making me very excited.

How quickly will the party be able to deal with Wike, do you think that the party would be able to deal with him and is this man not going to consume your party?

For every organization there has to be a procedure that we have to take to be able to do something and that is the rule of law. In the rule of law, even if a judge sees you committing a crime and then you come before him, he will not say I saw you committing the crime.

If he wants to say I saw you committing the crime then he has to leave that position of being the judge and now become a witness to the crime. Wike may have even boasted severally but at the time he boasted the party was in turmoil over the issue of Iyorchia Ayu’s removal and so many other things that put the party in crisis.

Now that the party is gradually finding its feet, the issue of Ayu is no longer there because he has already withdrawn his case in court, so nobody will use Ayu’s case in court as an alibi to argue that something has not been done. And for the first time PDP has been able to set up two committees, a reconciliation committee and a disciplinary committee, which is following the due process. Whether Wike is guilty or not would be determined by the disciplinary committee.

So, if the disciplinary committee does not do their work that is when it will not be laughable. I agree that he who pays the piper dictates the turn sometimes but not in all cases. Now that the governors’ forum who are the major beneficiary of his largesse, who have been very silent because of what they have gained from him one way or the other in terms of assistance are now up and doing and they have now decided that enough is enough, I think we are now on the right pact.

And following that right pact, it is an easy way to deal with Wike because anytime you see Wike abusing anybody it means that they have fallen out. You saw him abusing former governor Peter Odili and his wife they have fallen out. You saw him abusing Uche Secondus they have fallen out and anytime he falls out with anybody he goes to the podium and performs his miracle.

So, for him to have even gone to Port Harcourt on the stage to say that any governor who has done this, is a sign of defeat and he knows that with the pressure of the governors, everything he has done would be reversed. If you look at him on that stage and what he has been saying, he would say INEC is here and the security agencies are here, he is trying to legitimacy the congress so that when he goes to court, which is his regular area of expertise, he would now be able to say INEC was there and security was there so that his argument would be valid.

This is an internal affair of the party and the party has the right to cancel a congress that has been conducted if it is satisfied that the congress did not follow the procedure. So, when the governors’ forum meets the National Working Committee, I think they would be able to resolve the matter. I can assure you that addressing it cannot take that long and I know that what you said about Wike being strong in the party is correct.

He is strong in the party because some of the party people are doing his bidding. But at the moment, let me tell you that the actual person who brought Umar Damagum is not Wike but Bala Mohammed. So, if Bala Mohammed is no longer on the side of Wike, then it means that Damagum would have to go back to his position.

This is how it works, previously Bala Mohammed was unconcern but now he is concerned and so the resolution of this crisis would be very easy if all the principal officers and key actors agreed to work with the governors’ forum to be able to right the wrongs that Wike has done. I think that is not a difficult task which would be done very soon. And I can assure you that we cannot agree and we cannot afford to lose Sim Fubara to another political party.

How do you think that the PDP can be rescued since it seems that the peace and reconciliation effort led by the Board of Trustees chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara doesn’t seem to be working?

The Board of Trustees is the conscience of the party unfortunately, the constitution of the party does not give them any supervisory or any active role in super-intending over the National Working Committee and the final body in the party is the National Executive Committee and the National Convention.

The BoT is only advisory and whatever the BoT does, it is not binding on the party. For anybody to say that the party is being led by unstable characters well that is an opinion anybody can hold but to me it is not about whether people are unstable or stable, it is because we do not even have a head. We do not have a National Chairman at the moment.

We have an acting National Chairman. As it is we are looking forward to electing a National Chairman who is competent, has the capacity and the will to drive the party to the next level. From all indications, these things are possible and they will materialize.

Are you looking at taking the threat made by Mr Wike very seriously especially with regards to him setting fire in the states if any of the state governors are in support of Governor Fubara?

In Nigeria, security agencies don’t take such type of statements especially when it comes from somebody who is in government or somebody sympathetic to the government very seriously. Many careless statements have been made in the past and nobody has done anything.

For instance, my former governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had spoken about the body bags and nobody cared. So, Wike understands the terrain properly and he knows that whatever he says nothing will happen. So, he can now open his mouth and say whatever he likes.

In a society where the rule of law is very pertinent, he would have been invited to tell the security agencies what he means by setting fire in certain states why he wants to set fire and so many other relevant questions. What he is trying to do is to send a threat to the governors to say resign your position or I will deal with you but I think the governors are now unanimous and because they are unanimous it now puts him in a very precarious situation.

So, the only thing left for him is to threaten them because he cannot follow them individually and begin to abuse them or beat them or do anything to persuade them from their position, the only thing is to send them a note of warning, don’t do what you want to do and allow me to lead my state. That is what he is trying to say and I don’t think that threat is anything to go by. He has no capacity, although he has an excellent hand of mischief but I don’t think he can deal with 13 governors.