Baraje Dismisses APC’s Boasts, Insists PDP Remains Strong Despite Defections — Says current defections lack ideological basis

By Omowumi Omotosho

Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, has downplayed the recent wave of defections from the PDP, insisting that the party remains a formidable opposition despite the defections and the propaganda being peddled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking on Wednesday, during an interview session on Arise TV, Baraje asserted that politics is fundamentally a matter of personal aspirations and wishes, and that the ruling party’s interpretation of defections should not be mistaken for facts on the ground.

“As far as I’m concerned, and as a bona fide member of the PDP, which is one of the strongest opposition parties in the country, anybody can say anything he likes or he wishes. Politics is about dreams. It’s about aspirations. So the wish of anybody is his own personal consumption. If the APC is saying what they are saying, I think that’s their wish. Then the opposition, to remember, are there. They are not just sleeping, ” he said.

Baraje maintained that the PDP remains intact and vibrant despite high-profile defections such as that of the Delta State Governor.

“In spite of what you call the gale of defection, as far as I’m concerned, defection or no defection, the PDP is still a party that is very strong on ground as an opposition party. And as far as the defection of the Delta state governor and the team are concerned, we have put that one behind us in PDP, and we are looking forward. So it depends on the wish and aspiration of everybody in whatever party. And the ruling party has a right to say whatever they want to say. But the oppositions are not sleeping,” he stated further.

Comparing the current defections to those in 2014 that led to the formation of the APC, Baraje explained that the earlier movement was rooted in ideological dissatisfaction and not mere personal ambitions.

He said: ” In 2014 and now, well, there are some comparisons you may draw, but they are totally different. The movement of the then New PDP was based on ideology, was based on principles, was based on the desire and aspirations of the people that moved. Remember, many of us that moved that time, there were serving governors, there were former governors, there were serving senators, and there was somebody like me who was a former national secretary and a former national chairman. And you know politicians, we have aspirations”

He emphasized that the defection then was a result of unmet expectations and the party’s failure to deliver dividends to the people.

“So what will we say we wanted, but we did not have in PDP that time? Our members, our people were not getting the result of what we asked for, vote for. Then we decided to dialogue with the leadership of the party that time, led by President Goodluck Jonathan, that our people were not getting the democratic dividends. There were manifestos, canvassed for vote through, you know, some promises to the people. But our people were not getting these promises, ” Baraje explained.

He further revealed that the group had presented nine demands to then-President Goodluck Jonathan, stating that “we came up with about nine demands, that once those demands were met, we will remain in the party. None of the demands was personal or self-driven.

“So all the reasons we gave were based on principles. All the reasons we gave were based on the wish and the welfare of our people. We started with those nine reasons.

We came down to five after dialoguing. And at the end of the day, we even came down to one. That’s compromise. That’s sacrifice. This took about four months, if you recollect. And when we even came down to compromise eight out of nine reasons and said the president should just do one and we shall come back to the party, that one was not done. So we had reason to go.”

By contrast, Baraje dismissed the current defections as lacking ideological basis, stating further that “the present gale of defections have no reasons. They were unreasonable, but that’s their own reason anyway. As far as the latest defection in Delta States is concerned, as far as I’m concerned, I think,we the leaders of PDP have put that one behind us. What we are trying to do now is to look ahead and see what is possible.”

Speaking on alliances, Baraje did not rule out the possibility of political coalitions to unseat the APC but stressed that this must be driven by genuine purpose.

“Looking at the possibility of parties coming together to work, yes, it is possible, very, very possible. We had it that time. And I want to beat my chest at this moment that it was the possible merger of other political parties that brought in APC.

“And as a matter of fact, it was the merger of the New PDP then that came in with five governors, larger than any other group, that gave the ticket to APC, even if it was not recognized by the then-president Buhari. And instead of having a partner’s backing for it, all our discussions, all our agreements were violated, were not followed. And that was the reason why we left APC and came back to PDP. We quickly retraced our steps. We realized that they were not the kind of people that we can work with. So there are a lot of differences in the then defection and now,” he explained further.

He also clarified what he said about APC bringing in foreigners into the 2015 elections to influence the outcome of polls.

” Let me first of all say that the idea of bringing people from outside the country to destabilize wasn’t what I meant. I didn’t say they brought people to destabilize. What I said was that they actually brought people into the country with the intention that those people will come and vote for them.

” And they never realized, they never knew, they were never convinced that they were going to win that election because PDP was very, very strong on ground. So the fear was that they were going to lose the election. So the only thing they could do was to bring in people who could serve as mercenaries to come and win elections for them through the back door.

“But when the New PDP came on board and joined them to form the APC and won the election, they didn’t know what to do with those people. And in the process, those people became uncontrollable. I mean, many people have spoken about that. It was not only me,” he narrated.

Baraje insisted that the economic and political landscape has worsened since the APC took power.

“The scenario or the dynamics have changed. And what has changed the dynamics? What were the problems on ground that time? Are they still there? Or they are not there? What was the economy of the country between 2014-15 when the APC was coming on board? What is it now? What was it when the idea of Emilokan came on board? What is happening now? What was the strength of the economy of the country then ? What is it now? Are we any better? These are questions we should ask ourselves. And then as a party, these are questions we go to the boardroom to ask ourselves and to give answers to how to make it better,” he argued.

He added that ” as bad as it is now. I’m sure if the PDP comes in, if we are given the opportunity to come in, it will not be as bad or from bad to worse as it is now.

On the question of insecurity being seen to be partisan, Baraje was cautious not to politicize the issue, even as he acknowledged the severity of the situation.

He said: “I wouldn’t say it’s partisan. Because the issue of insecurity in Nigeria is not isolated. Insecurity is an issue all over the world nowadays. But it was not as escalated as it is today. Which means enough attention or enough solution has not been taken, has not been given to the issue of security in Nigeria. One will have thought that one of the cardinal answers to the problems Nigerians have is to solve the insecurity first. But it’s going from bad to worse. So, insecurity is not isolated to Nigeria. It’s a global thing, but I think if the PDP gets there, the PDP will do far, far better than what is happening now.”

On the way forward for the PDP, Baraje said while the exit of some members came unexpectedly, the party has “gotten over the shock” and is focused on rebuilding its strength ahead of upcoming internal meetings and the national convention.

“First of all, we have removed panic because we have gotten over the shock of Delta. I must confess it was a shock because where you don’t have any quarrel, you don’t have any cause to say that any member or a group of people are complaining, suddenly they just wake up one day and say they are going. You get a shock, fine, but we’ve gotten over the shock,” he said.

He explained that PDP is not taking the defections lightly, stating that “what some of us are telling ourselves in the PDP is that enough is enough. Let’s stop talking about the defection in Delta. Now we sit down in roundtable and you can see what our governors have done within the last three days.

“And that’s to tell you that we are moving forward. One step after the other.

” These problems did not come in one day. These problems came as a result of one reason or the other. These problems were caused by people, were caused by situation. Were they caused by the aspiration of some people? Were they caused by the defiance of some people? These are the questions we are asking ourselves. So, to me, that’s where we are concerned. We are moving ahead. And the solutions have been taken one after the other,” he concluded.