EXCLUSIVE: Nigeria To Get Northern President In 2019 – PDP (PHOTOS & VIDEO)

In this exclusive interview with Naij.com, the national publicity secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oliseh Metuh, has said that Nigerians should expect a northern president from the party come the 2019 elections. Metuh also had some scathing words for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Oliseh Metu

Naij.com: Four months and at last we have the ministerial list from President Muhammadu Buhari. Did the list meet your party’s expectations?

Metuh: We do not have any expectation; we do not have any problem. It is completely at the discretion of Mr. President to nominate the people that he believes he can work with. Our quarrel has to do with the length of time that it took him. If after elections, immediately after he was sworn in, two weeks after, Mr. President had presented the list, people would have congratulated him.

Because most of them are politicians and known to us: some of them served our party despite the fact whether this is completely correct in terms of the atmosphere of the anti-corruption agenda or whether it is age sensitive or whatever. The issue is that most of them are quite competent; nobody can deny them that.

But for him to take five months to bring out such a regular list of people; people who worked with him in his party, people who campaigned with him, people he was seeing everyday after five months. It took him five months – it took him five months; it means that the president did not attach any importance to ministers. He believes that ministers are not so important and they are not people he should work with or maybe he wants to put them in such a position that would not wield any influence. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why the president will spend five months to bring up this same list of people who are quite known to him.

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Naij.com: Also on the ministerial list is your colleague in the opposition Lai Mohammed. What is your take on him? Do you think he is capable, and what ministry do you think he can perform well in?

Metuh: We do not have any opinion on whoever they want to make minister, it is the discretion of the president. For Lai Mohammed, we are happy that he has been appointed minister all we insist is that the same propaganda, deceit that he spewed as the national publicity of the All Progressives Congress party should not be brought in into governance. He should understand that these are two different things. Nigerians do not want lies. Nigerians do not want deceit or propaganda. He cannot behave in that manner in government. As an opposition party he used it as a tool; that was not why they were elected. We know what happened but that kind of behaviour is not what someone will display in governance. Well, he should be honest and be careful of his integrity because he is serving the nation. No more selling lies and  he should not see himself as a personal aide or the leader of APC again but as an officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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Naij.com: Governor Akpabio is recently under investigation and questioning by the EFCC over a petition by a lawyer. Speaking with journalists on Sunday, October 18 you said President Buhari’s anti-graft war is selective but the senator after media inquires said he voluntarily honoured the commission’s invitation. Does this not contradict your view of the agency and the present administration?

Metu: No, there is no contradiction whatsoever, and our statement is not on Akpabio as a person.

Naij.com: But this statement came after the former Akwa Ibom state governor visited the EFCC the second time.

Metu: Our statement is on the opposition party, that PDP people are being, because we got a report from our leaders and our members, elected members that they are being intimidated, threatened and cowed by the agents of the opposition party.

That they should join their party or not be quite active in PDP so that they would not have cases with EFCC being magnified and they will not be hounded. This is a political witch hunt and we believe if like Akpabio said that he got a call from the EFCC, why didn’t Amaechi get the call, why didn’t Fashola get the call, why didn’t Kwankwaso get the call, why didn’t Fayemi get the call? They have petitions against them in the EFCC. Why is it only PDP members that are getting the calls?

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Now we are not getting into the issues that made him to be invited, we believe that the former governor of Akwa Ibom state is very capable and competent to defend whatever allegation they have against him, that is for him to defend. So he can as well be invited, our quarrel is not the fact that he was invited but that the invitation is selective and it is being extended only to members of the people’s Democratic Party.

Naij.com: But Amaechi is also facing petitions from PDP senators against him which has obviously deferred his screening at the Senate.

Metu: Is the president in charge of the PDP senators?

Naij.com: But that has also delayed his screening, at least the Senate president is APC.

Metu: Is he in charge of the Senate? Let’s not forget that this witch-hunt was extended to the perceived opponents of the president. And it was completely applied on the Senate president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Senator Bukola Saraki has been a victim of this witch-hunt as well.

Naij.com: Recently, the tribunal has sacked no less than four PDP senators; Yobe, Taraba, Enugu. Don’t you think this is an indication that the party has discipline issues especially during elections?

Metu: We have faith in the judiciary and the tribunal but we have heard cases of some people trying to interfere with the tribunal matters and other judicial cases. Our response is to inform the Chief Justice of Nigeria that such people should be called to order. The president of the court of appeal has decided on her own to interfere with cases on tribunal matters in favour of the APC. We would not want to believe that because of the sensitive position she occupies, but in case it is true, our advice to her is that she refrain from such because it will put the independence of the judiciary into question and it will be very bad for the development of our judicial system.

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Naij.com: Despite the tribunal rulings, with your findings and investigations are there any words for PDP party members, especially in Kogi and Bayelsa, on discipline and conduct at elections?

Metu: We know that we would win the elections, our people are committed. In Kogi state our governor is a very humble man, loving and forgiving, hardworking; a responsible family man contesting against a proud, arrogant opponent who has a case in the EFCC and yet APC has allowed him to fly their flag.

In Bayelsa state, we have a hardworking governor, the best governor Bayelsa has ever had going to contest for a second time, he is equally facing someone who has EFCC cases hanging on his neck while our people are busy being condemned. In the ongoing anti-corruption war, APC people are being celebrated with cases of anti-corruption hanging on their necks.

Naij.com: With the PDP as the ruling party during the campaign, the European Union just released a report that the government-owned media houses were dominated by the PDP, and recently at the Red Media event, the presidential aide Garba Shehu said the APC was victimized during the elections in terms of campaign coverage. Do you agree with that?

Metuh: I totally disagree with the EU. Now, I know that during the campaign I had a lot of debate with the APC publicity secretary Lai Mohammaed during that period. But I ask: why is the EU mentioning FRCN and NTA? Why did they not mention Channels during the election? Why did they not mention the print media? What happened with the Nation? The Sun, where Femi Adesina was the editor and used it to promote his party; Daily Trust, Leadership, do I go on?

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What happened with the print media? Why will the EU be talking about government-owed media houses? What about the Lagos media? What about print and other electronic media? What about the new media, the social media?

You see in politics, people will want to defend interests that they serve. Throughout the campaign we tried as much as possible to reach out to the European Union to see the effectiveness of our political party, but I know that they were one of those that predicted that there would be a change in government.

So justifying it by stating what happened in NTA and FRCN, for which they did not come up with any evidence, is not something I can sit down here to explain, but it is within my knowledge and I will say truthfully that I did have debates with Lai Mohammed on NTA. We did not just have one. No, FRCN sponsored two, three programmes, I think. But in terms of the advert or in terms of the news content, I will honestly tell you that I did not observe it. It was not obvious to me, but it was obvious to me that the print media were totally against PDP. It was quite obvious to me but it was brought to my attention that for some reason Channels TV were a bit biased against the PDP. It is something that I cannot prove or can say that happened during the election. So it depends in how one looks at it, it is quite objective [sic].

Naij.com: But then the EU in their report is worried about the fact that the PDP had control – as the ruling party then – over these government-owned media.

Metuh: Not the PDP, the government. And because I do not speak for the government, I was never speaking for the government. It is not an area I would like to elaborate on because the facts are not within my knowledge. I have told you what I know. I had debates with Lai Mohammed on NTA but in terms of their news content, we were so busy that we were not fixated on monitoring NTA or FRCN. But from what I heard, because I was not meeting with the APC people, I would not know they complaints against NTA and all, but I was meeting with PDP people and they had complaints against Lagos media, against the print media, against Channels.

Naij.com: The past election has come and gone. Of course there were gains and losses at the centre, what does it feel like being in the opposition?

Metuh: I once said it is cold and people were laughing at me but truthfully it is quite cold. It is quite cold not physically but, well, mentally because you cannot understand why you would be in the company of people who should be decent and credible and you lose election, and within weeks of losing election they are announcing that they are leaving your party. It makes you question fundamentally the character of such people because if you had left us before the election we would say that you had problems with us, but to leave us after the elections means that you came for the benefits not necessarily to work. And truly you did not come to serve your people, and even in opposition there is service.

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What we are doing now is to serve our people besides serving at the political party. We want to ensure that democracy exists in the country and we are checking on balances if the tenets and principles of democracy is well-practiced in the country, and that is what we are doing in the opposition. But for people who actually felt that it is about office, or about getting appointments, we wish them well. We hope that they get it, if they do not get it we would not feel sorry for them. But for us, it was quite cold to us then but we are getting over it. We are now much more concerned with acting in our position as a credible opposition party.

Naij.com: Do you think the party made mistakes, and also what plans do you have to move the party forward?

Metuh: We made mistakes, one of the greatest mistakes was that we allowed executive interference at the political party and it did not start with President Jonathan, it started a long time; it started with President Obasanjo. We should not have allowed that. Right now we are going to have supremacy of the party and that is what we are building in the states and at the national level.

When we come back to power in 2019, it will be a different PDP; a PDP where the party will have much more say in governance than anything. We were completely – I would not say excluded or sidelined in terms of governance – but no PDP official can tell you that he was in control or had such an influence on governance. We will not allow it happen again.

Naij.com: So hopefully there would be reforms?

Metuh: We are already doing the reform. Today we are being condemned for actions or inactions of people who served our government. So next time we make sure that since we know that what they do affects our party, we would have a better control of the activities, especially of those appointed.

Naij.com: What do you miss most about the past administration?

Metuh: The humility and the openness of the former president Goodluck Jonathan. The fact that the former president was actually a democrat in nature and in practice. The fact that he was quite tolerant and he had a peaceful disposition. We miss him.

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The transparency, the manner with which he tried to explain things and conduct the affairs of the government, not withstanding that some of the people that served him maybe must have been misapplied that trust. But the president’s honesty, simplicity is what I miss most. His democratic credentials is being missed right now in Nigeria. There is nobody, even APC members are missing President Jonathan’s democratic credentials.

Naij.com: Yes, but President Muhammadu Buhari in an interview with CNN said he is a changed democrat.

Metuh: We are not seeing it. He has been inviting PDP people, hounding them, cowing them, threatening them; allowing the law enforcement agencies to threaten and cow them. We are not seeing the changed democrat.

Naij.com: About women’s inclusion in government, the past administration tried to implement the 35% affirmation for women. Do you see that happening with this administration?

Metuh: I have not seen that and it is left for the Nigerian women to know whether they would support such a political party. Well I think it is for the advantage of the PDP. It is to our advantage that they are not respecting, they are not gender sensitive to women and they are not friendly to women in the country.

Naij.com: On security, do you think we are getting it right?

Metuh: No, we would not address the issue of security. The PDP has taken a policy that we would not make any statement on the issue of security. We all know that as at March, April, May before we handed over power, Nigeria was a bit secured and the problem of insurgency had gone down, but because of what happened is two years ago, three years ago incessant criticisms and statements that sought to divide our people, to divide us on tribal and religious lines, to separate the government from the people by the opposition party. We would not want to be guilty of such because it is capable of motivating and inspiring the insurgents to continue what they were doing. So, we refrain from making any comments. However, the president has said that it will take him two weeks when he is in government; we allowed him. He said two months from here; we allowed that. Now he said December. After December 31, if we have any comment to make then we would but we are praying that by the grace of God by then we would have been free of all these insurgencies.

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Naij.com: On the late former Bayelsa governor Diepreye Alameighesia of the PDP, any legacies?

Metuh: I was with him four days at a meeting before he died. I had a meeting with him on the issue of Bayelsa. I met with him and the deputy Senate president and we discussed the issue of Bayelsa and our chances and the role that will be played. Only to get the sad news four days later. The circumstances are very unfortunate. He was a decent man, loved by his people; first class warrior, military officer, someone who defended the rights of his people. Sad ending, may God allow his soul to rest in peace. Amen.

Naij.com: On the announcement of his demise people, especially on social media, have doubted his death due to his dramatic dressing incident at the airport years back. What are your views on that?

Metuh: If you say the social media, with the madness and all, do we dignify them with comments? We cannot dignify them with comments when they veer towards insanity. Social media is very good and it is interesting. I have also learnt a lot from it but sometimes when I see people write, I wonder, when they question you: why did PDP zone their president to the north? This is a wrong policy, statutory, I have said it that they do not know anything about strategy. This is someone sitting down in his office writing something that was debated by people who are seasoned politicians by different organs of the party, free from executive interference, free from interference of any government and they debated, discussed and decided that this is in the interest of the party. Then one man will sit down in the confines of his office or room and insult the leaders of the party that did that.

You see, we appreciate the support of our people, we appreciate the fact that in social media right now a lot of people are supporting the People’s Democratic Party but some other people are actually exaggerating – I would not say their importance – exaggerating their knowledge of political affairs. My advice to them is that they should take it easy and to get more knowledge in politics. If you have not run for election before, if you have not been a party official before, when you begin to make your comments, you will be exposing your ignorance and if you are very concerned about what is happening to our party and our government then get involved in politics. It will not disturb from your business: I run my property firm; I run my construction firm; I run my law firm, and I am still in politics. No matter how busy you are, you can still have time for party administration.

Now, going into an era that we are going to have an election, congress for state officers, local government officers and national officers, my invitation to our friends on the social media who are very active is to try to get our party cards and get elected into positions, then their beliefs and their principles they can impact on the development of the party.

Naij.com: Lai Mohammed had earlier offered you training on being an opposition spokesperson, you never took that up. Why?

Metuh: No, no, no, he offered to teach me how to lie and how to dish out propaganda.

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Naij.com: Did you take it up?

Metuh: No, no, no! Ours is different; ours is on issue-based, ours is based on respect for Mr. President and the institution, his person and the institution of the presidency. Ours is on being truthful to the Nigerian people so we cannot go on to learn how to tell lies to the Nigerian people when it is not our focus. So we did not take it up. It was unfortunate that I did not take up that course. I would have loved to learn how people can dish out lies and how people can continuously deceive a people. But you know, you can deceive the people to get into office but you cannot deceive them after five months of having their administration.

What is the economic policy? What is your economic agenda? Are you going to be printing more money like Idi Amin? We would see what would happen next year and in the next 18 months. Like we said, unless this government changes there would be great famine on our land and there is no amount of deceit that can put food on the table of our people and there is no amount of lies that can bring food to the table.

We know that because the government is not doing anything, there is no policy, no economic policy, no economic programme. You see, infrastructural development is completely non-existent in this country. Contractors are being owed a lot of money and nobody is talking about their debts. Nobody is talking about giving out jobs, how would money come into the system and we operate a capitalist system. The government is not doing anything or developments that will bring about employment. Even the false promises that they made to Nigerians on the issue of paying 25 million Nigerians N5,000 every month and giving them free meals, they have denied it.

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Ok, in terms of foreign investments, Nigeria witnessed a lot of foreign investment throughout the 16 years of PDP administration but in five months of APC administration they have reversed that trend. They have reversed it totally. The opportunity of people seeing Nigeria as the heart of Africa, a good place for investments, 90% of foreigners have left this country; 90% of foreign investors have left this country.

Naij.com: But the president has been making a lot of travels towards security and wooing investors.

Metuh: He needs to travel more, you know, it is good for him to travel because he is getting the feeling of being a president, it is a different thing from being a dictator as a head of state. He was a dictator and nobody was receiving him so today he is being received as a head of state and he is enjoying it, but I hope as he is enjoying it and thinking about running again let him influence policies and programmes that will help us grow economically.

Naij.com: In 2019, Nigeria will be having another election. What are we expecting from PDP?

Metuh: Northern presidential candidate.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Nigeria To Get Northern President In 2019 – PDP (PHOTOS & VIDEO) appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read on NAIJ.COM.