In this interview with our correspondence, comrade D. Z. Warmate, a stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from ward five (5) in Asari-Toru LGA of Rivers State and Leader of the Concerned PDP League (CPDPL), bears his mind on why the Concerned PDP League (CPDPL) is critical about his party’s leadership, zoning, 2023 presidency, and other issues.
Q. We know you are a political and diplomatic historian, a freelance
writer and investigative reporter, and a politician, how did you
get into politics?
A. I was introduced to politics at a very tender age by my father (of sweet & best memory) and politics runs in my family.
Q. Please explain?
A. My father was a career trade unionist. He brought National
Union of Local Government Employer (NULGE) to Rivers State
and also he was a pioneer executive member of Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Amalgamated
Duck Workers Union (ADWU), and five other unions in Rivers
State. He was also a national officer in some. And when he retired from
trade unionism, he joined politics.
He was appointed the campaign coordinator of the Asari-Toru
local government area by the party and the Governorship flag
bearer of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Chief Rufus
Ada George.
In the 1993 gubernatorial election, he gave him/NRC
the second-largest votes (92%) out of the 23 local government
areas in Rivers state. Then I was a teenager but was taken along
by my dad sometimes to attend political meetings, which birthed
my interest in politics.
The same trend continued when democracy was restored and
PDP came on board. He was a founding member of PDP in Asari-Toru LGA/Rivers state. There was an issue that involved the then chairman, councilors, and some Stakeholders in the LGA and party. My father and some elders of the party came together and resolved the matter.
One of the conditions for that was for my father to accept to be
appointed as the secretary to the council by the chairman to
provide guidance as a precursor to avoid a repeat of such a crisis
in the overall interest of the party. All these times, I followed my
father (of blessed memory) to his meetings.
The chairman was impressed with the way I was following my dad to
meetings which sometimes last till 3:am. He offered to appoint me as his special assistant but my dad told him to rather appoint me as his own special assistant because, I was in the university in Abuja, and as such, will not be available most time. Following my dad to his political meetings became my holiday job.
That made me get involved in student politics to the point that, I became vice president and two-time president of the National Union of Rivers State Student (NURSS) the University of Abuja Chapter, Secretary committee on Executive matters of the National Union of Rivers State Student Senate (NURSS SENATE), Vice President Student Historical Society of Nigeria and
even attempted Student/faculty representative and Student
Union Government president (SUG) elections.
In 2008, I was appointed as the Personal Assistant (PA) to the Special Assistant (SA) to the governor of Rivers State on PDP HQ, Federal Executive Council and Council of State Affairs and Governor’s Forum, but later resigned and went for my Master degree at the University of Ilorin.
My passion for politics became so strong, I resigned as the Abuja
director and Executive Assistant to the CEO/Chairman of KAR
academy, and later also as Senior Officer, Monitory and Evaluation with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to contest my Constituency state House of Assembly Seat in 2011 and 2014, respectively.
I have many uncles that are politicians but one outstanding one
is Chief P. G. Warmate (of blessed memory). He was part of those
that fought for the creation of old Rivers state and had been in
politics since the time of Dr. Nnamdi Azekiwa (of blessed
memory). Now you can see how I got entangled in politics.
Q. The group led by you started the Secondus must go/NWC
must resign and since then, Concerned PDP League has been
critical about the leadership of the party, why?
A. Yes, you are very correct that we started it before the big
fishes took over the matter. And we were to be critical about PDP
because some of our leaders failed us in 2015. I believe you
already know now that, PDP Won the 2015 election for APC. The
same thing happened in 2019.
In 2015 however, some of the leaders of PDP betrayed and sold
out the party but in 2019, there was a lack of purposeful and
united front. Many of the party leaders were not happy that, the
former vice president, his excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar just
jumped back into the party and took the ticket after abandoning
the party and contributed to its election misfortune.
So as young stakeholders, we don’t want that to repeat again. This informed our decision to start examining our party and its leadership. In doing so, we discovered that Nigerians were very unhappy with PDP for failing to provide reasonable opposition and complained bitterly that, there is no opposition party in Nigeria and that, APC was its own opposition. Then we knew our great party, the PDP was nose-diving and would crash if care was not taken.
That was why we started the Secondus Must Go and later the National Working Committee (NWC) must resign campaign. As you may know, the attitude, organisational ability, and strategies of Party Leaders can determine the success or failure of a political party, and it was on this premise that we were critical of our previous leadership.
The Concerned PDP League (CPDPL) have also called out some
party leaders whose public statements and attitude in our unbias
opinion is or will be injurious to the unity and victory of our
great party.
My dear what we want is that “May our Leaders reflect our
Hopes and not our Fears and failures,” that’s all. Is that too
much to ask?
Q. The Concerned PDP League (CPDPL) that you lead has stated
its official position that it is in support of zoning the presidency to the
south. What’s your own opinion on the zoning issue generally?
A. The crafters of Nigeria constitution saw the need to assuage
the feelings of the over 400 ethnic minorities and the two major
regions provided a sense of belonging by inserting the ‘Federal
Character Principle’ in the 1979 and 1999 constitutions as a strategy for peace, equity, and stability. Their argument was that:
“There had in the past been inter-ethnic rivalry to secure the
domination of government by one ethnic group or combination
of ethnic groups to the exclusion of others. It is therefore
essential to have some provisions to ensure that the
predominance of persons from a few ethnic or other sectional
groups is avoided in the composition of government or the
appointment or election of persons to high offices in the
country,” and I subscribe to that.
Also the framers of the PDP constitution thinking in the same
direction stated it unambiguously clear in section 7, subsection
3(c), and so my thought and conviction is in line with the decision
and action of the Concerned PDP League which is in consonance
with the pulse of the nation regards zoning and the constitution
of PDP and Nigeria.
Q. Will I be right to say, it’s the Bala Muhammed Committee that
has put PDP in this dilemma and the report is seen as a fiat in
suspending section 7 subsection 3(c) of the PDP constitution
because it’s the only hurdle facing PDP after successfully
conducting its national convention?
A. You may not be wrong to have arrived at such a conclusion
but, it’s not a sacrosanct report or document that some
recommendations in it can not be jettisoned. Let me give you an example from the Sen. Ike Ekweremadu panel report. The panel report had some of the finest recommendations PDP needs to be the best. Although, PDP has
only had two post-election review committees since 1999. The
committee gave three key recommendations, I will just give you
the two that relate to our discussion;
- Zone Presidency to the North in 2019 and said the party should
strictly apply the zoning principle at all levels. - That the party adopts direct primary as the sole means of
electing PDP candidates for any election at all levels.
The panel reason was that the use of delegates has been grossly
compromised and abused, and should therefore be discontinued
forthwith to return true ownership of the party to the people.”
But guess what, the party rejected the second recommendation
I mean completely and only implemented the first one.
I have given you the above example to let you know, all that
the leadership of my great party by that I mean, the NWC, CAUCUS,
NEC, BOT & PDPGF, needs is a fiat conscience and courage to
jettison the Gov. Bala Muhammed Committee recommendation
that, PDP Presidential primary/ticket should be open to both the
the southern and northern region and zone it to the south, most
especially, the southeast and the south-south.
Gov. Bala Muhammed rightly expressed the pulse of Nigerians that supports zoning to the south during the presentation of his
committee report. He said, “In line with certain unwritten
conventions of the nation’s history, most people think that for
fairness and equity, the South-East and North-East geo-political
zones that have had the shortest stints at the Presidency should
be given special consideration in choosing the presidential flag
bearer of the party for the 2023 elections.
In other words, the majority of Nigerians’ opinion is that it should
be zoned to the south most especially, the southeast. This is
because The Right Honourable Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa KBE was In office for 9 years. So frankly speaking, it’s the
South East and South South that should be considered if zoned
to the south and viz a viz the North East in the north.
He also said, “While we admit that this is a strong argument, we
should not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria is endowed with
many capable and very experienced leaders in every part of the
country.
The implication is that the south has capable leaders to bring us out from the shipwreck Nigeria is in now under this APC regime, that’s it.
Q. What will PDP need to do to win the 2023 general election?
A. PDP has little to do externally and very much internally.
Firstly, the leaders need to exercise fiat conscience and courage
to without further delay decide on the zoning issue.
Secondly, galvanize and harmonize all interests to forge a united
front.
Thirdly, people focus and oriented campaign language
and strategy.
Fourthly, adopt both Sen. Ike Ekweremadu’s
panel report and His Excellency Sen. Bala Muhammed’s
committee report recommendations on internal democracy and the process for the emergence of candidates.
Finally, reduce the level of undue interference:
Q. What is your take on the statements made by some PDP
stalwarts that, only the former vice president and 2019 flag
bearer, his excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, can win 2023
election for PDP.
A. Let me laugh, I consider such as playgroup statements. Why did
he not win the 2019 election for PDP? In fact, It’s an insult to
every PDP aspirant and member that is above the
constitutional approved age for president. See, let me tell you if I am given the Presidential ticket of PDP today, believe me, I will win the 2023 presidential general election. I will use minimum resources to give PDP maximum result by that I mean victory.
APC has done all the campaigns already for PDP. Let me just mention some of the areas they have failed because they have failed in every area and it’s visible to the blind and audible to the deft.
The dollar is hitting almost N600, what of the present power and
adulterated fuel situations, the return of queues at our filling
stations and food and other items have increased significantly.
One egg that we use to buy for 20 Naira under PDP, is now 80 to
100 Naira. Modu of garri from 150 to 500 naira and beans from
250 to 1000 naira. This is not to mention the insecurity,
coagulated economy, et al.
Q. Who is bankrolling your group? Rumoured has it that, it is Gov.
Wike.
A. This is the kind of question that made FFK lose it but I will
never act like that. The answer is simple, nobody not even Gov.
Wike has or is footing our bills. Please Permit me to laugh. Do you know why I said permit me to laugh? Because leaders do not believe that young people can genuinely come together to demand the right thing to be done and fund such movement by themselves. They are always razzled and dazzled by such actions. As patriotic members of the PDP, we raise funds by ourselves to support the vision envisaged by our great party.
Q. Are you a loyal person?
A. Yes of course, in fact, 100%, that’s if I am fully convinced about
a thing or person. Let me tell you something, in Nigeria’s political
environment, we have two types of loyalty.
- The slave loyalty
- The patriotic loyalty
and the unfortunate thing is that, most Nigeria leaders and
politicians prefer slave loyalty.
Let me throw more light on what I mean. There’s an adage in my
place that says; the eyes watched it seven children until they all
died and did not do anything but the mouth talked on till his
only child survive all threats and danger.
It takes someone with only slave loyalty mentality to watch his
or her principal to commit political suicide just like the eye in the
adage.
The person with a patriotic loyalty mentality, will always advice
the boss to travel on a path that would not lead to committing
political suicide because they believe the death of the interest
of their boss is the death of their own interest, and that is the
kind of person I am.
Q. Do you have an interest in contesting for any office in 2023?
A. Sure, my interest is to contest for the Asari-Toru Constituency
1 house of Assembly Seat, if it pleases the leader of our party in
the state, that is my governor, his excellency, Barr. N. E. Wike.
But my ambition does not worth, sacrificing the greater interest
of my party. I know, because of the activities of the group I am
leading and the fact that we have been critical about our party
and its leaders, most likely, the possibility of me not getting the
ticket is very high but that’s the Nigeria political system and it’s
unfortunate. But I am not bordered.
