PDP will win Ekiti, Osun States -Babatope

Chief Ebenezer Babatope is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Ebino Topsy, as he is fondly called is a household name in the politics of South West and Nigeria as a whole. Babatope, in this interview with Bimbo Ogunnaike spoke on the crisis in the party and other contentious issues in the polity.

With the governorship race coming up in Osun and Ekiti States this year, what are the chances of your party in those states?

We have very bright chances. I don’t to disclose our operational strategy now; we have very, very bright chances. All we need to do is to go home and do the work collectively, all we need to do is for the young men and women who are in the party now to surrender themselves to the experience and maturity of the elders, all we need to do is to ensure that we really sit down and map out proper organizational strategies that will win these states for our party, and we will do so. We will win and there is no problem.

But the issue of who is going to be governorship candidates in those states is already generating bickering within the party

We will resolve that, we will use inner party machinery to solve the matter. All the aspirants contesting are very good materials. And by the grace of God when one of them is produced, the remaining ones will not be wasted.

 Let us go back to crisis rocking your party in the South West. Even with the visits of Anenih to the zone last year, the problems still exist, especially in Ogun State where Chief Olusegun Obasanjo hails from.

Chief Anenih did not come to solve the crises in the PDP. He went to see a leader of the party, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of this country. Nobody is dismissing the fact that Obasanjo is a force but Chief Anenih never came to resolve any issue. When you speak with a leader and you harnessed the leadership of the PDP all over the country, then the party will have peace. We are going to have peace. The crisis you are saying in the state of the South West, well the PDP is aware that if we are unable to unite our efforts, then we will not win. But we want to win. I agree with you that there are problems in the South West but we will try as much as possible to ensure that we spend every day fighting for unity. But if at the end of the day, we do not have that unity, I can assure you, they will defeat us.

Still on the issue of South West politics of your party, some people are saying part of the problem tearing the party apart in the zone was the removal of Obasanjo men like Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Segun Oni, Bode Mustapha from political offices and the sacking of Obasanjo’s faction in the Ogun State chapter of the party  by the power that be in Abuja. What do you say to this?

No, I don’t agree on that. When you are talking of removing Obasanjo’s people, they are just auxiliary matter which definitely will be handled by our great party. Nobody hates the person of Oni or Oyinlola, not all. I can’t hate Oyinlola. I may tell you this; Oyinlola was a classmate of my own brother at Okuku Grammar School. The mere fact he went to become secretary, does not make me now to be poisoned against him, no. Oyinlola is very close to me. So why must I now declare war on him, for what? Because I know that political matters are often solved in a way that, in fact, if you are not careful, you that have put your hand on it will have your hand burnt. So, the Obasanjo matter,  the Oni matter and the Oyinlola matter, they are not crucial. They can only be crucial for as long as our party ensures that there is justice. I will support that. But what we must do in the PDP South West is that we must put our hearts together and unite. When we unite, of course, the APC knows that its days are numbered in South West. But if we are not unable to unite, then of course we would be pounded by the APC. We don’t want this to happen and that is why we are all working together. For example, in Osun State now, the party is one. PDP is one in Osun State, we don’t have any quarrel, we don’t have any antagonism and we don’t have any friction.

Some people are saying that the rate at which some key members of your party defecting to the newly formed APC may spell doom for your party in 2015?

You see the PDP is greater than all of us, even greater than the president who is the leader of the party. So, apparently when some people now said because of one crisis they are moving out of PDP to APC, we appeal to them to go, but if they wants to go, there is nothing anybody can do, we wish them best of luck. But go and write it down, we will work extra hard to ensure that we are capable of maintaining the political balance of equation in Nigerian politics. We are going to win and the president is going to win.

There has been a discordant tune in the South West over marginalisation of the race in the government of President Jonathan. While some are saying the cry is genuine, others are saying it is simply a false alarm. As a prominent Yoruba son, where do you stand on this issue?

There is no false alarm but we are comforted with what President Jonathan has said, I believed and trusted him that his government will look at the problem and ensure that it is solved. It is not because he is in the same party with me that I am saying this, he supported the South West when the issue of speakership came. He wanted and the party wanted Mulika Akande to win but then some forces came into it. Bola Tinubu came into it and ensured that sanity did not prevail at that time. I can assure you that President Jonathan is determined to solve the problem of marginalization in the South West.  We have met the president, we have talked to him and he has already started to change. The flag off of the work on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway is part is part of his programme to ensure that that he satisfied the people of the South West. And there are other things in the pipeline, so, by the time we get to 2015, Yoruba people would have been satisfied or would have been re-assured that Jonathan had nothing against them. There are many things to look out for in the presidential election in the South-West in 2015.Yoruba will not vote for somebody who is unknown to them, they would vote for somebody that even if he has made mistakes, they know they can meet him to correct the mistakes. You will be surprised that Yoruba people are going to vote for him in 2015 if he decided to contest.

But some people are saying that the problem of marginalization could be a thing of the past if the zone moved to centre politics. What is your take on this?

I don’t believe in that nonsense.  Those people who are saying South West is not in the mainstream of Nigerian politics are not saying the truth. It is stupidity on their part, nonsense. This is because anybody who toys with the South West will regret it. South West is a politically volatile region of Nigeria, don’t joke with them. So, what does it has to do with the mainstream? What do you call mainstream? If anybody toys with us and think he can joke with us, that person will regret it. And that is why I believe that President Jonathan will not toy with us. He means it when he says I am going to intervene.

Some people are of the opinion that President Jonathan has a hidden agenda towards 2015 by setting up the now controversial confab. What is your view on this?

Don’t mind those people who are saying this. What hidden agenda?  It is a given fact, unless those who want to deceive themselves that President Jonathan is free to contest for a second term in office. What is national conference got to do that one? We should appeal to all of them who are doubting Thomas’ to sink all their doubts and remain positive in their attitudes towards ensuring that                Nigerian democracy and Nigerian federation. And don’t forget it has been part of Nigerian history for many years, that even after the Obasanjo confab of 2015, which people had been advocating for a national conference.  What president Jonathan has done is to give in to the opinions of Nigerians who want to sit together and talk about the problems, particularly bearing in mind those 100 years of living together remains intact. We need a national conference in Nigeria now and that is why no matter what we may feel, we just must give kudos to President Jonathan for calling that confab.

Your party has been in perpetual internal crisis.  What went wrong?

The PDP has not been involved in internal problems the way you said it. It is true that we have problems. Every political party must have problems, every political organisation must have problem, and there is one Greek philosopher, I always quote him, his name is Heraclitus. He said society must be in permanent state of crisis. That is, you can never get a society where there is no crisis. Whatever is happening in the PDP is to strengthen the party organisation and the party’s strategy. And leaders know that we cannot work in part, we must come together and ensure that the leading party in Nigeria continues to maintain that leading position and continue to be bacon of light to the people of this country.

Some people are saying part of the problem of your party as at now is the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to continue in power beyond 2015.  This, they say, is tearing your party apart?

That is not so. That is not correct. It is a view that is parroted and that is promoted by the opposition party. First of all, President Jonathan has not announced whether he wants to contest or not. But if he wants to contest, he is supported by the constitution because he is permitted by the constitution to go for second term in office. And if a man has not indicated his wish and then even though he has a force of law behind him, let us wait till we get to 2015 elections.

Let us go back to crisis rocking your party in the South West. Even with the visits of Anenih to the zone last year, the problems still exist, especially in Ogun State where Chief Olusegun Obasanjo hails from.

Chief Anenih did not come to solve the crises in the PDP. He went to see a leader of the party, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of this country. Nobody is dismissing the fact that Obasanjo is a force but Chief Anenih never came to resolve any issue. When you speak with a leader and you harnessed the leadership of the PDP all over the country, then the party will have peace. We are going to have peace. The crisis you are saying in the state of the South West, well the PDP is aware that if we are unable to unite our efforts, then we will not win. But we want to win. I agree with you that there are problems in the South West but we will try as much as possible to ensure that we spend every day fighting for unity. But if at the end of the day, we do not have that unity, I can assure you, they will defeat us.

Five years ago, Justice Mohammed Uwais led Electoral Reform Committee submitted its recommendations to the Federal Government for implementations. Some of the recommendations were partially implemented while some are not. What does this portend for the country as we prepared for elections coming up this year?

 Some of the recommendations have been partially implemented, so you cannot blame the government. The ones that were not implemented are those that in fact relate to political party system and politicians. Uwais was never a politician, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, my friend, who was a member of that Uwais, is not a politician and their recommendations must be studied along the lines of reality and realism within the Nigerian political party system. That is why it has not been implemented.

How many years will it take the government to study the report and implement it?

 We must prepared the minds of the people for it and the government is going to make sure that Nigerian people are prepared for it before they release the remaining part of the report.

Let us look at the issue of Local Government administration in Nigeria. Since its introduction in 1976, do you think it is still relevant in the present day Nigeria?

Why not? Local Government is still the most important system that we have because it is the nearest to the people of this country. The only problem that we have is that politicians have manipulated the local government value system in the sense that you don’t even know who have won an election. Every election is rigged. If the Senate and the House of Representatives can come up with laws, policies that will regulate and guide conduct of elections into the local government, of course, we have a good local government system and we must continue with it.

What about the issue of local government autonomy which has been canvassed for by some people?

Once the National Assembly pronounced on the matter, then that is the end of the matter. They should remain autonomous, free of government control.

How do you think local government can be effective to the people at the grass root level?

I want to wait what the National Assembly will say. So, when the National Assembly pronounced on the matter, then we will then know what to do.