Those who deserted PDP can now return – Alkali

Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was the Special Adviser on Political Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. In this interview with DIRISU YAKUBU, the PDP chieftain spoke on the recent Supreme Court verdict on the party leadership tussle, ongoing reconciliation moves by the National Caretaker Committee amongst sundry issues.
WHAT is your impression on the Supreme Court decision to reinstate the National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?
First and foremost, I believe what happened was great for the PDP; it was great for Nigeria, for democracy and the rule of law. You could see that immediately after the Supreme Court passed its judgment, there was a lot of excitement, chest beating, and people were celebrating all over and surprisingly not even by PDP members alone but even non-PDP members.

Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali

It has come at a good time because we have always been saying that in a democracy, there must be choice, people should be given choices. Although there are many other political parties in the country, PDP has been on the ground for some time so allowing it to go down would have been a very big minus to this effort of building structures and institutions for popular democracy in the country.
Different dimensions
I believe we have every reason to celebrate the judiciary and also our leaders who stood firmly and followed due process to ensure that justice is done. We also wish to thank our members most of whom were anxious and confused but now, it is very clear that this is the time to put our house in order.
So how can the PDP regain the confidence of the people?
I know the party has been going through crises at various times and of different dimensions but the crisis that the party faced in the past two years has been unprecedented. Since all of us are living witnesses to what happened and how this crisis evolved and led to last Wednesday (decision of the Supreme Court). This is not the time for jubilation but for deep reflection. We have to ask ourselves what went wrong and also to know that it is not over until it is over because, in politics, you need at least three levels of victories. You need the legal victory, the political victory and the moral victory.
From what I can see now, we have the legal and the moral victory meaning that legally, we have found ourselves in a situation where the highest court in the land has passed a judgment that is very popular among Nigerians, and that means that morally, our leadership has managed this situation up to this time and is recognized, legitimate and competent under Senator Ahmed Makarfi and his team, the caretaker committee members.
The political victory now is that we have to reconcile because, over the past two years, there has been tension even in the state chapters. There have been a lot of acrimonies and tendencies to cause divisions within the state chapters. I am happy to say that the position of the caretaker committee as articulated by Makarfi that there is no victor, no vanquished, is a very good start.
There is need for reconciliation. There is opportunity for accommodation to carry everybody along. But it is not only at the national level but also at the state level. We should also avoid those very same issues that led us into this trouble. I don’t think I need to restate the popular complaints about our party. At times, we take things for granted. At times, there are tendencies for exclusivity on position of ideas of certain members.
Already, we have lost quite some people, and I know that with this if we put our acts together, there are many people who may have left out of anger and bitterness; they may want to come back. But the challenge now is how the caretaker committee will handle a very organised, transparent and a credible national convention that will carry all the elements along. We don’t want to have another fall out after the national convention.
In what way can the Sheriff Group be brought back into the mainstream of the party?
Already, Senator Ahmed Makarfi and other leaders of our party who spoke immediately after the Supreme Court judgment were all on one page that the door remains open and is open not only for Sheriff but for all members of our party who deserted the party out of anger, frustration and bitterness. The opening of the door is the most important point, and I believe that in this process of reconciliation, it is very important that people put Nigeria first and put the party first. If you are fighting to serve this country, then it doesn’t have to be personalized.
Whatever happens, there should be only one leader of the party at any given time but what is important is that everybody should be carried along. I believe that the kind of people we have at the caretaker committee are people who are competent and open-minded because you could see that during the crisis, they avoided as much as possible, to open more ranks of conflict within the party. No matter what happens today, Senator Modu Sheriff will go down in history as one of the chairmen of the PDP.
Are you not worried that Sheriff has not come to terms with the verdict?
Well, I have not read anything like that. In any case, politicians can talk anyhow, but that does not mean they cannot discuss. Like I said earlier, it is PDP first now and so all other personal issues will have to be set aside. Whenever the BoT is going to meet, Sheriff will have his seat there, when there is NEC meeting, his seat will be there. It is the same when the party is to hold its convention or a caucus meeting.