 PDP set for 2023 polls after NEC meeting says former National Chairman while Uche Secundus says party has approved campaign structure and insecurity may affect elections out coming Kaduna, Imo, Katzina and Southern Kaduna says People's Union. Now this is Plus Politics, I am Mary Anacorn. The former National Chairman of the People's Democratic Party Prince Uche Secundus has hailed the party's presidential candidates Atikua Buboka and the National Executive Committee of the party for stabilizing the party ready for victory in 2023. Now Secundus in a statement yesterday said the outcome of the NEC meeting showed the party is set and ready for victory. Meanwhile, the presidential candidates of the People's Democratic Party Alhagia Atikua Buboka said that the problem bedeviling the party was not fundamental. We call that the governor of River Stateness and Wiki had faulted the emergence of Atikua as the presidential flag wearer, Yota Aayu, chairman of the party and Senator Walid Gibrein, chairman of the Board of Trustees, all from the northern part of the country. Now Wiki accused the party of violating the principles of equity, fairness and balance, noting that the laws guiding the party has been trampled upon. The People's Democratic Party has approved a unified campaign structure across the country ahead of the 2023 general elections and joining us to discuss this and more is Frank Shibu. He is special assistant public communications to Atikua Buboka. Glad to have you join us. Yeah, good evening. Glad to be here. There's no without further ado, let's just dive into it. The PDP has been making headlines every single day. And when I say the PDP, I'm talking about Governor Wiki. Right from when your presidential candidate picked his running mate, who is the Delta State Governor. Now, it's interesting that it's still an issue as of today. We were hoping they would hear something from the next meeting that would come from Nebs, but Governor Wiki is still speaking on the issue. Now recently, Mr. Wahid Gibrein left the party. He resigned from the BOT. But then the response came again from Governor Wiki saying that this is water on the back of a chicken. Let's start with the Wiki Atikua situation. What exactly is going on here? Well, you have clearly explained that. And we believe that politics is basically about interest. And you don't expect a bitter heart to be capable of charity. What does that mean? What it means is that he contested the presidential election with Atikua Buboka. And he missed that ticket. And Atikua imagined a free and fair contest. And if you notice, he never questioned the process that produced Atikua Buboka in that election. He has not in all the statements he has made so far in the public domain. No, he has not questioned that. So I don't think it's about, I don't feel and I don't think it's about Atikua Buboka. It's not Atikua that has this problem. He's talking about the party. It's a genuine and legitimate complaint. He has the right to do that. He has the right to express his opinion about the state of the party, the state of affairs of the party, the structure of the party and all that. But for me, I believe he's a lawyer. And he knows very clearly the constitution of the party and what the party, the constitution says, particularly in section 45 of section 2 of the party that clearly states unambiguously that, look, where a national chairman resigns from his position during the pendency of his tenor. Are you with me? During the pendency of his tenor, a national vice chairman from the same region will replace him in acting capacity. That's what our constitution says as a party. So it becomes difficult to even just oppose that provision of the constitution of the party. Are you with me? With his demands at the moment, with what I've read in the papers, as demands of his Excellency Governor- Are you reading the papers? Yes, I read the papers. Interesting. I have had people who call themselves members of the Southern Caucus in the People's Democratic Party on this show. And they would be very quick to say that this is not an artiku versus rike problem. It is the Southern Caucus in the party asking for fairness. And this is one of the things that an elder statement within your party, Chief Body Judge, has also voiced saying there has to be some level of fairness. But you're telling me that this is what your party constitution says. Does your party constitution also say that most of the people at the helm of affairs need to come from a particular region? No, no, no, no. You see with profound respect, what do you mean by most of the people? The person championing the campaign now talking about equity was a part of the process that produced article as candidate of the PDP in the presidential election. Now, if we're talking about equity, before the emergence of Dr. Yochayu, we had Uche Sekondus who we listen to now. You just read the statement from him. He was chairman of the party. He was from the South South Geopolitical Zone. He was from the South South Geopolitical Zone. But along the line, there were agitations, there were interests, political interests of some persons who were aspiring to contest that election. And they got him out of the way. And with profound respect, somehow Dr. Yochayu emerged as chairman of the party. I want to ask you this simple question. Were there agitations as it is today, before the emergence of article of the party, talking about equity and justice in the structure of the party, the answer is no. But then with the party at some point, because you asked me a question, so I want to answer you. At some point, they were pushing for a southern candidate, hence the likes of Governor Riki running for that office. So those agitations were there. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. The party now, at that point, proceeded to set up a committee. Because they were talking about look, we need, presidency should be zoned to the southern part of Nigeria. Because the north has had its first year. And the answer is no. That is not being fair even to the north. Because as far as PDP is concerned, the last president of Nigeria in the PDP administration came from the south. In the person of Gulok Junatan. You understand? So that's President Mohammad Buhari from the north. An APC president represents his party. He is not from the PDP. But is PDP an independent political party from Mars, not representing the people's interest in Nigeria? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because President Buhari, yes, might be a product of the APC, but he's the president of Nigeria. Hold on, you see, I want us to see this as a conversation, and not a monologue. So when you ask me questions, I would like to break it down because the team in Mars of our people are watching this program. Yeah, it's a very popular program, and I'm glad to be on this platform. You see, the basic thing is this. The agitation we're talking about is an agitation by members of my party, not members of the public who have the right to vote whom they so desire based on programs. You see, and we keep telling people, the Nigerian people are aware that hunger and anger is the major determinant of our election in 2023. So, and they're not going to be bothered about geography. The president Nigerian needs at this time, he's not the president based on geography because the man who is hungry in Kalaba is the same as the man who is hungry in Sokoto or in Zamfara. So the issue of geography does not even arise. So this agitation is an intra-party agitation, and when it came up, based on the party constituted a committee chaired by one of the allies of Gov. Nelson Wiki, Gov. Natomo Ben-Wisted. He was the chairman of that committee to look into the agitation from the south side. Should the presidential candidate, should they be zoned fully to the south side? And they made it an open-ended contest. And none of the aspirants at that time protested. They all went into the contest, election was, the primary election held, it was won and lost. Then after the victory, after the declaration of Attiku, we now return to say, look, we want to now start an agitation in the middle of the road to say, look, Attiku is presidential candidate, he's from Northern Nigeria. It was not by appointment, it was by election in a fair context that nobody protested, nobody contested, nobody even proceeded to court, apart from some lazy guys who took the battle to court only recently, and claiming that he had an interest, but that's an issue for another day. So the issue now is, what are we asking for? So if the agitation now is about equity, if it's about equity, equity, a man who is talking about equity had the national chairman of the PDP from not just the salsa, from River State, Nigeria, in the person of Uche Secondos, he was there as chairman of the party. Nobody complained, he was doing fantastically well, he organized the party, went into the last election with Uche Secondos as chairman of the party. This time around, they agitated. Let me tell you something, that's why I started by saying a bitter heart is not capable of charity. I have my interest, because I am from the middle belt of Nigeria. If I want to run as president, and I have Dr. Iyotayu as chairman of the party, what would I do? What would be my first assignment? I want to plot to see that, I remove him, and bring somebody from a different region as chairman, so that nobody would think that there would be no level playing ground. And that was what happened in the case of Uche Secondos. He had to leave the seat. So now we have Dr. Iyotayu as chairman of the party, duly elected. We don't have a problem. That's why I said legitimate agitation for change, for equity, for justice, that's not a problem. But the presidential candidate is only a presidential candidate. He is not yet a president. So we are in the middle of a race. It's just like a football match between Chelsea and Arsenal. And while the match is going on, you say, oh, because the goalkeeper of Arsenal and the captain of Arsenal are from the same country, which the coach should not play them at the same time. When we're in the finals of maybe the UEFA Champions League, it will smack of retro illiteracy. It will be tangentially wicked for anybody to contemplate that at that point. Because we're talking about victory. We're talking of emancipating Nigerians. We're talking of taking Nigerians out of hunger and poverty. We're talking of providing security for the mass of our people. So it should not be about geography at this time. But when we win the elections, you ask, okay, come on. You have been magical, you are now president of Nigeria. Since you have been elected president, automatically we can still continue to have the party chairman as chairman of the party because he is from Northern Nigeria. These agitations, we have to look at the undercurrents. We have to look at the motive. You understand me? That's why I tell people, I say, look, God is a judge of both intentions and actions. What are the intentions? What are the actions? The action is all we're agitating. Legitimate agitation. We don't have a problem with that. I think we don't have a problem wherever the chairman comes from. He is comfortable because he's not going to be president of the PDP. He's going to be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. PDP is a platform, it's a political party and not a pressure group, mind you. So this is the issue. And we consider it as something that is amenable and we know that Governor Wiki and his group of friends and colleagues will see reason and know that, look, they are interests. The major interests should be about the people of Nigeria and they will see reason and will move forward and will win election in February 2023. I'm curious, what's the relationship between Haji Atikwa-Bubakar and Governor Wiki as we speak? And the agitations that you're making reference to, that we've been discussing, how does this affect the party going forward? Because of course you need to present a United Front if you must even convince the voters. When you say a relationship, you know they are not, Atikwa-Bubakar is a man and Wiki is a man. They are not lovers. You understand me? I don't think I implied that. Okay, so if you're talking of relationship, of course they have a working relationship. I'm not sure you have had Governor Newsom Wiki cast aspersions on Atikwa-Bubakar and I'm not sure you have had any of us. The personal aides of his Excellency Atikwa-Bubakar cast aspersions on Governor Newsom Wiki. I've said it times in a number that Governor Newsom Wiki of River State is one of our finest. It's our poster boy in terms of projects, in terms of development. You understand? And we cannot denigrate him. We will not denigrate him. It's impossible. You understand? He has legitimate claims. But you see, we are different. How we ventilate our anger and agitations are different. I listened to him on the day of the primary election. Before even the election, he came out clearly and said, look, whoever emerges from this process, he's going to support the person. I believe him strongly. He's the man who keeps to his words. He's still going to do that. And I don't have a problem. That's why I said, look, he is making legitimate claims. And we believe that at the end of the day, what I will find is level. And there will be a beating ground. And we will go into this election, not just as a united front, but as a formidable force to displace the do not in APC government in Nigeria. Let's move away from the wiki drama and talk about your candidate. This is not his first rodeo. Neither is it his second, third or fourth. He's been at it for a long time. Many are concerned because the government of the day, President Muhammad Al-Buhari, is somebody who tried to be president so many times. And on the fourth try, he finally became president. But here we are almost eight years down the line and many Nigerians are wondering why he wanted to be president so bad. And this is the result that we have. Why should we trust Sanatiku Abu Bakr to be president for a person that seems to be so ambitious to want to be president over and over and over again? You see, at this point in our history, Nigerians, what Nigerians need is a man who can unify the country. We have never been as divided as we are in this country than we are now. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, we were about 1,743 persons were either killed or kidnapped in this country. With profound respect to you. So, on daily basis, the only testimonial of this government in seven years has been that of tears, that of death, senseless massacre. We have over 18 million out of school children in Nigeria today. Over 18 million out of school children. Our universities have been short for over six months. I heard the Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria say the other day that parents should go and prostrate to Asu so that they can come back to school and all that. It's marks of wretched illiteracy. So, we need someone who can unite us, who can use our dynamic diversity as a unifying factor. Nigeria is one of the most heterogeneous societies in the world. One of the most heterogeneous societies in the world. We have multiple ethnic groups. But this government has divided us along religious lines, tribal lines, political lines, sectional lines, then insecurity. Insecurity, in fact, is the mother of all. Because without security, nothing can happen. Without security, we have so many children. I'll give you a classical example. In 2011, the current running mate of the APC presidential candidate was governor. I remember that, very few months after he came into office, he relocated to Abuja. He operated from Abuja. Moved his two daughters and one son to schools in Abuja. One in Turkish school and one in British school like that. They were less than about 10 years old at that time. And he operated from Abuja, the federal capital territory, abandoning governance in the States. So, if a sitting governor who had all the, if it were of an area of security, security aids would abandon governance at that point. Today, nothing is further from that. It's the same thing. We remember when they came in 2015, they told us, oh, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. Security, we're coming with a retired general, a war veteran, we're going to do it. No, all those things, nothing has happened. So now we need someone with a technical know-how. We need someone who is going to deal with our, the issue of education. We need someone who is going to look at, create a program of schools to job pathway, a school to job pathway, concentrating on our vocational schools and technical colleges. Let me tell you something. In our country today, in Nigeria today, and even world over, there's a curious coinage while listening to his excellency a few days ago. He said, look, certificates no longer even move anyone anywhere. What we need now is called sabificates. And I say, excellent. I say, what do you mean by sabificates? He says, sabificates is a curious coinage where he's targeting a situation where he wants to drive our educational system to a point where children should be equipped with entrepreneurial skills, resuscitate our vocational and technical colleges, where every child who passes through the functional secondary education should learn a skill in addition to his academic knowledge of the basic education. And I tell you, my dear sister, if you go for that, you will discover that it is impossible, practically impossible to deal with the issue of insecurity without education. Do you know that in the last six months that Nigerian students have been at home with profound respect to you, they have become more vulnerable to these insurgents, to rapists, to kidnappers, because they want to keep luring them into different crimes, including but not even limited to drugs. I'm sorry, I want to bring you back to my question. Go ahead. Why should Nigerians trust your candidates to be a different president or a good president? You're telling us about our problems. They are problems. We know these problems already. What solutions do you have for us? We have multiple. I just gave you one concerning the schools to job pathway. Do you think that that's the most important thing for Nigerians right now? Education is important. The most important thing to us now is unification. Will that make a person vote for him? Of course, the most important thing as we speak now is unification. We need unity. I think Obaka believes clearly that we have been two divided. He believes too that, look, the agitation, for instance, you see in the southeast and in the insurrection, you see in the southeast, for instance, it's as a result of the fact that power has been absent from that region for a long time. Do you understand me? Now he believes this is a man who all his lifetime is associated with different persons from different geopolitical zones. I read in one of the papers recently where one of the candidates for this election said, oh, who did Attiku make in Sokoto? Who did he make in the Northeast? Who did he make in... No, we're talking of a Nigerian. He is a Pan-Nigerian candidate who has his tentacles all over Nigeria. He is not a travel jingoist. So we can look for an Attiku. We're not looking for somebody who runs an enclave in one state. Dominates there. He wants to be the bride at every wedding and be the corpse at every phone and hour. No, that's not the kind of leadership we're talking about. What's the kind of someone who, if he steps into the north, he's celebrated. He goes to the southeast, he's celebrated. Let me tell you something. The general of the governing council of Attiku Obaka's University is an Igbo man. The American University of Nigeria is an Igbo man. So his businesses, his chance of businesses, that's how you see different persons from different geopolitical zones who are there managing those businesses effectively. He prays like every Christian. He fasts like every Muslim. Be a wonderful Muslim. He allows you the space to do your job. That was a day of look. It was time for N.Telus. I'm Catholic and I say, Your Excellency, it's five minutes to my prayer time. I need to leave so that I can go home. I say, please, we suspend this meeting for you to go and finish and come back. That is the kind of person we're talking about. Who is tolerant about religion. Who will not take advantage of our religion's diversity to say, oh, they not. Let me target them. The only way I can get them is to say, look, let me pick a vice presidential candidate who is a Muslim from there, taking from there so I can use religion to target them. No, they are wiser. The people are smarter because they are hungry and they are angry. So those kinds of shenanigans can't work anymore. Those kind of outdated tactics can't work anymore. They are looking for someone who will unite us as a country. Attico is that candidate. He represents that force. He is the face of unification. He is equipped with the requisite skills to do that. And that's why you see some of us around him. I'm a blue-blooded Catholic. I'm a Christian. I love God. But I love every Muslim around me as well because he has taught me to do that. He has shown me love. Okay. Let's talk about... He just said something funny that we love God. We all love God, don't we? No, some pastors don't do that. Whatever God that we serve. Some pastors don't do. Some worship eBay. Let's talk about the campaign strategy. Now, you've told me some things. Hopefully, when the blueprint is out tomorrow, I hear he's going to be presenting it somewhere to, I think, the Guild of Editors. We have been interfacing with multiple... What is your campaign strategy? Oh, I think sometimes... I think it would be wrong for me at this point to tell you our campaign strategy. Our winning strategy should be kept to our chest. The only one we don't keep away from the people is our policy document. From day one, we remain... It remains the only candidate who has a laid-down policy document. This is going to be, whether we like it or not, a three-horse race, as we have seen it. Many would... Maybe many would want to differ. But then... Between who and who? We've seen the Labour Party, the PDP and the APC. Let's talk about the power of the incumbents. We've seen your candidate try and try several times, even against President Bahari and still didn't win. What's the certainty that comes? Because I always say that Nigeria is a very, very diverse country and our problems. Why would anybody want to be president of this country? But then, since he's interested... So that's my question. I'm wondering... What makes him so certain that he can win this time around? Not he can win. He will win this time around. Well, Nigerians have to decide that. Nigerians will decide that. Nigerians will separate the width from the shaft. We also can't call the race right now because he hasn't even started. I will tell you why. Campaigns have not started, but I will tell you why Nigerians will choose Natiku over and over again. I'd like to hear it first. Yes. Because first off, I'll tell you something. When in 2015, President Mahmoud Bahari emerged president of Nigeria. Of course, Nigerians felt they voted for him. But somehow, they got to find out only a few weeks, few months ago, that one man single... And made him president single-handed. During his outburst in somewhere in Abel Kuta in Auguste, when he said he... Oh, the president cried even on national television after failing three times and he promised him and made him president. Now, when a man appropriates and arrogates the power of giving power... Listen to this analogy carefully. When a man appropriates the power of giving power to man, to himself, it means that it is the height of heresy. Power belongs to the Almighty. Only God gives it to whom he desires. And he uses the people to do that. But when you begin to feel that it is about you, that's why I said earlier that look... I think it's different because the other candidates... That's why you say it's three words, no, I said no, no, for me, I disagree very clearly. So you don't think any... It's going to be between... So you're telling me that you think... On the Labour Party's candidate... No, no, no, so you're telling me that you see nothing or you're not worried about the O.B. phenomenon... I said, did you listen to me? I did. The election is going to be between President Mahmoud Bahari his Excellency Vice-President, Chico Obakar and possibly maybe a PTOB of the Labour Party. But certainly not the candidate of the do-nothing APC government. Why do you think so? Why? I think so because Nigerians know better. Nigerians are hungry. Nigerians are hungry. Nigerians are insecure. If you open your mouth... But then the PDP has been in power for so long. And then... Can't rebuild... No... And then here we are in 2022. Maybe Nigerians wanted or maybe Attiku thought that he would be able to give us a new Nigeria in 2015 or in 2019. But this is 2022. Problems are totally different from the problems that we had that year. That is why I said the scenario today... The indices today present Attiku as just the right choice for the people. Really? Yes. The indices to the clearly situates him. Situates him properly to win this election. I'd just like to quickly push this in because we're running out of time. How am I going to do that? Now, Shatima, the running mate of the APC presidential candidate, Vola Mentinibu, has said, and I'd like to call him, will retire the political tourist Attiku back to Dubai? Would you like to respond? I will respond to that. Ordinarily I would not have even elevated him by responding to that. But here is the man I asked him a question. I will ask him a question on national TV today. I remember... If you remember the Christmas bombing in Madela in 2011, December 2011, on the eve of Christmas, where over 37 persons worshippers were killed and over 58 persons were injured in that massacre. The mastermind of that bombing, Kabir Usokoto, was traced to the governor's lodge where his excellency, Mr. Shatima, was staying. Whenever he answers that question, I think I can now decide to respond to him. But as far as I'm concerned, there's complicity. He should explain to Nigerians what happened during that time. Why would Kabir Usokoto, the mastermind of a bombing incident that claimed the lives of defenseless Nigerians, be found in the residence of a sitting governor? And he was arrested there before he now escaped again. Only God will help us. Well, Frank Shibu is a special assistant public communication to Attiku Abu Bakar, who is the presidential candidate for the PDP. Thank you so much for being part of the conversation. Thank you and I look forward to speaking with you again, possibly before our inauguration in May 2023. Okay. Well, that's it on this segment. We'll take a quick break. When we return, we'll be talking about insecurity and how it might affect the 2023 election. Stay with us.