 Now, with the drama-strawling parallel congresses of the APC and the goings-on in the PDP, one begins to wonder what you expect in 2023. However, Nigerians are already eager to know how the next president will emerge. We are joining us to look at this and other issues. The senior special assistant to former president Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Doi Okupe, to look at this and other issues with us. Dr. Good evening, thanks for joining us on this. Yes, good evening. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. Hope you're well too. Fine. Now, you've seen the congresses. I wish we had someone else from the APC with us. But you've seen the congresses. Let me allow you have a word, even though that's not your party. What do you make of the parallel events in the APC? Well, I understand your apprehension, but you know, I've been in this game for so long that we have reason to become elder statesmen. And I can assure you, when I only make a comment on this type of issue, I'll be as objective as anyone can be. And then it also clears right away, I mean, that parallel congresses are not peculiar to APC. You know, in fact, it's something that comes across board, APC, PDP, and also even the minority parties, if you follow what goes on in the country politically. I would say that. Of course, these are, you know, really flourished signs and what's, as a medical practitioner, as flourished signs and symptoms of leadership failure, impurity, corruption, and indiscipline that has bedeviled the entire policy in the country. I mean, I want you to take your mind back a bit. You know, in the days of the Unionist Party of Nigeria, went from Mawolo, was the leader of that party. And Akinui was leader of MPN. The issue of the parallel congress just is not, is unthinkable. It is absolutely unthinkable, you know, because those who are the leaders of the party were authentic and they had powers. And you cannot, you cannot flagrantly, you know, disregard the party. It's like, you know, like, you know, it's like, you know, a stream, you know, cutting off from its source, it's going to dry off. You know, the fact that our people, you know, it's just a further reflection of the decadence that has bedeviled our society. You know, how far we have gone down. You know, I mean, a party is supposed to be established either in the world, in the local government or in the state. And there's a supervising authority. The body here. Yeah, which is the national, you understand my point. So how do you have parallel congress? That means two things has happened here. There's a failure of leadership. And also there's total indiscipline at the local level. You know, there cannot be two chairman of the same party in the same state. If, you know, people, if we are really, I'm saying this, I'm not, I'm not being partisan. I'm talking about PDP. I'm talking about APC. You know, we have become, you know, we, we, we money politics in discipline and corruption has also now eaten into the canker ones and this enormous structure of political parties in the country. So what do you get? I mean, what gives a man or a group of people the confidence to go outside the dictates of the national secretariat and you go and hold press conference. I mean, you go and hold your own congresses. Ironically, I tell you, because I've been involved in these things. INEC that's supposed to be the supervising body will be present at the two sites. What kind of company does that make sense? INEC should take instruction only from the national secretariat. And, you know, the national secretariat is the one that is empowered by all the constitution to organize these conferences and where they say the venue of the Congress shall be and remain the venue of the Congress. This is, this is utter nonsense. This is what we do at party levels. This is what we take into government. You know, and that's why we cannot render service, you know, because we are not a disciplined people. You do your own congress here and the person who do his own congress here, then they all go to, you know, the following day to the national secretariat share money and, you know, use influences and, you know, people start to talk, okay, share it this way or this, you know, before this time, you know, everybody knew that there was going to be a Congress today. Absolutely. Now, in all these states, the national secretariat or secretariat are aware that there are issues in those spaces. So you move in. That's what we used to do in NRC. In NRC, it was, I was part of the leadership of that party. I was the national policy secretary of the party. I was a member of the National Working Committee. It's not possible. You can't, you know, unless it's your own father's party. If it is NRC, it's not possible. Okay, now, let me cut in there. Now, when the APC began to have issues with our internal politics, people in Nigeria began to think that the PDP, your party, would take advantage of that, you know, to make something else happen. You can take advantage. It's Nigerians on the left side and Nigerians on the right side. And, you know, we're preaching the same policy and we are the same people, and we act the same way. We have become very, you know, indisciplined people nationally in all spheres. It's not just in politics. In everything that we do, Nigerians have become highly, you know, undisciplined. You know, we do not, we act with impunity. We've got no respect for law or order or, you know, good order of society. And we believe in the instrumentality of money. You go to the national secretariat and, you know, it's man who pays highest, you know, that his team list is accepted. Now, looking at this, looking at the whole situation, looking at having the holistic view of the polity and the politics going on, internal politics, especially with the APC and the PDP, how is your party, the PDP, planning to take advantage of all this for a comeback? Is that a grand plan? When I say this also, I'm also very sincere and serious that, yes, there are private congresses in APC and all that, there are lesser of it in PDP. It's also a fact. It's not because I'm PDP. But, you know, private congresses do not determine the success or the failure of the parties at the grassroot level. Because at the end of the day, once you come to this image and the secretaries, I mean, the various national authorities take charge and they say, this is the governorship candidate, this is the social security candidate. Now, you know, the ballgame changes, you know, the electorates are not interested in who is controlling party structure. They're interested who is the candidate. And once they see the candidate, then people take a decision who did they follow. So, you know, it's now left to the tap, I mean, the perception of your party at the electorate level, you know, the type of candidates you have chosen, you know, and the response of the electorate. So, you know, putting all that together, it is easy for me, I mean, I had a few of my friends just on this television now, saying now, APC, you know, we're going to win, we're going to come back and all that. That is not that kind of there. What we determine who comes back is the perception of the electorate. Dr. Kupai. Yes, sir. Tell me, is a principal secretary planning to join the APC? Who me? Your principal. Oh, oh, oh, you mean Dr. Goodluck, Jonathan? I have heard that and I can say categorically that it is highly improbable. Nothing is impossible in politics. You know, only interests are permanent. You know, nothing is impossible, but I think it is highly improbable. I can say that with some level of confidence. I can't say beyond that. So, you, well, if it's a secret plan, I probably don't expect you to come out and say, okay, is planning to join or... I don't think so, I don't think so. Look, Dr. Goodluck, Jonathan, by God's grace and providence, has become not just a national icon, has become also an international figure, all right? You know, a couple of days ago, he's been made an ambassador by a committee of nations and all that for peace or something around the world. You understand? So when you get to that level of recognition globally, you don't now descend into mode. You know, coming into real active politics and politicking is coming into a very murky area. If you have gotten out of that and you have been sort of elevated beyond that level, it is not reasonable that you will descend again. That would be like a plane, you know, having an emergency landing. So do you want to tell us who is the PDP fielding in 2023? As president. It's me. Okay, okay. Let's wait till then. Okay, no problem. All right then. Thank you very much, Dr. Dwayne Okukbe for joining us on the news tonight. God bless you. Thank you. I love this studio and I'm very happy to be here. Thank you. Let me say that. Thank you very much. So we hope to see more of you then. Surely. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.