 Former Senate President Iorcha Aiu takes the win as the new national PDP chairman and candidate supported by the party's governor's win position in the National Working Committee. Plus, Governor Yesung Wiki of River State gives the federal government 48 hours to probe the raid on Justice Miri Odini's residence. This is Plus Politics, I am Miri Anacor. The newly elected national chairman of the People's Democratic Party PDP Iorcha Aiu says the party if elected in 2023 will develop Nigeria as it did when it was in power for 16 years. Aiu, who was the consensus candidate at the party's 2021 National Convention in Abuja, he spoke about the convention and it seems the so-called big wigs have lost their group on the party as the selections of the party's governors won places in the National Working Committee of the party. For instance, Taufiq Araquaja, a former deputy governor of Ior State who was supported by the governor's Bidz Olagun Soye Unilola, who had been supported by the likes of Attiku Saaki and Lamidong, barely for the position of the deputy national chairman South. And what you've mentioned is the absence of the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, who has been rumored to be planning to join the all-progressive Congress APC. While joining us to discuss this and more is Venasius Ekame, he is Cross River State People's Democratic Party Chairman and Opponabor Inko Tara, a former Special Advisor on Media and Publicity to the governor of River State, Nyesung Wike. Thank you very much for joining us, gentlemen. Thank you. Great. I'm going to start with you. I'm going to start with you, Mr. Ekame. It's very interesting. Like I mentioned in my intro, there are so many people at the convention. Of course, the known names and the big wigs, the leaders of the party, were all in attendance. But what you have note is that the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was conspicuously absent. Now, many have said that, you know, the rumors of the president, former president leaving the party might just be cemented by his absence at the national convention of the party. What's your take on this? Mr. Ekame, that question is for you. I don't think that Mr. Ekame can hear us. So I'm going to throw that question to Opponabor. Go ahead, Opponabor. I'm sure you heard my question. Oh, yes, I did. I did the questions on why President Goodluck Jonathan did not attend the convention, is it? Yes. Well, the difference is for his absence, they said he already had a scheduled appointment in Nairobi. So it's in the realm of speculation. Of course, you will have to agree with me that when there is a new public home void, there is a possibility of speculation and all kinds of interpretation. So we'll wait for Goodluck Jonathan to at least let the world know if his defection comes in. And that is one rumor that I've been writing the air, his defection to APC based on the oversight of, or supposed overthrow from the APC. I think for now, I will not want to weave the interpretation into his asses because he already had an appointment in Nairobi and probably is going to play a key role that assignment. And so he just couldn't compromise that. I don't want to believe that President Goodluck Jonathan would be sent to the APC. But it is a strong start of his own position. It's politics. And politics is all about interest. They say in politics there is no permanent interest, no permanent anything but permanent interest. So it's all about interest. But I for now still doubt that although the air is so few with the news of his likely defection to the APC. Many party fate fools have called the act of the former president not showing up at the convention as a convenient excuse to stay away from the convention. In fact, many have gone further to say that leaders of the party had paid him a visit previously before the party's convention, persuading him to be part of the event and then leave, even if it meant to give a few words before he departed to Kenya, but that he refused. And they're continuously saying that this might mean that there is trouble in paradise. Will the PDP be missing anything if, for example, the rumors were true and the president, the former president, might just be moving to the APC but softly? Well, the truth of the matter is that whether we like it or not as a former governor of the United States, a former deputy governor, a president, they have a lot of sympathy and definitely foolish. But again, politics is all about perception. A lot of people dissenting from one party to the other, they contemporize it, not necessarily because of the out of it, or because of the foolish, what it really has to do with perception. If Mr. If, for example, most house of rest men that are dissenting really don't have that policy, they don't have the normal approach. But it is in the eyes of the public, if a man of this statue would dissent from this party to this other party, then the common man will say, then this is going to be the winning party. Why do you have a lot of people dissenting that this party has to go to that party? So that is all about psychology. But the truth is, in good luck Jonathan, a man of good luck Jonathan's family should dissent from PDP to APC, apart from the number of people that are going to go with him. I can assure you that it's going to rub off negative, not the PDP, because of perception. A lot of people will conclude that the PDP, whatever you might know, will be the next presidential election. And that is why good luck Jonathan suspected people. And this will make a lot of people also start scrambling the members of the police. So it's all about perception. Perception and politics is key, is crucial. Okay. Joining us on the phone is the State Chairman of the People's Democratic Party, Banasya Sikkim. I don't know if you can hear me now, Mr. Ekim. Can you hear me? Mr. Ekim, can you hear me? Hello? Yes, can you hear me now? Yes, I can hear you. Well, Oppenaba Inkotaira here is saying that, he's saying that if the former president, good luck Jonathan, were to leave the party, a lot of people might think that the party may not be able to win come 2023. Does the party really, would the party lose anything if the former president were to leave the PDP today, bearing in mind that there have been speculations as to the fact that he did not show up for the past his convention, even though he had, you know, an event to attend in Kenya. Yeah, I can hear you. Yeah, I know that the conflicts for the former president's presence at the convention would have been quite significant. Go ahead, we can hear you. Mr. Ekim, are you still there? Yes, I'm here. Yes, go ahead. We're trying to, we want to hear your position if you think that if he left the party, the party would be losing a big fish in any way. Yeah, I was trying to say that the conflicts for his presence at the convention could have been positive for the party, but nothing can be found out from the troops to say that if he left the party today, the PD would automatically lose the 2023 elections. As former president, his contributions are critical, like we say in politics, perception plays a significant role in what we do, but perception is not everything. Bayelsa is a PDT state who also know that Bayelsa is one of the smallest states in this country. We know that we need every vote, but I'm not aware that the Bayelsa is so critical to any national election as far as I'm concerned, and I also do not know that the former president hopes entirely the same trend of Bayelsa states. Having said that, like I said before, for optics, for the significance of his position as former president, Urana remains the party than he leaves the party. So you're limiting the position of the former president to just optics. You're also limiting it to just Bayelsa state. Is that what you're implying that he might not necessarily, when it comes to putting weight, he might not have that much weight? What I do know is that the determination of the people of the South-South, including Bayelsa state, would be beyond the former president's say so. I say so from very informed reality of what is going on in the South-South, and I know that we could win elections in Bayelsa state in the South-South, despite his position one way or the other. But again, I think that he's remaining in the party would play a significant role in our winning. Oppenaba, I'm tossing this back to you. Do you necessarily agree with him in terms of the optics, how he put it? He's also saying that he's certain that the PDP would win elections in Bayelsa state, whether the former president is within the party or not, but that him leaving the party might not necessarily change anything in the life of the party? Well, like I told you, politics is all about perception. And you cannot rule out good-law, good-law president, good-law, good-law, good-law's clout, a new court in Bayelsa state and even beyond. They might not have the kind of clout that the likes of Attiku and Saraki may have, but the truth is you just can't dismiss him. That's the truth about it. I haven't said this. Bayelsa, yes, is today a PDP state because the court said so. Otherwise, Bayelsa would have been an APC state. That's one fact that we should not forget. We must not be oblivious of that fact. The court, Bayelsa, was elected APC state. So it's all about perception with my brother, Dr. Sundar, that it also I agree on that the defection of good-law cannot turn from PDP to APC. Like I said, they might not have the clout of Attiku and Saraki and what they do, but that will definitely impact negatively on the PDP in terms of perception. And like I said earlier, if, for example, you ordinary would have had 10,000 persons voting for the PDP, the defection of good-law Jonathan might reduce the number to about 6,000 or 7,000 persons. Because the impression to be in representation in a lot of people in Israel is that a man like good-law Jonathan who was a president on the ticket of the PDP could defect, it simply means he knows what majority of Nigerians know. And so that might be the winning party. Or that might be a party that will retain power from 2023. So it's all about perception, but that does not in any way make the fact that it's essential, it will automatically never put a signal to failure of PDP. That's not what I'm talking about, but it will definitely impact the PDP negatively. All right, let's move away from that. Coming back to you, Vinaches, it looks like the governors had the day. They seem to have had the upper hand in terms of those they supported making up the members of the National Working Committee. They seem to, according to a lot of reports that were coming out on the national dailies, to be the stars of the day. We saw the likes of the former vice president, Tatiqo Abubakar, former senate president, former Jigawa state governors, seemingly having a foretaste of what might be happening come 2023 in terms of who's going to fly the flag of the party. Do you see as a state party chairman that maybe the governors might be the determinants of who would emerge as president? I'll ask the question again. I'll ask it again. Can you hear me now? Yes, I can hear you. So I'm saying that the governors of the different states, the governors under the People's Democratic Party seem to have been the stars at the National Convention, being that their members or rather the people that they supported emerged in the National Working Committee. So I'm saying, does this mean that the likes of the former vice president, the former senate president and the former Jigawa state governor are getting a foretaste of what will happen when it comes to picking who will fly the flag for the PDP presidential ticket? Well, if I understand you talking about the powers of the governors and all that, I can only say that that is not even a new thing. Neither is it limited to Nigeria. Governors control significant political control within the areas of their governance, if you like, or their states. Now, back even in the 2023 second election of presidential Bassangio, I'm sure if your memory goes that way back, you will recall the role the governors played in almost cuddling the sitting president's ambition to go back for a second term. That continued to the young adverse immigrants, late young adverse immigrants as president and good luck, young adverse immigrants as vice president. It has been it has been like that. So there is nothing untoward about the role the governors play. And the fact that when they come together, they usually would be the most influential segment of the party in any policy. You take that even to the US and everywhere else, it remains the same. So what is happening is that when the major stakeholders, because the governors are the major stakeholders of the party, when they take a position, it is only fair and natural that the rest of the party will move in that direction because they are like the few commanders of the party in the various states which are the federating units of the country. So it's a natural thing to happen. There's nothing unusual about it. If I understood your question, that's what I can say about that. All right. Let's move away from that. To you, Apunabor, what do you have to note is in the convention is a young man who emerged as the youth leader for the party as opposed to 50-year-olds who normally were youth leaders in the PDP. Many have applauded this saying that going forward maybe a lot more things would change within the party. Does that also one way or the other give an additional plus mark to the PDP in terms of getting more people involved within their party come 2023? Well, it's a step in the right direction. It's something that should be encouraged. Although we still believe that it shouldn't have been restricted to build the national leader, I think so. It's like giving a woman national women leader or something. Of course, you're not going to make a man giving a national women leader. You're going to give it to a woman. So I think, yes, it's in the right direction as against when you have adults, you know, shamefully describing themselves as youth, just perfect in every game. That was quite shameful and embarrassing. So I commend the PDP that today you really have youth as national leader of the youth in the PDP. I mean, I don't say that. I think it should not just be the students who are back for today alone. They should have been given other, even if it's not, let's say, the principal, they could have been given deputy positions. But let us appreciate what they have done, what the people they have done for us. Okay. Mr. Ikem, I think that you're talking what we can't hear you. Mr. Ikem, I'm going to throw the same question to you. I'd like for you to start again because I could hear you, but we couldn't hear you very well. No, I'm sorry about that. Yeah. So I had, yes, go ahead. Go ahead. Yes. We couldn't hear you at all. Yeah. I was talking about the significance of the youth leaders' images on the scene. Yes. As a young man, as a fresh face, as the future of the party that we look up to. Because for many of us, we're a generation that's fast-fading. And so when you begin to see a replacement generation, call me up, God see and articulate. You don't even have any choice than to support. So for many of us, we simply supported even when we had not met him because we liked what we were seeing that the party, our party has a future in a young generation of politicians coming up. I heard you say something about coming to Cross River State. Well, we also know that. Yeah, I said I did extend invitations to him to come to Cross River State so that we can mobilize young men around him so that they can see what is possible. What can be possible in the PDP moving forward. But there seems to be a lot more young people, I might be wrong, participating in politics in Cross River or is that not necessarily the case? Sorry. I think I didn't get the rest. I was asking that are there not more young people participating in politics in Cross River or am I mistaken? Oh, there are very many. I think that if we could present the person of the current national leader of the party to the people of Cross River State, to young people in Cross River State, it will make a whole difference to them. I can say this. By 1998, when PDP was being formed, many children who were being formed that year and even a few years later are eligible voters now. Indeed, like he said in his video, he's only two years older than the PDP. So you can see the significance of that because many of these children have never seen a military regime. Their whole orientation is a global orientation which has no military inclusion in it. And so if you can see one of them promoted to the level of the, I mean to national politics, it should governize their support around the party. That's why I say that's the new face of PDP moving forward. Okay. Mr. Inkotirah, this question is for you quickly. We all know and have watched what's happened between the chairman, the national chairman of your party, the courts, and of course the party leaders. We already saw members of the national working committee, previous national working committee move to the APC and all of the imbroglo that's been going on. Now that the convention has come and gone, what next should we be looking forward to within the party? Let's not forget that there are other pending issues within the party. Mr. Tara, can you hear me? I'm saying that this is public. It's public knowledge. Just before Friday, the case was in court. Mr. Sekandus had said that he was not going to, he was going to stay and wait until the court pronounces, you know, judgment on that issue. But then of course the judgment came on Friday and the PDP was allowed to go ahead with the national convention. So I'm asking again, going forward with all of the issues within the PDP, what does the future hold for the party? Well, like I always say, conflict is a function of interaction. And because man cannot communicate, man is prone to it. The solution is much more than what is seen, even in heaven, there was conflict. So having said this, Mr. Sekandus, it is sad to note that Mr. Sekandus just embarking on what I referred to as academic insight because the court will never ever nullify a convention. First and foremost, as to when the convention was held, there was no court case. PDP won on Friday and on Saturday and Sunday, they had a convention. So as Mr. Sekandus said, we would have a few days here, but I'm not going to be considered today or maybe tomorrow. So I don't see the Supreme Court at all. It's going to be a total other issue to think that the Supreme Court will never nullify it. But it's going to be an academic society that says that those that will come after us to come before me, okay, I am cool, might be the beneficiary of the judgment of the Supreme Court. I don't see Mr. Sekandus being the beneficiary. He's probably just a part-finder. Okay. That's the way I look at it. So the NWC let this person that I've been elected will be in office for another four years, if the governors and other principal actors will allow them to be, if after two or three years, they will not orchestrate the exit. Because what really I won't say is that whenever these leaders are at loggerheads or these leaders are dissent, I would, I would, I imagine you with the, for the governor, then the governors will now use their power to ensure that for straight and eventually remove the leaders. That is what has not necessarily been in the interest of the party. Most of these battles are egocentric battles. They are not necessarily in the interest of the party. They are in the interest of the person, the dramatic specimen, those involved in this trouble. That is the truth about. Okay. Mr. Ikim, can you hear me? Because I want to ask about the PDP in Cross River. We all watched as the, yes, we all watched as the governor of your state moved to the APC and, of course, did not just do that. He took the whole structure of your party, took the party secretary at also over and painted it in colors of the APC. And we saw the two former governors, including former governor Donald Duke, who officially had left the PDP, come back into the party in a bid to rescue the party. So I'd like to ask you, where's the PDP in Cross River states now as we speak? What are your structures like? Have you been able to put your house in order? Thank you. You know what's happening in Cross River states will become a case study for the opposition in several other states. Our house to see the list perfectly in order. Our new, newest senator, the senator representing Cross River North, which is Governor Yardes, Senatorial District and mine. He just had a reception at Uguja over the weekend. And the tunnel was something that became known by everyone as a carnival. And it was almost something you can compare to the national convention that just happened. And the message went out very strong that despite the governor's presence from the north, the north of Cross River state, we are on face. Absolutely. Because the party is growing in bounds and lips in Cross River North. Many people who were in APC returning. Indeed, on that occasion, we received over 5,000, the campus, even though it was merely a church, a Thanksgiving service. And many more people since then have been reaching out to us to go and receive them. So for us, I can say in summary that our structures are in fact, our structures are growing stronger and we look forward to a lot of significance. So you're telling me that one senator moving to the PDP is what determines that your structures are in a good place or in a good place? Is that what you're saying? Because if I remember, former deputy governor has been chairing the committee that is in charge of the party. Now that you have new party leaders, I know that you also emerge as the party chairman, what is the road map? Because of course 2023 is supposed to be what the vision is for every political party. And Cross River has never been in opposition when it comes to the PDP. The PDP has always led the state. But now you are playing the opposition. So what is the plan? Well, we have our plans. I'm not sure our plans are for national television or in the close, but so far so good to see. Like you said, our preparedness for 2023 and completely in total, for lack of what to say, we're going to pretend that the governor is not there. And that's what is happening now. People are doing what they're doing, declaring their interest, showing their support despite him. So for us, he's being there, is not affecting our mobilization, not in the north of Cross River where it comes from, not anywhere else in Cross River state. The reality remains that the governor has failed, and everybody knows it, beginning from his hometown to every part of the state. So we are looking beyond where the governor comes from. We are looking at the two parties comparing the performance, like you said, of the previous two governors with what he has done, which has basically been destroying almost everything that other administrations had been able to accomplish. So we look forward to rebuilding the state, absolutely. And when you talk about Reskin, Nigeria, we talk more about Reskin Cross River state back home. That's where we are. All right. Well, Vanessa, you came is the chairman of the People's Democratic Party in Cross River state. I break your partner and I put up in Kotaia as a former special advisor to the governor of River state. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for speaking with us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right. We'll take a quick break. Thank you all for staying with us on plus politics. We will be talking about another judge in River state being attacked this time in Abuja. Stay with us.