Ndoma Egba
Nigeria’s Senate Leader, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba Speaks On Decision To Stick With PDP In Spite of Being Short-Changed at Party Primaries In Cross River.
Regional Correspondent, Diana Okon-Effiong, was at the briefing. Excerpts:
You still got a lot of following in spite of your loss at the primaries.
First of all I am deeply touched by this show of affection because, usually, given our environment, where you are in a kind of situation I am in, you just take leave and move to greener pastures but to see them I am deeply touched. I have told them that I remain in the PDP, which is the party that has given me the opportunities and I will remain a loyal member. Secondly, I remain in politics. I am not leaving politics. This is just a bend on the road, it is not the end of the road. So I will remain in politics to lend my voice to the people and continue to contribute my quota.
They are danger signals to democracy out of what transpired in the political party primaries. How do you see this?
The first thing I noticed after the primaries of the major political
parties, which are the PDP and APC is that there was a lot of traffic outside PDP to the APC and there was no corresponding traffic from the APC to the PDP. It just shows one thing which is that the processes in one party were more acceptable and the processes in the other party were less acceptable. Where the process is transparent, people are bound to accept the result, but where it is not transparent, it will bring dissent and resentment. So you now begin to manage tension and resentment to a level that should not be. So our challenge is to make sure the parties enjoy internal democracy, because the parties are the vehicles through which democracy is delivered. So if don’t have internal democracy within your party, then you cannot give what you don’t have.
Some feel the legislature has not been able to help institute internal democracy in political parties through the proper legislation to help enforce internal democracy?
You know we have been tinkering with the legal infrastructure for some time. If you recall some time ago, INEC had a major role to play in party primaries. People complained about the dictatorship of INEC in that process and so we now decided to reduce the role of INEC to mere observation. But it now appears that we did not get it right. So we just keep tinkering. So the essential thing is that the basic legal infrastructure for internal party democracy is there. It is an attitude thing. We have not just developed the right attitude to say let there be a level playing ground and a fair chance for all to compete.
PDP Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu’s comment on using and dumping of members?
It is the party itself that should act. The president himself is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The party has its leadership and I am sure people were aware of the goings on in the party. The party just appeared to be helpless at that point in time. I just hope that helplessness would not be at a high price to the party. But the time has come for us to advocate for internal democracy in political parties. That is the way to go because clearly the impunity is not sustainable at all. The way we are going, it can only take us for a short distance.
Opposition’s threat to PDP in Cross River
Well we would have to work far harder than we have done in the past. The new strength of opposition is from members of PDP, who felt short-changed and just moved there to seek an avenue for fulfilling their aspirations. So it is us in the PDP that have given strength to opposition. And I tell you what my worry is. In the past two or so election, there was hardly any opposition party that was able to field candidates in all positions. Today we have several that have candidates for every position, which means that they are getting more confident and more daring. So I just pray we are not arrogant about the way we deal with the situation. We must go right back to the fundamentals. We must begin to engage ourselves and make peace. We must work harder and make sure anybody that has left for one grievance or the other is brought back to the fold.
Any advice to party members aggrieved about the way you were short-changed at the primaries and may opt for anti-party activities?
That is part of the work I am talking about. We have to work much harder. This is a time to show humility. This is not a time for arrogance. We must go back because these people who are now in the opposition or those so disaffected saying they will not vote are our members. We must begin to engage them in a very constructive and sincere way.
People must have the opportunity of competing fairly. All of us must advocate internal party democracy. I think we are all beginning to see the price of impunity we may have to pay for the impunity in the party.
What exactly has Cross River lost in a sensitive position as the Senate Leader?
Well, a few months ago you followed me round the state where we inspected only 41 out of 75 projects that are ongoing in the state. I am worried whether or not they will be able to secure funding for them. A lot of them may end up being abandoned. That is the immediate implosion. Secondly the position of senate is quite a conspicuous position because as Senate Leader you are the liaison with the executive and you are the liaison with the party. You sit as the chairman of the party’s caucus. You lose that visibility. The voice gives you some mileage which we are losing. But for me it is the loss of the argument against marginalisation. It means that we as a state can no longer complain about marginalisation. Because they will say marginalize how? When we give you, you reject it or the person. When you take what happened elsewhere, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip and my deputy were unopposed. It was only Cross River that said, no we don’t want. How do you tomorrow turn around and make any argument for marginalisation when the nation had given you an opportunity and you say you do not want.
I am not bitter about the exercise at all. I don’t have the capacity for bitterness. These are all worldly things. I have made peace with myself and everybody.
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