Why PDP must allow North East to fill Mu’azu’s position - Sen Wampana

Former Speaker of old Gongola State House of Assembly and Minister under Shehu Shagari administration Senator Paul Wampana, grnted daily trust an interview in regards to the new APC led Government: see below


Senator Paul Wampana was minister for Public Health in the Second Republic, first Speaker of the defunct Gongola State House of Assembly and former PDP vice chairman, North-East. In this interview, Wampana, who is aspiring to be the next PDP national chairman, explained why the North-East should be allowed to fill the vacancy. Excerpts:

Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu reportedly  threw in the towel as PDP national chairman on May 20 following the defeat of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Can you say he did the right thing?
Well, I don’t know the amount of pressure that was mounted on him but usually, if your faults are pointed out and you accept responsibility for what you are being accused of, the only decent thing to do is to throw in the towel. Resign and leave, because that means the organisation or the people in the organisation have lost confidence in you. And when there is no confidence, why should you be there?
Following his resignation, heavy weight politicians from the North-East region have started indicating interest to fill in the vacancy on the grounds that Mu’azu’s tenure did not expire before he resigned.

Do you believe the PDP will allow this to happen?
It is not about allowing it to happen. If the person in charge resigns or leaves the office by whatever means, the most senior person in the party will act until a replacement is brought from that zone.  So, the proper thing to do is to bring in a replacement from the North-East and this should be the prerogative of the people of the zone.

Is it a constitutional matter?
Yes, it is. Zoning is a constitutional matter in our party, so there is no question about it. It has to go to the North-East. North-East did not finish the constitutionally allowed time frame or tenure of the office of the national chairman, so, we should be allowed by the PDP to serve out our tenure.
If the North-East is allowed to produce the national chairman till March 2016, would you still be interest in producing a candidate thereafter?
The North-East may be interested but we are also bound to work within the framework of the law; within the rules of the party.

We learnt that the party is making moves to shift the position of its national chairman to the South, to be able to field its 2019 presidential candidate from the North. Are you aware of this?
My understanding of the situation at hand is that by the end of March next year, a full zoning system will turn around. It is only when the people in the North-East think that they now want a chairman; they don’t want a president or vice president, they don’t want this, they don’t want that, they may think the way you are talking. But from March next year, it will be opened; any position will go to any zone. So, the question of somebody sitting tight on it will not arise. But if the PDP says we are going to do zoning, and the chairmanship still remains in the North-East, that is a different thing. As far as I am concerned, we have confidence in the PDP system. My own understanding of politics starts from the ward, local government, state, zonal and federal levels. So, there are so many moves in the party. If the North-East brings a replacement, what stops the chairmanship from being zoned to the South or South-South in March? Why is it that people do not have confidence in themselves? Politics is about interest and interest brings us together. Nobody should have doubt as to what we can do. If in March it has to go to the South so that the presidency can go to the North, so be it.

There are many aspirants jostling for Mua’zu’s seat but the NWC has said there is no vacancy in that office for now. What is your take?
I am one of the aspirants but I am not aware of that. If somebody provokes you, you can say anything. So, I think that statement was uttered in reaction to provocative statement. But as far as I am concerned, we are operating within the provisions of the PDP rules. No dissolution of the NWC should be intended, no sit tight or imposition should be intended, the North-East should go and bring a replacement; this is their prerogative.
Why do you want to be PDP national chairman?
I will now tell you. I started active politics in 1978. I resigned from Civil Service in 1978 to contest the 1979 politics which I won. I became the first Speaker of the former Gongola State House of Assembly. I was also put on Shehu Shagari’s Presidential Campaign Organisation and we won that election. I was appointed a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am trying to tell you that I have been in this system from 1978 to date, so the issue is what I have learnt and whether it is Christianity or Islam, anybody who comes out to say this or that, does not deserve the position. You expressed interest, I have expressed interest. The people from Adamawa drew my attention and I gave them my consent that I am interested. They asked me if they should push me forward and I said do so. So they wrote and followed what I understand, that is, step by step politics. They wrote to Adamawa State chapter of PDP, to the zonal office and to the national headquarters. The letter of my supporters in Adamawa is now lying in the PDP leadership offices at all levels. So, I am waiting for the next action.
 But there are many politicians from the North-East aspiring for the same position. How will you slug it out?
Well, we have always had a process. If what we are saying now is to materialize, we will have a leader in the North-East who, in conjunction with the zonal chairman, will call PDP stakeholders to deliberate and nominate either one, two or three men, and tell the national headquarters that these are the persons we want or we will accept. So the procedure is very clear. I am an experienced person.

We know how to go about it.
PDP top national officers are always saying that the party will bounce back in 2019. Do you think this is possible?
That is why I want to contest the chairmanship position. I am a political legend; everybody knows, I am blowing my own trumpet. I will turn PDP around.  It will look to you like a miracle. Just let PDP give me the chance.

What do you think constitutes the major problem of the party, especially factors leading to its defeat at the March/April general elections? 
The major problem of the party especially before the last general elections was lack of cohesion. The decisions were not coherent, that is one. Two, there was over-confidence. PDP, the largest party in Africa did not expect a small bird to come and pull it down. Three, there was imposition. People just imposed candidates. Nobody minded the people at the ward and local government levels who form the largest voting population.

The PDP had set up a post -election review committee to unravel what led to the party’s defeat at the last general elections. Are you sure the report will be implemented?
I don’t want to pre-empt. First of all, do you know the content of the report? If it is not acceptable, why should anyone implement it? If the report is acceptable, why should it not be implemented? Now, we cannot make a comment in absentia of the content of the report. It is the report that will sell itself to acceptance; it will be the report that will reject itself from acceptance.
What is your take on forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa states gubernatorial elections?
I am less worried about what happens in Kogi considering the fact that we have no complete commissioners at INEC.