A former Deputy Senate President and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu has pointed accusing fingers at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for laying the foundation of the impunity that has landed the party in the travails that culminated in its being defeated at the 2015 general elections after 16 years in office.
Mantu, in an interview with Vanguard published on Sunday, also said that it was not true that the country had not made much progress since the return to civil rule in 1999.
When asked about the progress made so far in the polity, he said: “Every serious Nigerian politician should thank God that, for the first time in the political history of this country, the military has allowed democracy to survive for 16 years, uninterrupted. There has never been a time in the history of Nigeria that the military allowed democracy to survive beyond one term. The first republic lasted only one term, the second republic lasted another one term and three months, the third republic was dead on arrival before this fourth republic came on stream.
Many people will say we have not achieved much but, honestly, we should not only be counting our woes. We should also be counting our blessings. Almost 17 years of democratic rule has given us an opportunity to establish some democratic institutions that can promote and deepen democracy. For instance, the National Assembly has been able to establish the National Assembly Service Commission which hires and fires its staff. Before then, the National Assembly was dependent totally on civil servants deployed by the executive to work for it. When we came in in 1999, we had lots of problems with President Obasanjo because many of the assembly staff were loyal to the executive arm of government; so any time we were to do anything that would put a search light on the executive, the staff would tip the executive off. But now the National Assembly Service Commission has the power to hire and fire its staff; so the question of double loyalty no longer arises.
Secondly, from 1999 to 2007, once the National Assembly embarked on an action that the President found not palatable to him, he would direct the Accountant General not to release the money ear-marked for the National Assembly. That was a way of forcing us to abandon some of the things we were trying to do. So many times, people like me, who happened to be close to Mr President then, would have to go and beg the President to change his mind. This went on till we were able to put the National Assembly on first line charge like the judiciary.
The anti-corruption agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission were the creation of the National Assembly. Today, people don’t look at things holistically. They are only looking at the down side of events in the polity.
I am saying all these to let you know that because the military did not interrupt the polity, we were able to achieve some of these things. Of course we have amended the Constitution successfully twice; new laws have been introduced into the system. We still have a long way to go, but, gradually and steadily, we will get there. Democracy is certainly deepening and I know that we will get there one day.
All these that you have enumerated were achieved when the Peoples Democratic Party was in government. But when PDP is mentioned today, what comes to mind is how the party introduced impunity, fraud and corruption into governance. How did the party get to that level?
If you go back to history, the founding fathers of the PDP meant well for this nation. If you recall, the PDP was founded by people who were political antagonists. There was no way, before the formation of PDP, that you could have someone like Abubakar Rimi and Adamu Chiroma in the same party. Adamu Chiroma was in the defunct NPN while Rimi was in the NPP and the NPP people called themselves progressives. The NPN and the NPP were like parallel lines. But after General Buhari put all of them in prison after the collapse of the second republic, some of them shared cells. They realized that there were two parties in the country: the military and the political class. That experienced in 1984made them realize that the political class must work together to ensure that the military did not take power again. The PDP is a product of this experience that the politicians had in Kirikiri when they realized that the only thing that will prevent the military from seizing power was to ensure good governance.
The founding fathers of the PDP decided that, in order to make progress, regional politics must be dispensed with. They decided that there must be a mega party that was truly national in character and in spirit. We had a party that was acceptable across the nooks and crannies of the country, so that it would be truly national. That is why the slogan of the PDP is “Power to the People”. The people were supposed to be the power behind the party. It was meant to be a people-oriented party from the beginning.
A party that depends on the people is supposed to do that which the people want at any given time. It was supposed to subject itself to the verdict of the people. But power is like an intoxicant. When somebody is drunk, you see him stagger. The PDP was embraced by the people; it was embraced at every section of this nation. Nigerians from all walks of life, from all religions, tribes and ethnic groups embraced the party in 1999.
But as time went on, we were getting drunk and more drunk on power and impunity started setting in. I must say, with due respect, that President Olusegun Obasanjo laid the foundation for the impunity that we saw in the PDP because governors became too powerful and started feeling untouchable. How did this start? Obasanjo was a military head of state and the military system of government is unitary; one line order. The military governors in all the states at that time were like ambassadors of the head of state.
In the second republic, when the NPN was in power, anything the President wanted, he would ask the Chairman of the party. If the President wanted to appoint a minister, he would tell the Chairman of the party who will pass the message to the states using party structures. It was the Chairman of the party and the President that would decide finally who will be made a minister. The criteria for choosing somebody for ministerial appointment or any other appointment that would require the approval of the National Assembly was the responsibility of the party because the party would look at those people who contributed so much to the growth of the party. It wasn’t how much money you had or how many people you had bribed. In most cases, those that found their names may not have any idea about it because it was usually based on their relevance and contribution to the success of the party that qualified them for government position.
As a result of that, everybody would struggle for the success of the party with the hope that he could also benefit. Loyalty was strictly to the party. But when Obasanjo came, instead of asking the party to submit names to him for Senate consideration, the governors were the ones sending names to Obasanjo for ministerial, ambassadorial and board positions. Invariably, the governors became like the Alpha and Omega. The governors were the ones who nominated ministers, ambassadors, members and chairmen of boards, chief executives of parastatals, etc. So, instead of party members being loyal to the party, they became loyal to the governors. Naturally, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Absolute power intoxicates absolutely. It gives birth to impunity, disrespect, abuse of ideas and gives you the impression that you don’t need anybody.
Governors did not stop at forwarding names for people to be appointed by Mr president. In 2007, governors extended their areas of influence to include who was entitled to go to the House of Representatives. The Senate is supposed to be for elder statesmen so that we will have people who would be able to reconcile the governor and any other person in the state working against the governor. But this time around, the senator was usually a former aide of the governor who could not disagree with the governor not to talk of calling the governor to order when derailing. Same thing in the state House of Assembly. That was why a budget will be submitted to the state assembly and, same day, it would be approved.
At the national level, though President Obasanjo was not able to manipulate the National Assembly as he would have wanted, he saw the National Assembly as nuisance. He felt their was no need for the National Assembly; so there was no need for him to court their. That is the reason some people wanted to impeach him, but some of us felt that doing so would be heating up the system and providing an alibi for the military to come in again.”
When asked about the impunity in the PDP post-Obasanjo, he responded: “The impunity increased. It’s like planting a tree. As it grows, it becomes stronger. The tree of impunity was planted by Obasanjo. By the time he left, the tree had mature and became a monster beyond control. Even the President that was in power could not control it because it became a monster. President Godluck Jonathan was at the mercy of the governors. The governors became the Alpha and Omega. Even the selection of delegates during our conventions was no longer through elections, but the governors were the ones who hand picked them. Since the governors became so strong, the President had to subject himself to their authority.”
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