Ohakim: Inside Story of My Return to PDP

mo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, has opened up on why he returned to his original party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), pointing to calls by stakeholders and an overwhelming majority of the people of the state on him to do so.
He left the party for the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) on which platform he contested and won the state governorship seat in the April 28, 2007 rescheduled election in the state.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with THISDAY in Owerri, Imo State capital, Ohakim also revealed that over 90 per cent of the Imo political elite were members of the PDP and therefore the best way to unite them was for him as the governor to move to the dominant platform, adding that his administration could neither afford disunity nor distraction at this stage.
He stated that the resolution passed by the state House of Assembly (which is 99 per cent PDP) calling on him to return to the PDP after the appellate court had ratified his election as a way of further cementing the harmony between the Legislature and the Executive arms in the state helped sway him to take the decision.
Besides, he disclosed that his moving back to his old party was a way of keeping faith with the promise he made to the PDP leadership when he was endorsed by it in the 2007 governorship election that he would return to the party in due course after the election.
He, however, clarified that the deal, which made it possible for the PDP machinery to be fully deployed in his support at the poll, was neither written nor had any precondition attached to it, adding that his promise to return was based on trust and faith.
The Imo governor said that lack of consensus within the political class was at the root of the crisis and instability that afflicted the PDP and the state before and during the last general election in 2007.
His leaving the PDP for the PPA to contest the election, according to him, was necessitated by the crisis, while his return to the PDP more than two years after it became imperative in order to halt the crisis and heal the wounds it inflicted on the Imo polity.
The governor explained that he consulted extensively with Imo stakeholders and the people before arriving at the decision to move back to the PDP.
While stressing that the defection goes beyond partisan politics, he said it was the Imo people, and not him, who decided that the political realignment should take place.
“With the event of Saturday, we have redefined politics in Imo State the way our people desire,” he pointed out.
The governor stated that the need to render quality service to the people of the state and enhance their well-being should override party affiliation and partisan considerations.
According to him, the struggle for political power should in no way impede his government’s march towards giving Imo a vibrant economy and creating the much needed jobs for the youths.
Ohakim, who was a founding member of PDP in Imo State in 1998, explained his decision to return to the old base to THISDAY this way: “I wish to state that my return was motivated by the need to provide for the people of Imo State, an atmosphere to heal the wounds inflicted on their collective psyche before and during the April 2007 general election. And in this regard, I believe the first thing to do is to restore elite consensus among the political class. It was the breakdown of elite consensus that was the root cause of the crisis we witnessed in the immediate days before the April 2007 general election. We are still living with that crisis. It is the crisis of confidence among the political class and no society makes progress under such an atmosphere.”
Ohakim stressed that the best way to consolidate on the various achievements already recorded by his administration was to find a common platform - a platform that has more latitude to accommodate a broader segment of the polity.
After a thorough survey, he said no other platform was found that could provide better opportunity for aggregation than the PDP.
He said: “So, we are saying we want to aggregate under the PDP to consolidate the gains we have made collectively in the last two years. It could have been any other party. But today, the reality on ground is that the PDP offers the most robust accommodation to provide service to the good people of Imo State.”
Ohakim said he decided to stand on the strong platform of the PDP to join hands with the vast majority of the stakeholders to rebuild the Imo polity, adding that “the bulk of the elite we want to harness are in the PDP”.
With the Imo State House of Assembly that is 99 per cent PDP having passed a resolution inviting him to return to the PDP and the vast majority of the Imo elite and stakeholders having done the same, the governor said he had no option than to answer their calls.
He explained that he consulted the wider spectrum of Imo stakeholders and people before arriving at the decision to move back to the PDP.
He declared: “It is the Imo people who have decided that this political realignment must take place. With the event of Saturday, we have redefined politics in Imo State the way our people desire.”
He threw more light on why he returned to PDP saying, “It is the Ecclesiastes that said there is time for everything under the sun. I agree and I believe that now is the time to take hard and courageous decisions to secure as well as ensure the political stability, economic progress, peace and unity in Imo State. Therefore, the action I have taken in re-joining PDP is clearly beyond politics. Again, our service to the good people of Imo should not be unduly subjected to the whims and caprices of politics and politicians. The struggle for political power should in no way impede our march towards giving Imo an economy and creating the much needed jobs for our teeming unemployed youths.”
The governor said: “Since Imo is not an island unto itself, we should be able to find synergy with the rest of the country. Again, it happens that over 90 per cent of the states of the federation are PDP. More importantly, we want to be able to fully share in the vision of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.”
He expressed the belief that the President had a good sense of mission in growing our democracy, pointing out that he had demonstrated an uncommon attribute as a true democrat. “The reason we failed to achieve much in the first eight years of our new democracy was that many of the people at the helm of affairs were not committed to enthroning the tenets of true democracy. And whether anybody likes it or not, the truth is that we will not make any progress until we begin to predicate the whole essence of our collective existence on rule of law as is currently being espoused by the President,” he said.
On whether he had weighed the legal implications of his crossover to the PDP especially against the backdrop of a threat by the National Leader and Chairman, Board of Trustees of PPA, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, to drag him to court, he said he was not losing sleep about it.
His words: “We are in a serious business. Politics is not a market place. We have had other governors in this dispensation who crossed to other parties. Dr. Kalu himself left the PDP which elected him in 1999 and 2003 to form PPA. Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar left the PDP to run for election under the Action Congress. He was challenged and you know the ruling of the courts on that matter. In any case, we do not want to go into that; we believe we are doing the right thing. The personal fears or prejudices of one or two fellows should not prevent the generality of the people from pursuing a cause they believe will be to their overall interest.”
On the implications of his defection against the backdrop of a case pending at the Appeal Court in which the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Chief Martin Agbaso, is challenging the cancellation of April 14, 2007 election, he said he took into consideration the pending legal suit before leaving the PPA for the PDP.
He said: “Let me answer your question this way. First, I want to place on record that I have faced the largest number of petitions and protests arising from the 2007 general elections. I had to cope with 18 electoral cases in all and that is a record by any standard. Some of the cases were frivolous and some were quite daring, but the important thing is that I have always prevailed at the end. It is the hand of God not my power as a person.
“It is only the constitutional case between Martin Agbaso and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that is still pending at the court. With respect to that case, many people are confusing the issues. What I’m saying is that people should be conversant with what the constitution and the laws of Nigeria say. I am not averse to people going to court to challenge the action that I have taken. I have seen that there is the possibility of people challenging and I am moving with my head.”
Ohakim said as far as he knew, “we don’t have any tribunal matter outstanding in the court. The case that is pending is between Martin Agbaso and INEC. He did not sue me or the party. PPA is not a party in the suit. It is Agbaso as a person versus INEC. I understand his party, the APGA, is not even a party to the suit either.”
The full interview will be published tomorrow.