ON THE PDP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY-TURNED ECONOMIC/BUSINESS SUMMIT WITH THE RAIN OF DOLLARS – THE NEED FOR RELEVANT AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE

With regards to the PDP Presidential Primary, which was nothing short of an economic/business summit that kicked off on Saturday October 6th, 2018 to Sunday October 7th, 2018, we termed it so because it portrayed the highest level of corruption, where it is alleged that Presidential aspirants dished out different amounts of US Dollars ranging from 9,000, 5,000, 4,000, 3,000 and 2,500 US Dollars to some delegates, which comprised of about 150 delegates from each the of the 36 States of the country – that is about 5,400 delegates, plus that of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This is the height of corruption to say the least, which we are strongly urging the relevant Federal Government Authorities and anti-graft agencies to thoroughly investigate and have it addressed to restore the sanctity of the nation’s democratic process. To this end, we ask that the Federal Government should direct the relevant authorities concerned to investigate the said alleged use of US Dollars during party primaries and set modalities in place to prevent such from repeating itself in future elections.  

As expected, Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were fortunate to be delegates at the said party’s national convention which held in Port Harcourt, have described the exercise as worthy. Why will they not describe it so, since they were said to have received thousands of dollars as bribes from some Presidential aspirants. According to reports, it was alleged that as early as Saturday morning, some of the delegates said they already had up to $9,000 each while they said that they were still expecting more. The aspirants who are taking part in the primary are a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal; Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo; a former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso; a former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa. Others are the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki; a former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark; a former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki  (SAN) and a former Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jona Jang. Also in the race are, a former Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi; a former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido and Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed.

It is being alleged that many of the delegate collected US Dollars of different amounts from some of the PDP Presidential aspirants to vote whomever they feel obligated to vote for as they so please, and it was the same with the States and National Assemblies’ levels election primaries. It was alleged in reports that a particular aspirant, who had taken part in a Presidential primary before, was said to have first offered the delegates $2,500 each in exchange for votes. But when he heard that another aspirant offered the delegates $3000, he increased his own to $4000. Reports further revealed that the first aspirant later offered same amount of $4000, an action that forced the man who offered $4000 to increase his own to $5000. Another aspirant was also said to have offered $1000. It was also learnt that some aspirants gave out Naira to the delegates, while a reported source said States with large delegates got N50m, while others with fewer delegates got less. However, it was also revealed that other aspirants had also offered unspecified amount of money to the delegates.

A particular report, noted how two delegates from the North-West, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed they received cash. One of them, even showed some reporters the envelope that contained the Dollar bills, and said they decided to receive the gratification as a means of getting their share of the ‘national cake.’ He said, “We are not going to sell our conscience because of the money. In fact, we saw it as an opportunity to collect what belong to us from these men.” Another delegate from the South-East, who also confirmed that he collected money even wished that the exercise could be called off and another one organise to enable him to make more money. This is what the PDP politicians have turned the Nigerian politics into – a cash and carry economic/business summit.

One begins to wonder and ask, has the PDP not learnt their lessons from past experiences? From the look of things, it appears they haven’t. If they have learnt any lesson, then how will the said Presidential aspirants expects to scale through this hurdle and be able to get back their ‘political investments’? And if they are being financed by ‘political entrepreneurs,’ how will they reap their harvests in triple folds? But most importantly, are these the kind of politicians that will unseat the APC Government, and continue their looting as usual as being alleged? How on earth will such people that will come out from such a corrupt-ridden process be able to help and lead the country effectively? It is even more sad that they are alleged to be using more of hard foreign currency of the US Dollars to bribe their way for votes. The use of the Nigerian Naira to buy delegates in their favour is no more that effective, they have now graduated and developed to the use of Dollars. What a shame! If the Nigerian people don’t reject these people, then they are on their way to mortgaging the entire future of the Nigerian populace.

If you go to most social gatherings/social events today, you will see lots of children lurking around at the event looking for food remnants to eat, which they often gather in paper bags to take home for their entire family to feed on for that day. That is the growing level of hardship, hunger and poverty in the land, especially in all the rural villages and the urban towns/ cities in the South-South. The question is, where did Atiku, Saraki, Tambuwal, etc. get the alleged US Dollars being shared from? It is really a shame on the PDP, as a supposed opposition political party. They have made their recent convention/PDP Presidential Primary more of a gang of ‘political rascals’ bidding amongst themselves to see who can spread the highest amount of money to win the day.

When it was announced that former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has emerged the PDP Presidential candidate to fly the party’s flag in the February 14 2019 Presidential election, many of us are not surprised because of his past record in the Nigerian Customs and in the Nigerian Government. It was obvious that, the man with the highest US Dollars to distribute carried the day. Atiku was reported to have polled 1,532 votes, while Aminu Tambuwal polled 693 votes to place second. Other results are, Bukola Saraki, 317 votes; Jonah Jang, 19 votes; Datti Ahmed, 5 votes; David Mark, 35 votes; Tanimu Turaki, 65 votes; Sule Lamido, 96 votes; Attahiru Bafarawa, 48 votes; Ibrahim Dankwambo, 111 votes; Ahmed Makarfi, 74 votes and Rabiu Kwankwaso, 158 votes. But it is really sad and a bad record for Nigeria’s democracy of how these politicians have turned a mere Presidential primary into a business summit for delegates to make money. If the Presidential primary was like this, we can only imagine the atrocities they will commit during the election proper just to win at all cost. But we are glad that these things are happening now in the open, for all Nigerians to see and decide for themselves who is fit to lead the country come 2019. 

Perhaps, the PDP should ask themselves, will the US Presidential aspirants/politicians pay their delegates in Naira? Such act alone in the US will disqualify the said aspirant, especially for using foreign currency to allegedly bribe delegates. But sadly, here in Nigeria, the PDP, as usual, has made this bad practice a norm. What a big shame! Let us reiterate here that NO REASONABLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WILL SPEND US DOLLARS TO BUY DELEGATES, THAT IS WITH THE INTENTION OF RUNNING A CREDIBLE GOVERNMENT.

Zik Gbemre, JP.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)