Obi shared dollars, naira to PDP delegates before defecting to LP –Omagbon

A former member of the House of Representatives and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Harrison Omagbon, shares his encounter with the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who was a former member of his party, and other sundry political matters in this interview with Ben Ogbemudia

Now that campaigns have commenced officially according to the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), what is your party going to sell to Nigerians?

If Nigeria was a human being, he/she would have been in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital and we would need a formidable medical team to rescue him/her from where the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has driven it to. However, I want to believe the PDP-led government can actualise the rescue mission. Yes, as per the timetable of INEC with the campaign that officially commenced on the 28th of September, I am sure that my party is very much ready to start selling its programmes to the electorate, and in line with that, you are well aware that the presidential candidate of the party with the national leaders of the party have inaugurated the national campaign council and with that, I believe that process of starting campaigns have just commenced.

But the Obi force seems to the threatening all other political parties, what are the chances of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, given that he (Obi) is likely to get block votes from areas hitherto enjoyed by the PDP in the South-South and South-East?

Well, if I may say yes, Obi is a new phenomenon in Nigeria politics but again many of the people hailing for Obi today are hailing for him because they want to belong to the scene, If you ask many of them what Obi stands for that warrants the support for him, they can’t say anything and I also see it that this whole idea of obedient is a fluke because Obi just like every other aspirant started this journey in PDP and as the state deputy chairman of my party, I have the boldness to say he also came to see us in Benin. If it is a matter of not having money to play politics, that cannot be true because the same way others gave money to whom would delegate, is the same way he gave. He pulled out from the boat of PDP and went to the LP. This ‘Obidient’ thing people are carrying today is somewhat revolution. People are revolutionising politics because people are tired of APC and probably if Atiku did not emerge with all due respect to him and my party as the presidential, the ‘Obidient’ move would not have been an issue today and that is the silent truth. However, I believe that when the campaign starts many people who are shouting ‘Obidient’ today will be able to know that he is not as glittering as he portrayed himself.

Why did you say that?
To start with, he was a governor for Anambra State and promised he was going to turn Onitsha into Dubai and Nnewi into Taiwan, which of them are the Dubai and Taiwan of Anambra today? And what he used to satisfy himself is the amount of money he left at the bank before he left the government. Were there not things crying for the need for that money in the state? For things like education, health, road infrastructure, etc, why did he choose to put it in the bank, and what was the actual balance with the bank? We can’t be crying that we need a cure for the country and we will be running from frying pan to fire.

So, are you insinuating that Peter Obi is deceiving Nigerians with the posture of not giving money?

At least he gave us in Benin during the early days preceding the PDP primary before he pulled out of the party. I make bold to say that he did it in naira and dollars.

What do you mean by deceit?
Yes, he should stop deceiving Nigerians, he should stop it, he will say I have done this, I have done that, go and crosscheck he should stop it.

Let’s come to your party where all does not seem well, at least, during the inauguration of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) in Abuja, five serving PDP stayed away and many other stalwarts of the party, is that not a big blow?

I think the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, should have a full retrospect of the situation at hand and throw away unnecessary issues that will slim the chances of the party. The present crisis in PDP is not about the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, it is not about the South or the North, but it is about integrity. If in the event proceeding the presidential primary the national chairman said if a national candidate emerges he would resign, then he should be responsible for his words. It took us overnight to vote for him to become national chairman, so, he is having our mandate, our trust and he shouldn’t betray that trust. But I still believe there is still time to heal the wounds.

Don’t you think this crisis is telling on the party?
Naturally, politics is the home of crisis. You agree to disagree and you disagree to agree.

The same thing is happening in Edo State…
That one is obvious that the PDP in Edo State has made a bad purchase in 2020 and the entire Edo State is having this problem and no doubt about that. I don’t want to blame the leadership of the state or the leadership of PDP for this problem, but I want to blame the follower. The followers are the ones who should pick up the truth and stand on the right path but the majority of them what are they doing? They are all turning themselves to praise singers, telling what they have seen and not seen, and making the whole exercise look rough. At times when you are held in the position of leadership you’re held hostage, but again nothing of that nature lasts forever and some of the crises ended in court and after the judges of the supreme court I think we can now go back home to make and unmake the fortunes of the party.

Another building collapses in Ibadan, property worth millions destroyed

Don’t you think the crisis has created a division that the wounds can’t easily be healed?

You see, in politics, there is no permanent situation, it is a matter of interest, and issues that seem unsolvable in a matter of hours can be solved. However, Nigeria is God’s gift to us and we are all on that mission train to rescue Nigeria.

For you to rescue Nigeria and the crisis is still pending at the national level of your party, what will you tell Ayu as a stakeholder?
I have said it, he should live up to his words, he should resign, he said it in an interview on TV, it is all over social media, so he should resign. Unfortunately, they are now making it look like Wike fighting Atiku or Wike fighting Ayu. No! I don’t see it like that rather I see it as someone given a position of responsibility and making a vow, he should stand by it to uphold the tenant of that office.

What is your message to Nigerians?
My message to Nigerians is, we all should go out and vote for the candidate that will uplift the country. We all know the antecedents of these candidates so we should look at it and vote for the right choice so at the end of the day Nigeria will be better.