Fred Agbaje, human and civil rights lawyer, gave an interview on September 2013, in which he argued that neither the PDP nor the APC has solutions to Nigeria’s problems.
Question: Looking at the crisis in the ruling PDP, do you see a resolution in sight? Is the development good for the polity?
Fred Agbaje: Well I don’t know why there is hullabaloo about the fractionalisation of the purportedly largest party in Africa. PDP’s enthusiasts say they are destined to rule for 60 years. Do they now look like a party that will rule for the next 60 years? Fractionalisation, decimalisation: are those the hallmarks of a party destined to rule for the next 60 years? If I tell you that what is happening in the PDP is strange to me, I will be deceiving myself. You know the history of PDP.
It emerged from the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), which is an offshoot of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In other words, PDP is an offshoot of NPN. You know the calibre of people in the NPN. Whether in the NPN, PDM, or PDP, the coming together of the people that formed those parties was for the purpose of simply sharing the resources of this country. They did not come together with the hope of making this country better than they met it. As far as they were concerned, they intended only to hijack power, share the economic and financial resources of this country and ensure the complete liquidation of the nation called Nigeria. With this kind of people coming together, with the objective of chop and liquidate, we knew it was just a question of time and the edifice will begin to collapse like a pack of cards; that sooner than later their political ship will grind to a halt.
That PDP lasted this long, I think it is a miracle having regard to the fact that it is made up of people of questionable character; people whose motive is never to advance the cause of the common man, but to dampen and weaken the common man in terms of morale, financially, and emotionally. It was just a matter of time that these people will kiss the grass. In other words, having regard to the antecedents of its members, what has happened did not come as a surprise. Is the development good for the nation? Of course it is good for the nation. If a party lacks internal democracy, or if a party claims euphemistically that they reflect internal democracy, whereas they don’t; if there is so much discontentment among the rank and file; and where every discontentment is treated as a family affair, how do you expect such a political party to survive for long? Now water will begin to find its level.
The hybrid of the good, the bad and the ugly that came together to constitute the PDP, such people will begin to find their level. The good ones will begin to find any other existing political party that they could align with; or which faction of the PDP that they could align with; and which could better advance their interest. The bad ones will continue to associate with themselves, and insist on the originality of that intellectually marooned political party called PDP.
Question: But not a few Nigerians regard former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the putative leader of the so-called new PDP, as a corrupt politician. Doesn’t this suggest that there is nothing significantly different between the new and old PDP?
Fred Agbaje: Don’t forget that in politics what is permanent is interest. Those who are coming to join Atiku or those who are pretending to be flying with him know Atiku for what he is. Is it not the same Atiku who abandon the PDP before and then joined camp with ACN? Even while he was in the ACN, was he actually in that party? He was sitting on the fence. Now he has returned to his vomit, the PDP.
The problem on the ground today was further accentuated by the resurgence of the PDM. And who constitutes the arrowhead of the PDM? It is the same Atiku. What I am saying therefore is that because of the permanent nature of interest, some people who are genuine democrats, who have the genuine interest of this country at heart, who are not there for what they can garner for themselves but what they can contribute, will pretend to fall into the ship of Atiku, to ride in the same ship with him. But ultimately they will get rid of Atiku himself, because they know the type of politician he is.
Question: Applying the law to the crisis, can there really be two PDPs operating side by side, and positioning to win elections in 2015?
Fred Agbaje: It is not possible to have two PDPs. Only one has a certificate of incorporation. Once an association has metamorphosed into a political party by complying with the clear provisions of section 221 to 229 of the Constitution, it has moved away from merely being an association, which is guaranteed under section 40 of the Constitution, into being a political party. When the association meets all the constitutional obligations that are created in the said s. 221 to 229, INEC, under section 15 of the Third Schedule, which relates to its functions, can then look into the association to be sure that it has complied with the constitutional requirements. INEC can then register them as a political party. Once an association is registered as a political party, a certificate of incorporation, or a certificate of registration is given to it by INEC.
The question now is this: how many certificates of registration does PDP have? And secondly, if it is one, the next question will be this: the party that is claiming to be the new PDP, have they met the constitutional requirements of section 221 to 229, particularly the provisions of section 224 of the Constitution, pursuant to the objective of registering as a political party? If they have met it, then let them show their certificate. Of course, two political parties cannot have one certificate of registration. It is either one is original or the other one is fake. And to all intent and purposes, there is only one PDP. The question will then be this: what will the law now do in the face of the crisis? The law cannot remain silent in the midst of the lock jam. If the Constitution has provided for means by which an association could become a political party. One has met it and has a certificate of registration already; the other party cannot claim to still have the same certificate. The one that is properly registered could then go to court and ask for a restraining order that the other party, being fake, should stop insulting its name. The court will restrain them from parading themselves as the authentic political party, which they are not.
But the onus rests on the party asserting originality to prove its authenticity by tendering its certificate of registration. If the other side does not have the registration certificate to prove, then they become liable to an order of injunction restraining them. From there, the court could then say that the certificate they are parading is fake, or that they are not entitled to the certificate, because it was stolen; or gotten from some unlawful or fraudulent means. The onus will then be on the adverse claimant to furnish evidence that the certificate which the original party is parading is not really original, but fake. But has the law been allowed to take its cause? I know that the parties are already in court. One of the parties has gone to court to check the activities of the other. And I know that the court has given an order that the parties should maintain status quo ante. What does maintenance of status quo ante mean in law? When you read the case of AYORINDE v. AG OYO STATE, the Supreme Court defined status quo ante to mean the position of the parties before coming to court, not the position of the parties after the case has come to court. The case of the party in this wise is that both sides are contending.
To maintain status quo, you remain where you are. You do not cross my line so long as this case is in court. That is the meaning of maintaining status quo ante bellum: don’t do anything outside what you’ve done before you went to court. The court has to be very careful at that stage in granting ex parte. If you grant ex parte in favour of one against the other, it means the judge has already decided the substantive suit on its merit at the interlocutory stage. That’s wrong. You cannot determine the substantive suit or determine the interlocutory application at an ex parte stage. It would mean that the job has just been done by deciding the ultimacy of the case. That is why the courts always play safe to say, well, both sides should maintain status quo. It didn’t say one side. That means the court realises that there are two parties. But is the status quo now being maintained? I am aware that one of the parties has gone to the police to seal up the office of the other. That is the height of illegality and unconstitutionality. It is an unpalatable and contumacious conduct. That is a violation of the order that the parties should maintain status quo as ordered by the court. The status quo is no longer the same now. They have altered it. They have placed the other side in a situation of hopelessness and helplessness. Therefore what the court should do at the next hearing is to order that the party that has altered the status quo should go back to it.
Question:What will you say to people who believe that the Atiku-led faction of the PDP is only cleverly playing a card with the aim of renegotiating the situation in the PDP, and re-establishing the party on principles more favourable to his interest ahead 2015?
Fred Agbaje: You cannot rule that one out. That is what I told you. I have said that what is at play is a question of permanent interest. How would you secure your own interest in the new political endgame that is playing out? Which of the PDPs will better serve your interest as a member? You look at all the nitty-gritty and all the dices. According to the allegation, the old PDP had become a victim of the culture of impunity. They have become imbecile to the rule of law. In other word, not just imbecile to the rule of law, they have become impenetrable in terms of obedience and submission of themselves to the principle of constitutionalism. Thus, instead of allowing internal democracy to take place, they are doing everything through the back door by imposing candidates under the guise of consensus candidate. That is another word for fraud. Their own constitution has provided for how a candidate should emerge. But you now say, in clear disobedience to the principle of constitutionalism as entrenched in PDP’s constitution, that you are sidetracking that; that the candidates will emerge by consensus. Who are the consensus candidates? How did they arrive that this is the one that is acceptable to all of us? Is that not a deviation from the principle of democracy, which simply mean majority rule through exercise of their franchise? By the time you adopt the idea of consensus candidate you are indirectly throwing the concept of electoral franchise into the dustbin.
Question:Do you see the APC upstaging the PDP in the coming elections should its crisis deepens?
Fred Agbaje: If I said that in the coming elections PDP would lose out to the APC or some other opposition party, on what grounds or basis could I be basing my argument? How effectively are the opposition political parties taking advantage of the crisis of the already crumbling PDP? What has the opposition done in the last one week or two weeks to convince a doubting Thomas like me that they would be a better alternative? Nigerians, in whom ultimate sovereignty resides, are in a better position to decide which of the parties, PDP or APC that will benefit them the most. It is for us to exercise that sovereignty. It does not lie in any politician’s mouth to exercise that sovereignty on our collective behalf. We as Nigerians will be the ones to decide their political fate through our electoral franchise.
That being the case, the fractionalisation or freefall of PDP will ultimately be an added advantage to even fresh Democratic Party (FDP) that has just won its case at the court against INEC. I might not be a member of that party, but as lawyer to them, I am telling you that FDP is one of the most lucrative parties for any freefall member of the PDP to land in. That party is much disciplined. I therefore see the freefall of the PDP as a ready avenue for the smaller parties to grab a windfall and settle their own political existence. Political osmosis will definitely take place. By political osmosis I mean movement of candidates from highly concentrated, big political parties like the PDP, which is suffering from serious crisis now, to the smaller parties struggling to catch their breath.
I expect that the present political imbroglio in the PDP will further strengthen democracy in Nigeria in that if, at the end of the day, it succeeds in leading to the eclipsing of the PDP, it will mean that water will begin to find its level. The various groups in the party will either form different political parties or they can now align themselves with the existing political structures of other parties in the country. That is why some of us are not happy that INEC is de-registering political parties and at the same time registering. It is a contradiction in terms. I was counsel to one of one of the political parties that had been de-registered, Fresh Democratic Party (FDP), and we won in court. Some parties went and lost.
The judge said there is no where in the Constitution that allows for deregistration of political parties. Deregistration is an anathema to the Constitution. So where did INEC derive its power to deregister political parties? But I am happy that after that judgement, INEC has started registering some political parties. That is a good development. That being the case, I hope that with the current decimalisation going on in the PDP, it will help to strengthen the existence of political parties in the country. Politicians, who genuinely have the interest of the country at heart, will begin to join alternative political parties, where people of like interest can come together.
Question: Is the PDP that bad that an opposition party like the APC will form a better alternative?
Fred Agabje: I have my problem with APC. APC has not been able to solve its own internal problems. On the paper surface it could have been a better alternative, except for one or two people. Lai Mohammed is doing a wonderful job in talking and keeping the government on its toes. But how are the major political heavy weights in that party better that the people in the PDP?
When you look at the promoters of APC, tell me how they are better than those in the PDP? I think that the party that will eventually deliver Nigeria from the yoke of the current political mess, this era of conscious impunity, lawlessness, fraud, and corruption, that party has yet to come. It might be one of the already existing or deregistered political parties. But I can tell you that the salvation of this country does not lie in any of the two major political parties.
