The governorship campaign spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party in Ekiti State, Jackson Adebayo, who was inaugurated as the Assistant Director, Directorate of Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Council in the state, tells ABIODUN NEJO that anybody who opposes the decision does not want Atiku Abubakar to win
Members of the PDP have blamed those of you in the SDP for its woes in the June 18 governorship election. Don’t you think they are justified?
They are not justified in any way because in the process of the PDP governorship primaries, all of us were there; Segun Oni was there and it was glaring that the people’s choice was Segun Oni. In every household, it was Segun Oni that the people wanted to be the governor of Ekiti State. Unfortunately, some people in the party, through their ego, decided to jettison the people’s choice and picked their own personal interest, which was at variance with Ekiti people’s interest. That was what led to the shameful defeat of the PDP in the governorship election. It was the making of those people who paraded themselves as the movers of the PDP in Ekiti State then. When you find out that there is fire where you are and you cannot run out, then the fire will consume you there. That was what led to the defection of Oni and a number of us from the PDP to the SDP.
Having left for the SDP, why are you still romancing the PDP to the extent of you being on its presidential campaign council?
The aim of any candidate in any election is to win the election. To win an election, you put all the strategies in place to make sure you win. As part of the strategies, you go to people who matter in the society who can generate votes that can lead to victory in the election. That was what led to the overture made to us by the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation of the PDP. After all, we were members of the same family before those people who destabilised the PDP in Ekiti State did their worst. As it is now, the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation believes so much in the strength of those of us who left the PDP. We left because of the bad attitude that the so-called party leaders put up that led to the defeat of the PDP. Members of the campaign organisation believe that without those of us in the SDP, there is no way they can win Ekiti State for Atiku. So, bringing us in is part of the strategy to win. Nobody lobbied for it; they believe that they did the right thing.
But now that the PCC chairman in Ekiti State and some members rejected the appointments because of the SDP members, how do you feel about the development?
They are free. If you are given an appointment, you will be asked to write a letter of acceptance; that means they have given you an option to accept or reject it. The people who rejected it chose another option, which ordinarily was their prerogative. Nobody stopped them from accepting it; they were the ones that rejected it. Again, if you look at the organ, there is the chairman and the vice; there is also the deputy and assistant. There would not have been any need for assistant, deputy or the vice if there is no thought that if somebody is not available, another person should be there to act in that capacity. For them to have rejected the appointment, it is their wish. Nobody can blame or praise them for that. In that case, their rejection of the offer does not affect the campaign organisation.
One of the reasons they gave for rejecting the appointment is the insinuation that since the SDP has National Assembly candidates in the state, those of you from the party will work against the interest of the PDP candidates, especially in the presidential and National Assembly elections, which will hold on the same day. What is your take on this?
In the first place, those of us from the SDP were appointed by the PDP presidential candidate and the PCC; the appointment is not for the National Assembly campaign council or any other campaign council. It is only for the presidential election and that is what we will focus on. So, if anybody has any insinuation about the National Assembly or state House of Assembly candidates, we will not be involved in that. It is only where you are involved that you can talk about. It is only Atiku/Okowa that we will be talking about. That is what they have appointed us into the committee for.
But while you are in the PDP committee, will you abandon the SDP National Assembly candidates?
The purpose of including us in the campaign is for the election of the presidential candidate of the PDP. If they (the PDP campaign) want to form a committee for the National Assembly candidates and they include members of the SDP, that is when you can be talking about abandonment or not.
Looking at the fact that the presidential election and the National Assembly elections will be held on the same day, how will you tell your members to vote for the PDP for the presidential election and the SDP for the National Assembly election?
The ballot papers have specified that. They are different ballot papers with different colours separating the presidential election from senatorial election and from House of Representatives poll. All of us understand that we are working for Atiku; definitely, we will vote for Atiku, then everybody will now vote for his interest at the National Assembly level.
But what roles do you want to play in the PDP presidential committee when your party has a presidential candidate?
That one has been settled. The SDP presidential candidate is the one that was supposed to form a campaign council and include us, especially in Ekiti State. There is no state in Nigeria where the SDP has made a serious impact like Ekiti State. It would have been a product of wisdom for the SDP presidential candidate to bring in Ekiti people to bolster his campaign, but nothing like that has happened. Politics goes beyond the issue of ‘I belong to this party, I don’t belong to that party’; the people’s choice is what matters. You don’t go into politics to lose but to win. Any candidate who wants to win an election will do what Atiku has just done. Who knows whether Atiku has even approached other parties? Don’t be surprised when you see them in the near future joining hands with Atiku. If the SDP candidate also wants results like that, he knows what to do and what he is supposed to do is to approach those who have made impacts in the party to fly his campaign in any state.
Do you see the Ayo Fayose and Biodun Olujimi rivalry playing out here?
I don’t think that is part of it. This is the making of the PCC and the leadership of the PDP. If Fayose and Olujimi are truly members of the PDP, I don’t think either of them will be unhappy to see other people join hands with the party so that it can win the election.
