Daniel Bwala is the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Council. He speaks on a wide range of issues, including the chances of Atiku Abubakar at the polls and why the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, will lose the election despite his nationwide popularity, amongst other issues

It’s less than two weeks to the presidential election. How optimistic are you about the chances of the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar?

If you look at the optics and the feedback we are getting from the masses, as well as the participation of the private and public sectors in terms of who is better suited to win this election to serve Nigeria, everything is in favour of Atiku Abubakar. We are in control of the Northwest, and whoever wins the Northwest will win this election. Atiku has been able to make the message clear to the Nigerian people that he has an agenda for Nigeria in security, unity, restructuring, education, and the economy, and this has been clearly defined and communicated to the Nigerian people. That is the confidence we have. All the gladiators and those in the grassroots are in support of Atiku. Even in some All Progressives Congress’ rallies, whenever they said Nigeria, the people chanted Atiku.

The president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), recently referred to the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the next president of Nigeria. How does that resonate with Atiku’s camp considering the incumbency factor in our politics?

The president’s reference to Tinubu as the next president does not make any sense. It does not suggest that Tinubu is going to be the president of Nigeria. He was trying to be partisan. He attended a programme of the APC, and being a member of the party, he had to say what they wanted him to say.

But if you look at the APC and the participation of Buhari in a holistic sense, you will realise that he is more concerned about fulfilling his legacy and leaving than making Bola Tinubu the president. I know that as a member of APC, he will go to rallies and campaign for Bola Tinubu, but the truth of the matter is that the president is committed to conducting a free and fair election.

In my view, he is less enmeshed in partisanship than he is in ensuring that the elections are free and fair.

Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party is a huge hit in the North. Is the PDP Campaign Council not worried that he may take a significant chunk of votes from the former Vice President in the North?

We can’t deny the fact that Kwankwaso is popular in the North, particularly in Kano and Jigawa States, but we are confident that Kwankwaso will team up with us before the day of the election. I am very optimistic that he will form an alliance with us because Kwankwaso, like Obi, shares a common ideology with Atiku Abubakar. Both were offshoots of the PDP. But if he decides to run on that day (February 25) as a presidential candidate, I don’t think his position in the contest will be consequential in stopping Atiku from winning the election. This is because Atiku has overall support from the South-South, South-East and the North-East.

He has already secured 80 per cent control of three geopolitical zones. He is taking control of the North-West which is the largest voting bloc.

As a result, Kwankwaso gaining some votes in the North-West will not prevent Atiku from becoming president. But I am convinced that he will form an alliance with us before the day of the election.

A lot has been said about the growing popularity of Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s candidate. What is the acceptance level of Obi in the North?

It is true that Peter Obi is getting a lot of mention and is popular going into the elections. He is considered the third force in the sense that his influence is growing, especially in certain locations.

But the truth is, Peter Obi as a person has not made a concerted and conscious effort to develop his political base in Northern Nigeria. He is playing catch-up at this late hour, and there are some steps he has taken that I do not believe will earn him many votes in the North.

I recently said that Peter Obi is not going to get a single state in Northern Nigeria. It is not possible for you to win if you don’t get a single state in northern Nigeria because the north consists of three geopolitical zones. You cannot be the president of Nigeria without winning at least one or two zones in northern Nigeria. Peter Obi does not stand a chance.

Tinubu has frequently promised to pick up where Buhari leaves off, pledging to carry on Buhari’s legacy as president. Is the Buhari factor likely to work in favour of Tinubu?

Tinubu has indeed said he is going to preserve the legacy of the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) and will continue from where he stops. It is important for Nigerians to know where Buhari has stopped.

Buhari has stopped at a point where the nation’s debt burden stands at a worrisome N77tn.

So, Tinubu will continue to collect loans, and who knows if Nigeria will continue to be Nigeria by the time we collect loans that are greater than this? Buhari has stopped at a point where insecurity has ravaged every part of Nigeria.

If Tinubu becomes president, he will probably sell Nigeria because insecurity will probably multiply. Buhari has stopped at a point where corruption in the public sphere is so monumental that you hear all kinds of funny things, including animals swallowing money, money dumped in pits, and monkeys making ways with public money.

Perhaps when Tinubu arrives, bats will swallow money because they call him BAT.We have not seen any positive legacy that Tinubu is going to continue with.

The G-5 governors are in disarray. Their promise to unveil their preferred candidate in January failed. Is Atiku still in talks with them for a possible reconciliation ahead of the election?

It is obvious that the aggrieved governors have not been able to achieve what they set out to achieve. There is disarray among them because they initially led people to believe that they were going to support Peter Obi. We all knew that Nyesom Wike was not going to support Peter Obi because he was the reason Obi left the PDP in the first place. We are now getting reports that he is supporting Tinubu. We learned that some of the members of the G-5 are not supporting Tinubu but rather Peter Obi.

Some are supporting Atiku. We are optimistic that before election day, they will come back to support the candidature of Atiku Abubakar because we are wondering if they can be relevant in any other party apart from the PDP, a party they helped to build, promote, and sustain. Their relevance is only in the PDP and not in any other political party, but man is a free moral agent who can see the right way and still choose the wrong way and face the consequences. They are adults, and it is up to them to make their own decisions based on their own interests.

The truth of the matter is that their agitations and activities have not deterred us and have not affected our movements so far. After eight months of all that they did, PDP is still poised as the party that is leading to win the elections. And the people have come to realise that their agitation for equity is their own definition of equity. They are after their own interests, and this is manifesting all the time. The Nigerian people, who are the ones with the power to vote, are making up their minds to vote for the PDP, and that is what matters.

What is your major worry going into the poll?

Our major worry is the threats that the APC is making. I have seen some very disturbing statements from the APC that if Tinubu does not win, they are going back to June 12. This means that the only way they think the election can be free and fair is if Tinubu wins. We have also heard some disturbing comments from Ayo Adebanjo and Edwin Clark, who are saying that if Peter Obi does not win, we should forget Nigeria. These are not democratic statements or statements of patriotism. These are statements from individuals who want to stoke up the crisis, and this does portend well for us as a nation.

Democracy is the will of the majority. You can only win by popular vote. So, these threats are inconsequential. There are non-state actors who can exploit these threats and cause problems for the country.

If you look at the case of the Indigenous People of Biafra, somebody who is not in Nigeria is urging people on, and non-state actors are creating all sorts of problems.

In the South-East, we are witnessing maiming, killings, and property burning. The statements of these individuals are not statesmanlike or patriotic. Anyone who becomes president has secured the votes of the entire country. The way the constitution is, you can never become president of this country without a majority of votes. A vote from one section will not amount to a majority vote. Anyone who speaks in a language other than what the constitution allows does not mean well for Nigeria.

How confident are you in INEC and security agencies with less than two weeks until balloting?

We urge Nigerians to continue to have hope and confidence in our institutions to deliver, but that does not stop us from making our observations if we feel in any way that their conduct does not suggest patriotism or is not supportive of the national agenda. For now, we have witnessed a series of meetings where all the stakeholders, including INEC and security agencies, said they are ready for the election on the dates slated for the polls.

As citizens, we are to believe that and work towards it unless something happens. We will not hesitate to raise our concerns and call on the government to do what it needs to do to deliver a free and fair election. This does not mean that the expression of confidence today in INEC and security agencies is final. We will continue to be vigilant until the elections are held. If these institutions behave in a way that is not suggestive of confidence, we will come out and speak. (The PUNCH)

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