Chief Sunny Onuesoke, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governorship aspirant in Delta State, in this interview, speaks on some of the factors that will shape the 2019 elections. E:
Nigerians rejected the PDP in 2015 . Do you think Will Nigerians accept the party back in the 2019 presidential election?
Yes of course! Nigerians are yearning for PDP to come back and be in charge once again. Nigerians have seen it all, Nigerians have come to know that after almost three and half years, they are not better off under APC-led government. Rather they are worse off. It has been three years of untold hardship, unrivalled poverty, hunger and starvation, wanton killings, flagrant disobedience of court order, disrespect for the rule of law and separation of power, huge capital flight, high unemployment rate, economic policy flip-flop and lack of leadership direction by the failed and dysfunctional Muhammadu Buhari-led government. Come 2019, Nigerians have already rejected APC. They are only waiting in eagerness for the election to come in order to show them the way out.
What is your perspective on President Buhari’s performance especially in the three key areas of tackling insecurity, war against corruption and revamping the economy?
In the area of security, the number one priority of a Government is the security of lives and property of the people, but when a government fails to do that, such a government is as good as non- existent. The failure of the Buhari-led administration to bring to book killer Fulani herdsmen and their collaborators is a strong indication of leadership failure. They promised to vanquish the dreaded Boko Haram sect in three months before the elections in 2015 but unfortunately, it seems they are becoming stronger judging from the recent killing of over 100 soldiers of the Nigerian army.
On the economy, indicators from our Economic indices and variables have shown that, the Buhari-led government is a total failure. The list is endless; first they took us into the hardest and toughest economic recession for over 25 years, double digit inflation rate, almost 8 million jobs lost, weak Naira, drop in FDI/Huge capital flight and presently, Nigeria is the capital of extreme poverty in the world. They promised to create 3 million jobs but today, Nigerians are losing their jobs in droves. They promised to make N1 equal $1 but today, Dollar is exchanged for N360 . They also promised to sell fuel at N40 but Nigerians are suffering buying fuel for as high as N150. They told us subsidy is a scam but we are paying more for subsidy under their watch. What an irony?
On the anti-Corruption war, it is glaring to all that the so-called anti-corruption crusade of Buhari-led administration is just a hoax and witch-hunt. No doubt fighting corruption is good but when institutions such as the EFCC, DSS, ICPC and the Police are being used to witch hunt, intimidate and oppress perceived political enemies, it gives room to so many questions begging for answers. It is not surprising to see the President turn a blind eye when members of his inner circle or cabinet are fingered in serious corruption allegation but brings entire Aso rock DSS, EFCC, and Police to intimidate members of the opposition for baseless allegations. The cases of several close allies of the President is still very fresh in our memory.
With the defection of some political gladiators from PDP to APC in the South- South, do you see the party as a threat to your party in the presidential election?
The truth remains that nobody can divide Atiku’s vote in the South-South. The South-South is now the headquarters of PDP. The South-South and PDP are like two intertwined cord that cannot be separated, this is so because the People of the South-South have come to accept PDP as their traditional party and there is nothing you can do about that, hence APC is like an alien Party that has been rejected by the people. In my state, Delta, I make bold to say that the APC is of no significance as regards the outcome of the result for the 2019 elections. This is so because apart from the bond of unity that has been the hallmark of PDP in my state, the APC in Delta State is a house divided against itself with several factions.
Your party is calling on the INEC Chairman and the IGP to resign. Do you think this is a patriotic call especially with few weeks to elections?
On several occasions, I have personally called on the INEC chairman and Police IG to resign or be fired because both men cannot be trusted with the enormous task of conducting a free, fair credible election come 2019 and providing the needed peaceful environment for the election. They both have been compromised, it is an obvious fact, hence they should do the honourable thing by throwing in the towel for more credible persons to do the job. The just concluded Osun and Ekiti elections are just a few of other cases in which they have displayed where their true loyalty lies.
There is the allegation that some PDP governors are working for Buhari. Are you worried by this development?
The truth is, the reverse is the case, as there are over five APC governors in the core North and South West working secretly for our presidential candidate, His Excellency, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Just like what happened to the PDP in 2015 where we have some governors in our fold but working for the opposition, today the table has turned and we now have five governors who are secretly working for our party. From the way things are going, these governors may even come out in the open and declare support for Atiku before the elections.
Festus Keyamo said the PDP is crying foul because you have been unable to rig since losing power in 2015. What is your reaction to that?
APC has taken us 100 times backward to the dark days of electoral of rigging and malpractice. If PDP had rigged the last election, there wouldn’t have been APC today. Because PDP as a party believes in the rule of law and the principle of one man; one vote the elections in 2015 were adjudged to be the one of the freest and fairest in the history of the country, unlike what we are witnessing since the turn of event when they took over. First, it was from one inconclusive election to another inconclusive election. Today vote buying which has been a strange thing in our electoral process has become the order of the day and also our electoral process has been militarised as can be seen from both the Ekiti and Osun rerun elections. International observer groups have took turns to reject the just conducted elections in several part of the country such as Ekiti and Osun State. Violence, intimidation of supporters of the opposition and falsification of election result sheets has become the order of the day during elections, under the watchful eyes of the compromised Nigeria Police force, Military and INEC. My brother keyamo knows fully, that in a free and fair election, his party would lose , if not, Why is the president afraid of signing the Electoral Act into Law
