Dr Adoyi Mathew Omale is a former Local Government Chairman of Ogbadibo in Benue and a leader in the Middle Belt. In this Interview with SUNDAY ISUWA, the former Student Union President of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and former Director of Democratic Institute says the Middle Belt will vote in one direction in the 2023 presidential election amongst other issues.
There is a lot of contention concerning the 2023 presidential election. Which party should Nigerians support ?
Thank you very much for your question. First and foremost 2023 is an opportunity for Nigerians to enrich our democracy. It’s an opportunity for Nigerians to make a wise and pragmatic choice. Why do I say this? Haven had democracy for the past 22 years, you will agree with me that the democracy has not translated to food on the table for the ordinary man. Democracy has had its ups and downs. Tried as successive regimes have in the last few years, is a lot of gaps that need to be filled. Let me say that I have had the course to be involved with all the major political parties since 1999. And I want to say without fear or favour that most of the political parties that have been trusted with leadership have betrayed the trust, the social contract which the people entered with them. Why do I reach this conclusion? I was in the PDP, we fought the military when I was in ABU. We fought the military. The Abachas, the IBBs because we felt that democracy was the best for this country. We led students to fight and luckily in 1999 the military exited the PDP came into power with all the hopes. Don’t forget that just like we fought during the G34 when the G34 started, Nigerians, I remember we were told that look, you are just wasting your time, G34 will fizzle out, but G34 was able to lead the struggle, which culminated into PDP. Again, after PDP came to power, the CPC and other political parties came board. I left the PDP because I felt the PDP had not perform enough. And that was why we aligned with the APC in 2015. Again, doubting Thomases that no ruling president has ever lost election in Africa. We told them that it will happen and the rest is now history, APC won. Again, we are saying in 2023, Nigerians voices are clear? Yes, everybody, Soludo, anybody can say anything about whether Peter Obi will win or not. But we the Nigerian people, we have made our choice, we want a clear change, we want a clear direction and irrespective of what some of the elites feel they are going to be shocked in 2023. Like I said in 1999, people thought that it was not going to happen. In 2015, people thought it was not going to happen, it happened. In 2023, people are still skeptical but it is going to happen. That is just what I will say. Of course, you know that I am in full support of the Labour Party winning the 20203 election.
We have seen a very serious campaign coming up from the labor party since Mr Peter Obi became a candidate. Do you think this will translate to actual voting?
Yes, you know, because of the Nigerian political system, I told you have been very much involved in Nigerian grassroots political development in the last 22 years or before then. One thing you should know is that politics is dynamic. The trends keep on changing. The issues keep on changing. No particular election has the same scenario. The essence of this whole arrangement is that change is possible and since it’s democracy where the will of the people will have to prevail, we have no doubt that come 2023, the voice of the people will prevail, especially with the card readers and the BVAS. It is not going to be business as usual, where people go to the polling booth with thumbprint ballot boxes and stuff them, or even snatch ballot boxes and take them to another location. We are confident that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, human beings will go to the pooling boot queue up and vote according to their conscience. And I don’t see any Nigerian in his right mind who will vote for APC or either PDP. Because, the type of damage that these two political parties have done to our country is only God that will redeem it. And we believed that maybe the Labour party, when they take over power, will redeem it. I say this without fear of contradiction.
APC fielded Muslim Muslim ticket. Atiku from the North picks a running mate from the South. The Middle Belt, a region you come from, are you sure that they are going to vote for Peter Obi and why?
Yes. They are going to vote for Peter Obi. The North Central and by extension, the entire middle belt, are going to vote for Peter Obi. Why do I say this? We have been supporting progressive politics for a very long time and it is not going to change with this election. Whether it is Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Niger, Kwara. Yes, the issue of religion will matter but above all what the middle belt is interested in is quality leadership. And quality leadership is what we lack in Nigeria today. Even elementary students of political science, the Nigeria youth know that the problem with our country today is the problem of leadership. And if the problem with our country is a problem of leadership, why should we shy away from putting the leadership that is capable of providing the needed change. I don’t see Atiku or Tinubu as having the competence or the qualities to lead Nigeria in 2023. And I say without mincing words. So, why are we shying away from that? The middle belt has taken the opposition. The middle belt have resolved that come 2033, they are going to vote enmass for the labor party. Yes, the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket is one of the reasons. Because in a multi-puller country like Nigeria, where the country does not belong to a particular religion. Our constitution is very clear that we are a circular country in that kind of situation, you have to be sensitive to the component units of the country. But if Tinubu being Muslim, decided to pick a Muslim-Muslim ticket, then the middle belt, especially the Northern Christians have a right to to express themselves in that regard. And let me say that for Atiku, whether it’s not East or not West, my own thinking is that Peter Obi should be able to win South East, no matter the opposition from there, he should be able to win South South, no matter the opposition, he should be able to win the middle belt, and that will give him the election. Yes, he is going to get votes from the North East and the North West and that is substantial. I see him as someone who is going to emerge. Only those that are benefiting from the current status quo are shouting PDP or APC.
But the constitution requires that for one to emerge president, he or she must get at least 25% votes in all the states.
Peter Obi is going to get it. In Kaduna for example, where you come from, I think he should be able to get that from Southern Kaduna. Peter Obi. I think that in Gombe State, in Kebbi state, all the northern minorities will be able to vote for him even in Borno State, Peter Obi should be able to get that. So, I can mention 10 states now in the north that he is going to get more than before we now add the Southern states.
But the places you are mentioning are traditionally PDP. So, do you think they will abandon the PDP?
No, this election in 2023 is not about tradition. It’s a movement that is willing to change the political landscape of Nigeria. People are not voting for political parties. People are now going to vote for three candidates. They either vote for Atiku, Tinubu or Peter Obi. So, nobody is still looking at political parties. Political parties are just mere vehicles of expression.
People say the Labour party doesn’t have structures?
When they talk about structures, they are only talking about corruption. All these issues about structure are corruption and monetisation of the political process.
Yes. And your political party said that there is no ‘shi shi.’
Yes. Yes.
So, how will that work with the kind of mindset that we have?
We are mobilizing Nigerians. The structure of the labor party is now everywhere. There is no village, no ward in the country now that the labour party has not been instituted in the last six months. Yes, hitherto, before now, the PDP and APC were riding roughshod over everybody, but they themselves know that the labor party has also moved in and then spread itself across the country. So you cannot talk about physical structure, we have built the physical structure, what is left now is for us to continue our sensitization, to continue the public enlightenment. If we are not there, why are they worried? Why are they saying that we cannot win the election? Why all this propaganda? Why all these issues? Because we are there and that is why they are worried. So the labor party has been able to organize itself, is a very potent political machinery, just like the APC, the APC was formed a few months before the general election, almost less than a year before the general election and it swept most parts of the country. So we are going to see that replicated with the labor party. Transcends tribe, it transcends religion, it transcends gender. So it’s a mass movement and Nigerians for once, want a change in the leadership of this country. We cannot continue like this. Everybody knows that our country has been seriously damaged and we have to do something about it. We cannot just sit down and fold our hands and be wishing for something to happen. The whole world is watching this election and that is why this emergence of Peter Obi has given hope that something good can come out of Nigeria. And let me emphasize that the good thing about Obi coming is that the Igbo people who have fought a very brutal civil war in the 70s for the first time, would have been reintegrated into the mainstream of Nigerian politics if Peter becomes the president. And let me also emphasize that with this disintegration in the South East, the Obi presidency will finish this agitation by IPOB or Biafra agitators. Tell me, after Obasanjo’s eight years, what is Tinubu doing in the contest? It is not the turn of the South West. I am supporting the Labour party’s Peter Obi because it is not the turn of the Southwest. Whether he says it is emilokan or whatever, it is not their turn. And it is certainly not the turn of Atiku who is also from the North. Buhari has done the right things. So, if we say that Nigeria’s presidency should rotate, then let us be factual. There is nobody, there is no part of the country that is not competent to rule this country. And I want to say that the North has had it, Buhari has had it for eight years. So, Atiku is a good candidate, but it is not his turn. Tinubu, it is not the turn of the Southwest, even if it is the turn of the South, it is not the turn of the Southwest. So certainly, he should step aside. We who are from the middle belt, who are supposed to be in between, we have made our choice because it is the turn of the South East.
We still have undecided voters. What is your message to them?
My message to the undecided voters is very clear. 2034, we either repair Nigeria or we continue at this point. I heard Tinubu saying that he is going to continue with the beautiful programmes of Muhammadu Buhari. Is that what we want to continue in 2023 or we want to really, genuinely solve our leadership problem in this country. The revolution does not end with just electing Peter Obi. We have to look at the quality of people we are electing into the national assembly. You have to look at the quality of those who we are electing to the State Houses of Assembly, we have to look at the quality of people we elect as Governors. I want to tell you that though I am in the labor party, I am supporting some states, and some of my friends are running under some parties. In Adamawa I have friends that are running under PDP. And I think they are good. I can campaign for them. I have friends that are running under ADC and they are good. I can campaign for them. People should not rigidly be talking about political parties in Nigeria political system any longer. We have to look at candidates and then put on the business of competency.