enator Makanjuola Sulaiman Ajadi represented Kwara South Senatorial zone between 1999 and 2001 and currently special adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters. In this interview, the PDP chieftain dismisses the recent defection of former Governor Bukola Saraki and his supporters to the APC, saying PDP will win all elections in 2015.Excerpts:

What is the import of the Freedom/Unity Rally recently organized by the PDP in Ilorin?

The import was to show the whole world that Kwara is still fully PDP. When some people decamped from PDP to APC, they were claiming that PDP is finished; that they have carried the entire PDP in Kwara State to APC. That rally was designed to let the whole world know the fallacies in that statement, that PDP is even more solid now than ever in Kwara State. And from what you saw in the crowd, you would know that never in the history of Kwara State have we ever had that type of crowd in any capacity- whether ANPP, APC, ACN. Even where the state government is involved, there has never been any rally that was as big as that one. It was to show the whole world that PDP has not shaken in Kwara State. And you know that immediately after the rally, there were serious insinuations from so many quarters, some people said people were brought, paid or rented. Anybody who would rent that crowd would go bankrupt,  because the people ran to so many thousands. Some also said they are people from neighbouring states, I don’t know those neighbouring states. Luckily more than half of the states that border Kwara are not even in PDP.

What gives you the confidence that PDP would win in 2015 given that the APC controls the government and its machineries?

Which machinery? The machineries for winning election are human beings. And we are the machineries being used to win election and we are the people who are now saying that we are no more with them. And funny enough, I heard them saying those of us in the PDP are jobless, unproductive politicians. If you call Ajadi unproductive politician, you would see that at the end of the day you will meet your waterloo during the election. Anyway, if you say we are unproductive politicians, why are we the people that ran the last election? You said Professor Oba (Abdulraheem) was unproductive and he was the Director-General of the campaign in the last election and I was the Deputy Director-General. If we were not productive, why did you make us chairman and deputy chairman? Professor Oba was Director-General of the campaign, I was Deputy Director-General, Nda Kene was Deputy Director-General (Admin) of the campaign, Oba Ajara was Deputy Director-General (Special Duties) for the campaign. That means the whole mandate has moved from that system to real PDP now. That means the entire machinery of the election is not following them to APC. The Director-General and the three Deputy Directors-General are not with them.

And I am telling you that all of us are still intact in PDP. So ask that fellow who said we are not relevant politicians, why did he selected us to run the campaign for Kwara State or are you saying between then and now, we have suddenly become useless?

Why did you now choose to remain in PDP considering that you have worked with Bukola before?

The best question you should ask is why did those people leave PDP? PDP made you governor for eight years, PDP made you governor in 2011 and you suddenly left. PDP gave you the Senate seat and you left. We didn’t leave PDP because the PDP we believed in that time is the same PDP that we still believe in today, PDP is the only democratic party in Nigeria, it is the only party that is not owned by anybody.  PDP is the only party where primaries are conducted for candidates. Do they do primaries to pick candidates in ACN, CPC or APC? They don’t. I am an insider. I was the gubernatorial candidate of ACN in 2007, where did I do my primary? I was selected. So their own is selection. I was lucky God pulled me out from a party of god-fatherism where you cannot get anything unless you are given. God now put me in the party where I am a free man.

And apart from that is PDP not performing, just look at Nigeria, is Jonathan not performing despite the global financial problem. America has gone through financial turbulence, the whole of Europe almost crumbled financially. But despite that, Jonathan administration is still able to manage Nigerian economy. We didn’t collapse financially in Nigeria and you can see things that are working now. When last did you enter rail way in Nigeria? Is it not the transformation agenda of Jonathan that brought our rail system back? Isn’t it? And tell me any administration in Nigeria that at the same time established 15 new universities. It is only Jonathan that did that. Virtually states that didn’t have universities also have their universities, is it not a revolution in education in Nigeria. Go to the north, have you ever heard anything like Almajiri primary and secondary schools in Nigeria, who brought it, it is Jonathan administration. So if all these things are being done and you said he is not performing, what do you want?  

But the APC said the state has not benefitted from voting Jonathan in 2011, how will you react to this?

What has the state benefitted from the state government in the last few years? Look at Kwara, what are the benefits of voting for the current government in the last three years? Tell me which project that is done in the last few years in Kwara State. Why are you crying that Abuja didn’t do something for you when you have not done anything for yourself? Anyway when you are talking of all these revolutions in Nigeria, is Kwara exempted from it? The rail system that I said is working, don’t you have rail system between Ilorin and Lagos now? Are those people going from Lagos to Ilorin not Kwarans? What of Ilorin-Kano, Ilorin-Offa? Now what are you telling me? Now you can go to between Mokwa and Jebba, the road is already done. Is that not part of the benefits of this administration? Are you saying River Basin is not working? Who is doing it? Is it the state government that is doing it? What of our own local government system in Kwara, are they not taking allocation from the federal government, what did they do with it? Where is our local government fund that is being given to develop our local governments by the Federal Government?

Now what are the steps you are taking to ensure victory for PDP in 2015 especially in terms of uniting various interests and members of the party?

The interests are already united. The interests of Kwarans are already united. You will see it from the rally we did. Tell me all the noise that is being made that Ajadi is fighting Oba, Oba is fighting Adewara or someone is fighting Gbemisola, did you notice something like that at the rally? We were all together at the rally and after the rally, did you hear any dissenting voice from anybody? There is nothing like that. And what they are thinking is that the gubernatorial interest is going to divide us, it is going to be fouled because it is not going to divide us. We are going to conduct ourselves in a democratic way and put up candidates that have grassroots support in Kwara State and it is these candidates that we are going to field.

What about the purported pact that Jonathan would only serve for one term?

All over the world, the norm is that a sitting President is always the first candidate in any election. Don’t you know that? The sitting President is always the automatic candidate and that is why they always call it the chance of first refusal. It is only if the sitting President refuses to run, that is when any other person can run in the election in America, in Britain, anywhere in the world, then why is Nigeria going to be different? This man has just done his first time, why are you going to deny him the right to run for second term?