Prof Abdulraheem Oba is the immediately past chairman of the Federal character commission and in this interview with Ruth Choji, the former Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin who once aspired for the gubernatorial seat of Kwara State under the PDP stated that the party walked itself into its loss in the last general elections

Starting with Kwara state, your former governor and senator is now the senate president, what is your take on him as a leader?

It is bitter sweet. I don't recall that we have ever had such situation in the national assembly and if care is not taken, it could get worse. If you are going to be a player in the party politics, you must defer to the interest of the party on which platform you came to power. So, we should ask those in the senate to settle this issue so that we can move forward, once you can get the party and the national assembly to be in the same page, we won't have problem. But the issue of winner takes all will not work.

Some have accused the PDP in the senate of inflaming the crises to their own advantage, what is your take on this?

Who wouldn't? No lizard will come to your house unless there is a crack on the wall. If you give them the opportunity, they will take advantage of it. It is the APC that should mend its own wound. There is a difference between governance and party.

Do you think the APC government should run an inclusive government?

I am sure that President Buhari knows Nigeria in and out. He has been in that seat before and he has been around for decades. He has a vision of the kind of Nigeria he wants to see. So, if he wants to run a Nigeria that will belong to all Nigerians, then he must get the people that will have the same vision. Governance is different from politics and if he is going to run a successful government, like most Nigerians expect, there must be an all-inclusive structure in place. Some Nigerians have an idea of the kind of Nigeria they want to leave for their children. There are Nigerians like him who have the same vision like him but find themselves at the wrong side politically and it will do Nigeria good if they are brought in.

Some people believe that president Buhari is likely to witch-hunt people from the previous administrations. What is your take on this?

I don't think President Buhari is a vindictive person. He must have talked on some of the things that have taken place. Of course we will get things straightened by punishing those caught in the act of corruption, but I don't think he will go after people vindictively.

Were you surprised when your party, the PDP lost the presidential elections?

I am not surprised because of what has happened over a year and half before the elections. The PDP was a victim of what you can call arrogance of power. The PDP had seen itself as invincible, as a party that no one could beat. Many of the functionaries of the PDP were in the media saying the party was going to rule Nigeria for 60 years. What can be more ludicrous than that? Unless you work for it. There was over confidence, they thought that the government was for the taken and that, all you needed was to be a member. So all the echelons of the party were just about themselves and the king makers without really testing the mood of the people. There were accusations of corruption on prominent people in the PDP government, yet the leadership turned the other eye, saying 'don't rock the boat because we have to win the elections'. You can't expect to win at that point. There are also certain circumstances and areas where the lost was a surprised.

Why were people like you silent when things like these were happening in the party?

That was why I was in the PDP and as much as possible, struggle to aspire to a position where I will be able to tell those in power that what we were doing was wrong, that PDP is not Nigeria, but that we are only a political party within the political setting of Nigeria.

Some members of the party seem to believe that certain individuals worked against the party in some places. What is your take on this?

I cannot pinpoint anyone that worked against the party because it is like taking a chisel and nail to dig the boat in the middle of the sea because the boat will sink. We all know that when the party fails, we all fail and might have nothing to hold on to. Those who were seen to have worked against the party were actually less importance people who had nothing to hope for in the structure. I don't think their effort was enough to sink the boat as it were. I think it was more of people thinking it is business as usual. That if it has been winning since 1999, there is no reason why it should not win again. Ignorance, blind ambition might have led to that kind of failure but not enough to sink the ship.

What is going to happen to the PDP, some are of the opinion that the name be changed. What is your take on this?

Those defecting are the cowards. If you believe in what we are doing, then the interest would have been patience, take their time or retrace their steps and see in what way they can rebuild and come back, not to run away. These are what you call political prostitutes. Being in opposition gives you privilege to see things from another perspective and you can advise and criticize, knowing that the one in position could do what you are doing.

You have contested for the governorship of Kwara state and lost, what could have caused this?

I cannot say that I have lost. I have missed an opportunity because something went wrong. At the top of the party, there was a misleading circumstance of criticism in kwara over the PDP. If there was another name you could call the PDP, perhaps, people would have voted for them. We have a problem where those on the sit in Kwara state are anti-people. People were not happy and they were eager for change and we thought we could harness that kind of energy and desire for change. Unfortunate we misread the environment. We were ill-prepared to tackle the problem we saw at first, problem of poverty and determination by the ruling authority. There was a very unhealthy use of money and they took advantage of the poverty people. Those of us who thought we could change things by persuasive argument, by demonstration of patriotism to win the people, now realized that the people were not ready to be liberated. The people were so enmeshed in their submission to oppression, that even those who are oppressed prefer to die with their oppressors. So, there is a need for us to politically educate our people for the future. The main determinant of winning and losing in Kwara was the ability to use money in the system to corrupt the people and confuse them which will now be used against them. I don't think I have lost but we have realized that it is necessary to go and solve the problem of poverty in Kwara state.

What is the state of the PDP in Kwara State?

It is still weak and divided. The PDP is weak everywhere. We must go back to the drawing board and see whether we can pick the pieces and still come back with a party that will be ready for a serious minded opposition. The resignation of the chairman and BOT Chairman is a very courageous thing. I think it is going to effect the direction, which gives room for soul searching for some other person somewhere who saw things different to try new ways of driving the vehicle. It is going to be hard work to get the PDP back as a credible and serious minded party.