PDP is now a minority party in the House of Representatives — Davies

PDP is now a minority party in the House
of Representatives — Davies
on november 30, 2013 at 1:45 am in special report
Hon. Davies
BY LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU
Believe it or not, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi
who defected to All Progressive Congress (APC)
alongside 4 other erstwhile PDP Governors has a
legion of supporters.
One of them is Hon. Seconte Davies who currently
represents Bonny/ Degema Federal Constituency of
Rivers State in the House of Representatives. He
told Saturday Vanguard in this interview that the
PDP is facign a great threat to its existence.
Bickering and infighting have engulfed your party,
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with an
implosion into the House of Representatives. How
may you react to that?
I won’t actually call it
bickering or infighting.
What I see is
difference in opinions
on how the party
should be run. If you
look at the PDP as it
has turned out to be of
recent, even people
have complained about
one challenge, problem
from the direction it was going but I think that the
situation presently has worsened. Some leaders of
the party decided to redirect it.
Apparently, the current leadership under Bamanga
Tukur is not willing to listen to voice of reason. For
me as a person, I am not much surprised because
first and for most, Bamanga Turkur does not know
how PDP came about. Therefore, whatever
suggestion being given to him about what PDP is
supposed to look like appears strange to him
because he does not know where PDP supposed to
be.
The unfortunate part is that some persons who
should know better Bamanga Tukur is doing are not
speaking up and I don’t know why they are
speaking up. Otherwise, they are in a solution to
also tell Bamanga that look, the way you are
directing the party is not the direction is not good.
But whatever reasons he has which I don’t know,
which they have not expressed.
But as it is said, tyranny reigns when men keep
silent. And so, there are still good men, relatively,
who will not just sit down. They have to speak up. In
fact, they went from place to place, talked to some
of the leaders who believe that they were in a
position to make thing work better.
But that is not happening. What were the
responses? Threats, intimidation, oppression using
federal powers because PDP is the party in control
at the federal level and all that. And we are in a
democracy for Gods sake.
Things that are happening now, I cannot even
imagine them under the military rule, even under the
most draconian military regime we have had and
since we are now in democracy, people must also
stand up to protect their democratic right and that is
what has happened in PDP.
But unfortunately, I have to tell you that the problem
of the PDP has just started. Whether PDP wants to
believe it or not, the truth is that there are so many
people who, nominally are still in the PDP
but operationally, morally, they are no longer PDP.
As the days go by, you will begin to see these
things play out. It is not a question of saying if 10
people leave, 500 people will come. It is not a
question of saying don’t worry when we win in
2015, these people will come back.
There is not any guarantee. In fact, I tell you without
any fear of contradiction that if PDP wins 2015
under these circumstances, under this
arrangement, it will be a major miracle. And let PDP
not deceive itself because we have the indices.
In fact, every Nigerian that is not even a PDP
person will know that what is happening in
PDP does not portend any good. As I speak with
you today, based on what has happened on
Tuesday, PDP is a minority party in the House of
Representatives. It is now a question of formalizing
their minority which may take one or two weeks.
What is your grouse against Turkur?
Our grouse against him is the fragrant disobedience
of the laws of the party; Total ignorance of the
party’s constitution. If Tukur knew the party’s
constitution, in the first place he wouldn’t have
suspended Governor Amaechi because it is only
NEC that can suspend a member of NEC. Ameachi is
a member of NEC. He tried that with Wamako and
quickly did a retreat.
Why did he not do a retreat in the case of Ameachi?
Because they thought that there is somebody
behind them who is supporting them. Every day, we
hear the voice of Jacob, but see the hand of Esau.
We are seeing that everyday. But one day, he will
be exposed. And he has only one option. It is either
he repents or he perishes. But I hope that the Jacob
will be like Jacob in the Bible who ran to God. But if
he is not Jacob in the Bible and he is Jacob in
Nigeria, then he will receive the reward for
deception.