In this special interview with ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU, former Senate President and former Kwara State Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki, describes the Peoples Democratic Party as a strong platform that can be further reinforced through genuine reconciliation
The governors backed the National Working Committee led by Tanimu Turaki, SAN, and said they are willing to go on with the reconciliation with the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike’s camp. Can we get your comment on this?
I am happy to hear about that development. It’s never too late. This has always been my position. As you know, for a while, I headed a reconciliation committee, and all the efforts we made were to try to bring the two parties together and make them understand that the party needs to be united. We need to put the interests of our members ahead of our own personal interests. In this party, no matter all the noise you hear, certainly at the top, we need to put the interests of our members ahead of our own personal interests.
If you go to the grassroots across the 36 states, PDP is still very strong and acceptable. For a lot of people, it’s even more like a religion when you talk about PDP. I can speak in my own state about how strong our party is there, and I’m sure it is the same across the country.
In a large party, there will be differences and interests. But at the end of the day, we should galvanise those interests and not let them mar the interests of the party at large. The number one priority for everybody is that PDP must be on the ballot for the 2027 elections. Everything else is secondary.
That is why some of us have been treading carefully to ensure that we don’t worsen the situation. That is also one of the reasons I have not given too many interviews; I don’t want to be criticised by one group or another because that doesn’t help someone trying to bring people together.
Yes, mistakes have been made, but it is not my role to point fingers. My role is to provide solutions. Before the last convention, I gave my view strongly. I said this would not help us. I suggested a middle ground—rather than holding conventions, we should have had a caretaker arrangement to avoid court cases. Now that has happened; it is in the past.
