…Turns down 3rd term offer
Outgoing National Chairman of the Labour party, LP, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, in this interview with Sunday Sun relives his experiences in the saddle, as he prepares to bow out after more than a decade . He dis misses growing tales of defections from the party, arguing that the party is like a Catholic church with free entry and exit. He speaks more on other related issues. Excerpts.
Your last NEC meeting appears to be your last before you step aside. Looking back at the time you served, what would’ve been your major achievement?
We started building the party from the scratch. When I came on board as chairman of the party in 2004, I was given only the certificate of registra tion of the party and nothing more. So we started scouting for members. Two years later, In 2006, there was election. We scouted for candidates, and at the same time continued to build structures. We pushed it on to 2009, when I was reelected, until now. So, I can say the major achievement in the party is that we have built a major party, structure-wise, that is without rancor. My tenure for 10 years and eight months was without quarrel, like in other parties. For instance, there is a party that has over 36 intra party cases, but we don’t have that here. We have tried as much as possible to raise the im age and tempo of our party. So today, Nigerians know the party and its leadership. Along the line, we produced a governor, senators, House of Rep resentatives members, and state assembly mem bers, local government chairmen, ambassador and director general. But all these were not easy for a political party that didn’t have the resources. How ever, it was because of the integrity of the leader ship of the party that made most politicians come to the party to contest for election, and they are still coming in now. So the major achievement is that we now have a major political party that is ready to blossom and this will start after the convention when we have a new leadership. We have provided the infrastructure which is ready to go. I hope and pray that my successors will see the potentials that I have put on ground. Many people are calling that they want to come to the party, because they believe this is a party where they will get justice and not suffer imposition. In our party, we operate strictly by our constitution and guidelines before you emerge as candidate. These are the things we have put in place, and we are happy for it.
By its formation and composition, Labour Party is seen as a socialist inclined party. Would you say the party has lived up to that expectation?
That is correct. I am not ashamed of saying that Labour Party was formed on behalf of the Nigerian workers as a whole, by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) under the former chairman Adams Oshiomole. Then the party was registered as party for social democrats. And I think the intent of registering the party was to give the Nigerian workers a voice and opportunity to contest elections where they are popular, and win. So, of course, that will give you an idea that the party was formed on a very strong ideology which is the ideal of social democracy. If you look at the logo of all other par ties in Nigeria, only the Labour Party has a human face to its own logo. Some have dog, others have monkey, broom, umbrella etc. but we have a fa ther, wife and a child, a family, as our logo. There must be nexus between democracy, governance and the people. So everything we are doing, if we don’t anchor it on the people, we might not be right. So, our party has its mission and vision, as articulated in its manifesto and constitution. We are social democrats. We are not so much concerned that the rich are getting richer. We are concerned and bother that while all these things are happen ing, the poor must leave poverty That is the point of departure between Labour Party and others.
With the spate of rumoured defections, involving the Ondo State governor, your self and Senator Joshua Dariye, who has declared his defection, doesn’t this signal the fizzling out of Labour Party?
We had a National Executive Council meeting a few days ago. Gov Mimiko was there. I am not aware that governors of other political parties can attend NEC meetings of other political parties. At least, as at that day that Dr. Mimiko came. He was still a member of the Labour Party. As at this morning, I was with him, he was still a member of LP. So that settles the issue of Gov. Mimiko. As for Dan Nwanyanwu, I started building this party since 2004. I have put time and resources, denied myself things and privileges that ought to get to me as right. But that didn’t bother me, because I was bothered for the people of Nigeria, offering them a platform to ventilate their beliefs and ideology. I started that, and I have done it for 10 years and eight months. My tenure expired in December 2013, the NEC in its wisdom invoked the provi sion of the constitution which allows it to extend the national convention to a later date, if for any reason what so ever the convention cannot be held as when due. So they shifted the convention by nine months, and pleaded with me to accept it, including Gov. Mimiko. I reluctantly accepted. The reason was that they wanted me to oversee the Ekiti and Osun elections. The NEC was planning a coup to arrive at the same situation, so that I will prosecute the primaries and elections, and the convention will come after Feburary/ March next year. So that was why the first early statement I made was that I won’t be available, thereby pulling the carpet from under their feet. If I had gone through the normal procedure of the NEC meeting, they would have taken me back again, and I can tell you that majority of the NEC members felt very bad that I was stepping down. But there must be a time a man will look back. Constitutionally, I have no encumbrance to continue in office, the leadership of the LP from wards to states and national head quarters, have no time limit. You can be elected as many times as the people want you to be there. But this is not my father’s estate, I refused to accept the third term offer to contest and I came to the inevi table conclusion that this is my time to go. So when people say I want to go, and I want to follow Dr. Mimiko to go, these are statements made due to gross ignorance, maybe malice. You cannot say a man that has been national chairman of a political party for over 10 years, stepping aside for younger ones to come in is decamping. That is a stupid thing for anybody to say. Check the history of Nigeria’s political parties. No national chairman has stayed for ten years and eight months. So you can see that I am a democrat, I am not leaving because I am go ing somewhere else, but you must also know that this game is dynamic. Politics is dynamic. Things move fast. As I am talking to you now , I am leav ing because I have done my best, and I felt it is my time to leave.
If you look at political parties in Nigeria today, they are plagued by crisis. What, in your estimation, are the reasons for the persistent political crisis in Nigeria?
So many reasons can be adduced for such in tractable issues in political parties, ranging from greed, selfishness, bad leadership, lack of openness and transparency. It is both from the leadership and followership. When a leadership is transparent, open and honest, those being led will know. They won’t disturb you. Nobody has disturbed me here. I am the only chairman of a political party with government that is not on salary or allowances, honorarium or any sort of penny what so ever for the 10 years I have been here. I know some that get up to N40 to N50 million Naira a month. Another one gets about N15 million Naira in a month from government; and so on and so forth. But I don’t get a kobo. If you run through the accounts of the party, you will never see Dan Nwanyanwu’s name as having signed for any amount in the party throughout the time I served. Most people ask me how I survived, and the answer is simple. I said at the floor of the national conference when I was making a contribution on the topic of political par ties that, I am a professional in politics, not a pro fessional politician. The difference is that a profes sional in politics is somebody who has something doing
a means of livelihood, but decided to get into politics to add value. But a professional politidoing, a means of livelihood, but decided to get cian is that person whose life is dependent solely on politics, and any attempt to touch it, the person will kill.
For instance, I don’t have an official car. The cars you see here are my personal cars. The other car is my official car as pro- chancellor of Adekun le Ajasin University. But in spite of not having all these perks of office, I work everyday at the office, projecting the image of the party. That is what I call sacrifice, and somebody committed to an ideology.
We had a National Executive Council meeting a few days ago. Gov Mimiko was there. I am not aware that governors of other political parties can attend NEC meetings of other political parties. At least, as at that day that Dr. Mimiko came. He was still a member of the Labour Party. As at this morning, I was with him, he was still a member of LP. So that settles the issue of Gov. Mimiko. As for Dan Nwanyanwu, I started building this party since 2004. I have put time and resources, denied myself things and privileges that ought to get to me as right. But that didn’t bother me, because I was bothered for the people of Nigeria, offering them a platform to ventilate their beliefs and ideology. I started that, and I have done it for 10 years and eight months. My tenure expired in December 2013, the NEC in its wisdom invoked the provi sion of the constitution which allows it to extend the national convention to a later date, if for any reason what so ever the convention cannot be held as when due. So they shifted the convention by nine months, and pleaded with me to accept it, including Gov. Mimiko. I reluctantly accepted. The reason was that they wanted me to oversee the Ekiti and Osun elections. The NEC was planning a coup to arrive at the same situation, so that I will prosecute the primaries and elections, and the convention will come after Feburary/ March next year. So that was why the first early statement I made was that I won’t be available, thereby pulling the carpet from under their feet. If I had gone through the normal procedure of the NEC meeting, they would have taken me back again, and I can tell you that majority of the NEC members felt very bad that I was stepping down. But there must be a time a man will look back. Constitutionally, I have no encumbrance to continue in office, the leadership of the LP from wards to states and national head quarters, have no time limit. You can be elected as many times as the people want you to be there. But this is not my father’s estate, I refused to accept the third term offer to contest and I came to the inevi table conclusion that this is my time to go. So when people say I want to go, and I want to follow Dr. Mimiko to go, these are statements made due to gross ignorance, maybe malice. You cannot say a man that has been national chairman of a political party for over 10 years, stepping aside for younger ones to come in is decamping. That is a stupid thing for anybody to say. Check the history of Nigeria’s political parties. No national chairman has stayed for ten years and eight months. So you can see that I am a democrat, I am not leaving because I am go ing somewhere else, but you must also know that this game is dynamic. Politics is dynamic. Things move fast. As I am talking to you now , I am leav ing because I have done my best, and I felt it is my time to leave.
If you look at political parties in Nigeria today, they are plagued by crisis. What, in your estimation, are the reasons for the persistent political crisis in Nigeria?
So many reasons can be adduced for such in tractable issues in political parties, ranging from greed, selfishness, bad leadership, lack of openness and transparency. It is both from the leadership and followership. When a leadership is transparent, open and honest, those being led will know. They won’t disturb you. Nobody has disturbed me here. I am the only chairman of a political party with government that is not on salary or allowances, honorarium or any sort of penny what so ever for the 10 years I have been here. I know some that get up to N40 to N50 million Naira a month. Another one gets about N15 million Naira in a month from government; and so on and so forth. But I don’t get a kobo. If you run through the accounts of the party, you will never see Dan Nwanyanwu’s name as having signed for any amount in the party throughout the time I served. Most people ask me how I survived, and the answer is simple. I said at the floor of the national conference when I was making a contribution on the topic of political par ties that, I am a professional in politics, not a pro fessional politician. The difference is that a profes sional in politics is somebody who has something doing
a means of livelihood, but decided to get into politics to add value. But a professional politidoing, a means of livelihood, but decided to get cian is that person whose life is dependent solely on politics, and any attempt to touch it, the person will kill.
For instance, I don’t have an official car. The cars you see here are my personal cars. The other car is my official car as pro- chancellor of Adekun le Ajasin University. But in spite of not having all these perks of office, I work everyday at the office, projecting the image of the party. That is what I call sacrifice, and somebody committed to an ideology. The Sun
