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Dagogo: PDP Has Capacity to Displace APC at the Centre in 2027

A close associate of late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers state, Dr Farah Dagogo, in this interview speaks about salient national issues including the need to rework the proposed 2025 federal budget for the overall interest of the citizenry and the possibility of the PDP forming an alliance with other parties to dislodge the All Progressives Congress at the centre during the 2027 general election. Blessing Ibunge brings excerpts:
You were close to former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, of blessed memory. You spoke glowingly of him as well. Do you truly believe his stay in office, in terms of performance, would have been reference point for other presidents if death hadn’t cut short his presidency?
Absolutely! Late President UmaruYar’Adua would have been Nigeria’s all time best President. But God, in His infinite wisdom, knows why his life and stay in office had to be cut short. As a former governor of Katsina State, he understood the enormity of the job at hand and came fully prepared.
His performances in his less than three years were stellar and unmatched in that duration. Let me start from my region, the Niger Delta. He came in at the height of the region’s struggle with the Federal Government.
To his credit, he not only doused and nipped in the bud the then seemingly intractable issues sweeping across the volatile region, he went a step further by addressing the infractions the region had suffered consistently from previous government by setting in motion and implementing policies that tamed those concerns. For the first time in its annals, the Nigerian government, through President UmaruYar’Adua, admitted its part in failing to develop a region that is the revenue base of the nation but was left to rot, suffer unmitigated pollution and other environmental hazards as a result of years of oil exploration and exploitation. He did not only stop at acknowledging government’s previous deaf ears to the region’s cries, he took the bull by the horn, he listened, he reconciled all warring parties and followed it up with genuine and sincere drive towards achieving both human and economic prosperity and development for the region. He set up programme, which saw thousands of youths going abroad for studies and professional training. He breathed fresh air into the NDDC and his tenure equally witnessed an uncommon revenue boom for governors of the Niger Delta.
His achievements and all-round government transformation were, however, not limited to the Niger Delta, as it also spread across the country. He judiciously followed up his seven-point-agenda of food security, wealth creation, transport sector, land reforms, security, power and energy, education to the letters. Yar’Adua’s Nigeria was on the road of economic sustainability, prosperity and boom. We were marching onto the Nigeria of our dreams before death struck.
Give us an insight into the late president’s personality from your perspective and what would you say was his highpoint legacy compared to today’s contemporary Nigeria?
The late President UmaruYar’Adua was a good man who meant well for Nigerians and the country. He was not after personal aggrandizement! There was a communication number he provided for me. Almost every midnight, he would call me on that line and shared his dreams and visions for the Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.
He told me with all equanimity that none of the regions in the country would have accepted what the government had been doing to the Niger Delta without resorting to self-help and that’s why he was very determined to right the wrongs of the past in his little way. He was solemn and sober about it. We were in constant communication until some few months before he eventually caved in to the powers of death. Even as death was lurking around, he never gave up hope on contributing his quota towards making Nigeria great and bettering the lives of its citizens.
The man was truly an enigma, he was remarkably unflappable in spite of every second challenges and chaotic circumstances that come with governing Nigeria. He was more focused on the solutions. Let me tell you something that transpired when the then Aaron Team, set up by the President to chart a course for the speedy development of the Niger Delta region, met with him. I was the youngest member of that team under the Chairmanship of Nobel Laureate, Prof WoleSoyinka, that had Major General Luke KakaduAprezi (rtd), former Chief of General Staff, Vice Admiral Okhai Mike Akhigbe (rtd), among others, as members. We were a 12-member team. Remember, I told you earlier that he understood the enormity of his job as president and came prepared. He further proved this at that meeting held at his private bedroom in Aso Villa. President Yar’Adua demonstrated how motivated he was concerning the Niger Delta debacle.
He brought out an already prepared map detailing his developmental plans. It was so insightful that we, the Aaron Team, were dumbfounded. We were all astonished with that honest disposition of purpose displayed by the president. The president’s blueprint was even more insightful and far-reaching than what the Aaron Team was proposing. There and then a consensus was agreed with the Aaron’s Team aligning themselves with that brought forward by the president.
I just want you to understand how passionate the President was about developing the Niger Delta. He didn’t just rest on his oars that he had set up a working team, he still went out of his extremely busy schedule to see how he could contribute to its success.
All was on course, before his sickness crept in that eventually led to his death. The late president is a man of honour whose words were his bond. I think one of his greatest legacies would also be the restoration of the hope of the common man in the judiciary. Under his watch, the courts regained their freedom and spoke truth and dispensed justice in the real sense of it. The courts without any encumbrances handed down verdicts that cancelled political victories even though his party, the PDP was at the receiving end. Of course, there were pressures and angst among the faithful who wanted some form of executive intervention and continuation of what was applicable in the system. But, President Yar’Adua, being a man of strong commitment to the tenets of democracy, stood his ground. He was not vindictive as it didn’t take him long to release the over N10 billion Lagos State local government councils’ funds withheld by his predecessor. He was the only president that did not increase fuel prices. Rather, he reduced it per litre from N75 to N65 in less than a month in office in June, 2007.
He was also the country’s first ever president to declare his assets. He equally ensured the successful dredging of River Niger, which was abandoned for over 40 years. Just like many Nigerians and foreigners alike, who have come to know and understand the man, that Wednesday of May 5, 2010, when President Yar’Adua had his last breath, will forever remain indelible and etched in our hearts. That day was personally emotional for me and as a human, I equally had to bow to the emotional flow of nature. With his passage, I lost a mentor, a friend, a confidant, a father. As for Nigerians, while they lost a son on that day, recent events in our political climate have shown that what we actually lost that day, in the words of the reverredDrNnamdiAzikiwe, was a sun! He was simply the best.
Let’s talk party politics and the road to 2027, the Court of Appeal gave a ruling that sent Samuel Anyanwu packing as National Secretary of PDP, replacing him with Ude-Okoye and that seems amenable to majority of the PDP members. Do you think the party is gradually getting its house in order? Also, would you support the idea of forming alliances?
Let me join the majority in swimming with the tide. It is a welcome development. However, it is not yet Uhuru. I hope all legal wrangling will now be put to rest and let the party make appreciable progress. Like I have said before, the root cause has to be uprooted and treated fully. I have pointed out some of those recently. We can learn from it and devise workable solutions. And that leads me to your follow-up question.
The PDP has the capability to spearhead the charge towards dislodging the ruling APC, but will need the support of others which can be termed alliance. The whole idea is to give Nigerians a viable alternative. Give them a better country than what they are experiencing now, make their lives better, ease their sufferings, sorrow and anguish. The cries are loud, the people want something different. And the PDP can deliver on that front. But the PDP has to put its house in order and prove to Nigerians that it can be entrusted with the country’s future once more.
On economic growth and development, as a former state and federal lawmaker, what is your take on President Bola Tinubu’s N49.7 trn federal budget proposal for year 2025?
The budget does not give any resounding hope that things will turn around. The basics and breakdowns have been in the public domain. Simply put in plain language, the country’s budget for this year will be in deficit and we will have to borrow N14 trillion to augment for it since the President is forecasting a possible generated revenue of N35 trillion for this fiscal year. This is not new, as we have consistently been battling with a budget deficit since 2016.
Mind you, there is nothing wrong with borrowing to fund budgets, but it has to be progressive and productive not regressive and plain redundant! For instance, N15.8 trillion is earmarked for debt servicing and another N14 trillion for recurrent expenditures. So, what is left for capital expenditures that will cover critical sectors such as Health, Education, Security, Infrastructure and others? Yet, we are still borrowing. Next year, we will continue with the same cycle. It would interest you to know that, a further breakdown has shown that Nigerians will still bear more of the brunt with increment in the VAT rate from 7.5 to 10 percent, but with nothing to supplement, as far as the paying populace are concerned, for the sacrifices they are expected to stomach once more. Because, how will a capital budget of N16 trillion rebound this economy and address priority concerns?
As a public figure and voice that commands attention, what would you advise the government at all levels to prioritise this year?
Optics for the 2025 Appropriation estimate sadly points to more pains for the populace. There is no point sugar-coating it. How do you work around the inconsolable and unavoidable truth that our purchasing powers, as a people, have plummeted because our currency has lost its value and reduced exponentially? So many anti-people and inhuman economic policies have helped put the people in a terrible state and there seems to be no end in sight. The solution is with the government. They should retrace their steps, it is very honourable to admit where you got it wrong, go back to the basics and sort it out. Like I always advice, it is good to stop in error than end in error! The government policies, no matter how good it sounds on paper, does not resonate practically and that is a very injurious flag!
It is about two years to the next election cycle and it is expected that all aspirations should be germinating. The question is, would you be contesting against incumbent Governor SiminalayiFubara seeing how you were schemed out in the last governorship race? Or, will you support him for a second term since both of you are in the same PDP and knowing that party dynamics give an incumbent a choice of first refusal for its ticket?
I am not unaware of this concern as more often than not, I have been inundated and bombarded with inquiries from friends, associates, followers, others and journalists as well. There is a time and season for everything. It is still not ripe to talk about elections or the likes, especially with the sufferings and hunger prevalent in the land.
It would be quite insensitive. Rather, our common goal and focus should be on how to support the government at all levels with the good intentions that it will aid in spreading development and improving the country’s economy. We have a president today and it is incumbent we support him and criticise constructively where necessary in flow with the temperament of what the populace are going through. So also do we have a governor in Rivers State and other states that should be supported and criticised constructively.
Despite my ordeal and what transpired in the build-up and after of the PDP Governorship primaries in Rivers State, I used my resources to canvas, support and vote for all PDP candidates in that election. In my area of domain in Rivers State, PDP won all contested seats. That shows you my kind of person who sacrifices personal interest or pursuits for interests that would be beneficial to all. Just as you rightly pointed out, the governor has a right of first refusal; so is that theory also applicable to all incumbents occupying other elective positions under the party’s banner. However, there is a caveat, which boils down to the individual or person’s capacity and connection contesting against such incumbents, then you understand what you are up against and it would no longer be a thoroughfare.