PDP’ll win the presidency in 2015 –Ekweremadu

[Mirror]

Deputy Senate President and Secretary of the National Planning Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) August 31 national convention, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, recently fielded questions from newsmen on a number of national issues which include the constitution amendment, controversial early marriage bill and the 2015 presidential election, among others. George Oji was there.

You are the secretary of the national planning committee of the PDP convention; what are these crises we hear about PDP?

Just like any other organisation, we have our challenges but for us they are not insurmountable, and the convention is part of the process of dealing with what we consider to be the challenges. I don't see anything as out of the ordinary. PDP is a big party and once you have a big party, you are going to have a lot of complex situations. It is the ability to manage this complex situation that will determine how far you can go in the future. We are hopeful that we are going to surmount them believing that we are going to resolve whatever challenges we have and work as a team ahead of 2015. Once we put in place the new NWC, which we have to do by the end of this month, I am very optimistic that PDP will again win the presidency in 2015.

Are you not bothered about the APC challenge?

We are not worried about that at all. It even makes the game more interesting. Usually, we use to contend with several parties, but now we just have only one party to contend with. It makes the matter much easier for us. And you know, in Nigeria politics of gang-up never works.

But this is a coalition and not a gang-up?

Well, you call it coalition, but I call it gang-up. They will split and come back to PDP and we will welcome them.

What is the latest update on the constitution amendment?

As you are aware, the House of Representatives and the Senate have both passed their versions of the current amendment of the constitution. As is the tradition and as the law requires, we are going to set up a conference committee that would comprise members of the Senate and members of the House. We are hoping that this committee will harmonise the positions of the House and the Senate in terms of what has been passed. Thereafter, we will have a single document representing the views of the Senate and that of the House, in those areas for which the committee will accept.

Once that is done, the harmonised version will now be sent back to the Senate and the House. And then we are going to go through the whole motion of voting for the items, one after the other. It is only the items that are successful in getting the votes of two thirds of the Senate and the House that will now be said to be the one that has gone through the National Assembly successfully.

Thereafter, we will now take that document to the states' assembly. The assemblies will now vote, item by item in respect of the products of the Joint Conference Committee or the Joint Resolution of the House and the Senate.

It's at that time we will be able to see which would succeed and which would not, because it will now require a simple majority of two thirds of the states, which is about 24 states for any of those items to be successfully amended. We are hoping that as soon as we come back, go into this next level, then the voting and transmission to the state houses of sssembly. We are hopeful that before the end of the next quarter we will be done with this.

Leaders of the state Houses of Assembly were in Abuja for a two-day meeting. They resolved to make their wish known to the National Assembly on the issue of fi nancial autonomy for the states' legislature, following the adoption of that proposal by the National Assembly. What is the situation?

The Senate passed that aspect and I am also aware that the House also passed it. That's not going to be a problem with the National Assembly. The problem will come from the state houses of assembly. You will recall that in the last exercise, both chambers passed it, but it could not go through in the houses of assembly. We had up to 23 states supporting the proposal, but it was short by one state to bring the number to 24, the required two-third. That is why that aspect was not amended during the last amendment exercise. It's up to them this time round to decide what they want.

But are we not racing against time, given that 2015 is almost here and activities leading to the election are already heating up the system?

Remember when we started, I did say that by July this year, the Senate would have passed that amendment, and we did. For me, what is remaining now is not as challenging as what we have already done, the rest are things we can conclude in a month or two.

I think the major constraint we have is the issue of our vacation, which came after we had passed our own version of the constitution amendment. Now we are coming back in September and as soon as we are back, I am sure we will put everything in motion to ensure that we conclude them in the nearest future.

Would you like to comment on the controversial early marriage in Section 29 (4)(b) of the proposed amendment?

I think we just made it controversial and unfortunately those who made it so never really knew that there was such a provision in the constitution and that is why they took it out of context. The so-called agitators against that section were unfortunately not the ones who suggested to us to amend it. We did the amendment ourselves and that was why most of them were reading it out of context.

I saw some people, especially actors and actresses dramatising the whole thing and, unfortunately, most of them did not even read the provisions. They don't know what it was all about. It was very embarrassing when I read all they were saying. The constitutional amendment follows a process, so when we start the next process, we will look at it. It's a dynamic thing, but I don't think that's the greatest challenge we have now. As I said, we took the initiative to deal with it and we will continue to take the initiative to do the best for Nigeria. What's the latest on the 2013 Budget Amendment Bill? We have sent it to the President for assent. I am not aware that it has been returned. Probably, it has been accented to.

What about the State of the Nation Address Bill?

The President made some observations and returned it to us, and our colleagues were not conclusive in terms of how to deal with it. We have two options available to us; one is to override the President's veto because they consider it as a veto, and then pass it again. The second is to bend over backward, look at those observations and then pass it again.

This is what we are going to decide when we come back, but the spirit of that bill is still alive and the need for it is still there for us and the purpose it will serve is still very germane.

We are hopeful that we will deal with it as soon as we come back as well. It's becoming even more pressing that the bill be passed, so that the President will have the opportunity to tell Nigerians what's going on from time to time, as the bill will stipulate, then the parliament will have the opportunity of debating and making recommendations to him. That way, you will be able to see parliamentary input in governance of this country in a more constructive manner.

The PIB also seems to be very slow?

We are on vacation and I am aware that the committee is working. I saw the chairman this morning. He has been working assiduously with his committee members. I believe they will have something for us by the time we come back, in terms of the product of the committee work. We are not lagging behind in that. It is going through the normal legislative process of the committee consideration. No doubt, we will give it preference when we resume as well, and you know the 2014 budget is waiting for us also.

National Mirror