Hon. Fred Agbedi is the Chairman, South-South Caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in the House of Representatives. He represents Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State and a fourth-term member of the Green Chamber. In this interview with TAIWO ADISA, he declares that the PDP still remains a formidable force in the nation’s polity despite the ongoing crisis, adding that the party’s leaders are working to get it back on its feet. He also denies claims that the 10th assembly is a rubber stamp and speaks on the possibility of passing the Tax Reforms Bills among other issues. Excerpts:
You are a leader of the PDP. Right now, the party is in disarray. Is there a way back for the PDP in this situation?
Yes. In life, you are bound to meet challenges as an individual, as an organization, as a society. No society, no individual or organization is devoid of challenges. And of course, you also know that most of the times after a general election, you encounter a number of challenges, setbacks and all kinds of things, particularly when you lose the election. You remember that we lost the election in 2023. We’ve been out of power for eight years and we are reorganizing to come back. But I can tell you that that does not take away the fact that PDP is still the dominant party in Nigeria. We are not empowered at the center, but we are still the dominant party. The party that the people still know that has national spread.
How do you justify the dominance when your party only has 12 governors out of 36 states?
Yeah, we know that we have only 13 states. But I can tell you that there is no state you go to that you won’t see PDP. You know, that’s what shows how dominant a party is. Not just because you now have power at the center. That is not it. And then, yes, we have challenges as such, today, but I can assure you that this is not the first time PDP has gone through challenges like this. We have a way of getting issues sorted, bouncing back. And we are believing that by the time we go into a national convention and get new leadership elected to run the party, I can assure you that the party is going to bounce back and stabilize and ready for 2027.
Now, there are already rumours linking some of your governors with the ruling party. We’ve heard rumours of defection around Enugu governor, Delta and even your state, Bayelsa. With all this, don’t you see the crisis in the party is getting compounded?
I can tell you that most of those rumours that makes the rumour mill are rumours that are deliberately planted by the APC. That is what it is. I haven’t seen any reason why a governor who has contested election, won the election in his state, you know, will just feel that there’s something more to be the governor that you want that you can get from another party. And so from my understanding and perception of a lot of things that are going on, yes, one, the APC is desperate to acquire people to their party, by whatever means that they can achieve that. Two, they also put that confusion signal in the public space to maybe malign people who genuinely are doing what they have been doing. Take for example, my governor is a second-term governor. So what is the bride that APC wants to give to him that should make him be running to APC. So I can assure you that some of these rumours you hear are not rumours that are emanating from the source, but they are planted storylines that are deliberately planted to cause this disaffection, destruction and then confuse the sensibilities of people, you know, in the various states that such rumours are meant to destabilize.
So far your party has been unable to fix its National Executive Committee meeting and that is premised on the fact that some of your governors are working for the ruling party, don’t you see this as a dangerous signal against the survival of the PDP?
No, I think what’s going on is when the situation gets so fragile. Yeah, you don’t force certain things to happen because of the experienced or experienced politicians you have in the party. And going from the fragility of certain things that are happening today, the leadership stakeholders are taking some time to make sure that they don’t create more fractures rather than forcing someone out, rather than disengaging in a manner that is going to create a lot more complexities. You know, we are strategically engaging all the stakeholders and individuals who are involved in this issues. I’m trying to see how we can, in-house resolve some of these issues while we march towards the national convention where a brand new executive committee is going to be elected.
So you think there’s hope for PDP to still bounce back before 2027?
I can assure you that and looking at the politics globally, you can see where opposition parties are taking a swing on incumbents that is because it is not just that leaders are not doing well, but the fact remains that things are difficult and leadership, most of the times is unable to meet the demands of the people, the expectations of the people. And so it makes the people to say let’s try option A, let’s try option B, let’s try option C, let’s try option E. You know, and in this country, you know that a number of things that we’ve been able to now say these are achievements in this democracy, in this Fourth Republic are things that the PDP put in place, while the party was in government. And so we still have that strong bond and contact with the people. Our setback will rather be looked from the point that the people’s votes don’t count the way we expect that they should count. Once you are able to deal with that issue, you can see that most of these results that you see and people who are in office may not have access to power.
Now, looking at the 10th National Assembly so far, will you say that the assembly, is a rubber stamp? Looking at what we have seen in the last two years?
It’s not exactly so. It wouldn’t be right to say that this assembly is a rubber stamp, even judging from the fact that today we have Tax Reform bills before the Assembly and you can understand the level of controversy that has gone around the country and about the bills. So that shows that the leadership, particularly the House of Reps, where I serve as a member, has a way of relating with the society. That is why whatever we are going to do, we still have a way of also getting back to the executive arm of government, that this appears not proper, in the expectations of the people. And we feel that if that is so, you should do more to be able to be in tune with the people. That is how we are going to serve the purpose that the people expect that we should serve. And so I would rather like to say that it is not a rubber stamp assembly. It’s not as if we are where we wished that we should be. But to say that it is a rubber stamp, I may not totally agree with that.
You are in your fourth term as a lawmaker, one contentious thing between representatives and the people is always about dividends of democracy. How much of this have you given to your people?
Yeah. I can tell you that that is my very strong point. Very strong point. In the last election in 2023, I decided to campaign with a catalogue of projects that I have attracted to my federal constituency before the election. I used that to say, let me see that I’m doing well with the people. And it is obvious I’ve done well. I’ve done this, I’ve done that. So in the last election, I chose to say, no, let me do less of the talking and let the things that I’ve done across my federal constituency speak for me. And a lot of people were shocked and surprised that I have done this so much. I can remember a former governor from River State called me on phone to say when he saw the projects I was commissioning, he said to me, ‘are you an executive?’ Are you also a governor that you will be moving from one place to the other to commission projects? And I say yes, because I have a bond with my people. I gave my people a pledge that no matter how small it is that I get from the federal for my constituency, even if it requires me spending the transportation to bring it to the people, I am going to make sure it gets to my people. And so I don’t allow anything to get missing at Abuja because I’m unable to bring it to my people. No, I make sure I deliver and no matter how small it is, it has a place to occupy. And that’s what I do. And that’s why in every budget circle I do at least three or four education projects, either completing a new education building or I fix one or two other projects, including renovation and then books, furnishing and all that I do. And so my projects, in fact, as I speak to you, I have not less than seven projects that I’m supposed to commission in this 2025. Yes, that are ready that have been completed a year or two ago. You know, that I should be able to commission a number of them in the next three months or thereabout. I’m going to go from one to the other to commission and let the world know that these are my further additions and contributions to the development of my federal constituency. That is as to projects. As to empowerment, as to startups, on training programmes and all that, at least in every budget circle I do two or three, sometimes five as I speak to you, I still have empowerment materials that I’m supposed to deliver to my people. So I am closely working with my constituents, I am in touch with my constituents and I earn the confidence of my people.
The East-West Road has been on the list of Federal Government since the era of President Jonathan. Why is it difficult for lawmakers from the region, particularly from the states directly affected by the road to put together a form of constituency fund to fix the road?
I can tell you that in every budget or at any time that we see the situation of the East-West road being impassable, we have always raised our voice in parliament. We have called for increased funding. We have called for immediate attention. We have called for a remodeling of the East-West road such that it will become more enduring that it can serve the people and the entire world that travels that road for a much longer time. Take for example, just recently I was talking with the Admin. Secretary of the South South Caucus, which I lead, to raise a letter to the works minister, where we want to meet with him, discuss the East-West road, which is a major artery in and out of the zone and then ensure that maybe we take time to also visit the road and see what is going on, what is going right, what is not going right and what issues we can raise, what advice we can give, and then what appeals that we can also make to our people.
I’ve already mandated the administrative officer of the South-South caucus to raise such a letter to the works minister for us to secure an appointment to discuss some of these things maybe in the next one or two weeks. And so we are very concerned about it. And you know that is the economic nerve center of Nigeria. That’s where all the money that you use in running, funding your budget and all that economic lifeline is from that area. And we expect that that area should be given priority attention. And that is what we are hoping and fighting for that should happen.
On the issue of Tax reform bills, it was looking contentious the day it was going to be introduced on the floor of the house. What is the likely fate of that bill when eventually comes to the floor?
I’ve made my opinion clear in several fora as to the fact that one, once a bill, be it private or executive bill comes to the House, it is the duty of parliament to look at that bill and process it. Yes, the bill doesn’t need to meet the needs of every member. The fact remains that we are elected to legislate, to make laws for the good governance of this country. And it is when you pass that proposal through the processes and make your inputs and amendments and professionals also speak to it, that you are able to expectedly craft out a law that will suit the purpose of the people. And so when this bill came and people were agitated most of the times, I ask some of them to talk to me. Yes, you have issues with this bill. Have you identified the issues? Identify the issues and put them on the table so that we will now take these issues back to public hearing. Professionals will speak to it. You will speak to it. We will speak to it. And then we now analyze all the presentations of stakeholders in arriving at a proper legislative decision that will be in the benefit of the people. Again, like you said that there were issues as to raising the that bill or those three bills. As it were, those three bills have not been brought before the House for a second reading. People just talk from their imagination that yes, there’s crisis, there’s confusion. It is until a bill is listed in the order paper. It is not before the House. It is until it is listed in the order paper that is when we know it has been listed for debates.
