2015 Electon: How the Igbo people will vote – UmehEle By Olayinka Ajayi Of recent, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has been beset by defections, the latest of which was that of former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State. The National Chairman of the party, which takes the South-east as its stronghold, Chief Victor Umeh, in this interview, speaks on the fate of the party as well as that of the Igbo in the 2015 general elections, among other issues. What do you make of the former Minister of Interior, Captain Emanuel Iheanacho, vying for the office of the governor in Imo State on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and being the first to obtain nomination form? It is a welcome development because Captain Emanuel Iheanacho is somebody that has distinguished himself in the private sector before serving as Minister of Interior with good records. Anambra State is under APGA, under the tutelage of Dr. Willy Obiano, who recorded a landslide victory in the governorship election in 2013 in the state. He will be in the office till 2018. The only election we have in Anambra come 2015 is basically for the National and State Assemblies. Iheanacho is a trail blazer who had opened the doors for candidates to come on board. His coming to pick his form amply demonstrates his confidence in the party as a platform that will secure him victory in the governorship election in Imo. Do you foresee Captain Iheanacho unseating incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2015? His chances are bright. In fact, he is going to be the front runner for Okorocha’s seat in 2015, because Imo State has been the traditional strong hold of APGA since 2003. The people of Imo State, by nature, accepted APGA since 2003 and they have been voting for the party continually. Due to poor management of elections in the past, our mandates were stolen until 2011 when there was improved election management in Nigeria under Prof. Attahiru Jega. Despite minor hitches, we were able to unseat the PDP in Imo. Tragically the beneficiary of the struggle, Okorocha, left APGA after two years. The people of Imo State are not happy with him. In 2011, they voted APGA because they were confident that APGA remained the only party to guarantee their hope of enjoying good governance and ascertain their identity as Igbo people. When Okorocha left, the people of Imo recoiled and are waiting for an opportunity to vote him out. That opportunity is by the corner. With strong candidacy of Captain Iheanacho, we are certain that Imo will come out strong under APGA again. It is speculated that APGA winning elections in the South-east states was at the instance of late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeke Odumegwu Ojukwu. What do you say? The late Ikemba was our pillar when he was alive, but in 2011, he was bedridden and our people were still committed to his legacies. He admonished our people clearly that APGA should be the party they must preserve for themselves and follow it, until they get to the promised land. Its like an induction given to our people and they have been doing that. In 2013, Anambra went for governorship election. Ikemba had died years earlier and APGA still won. Each time we remind our people the purpose of APGA in Nigeria, Igbo people worldwide will continue to follow it. The message APGA carries can never be destroyed. APGA is likened to a spirit that cannot be destroyed. Even Governor Okorocha, in his euphoria of victory on the platform of APGA, described our amiable party as the religion of the Igbo people. One of my observations in life is that nobody conquers a religion. Adherents of religious beliefs are, in many cases, ready to die for their religion. Okorocha, in his wisdom, summarised the follower-ship of APGA by the Igbo people as a religion. I am surprised that he thinks the Igbo people can abandon their religion. Any race or group of persons that abandon their religion will have no faith any more. When he made that statement, he never knew he would leave APGA one day. So it became immortal words coming through him. Since he had lost faith in that religion, the Igbo faithful will vote him out in 2015. He cannot come back to ask for supports outside the party that brought him to glory. What do you make of several defections from APGA which Igbo believed will take them to the promised land? It’s like a journey of faith, some people lose their faith along the way. Their loss of faith in the religion does not mean that the religion cannot carry those who believe to the end. People in pursuit of selfish interests can jump out of the ship. In the holy Bible there are so many people that lost faith. For instance, because of stormy weather, the wife of Lot, looked back and she turned into a pillar of salt. There are several instances in the scriptures that show it is not everybody that set out to get to the promised land that would get there. Some fell by the wayside because of hunger, some left in pursuit of material gains and could not continue with the journey and they decamped. But those that persevered would get to the promised land. Some of those who left APGA for other parties believe they had gotten to the top of their career in politics. They decided to use APGA as springboard to launch into other political parties they think APGA cannot offer. It would have been honourable for them to speak out on why they left, rather than cast aspersions on the platform that brought them to limelight. Because they have reached the zenith of their career in the party and instead of staying back to work for others, they moved on. Nobody would be happy having in the fold people that come pretending. When you give them opportunity with the party’s objective, they turn against the party. We gave them the opportunity in 2011 and they rolled on the sentiment of our people to get elected. Somebody like Senator Uche Chukwumerije crossed from PDP to APGA to be re-elected back to the National Assembly, Chris Anyawu also crossed from PDP to APGA for her to be elected back to the National Assembly. After achieving their purposes, they went back to where they came from. They used the party to fill the gap in their political journeys. They did not come to APGA based on their ideological conviction. It is not everybody that is mature enough to appreciate the demands of an office. They perceive politics as a game, play it recklessly and they may get hurt along the way. The annoying thing is that those of them that were unknown to our people, we dusted them up and gave them our platform, they contested and won. Suddenly they think of achieving another position using another platform while not appreciating the purpose of APGA. I have been a member of the party from inception till date. Contrary to side talks, I have not left, I will never leave and nothing will make me leave APGA. Those that won elections through our party and defected, I will see if they can win again come 2015! In Anambra State where so much noise was made about the defection of APGA National Assembly members, we lost only two seats in the House of Representatives. How do you react to Gov. Peter Obi’s defection from APGA to the PDP? Peter Obi’s defection did not come to me as a surprise. From his actions I knew he never had any strong attachments to APGA. The only thing was that he could not leave until after eight years of his governorship. He never saw APGA as the religion of the Igbo people. He is a businessman. He had said several times, even as a governor, that political parties are like vehicles. When a vehicle takes you to your destination, you disembark. Obi saw APGA as a vehicle that took him to his destination and he disembarked, he showed it in every way in his dealings with the party, that you can only come to APGA when you want to win elections. He did it at his first term in office. When the second term was approaching, he summoned party members to beg on his behalf. Even the late Ikemba didn’t want him. In 2009, the late Ikemba went to Awka with his wife, Bianca, while Obi was in the State House working to raise Mr. Emeka Etiaba’s hand and promised to march him to the State House as the next governor of Anambra State come 2010. That was a clear indication of loss of confidence in a man who was on seat as governor under APGA at the time. I was the person who saved the situation. I went back to plead with the Ikemba to temper justice with mercy. I asked the Ikemba to forgive him and he agreed with me. That was why Obi was able to run for second term through APGA. When he was sworn-in for the second term, he knew at that point that he had finished with the party because there would be no third term as governor. It was at that time that he started sponsoring crisis in the party. I advised him to conduct local government elections so that our party members could become chairmen and councillors. He refused. Some people told him that I was dictating to him and that he should ignore me. So they plotted how they would distance themselves from me. He sponsored the crisis to get rid of me for four years and lost. I am still the Chairman. My tenure as National Chairman of APGA after eight years, as approved in the party’s Constitution, will end in February 2015. So contrary to the speculation that I am leaving the party, I will be contesting for the Senate on the platform of APGA in Anambra . I cannot understand why a political party will be running the state as governor, without winning its senatorial positions. So there is need for me to break the jinx for the party. Knowing that its going to be a big contest, we concluded there is need to field somebody that can absorb the shocks and sail the party through. I believe I can do that. With Peter Obi’s defection, what will be the fate of APGA? Without being equivocal, I was the one that started Peter Obi’s political journey on no party basis. At that time, he was looking at ANPP and APP. I dragged him into APGA to contest for election, because I knew his career in politics depended on APGA. We made him governor through APGA, we defended him and kept him for his second term in office. Leaving APGA will diminish his political status. Because he has nothing to achieve beyond what he has already achieved. He governed Anambra for eight years. Is he aiming at ministerial or presidential nomination?. He left APGA because he is not somebody that can work for others to enjoy. Having attained two terms as governor in Anambra, under APGA, he was waiting to handover and go away because staying a day longer would mean helping APGA to be a strong party for others to enjoy. We are rebuilding the party following his exit. If you look at the reason he left, you will see conflicting statements. The first week after leaving, he said he left to have his two legs in the PDP in order to support President Jonathan’s re-election. The next time he said he had a long standing agreement with Mimiko to join PDP. Four days later, he said he defected in order not to be a spectator on national affairs. So if he had remained in APGA without being a governor, he would be a spectator on national affairs. When Bianca accused him of betraying the late Ikemba, he said APGA had derailed from its objectives. Which one should we believe? All these excuses show his defection was self centred. His exit will never diminish our great party. That was the reason I said metaphorically that PDP came and took empty bags and some people started insulting me that Obi was the face of APGA. He has nothing left in his bag because he has no political weight. In 2015 we are going to prove that he is not the one that was making APGA strong but rather depended on APGA to win elections and we were the instrument God used to keep him politically relevant in Nigeria. What do you make of APGA endorsing President Jonathan’s re-election in 2015? We did so in 2011 and we did not lose our identity. We are supporting him this time because we know he is the best person to heal Nigeria of its present wounds. We gave several reasons for endorsing him. The most important one was his boldness to convene the National Conference. Nigeria was standing on a postponed doomsday and needed to come on a round table dialogue to remove everything that made it a dis-functional state both in social- economic policies and political structure. Some of the people vying for the office of the presidency do not believe in the National Conference. There is no way I can support other presidential candidates that do not believe in the imperatives of the National Conference which is unavoidable. Nigeria as a nation has been bedeviled by disaffection and feelings of marginalisation, perceived injustice. So the national dialogue was required to address the issue in order to restore faith in the federating units. We need President Jonathan in the next four years to implement the recommendations reports of the conference. On October 1st, he assured Nigerians in a national broadcast that he will implement the report of the conference. This is the reason behind APGA endorsing his re-run in 2015.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 17:46:29 +0000