■ Says S’East now paying for the mistake
National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Dr Victor Oye, has said that the Igbos went the wrong way in the 2015 elections and today they are suffering it. “In the last election, they went the wrong way, they backed Jonathan; they miscalculated, and today we are all suffering.”
He spoke with VINCENT KALU on a wide range of issues, and how APGA is being repositioned to play a leading role ahead of the 2019 general elections. Excerpts:
You are new in the saddle as the national chairman of APGA, how has it been?
I have been in the saddle for about 12 weeks and it has been exciting. We met a very strong and focused party and we are going to consolidate and build new platforms to further relationship within the party. Between June 6 and now, we have been able to refocus the party to win elections across the country. Our revalidation of membership and registration of new members are going on simultaneously in the 36 states and Abuja. We have continued to reconcile many of our members who are genuinely aggrieved in one way or the other; seeing how we can bring everybody on the same page to actualise the ideas for which the party was founded ab initio.
We had a national retreat in Abuja where all the 36 states chairmen, 29 working committee members and six zonal chairmen were present. We brainstormed for few days on the way forward for our great party.
All of us are now on the same page. The ideals of the party have been elaborately espoused, and everybody has fallen in line in pursuit of our common objective to make APGA a strong political movement.
Some people described APGA as a stunted party, that it has refused to grow or die. It has confined itself to one state, what is your position on this?
It depends on the perception of whoever is describing the situation in APGA. For a realistic and pragmatic person, you will see that the party has made tremendous progress since it was founded in 2002, despite the crises that it has gone through, especially the litigations.
What we are doing as I said earlier is refocusing the party, there is a new impetus on the part of the leadership of the party to drive it to a very great height.
Of all the parties you have in Nigeria, APGA is the most viable alternative, because in the party you have men and women who are ready to move this nation forward; sincere democrats you find in APGA. Don’t bother yourself with what people say. In our society, what holds sway is rumour and character assassination. Imagine somebody who is not in APGA telling what is happening there. It is absurd. We are the people in APGA and we know what is happening in it. The growth of the party is not stunted. Apart from controlling one state in terms of governorship, we won 11 House of Assembly seats in Abia State; 27 out of 30 House of Assembly seats in Anambra, one House of Representatives seat and one state House of Assembly seat in Taraba; two House of Representatives seats in Anambra; one House of Representatives seat in Abia; two House of Assembly seats in Bayelsa. More would come by the time the tribunals round off, then we would win more states, even governorship seats, because in 2015 general elections, our mandate in many states was stolen, and as we speak now, God is working in mysterious ways to restore that which the enemy has taken unjustifiably.
So, I disagree that APGA is stunted. We have made tremendous success. If not for the little hitches here and there in 2015, APGA would have been one of the strongest political parties in the country by now.
We work in accordance with divine direction, and we believe that we are on a divine mission to position the party and make it a wining party in Nigeria.
Now, PDP is haemorrhaging, even APC is asphyxiating. It is only APGA that is the party that is healthy. When you talk of the health of a political party, you talk about the enthusiasm of the members to work for the progress of the party; you talk about the commitment of its members to the ideals of the party; you talk about the desires of the people in the party to work for the common good. We have all these people assembled in APGA. Our party is not stunted, it has grown. What of other political parties that don’t have any electoral presence, and yet they are called political parties. You have to commend what APGA has done, especially the vision of its founders, for founding a political party especially, the size, the type and the calibre that make up the dignity of APGA.
I know that God is taking APGA to a height unprecedented in this country. It is only a matter of time before this begins to manifest. In some states of the federation, some people are scared about the fame and popularity of APGA, because it is one political party that has the capacity, that has the shock absorber to withstand the buffeting that comes with politics in Nigeria. We are ready to take the party to a greater height.
Governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa are around the corner, what are your preparations, because we are hearing from aspirants of other political parties but not much is heard of APGA’s aspirants?
We don’t run APGA on the pages of newspapers. What we do in APGA which we believe is working quietly is doing the needful and we will get to where we are going. We are ready for the Kogi election. About a week ago ,we published the guidelines for the election in The Sun newspapers – the dates for the various primaries. The same thing is happening in Bayelsa. The Kogi election comes first on November 21, while the Bayelsa comes on December 5. So, we published the guidelines for both elections and we have given INEC the mandatory 21 days as required by law. The candidates that we would present will be the best as we want to give the best to the society.
Look at what happened in APC where 21 persons were jostling for one office. So, how are you going to manage the ripple effects that would come with those that didn’t make it in the long run. It is going to affect that party structurally, and with the emergence of Audu, the former governor, what happened to people like Bello and others? I see something dramatic happening in Kogi, we are going to bring forth a candidate that has integrity, that has the clout , a candidate that has popularity and a candidate that is acceptable to the people, who would turn the table. In APGA we don’t make much noise, we believe in strategising, not talking. It is not the number of people you put forth to run for the primary that decides the popularity of the party. It is the ability of the managers of the party to apply and publicise the ideals of the party and go right inside and pick the best candidate that would be sellable to the people.
Many people have expressed interest in our tickets, but we don’t want to be stampeded, but to throw it open for people to come forward and by the time the date expires, you look at the number of people that applied. We have set up the screening committee, the Congress committee, we have also selected the Appeals committee. So, we are ready for Kogi election. I don’t want to begin to tout the names of people who are going to run for our primaries. We are going to present a formidable candidate, and we are confident in what we are doing in Kogi State.
It is believed in many quarters that Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano, gave his predecessor, Peter Obi, who made him governor, the short end of the stick. What is your view on this?
This issue seems to have been over flogged but I want to go back to it once more. Peter Obi as far as I’m concerned is still a member of APGA. What happened is that he went to PDP on adventure. You remember that former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him , Special Adviser. He did it because Obi was close to him and again he found something useful in him and that was why he brought him closer. When you are close to somebody if you are not able to manage your emotion very well, you can pander to undue emotionalism. Obi is our brother, and also our friend and we love him. He thought that Jonathan was going to win the second time, and which was the calculation of many people. So, there was nothing wrong in what he did. That is how I see it . Unfortunately the permutation didn’t work out , the centre could no longer hold and instead of blaming Obi, they are blaming it on innocent people. Nobody forced him out of the party. After all he was in control. He was the chairman of BoT of the party at that time. How could you have chased out a leader. He went on adventure and left his flanks open. Now, what I have always said is this, Obi went to PDP on adventure, so, he miscalculated. He didn’t make any mistake , he only miscalculated. What happens if Jonathan had won a second term ticket, and Obi made the SGF, would he have been blaming anybody today? The problem with this society is that we don’t want to tell the truth. Truth is all we need to heal the wounds of this nation. Our leaders don’t tell the truth, they only look at what they are going to gain from every situation. I’m not that kind of leader, I believe in telling the truth and shaming the devil.
Obi was not chased out of APGA. I want to repeat it here, I’m the national chairman of the party. He is welcomed to the party any day because his seat is still there. He is still a member of the party and if he comes back tomorrow we give him a rousing welcome. Nobody chased him out of the party, he went on adventure and miscalculated and now he is in the cold. What he should do is to find his way back to his root and that is APGA. PDP where he seemingly went is collapsing, is haemorrhaging. Is it better the way he is operating without attachment to any political party, or trying to build his image on his own? I don’t think so. He must start from somewhere. He must be attached to somewhere to be able to achieve the result which he expects.
In Anambra State, people always allude to the fact that Obi and Obiano are quarrelling, they are not. During Obi’s birthday, the governor took some media spaces to congratulate him. The present Anambra governor is a christian , very tolerant and accommodating person. What we are doing in APGA today is to support what he is doing to see how we can reconcile members who might have been really aggrieved and bring them back. A stronger party would emerge when all those operating from the flanks drop their guns and come back to the party, because a house divided against itself shall not stand. I’m happy that things are happening. These people who are litigating against the party have begun to show interest to come back to the party. They have been reaching out to me. Many of them are my friends, what are we fighting for, we have to work together, we need to work together and we must work together to deliver our people from the shackles of poverty, greed and avarice. We must move this nation forward.
Let me place Obiano alongside former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, who used one party, ACN and conquered the South West, which later positioned the party and the South west at the centre, does Obiano have that political charisma to replicate the same with APGA in the South East.
You are right what on Tinubu did. I know the politics of Lagos very well , I have lived in Lagos for 31 years. Tinubu was not in the picture when we started the politics in Lagos. I’m talking about the days of Dapo Sarumi and Prof Femi Agbalajobi. Tinubu came at a point and became a Senator and during his incarceration under Abacha he became a star. God controls the affairs of all men. Ever before Tinubu was formed in his mother’s womb, God has already known what he would become. The beautiful thing about Tinubu is that he is a team player. I have studied his politics very well. He is a very futuristic planner. If he is walking today he is also thinking about the next step to take. Tinubu has done so much to fill the gap created by the death of Awolowo. Remember the UPN days, Awolowo controlled the LOOBO states – Lagos, Ogun, Oyo Bendel and Ondo. In 1983 elections, NPN wanted to make an in-road in the South West, it was vehemently resisted. I remember what happened in Ondo State between Akin Omobriowo and Michael Ajasin. Ajasin won the election, and Omobriowo was declared winner, and every place went haywire; hell was let loose, and they quickly restored Ajasin’s mandate and peace returned. They tried it in Oyo between Victor Olunloye and Bola Ige. Ige won and Olunloye was declared winner. They wanted to try in Awolowo’ s Ogun State against Victor Onabanjo, it couldn’t work. The South West continued working together up till the time of PDP – ACN. Obasanjo wanted all the states in the South West after the mistake of 1999, where he could not win even his polling booth, but he strategised and in 2003, he captured four out of five states. They couldn’t take Lagos under Tinubu. So, Tinubu strategised and brought in Fashola as his successor and he did very well. That is why despite all the resources PDP pumped into Lagos it couldn’t win the state . From there, they have pulled a very strong political bloc to negotiate with the North. So they went into a merger with CPC and ANPP, and today APC is in government at the centre.
When the Igbo people complained about what is happening in the distribution of offices, I want them to realise that Buhari knows what he is doing and very soon he is going to balance it.
That takes us to Anambra where Obi was the governor for eight years, and handed over to Obiano. Obiano within a short time has done marvellously well. Go across his state, you will see his performance. He is a governor that has a lion’s heart. Look at he gigantic projects he is constructing in the state and has been able to attract over two billion dollars worth of investment in the state in less than one year in office and you can see the relative peace that reigns in Anambra. Look at the issue of security. Recently, there was a Security Summit in Anambra State hosted by the governor. It was a very wonderful outing and other states are leveraging on what is happening in the state. That is why APGA will now use Anambra as a model ; and we are marketing Anambra and telling other states that if APGA is voted in their states, we would replicate the Anambra model in their states. Obiano has shown unusual leadership qualities.
You said the Igbos are complaining over the appointments made by Buhari, how can such be avoided in future?
What we have done is to see the South East speaking with one voice because they have no choice. In the last election, they went the wrong way; they backed Jonathan; they miscalculated just as Obi did, and today we are all suffering. Traditionally, it should be the right of the Igbos to produce the Senate President because Nigeria stands on a tripod. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The Hausa has the presidency, the Yoruba, the vice , the third office should go to the Igbo, but because they didn’t have any candidate for the office they lost it, because you can’t give what you don’t have. Igbos lost out in the power game in 2015. Now I can tell you that it is going to be a different ball game. Our people by voting for Jonathan have sent a very strong signal that the Igbos can speak with one voice. We voted for Jonathan with one voice, one vote. The biggest mistake APGA made in 2015 was not to have fielded a candidate. If it has fielded a candidate, that candidate would have succeeded in unifying the South East and other parts of the country, but because they didn’t calculate properly, we are suffering the consequences. Everything happens as the Lord has willed it. It is God that chooses leaders not man; man is just an instrument in the hands of God in the works of creation. As human beings we call it miscalculation but God has a different plan. Let our people unite, and do away with pettiness and parochialism, work together with other people. The Southeast has come to a stage that it would be able to decide who becomes what in Nigeria. Check what has happened since 1979, Igbos have never played the kind of role they are playing now. We are playing no fiddle at all. It is ignoble. Our people should do an introspection and know where things went wrong and see how they can be corrected. It is very simple. We have the population, of all the billionaires in Nigeria, Igbo can boast of 60 percent of them. Look at the Igbo man’s cosmopolitan nature and his republican attitude. Wherever you see him he takes that place as his home, and begins to develop that place and shows love to the people in the area and is enterprising and also courageous.
You have reeled out the virtues of the Igbos, why are they finding it hard to produce the president?
I don’t know why people don’t trust them. They say they are too ambitious. Who is not too ambitious in Nigeria? Everybody is ambitious. They say they like money. Who hates money?
I have said it several times if you want this country to move forward, support the Igbos to produce the presidency of this country. The Igbo man can change the fortunes of this country, because he dreads failure. If you support the Igbo man to become the president of the country, he would govern this country with the fear and love of God, and courage to move this nation forward. He is articulate, ingenious, skillful and also intellectual. That is what we need, but we underrate them. They say because of the civil war. They fought a civil war that was justified. They fought for survival. I was in Kaduna during the pogrom. Many people were killed and they are survivors. So, why do you blame them for what they had done in the past? Nigeria fought and everybody fought and we said , ‘No victor , no vanquished’. It is high time we reconcile and become one body, one spirit in one Nigeria. For how long are you going to chastise them for fighting to safeguard their lives. That is the picture that is unfolding. Igbo people love this country, and that is why you come to Lagos and see their massive investments; go to the North and see their massive investment. Do they do like people who want to destroy Nigeria? No.
If they should bring down everything they have globally, no nation on earth can face them, but the Igbos have continued to show great love for this nation. We are not fighting another war, we want the unity and survival of Nigeria. It is high time that leaders at the centre began to show love to the Igbo people and give them their due rights.
All these people that have been appointed to sensitive positions, tell me an Igbo man who has failed to deliver. Okonjo-Iweala was minister under Jonathan, she worked herself out to deliver, and today she is being demonised. Why must you find fault with the Igbo people? When they do little thing you begin to blame them. It’s big time Igbo built a very formidable political platform.
You are versed in Nigerian politics, there is this type of Igbo politics in this dispensation. Starting from Enugu State, Jim Nwobodo installed Chimaroke Nnamani as governor, Nnamani later uprooted Nwobodo from Enugu politics. Nnamani installed Sullivan Chime, and Chime chased him out of Enugu. In Abia, Orji Kalu installed T. A. Orji, who later parted ways with Kalu. Also Ikedi Ohakim became Imo State governor courtesy of Kalu, he also betrayed him. In Anambra, Peter Obi brought in Willie Obiano, and the duo soon parted ways. You don’t usually get this in Southwest and the North. Why?
You have raised a very sensitive issue. The Igbo man is a very creative person and very courageous. You told me what happens in the South East, you have not told me what happens in other regions.
Let me take you down memory lane. In Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi was brought up by Peter Odili and Ada George. During the governorship election, they backed Celestine Omehia. Rotimi went to court and retrieved his mandate. He literally chased out Odili from Rivers.
Let me take you to Kano State, during the time of Abubakar Rimi and Aminu Kano. It was the rift that made Rimi go to NPP. What would have made the NPN to even rule Kano for any reason? That place is meant for the Talakas under the leadership of Kano. The NPN went in there and scattered everything. Is Kano an Igbo state? Go to Akwa Ibom, where former Governor Akpabio struggled with is master, Victor Attah and chased him out of Akwa Ibom. Akpabio was a commissioner under Attah. Is that an Igbo state?
In Plateau State during the time of Joshua Dariye, they did everything possible to remove him and they wanted to install their hegemony and that was what brought about fight between Dariye’s group and Pauline Tallin. Where is Tallin today? What happened to people like Useni and co? Even in Lagos here, Tinubu quarreled with Fashola but it was covered up because they found out that touching Fashola who has a very strong followership would be a political miscalculation. It is everywhere. We know the political history of this country. There is no state in Nigeria where you don’t have quarrels between predecessors and successors, because of mutual mistrust, and greed. Not greed for money but for power. It is not peculiar to the Igbo. So, why demonise the Igbo people?