In Anambra State, the All Progressives Congress has had to contend with some internal and legal challenges in recent times. However, normalcy seems to have been restored. The insecurity ravaging the state is also biting hard. In this interview with MAYOWA SAMUEL, the party’s Publicity Secretary in the state, Okelo Madukaife, discusses the party’s next focus after its loss in the governorship election and his hope for the incessant violence in the state occasioned by the now-suspended IPOB Monday Sit-at-Home order will subside. Excerpts:
There have been reports of factional crisis in the APC between those led by Dr. Chris Ngige and former Deputy Governor, Dr. Nkem Okeke, on the one hand, and then the other led by Senator Andy Uba. There have also been reports of moves to reconcile these factions. What’s the present state of this reconciliation effort?
We have no factions in Anambra State at all. The executive is known, the leader is known. We don’t have any faction in Anambra State. All the people you mentioned, we know them, they are our stakeholders.
Last month, Basil Ejedike vowed to appeal the judgment of the Anambra High Court which voided the January congress in which he emerged a winner. He promised not to allow the crisis in the party to distract him. What’s the present status of Ejedike in your party?
Where was he elected? Thank God you know about the judgment. He has not appealed. There is no decision coming from a higher court. We hate to hear the word faction because there are no factions in Anambra State. Our chairman is Barrister Emeka Ibe. Ejedike is his deputy.
“As things stand now, there is room for people to claim with equal correctness that there is zoning or there isn’t zoning. So, in the final analysis, it depends on the direction political parties would like to go, but for every decision made by a political party, there is a price to pay
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The APC used consensus in choosing its national chairman during its national convention last month. There are also indications that the APC might use consensus to pick its presidential candidate for the 2023 elections. What are your thoughts regarding consensus candidacy in the APC?
I don’t know where the indications are coming from because as far as I’m concerned, the national executive committee of our party has not issued guidelines for candidates vying for presidential elections. It’s unlikely that you may have heard of anybody collecting forms in APC. These are the things we need to wait for because we are not ‘follow follow,’ we don’t do things because people are doing them. We have our own way of getting our things done. The last I checked, President Muhammadu Buhari beat people in the primaries to become the presidential candidate. That’s the last primaries that APC has had, apart from the one of 2019 where we had an incumbent and had no issues arriving at a consensus to let him go again. So, there is no reference to go from, not from convention, not in law. So, let’s not rate APC by any other party.
Weeks ago, the house of Chief George Obiozor, president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was burnt down. Last Monday, two FRSC officers were killed despite the reported suspension of the Monday Sit-at-Home by IPOB, amongst many other killings and destructions. What are your thoughts on the past government’s performance regarding tackling insecurity in the state and what are your hopes for the new governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, regarding insecurity?
Governor Soludo has just started. Insecurity is a general thing around Nigeria. Anambra has its own peculiarities built around non-government actors raising one or two issues linked to the detention of Nnamdi Kanu. I believe those things will take care of themselves. It is too early in the day to begin to rate or to award laurels to anyone or to apportion blames. I think that some security issues go beyond partisan politics and so we can only take it one day at a time.
IPOB suspended the Monday Sit-at-Home after Governor Soludo called for dialogue. However, there were still reports of violence last Monday. It’s unknown whether it was orchestrated by IPOB or just hoodlums who decided to take advantage of that day. Are you of the belief that IPOB will be able to sit down and discuss with the governor and arrive at a resolution?
Based on the reports that I’ve heard so far, IPOB has since ended the Monday Sit-at-Home that it called. So, every other thing you find is a spillover that will be cracked in due time. I think that above all, Anambra urgently needs its economy back.
News flew around recently that President Buhari is trying to initiate amnesty for Nnamdi Kanu. What’s your opinion regarding that?
There is no news to my hearing. The president will make a decision, he will justify it as it is characteristic of him, then, we can take it up from there.
Former governor of the state, Peter Obi, recently disclosed his intention to run for the presidency. You may have firsthand, his performance when he was governor. With that in mind and from all you know about him so far, do you think he is capable enough to hold that higher position?
Two things are involved here. Peter Obi has not declared for presidency and I hope that does not sound Greek. If I’m to interpret it from this distance, what he simply did was to consult with some stakeholders in the state, including traditional rulers where they were holding meetings. That does not appear to me as a declaration. Having said that, you know my affiliation, I am APC, the only person I will discuss in PDP is a candidate that the party has selected because I know that we are going to produce an APC president to replace Buhari but I wish anyone of them very well, particularly those of us from the South East who feel that it is our turn to contest, and therefore, we are going for the broke, when it comes to their party’s ticket and I wish them well.
What are your thoughts about zoning?
Zoning is a negotiated agreement which is derived from the principle implied in the constitution. As things stand now, there is room for people to claim with equal correctness that there is zoning or there isn’t zoning. So, in the final analysis, it depends on the direction political parties would like to go, but for every decision made by a political party, there is a price to pay.
APGA won the recent governorship election in Anambra State, meaning that every other party now has to go back to the drawing board. So, what is the APC going to do differently in the next governorship election in the state, to ensure that it claims power, come 2026?
2025 governorship election is very far away. What we are discussing now is the primary for the 2023 general election which is an experimental run of the new electoral act with a long period of campaign, which means that by June, the candidate will be known but that election won’t take place until March next year. So, it’s the longest ever. That should be our immediate concern, to get our party together, get stabilised, do reconciliation here and there for issues in the recent past and then, get ourselves together and win a couple of seats in the general elections, thereafter, we can begin to talk about approaching governorship elections. You may not have known this, but for our party particularly, we’ve been in a nearly ten year crusade to have local government elections institutionalised and steadily held in Anambra State. So, that should be our immediate concern right now in combination with the general elections, not the governorship election which is yet far.
