The National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu, says that the Coalition of United Political Parties may have its challenges as something novel in Nigeria, but that it is working. He concludes that the Coalition will produce the next President of Nigeria, while stressing the fact that the President Nigerians voted for is not in charge of the nation’s affairs currently. He spoke to senior journalists, in Lagos, at the weekend.
How would you rate your party, ADC, currently? And what do you think are its chances in the 2019 elections?
The current position of ADC as the most credible alternative is not in contest. We have 118 elected persons. Five Senators, 18 House of Representatives members, and over 95 State Assembly members across the country. We have strong presence across all the states of the federation. In Oyo State, we have 16 House of Assembly members, out of a total of 32 legislators, more than any other party, including APC. We have two of the Senators, and half of the House of Representatives members. We have more elected members in Oyo State at the moment. In the South West, we have elected members from Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Lagos states. Across the different regions, we have elected members. Despite the fact that I am from the South East, that is the area we have our main challenge. We have only two elected members.
The entire nation (has been) under what the first lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari referred to as a cabal of two men ruining and desecrating the country while some Nigerian men suck-up and grovel to them for favours. The President Nigerians elected has been missing in action and we have a few greedy, lawless and amorphous officials of a rascally political party completely in charge
ADC seems strong in Adamawa also. But the Presidential candidate of the PDP, who is now the CUPP’s joint candidate, is from there. How do you handle this?
Yes, Senator Abdulazziz Nyako, a serving Senator from Adamawa State, is ADC’s guvernatorial candidate in the state. He has done tremendously well. In recognition of this, he received the ADC Global Handshake Award recently. Despite being one of the very effective Senators in the country at present, he has succeeded in building ADC Adamawa into one of the most organised and effective party platforms in the country. ADC in Adamawa has 375,000 registered members. These members pay their membership dues monthly. That qualified the state to recommend one of their leaders and mentor as Board of Trustees Chairman. The party leaders across the country accepted their nominee, and the National Working Committee wasted no time in approving and ratifying His Excellency, Admiral Murtala Nyako as the party’s BOT Chair.
The entire nation (has been) under what the first lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari referred to as a cabal of two men ruining and desecrating the country while some Nigerian men suck-up and grovel to them for favours. The President Nigerians elected has been missing in action and we have a few greedy, lawless and amorphous officials of a rascally political party completely in charge
It looks like ADC has been a bit quiet since the last presidential primary. Does it have anything to do with the strength of your candidate?
My team and I decided to go quiet for a while to tidy up our internal processes. As you know, leading a political party or any organisation that has experienced the kind of surge ADC did experience within the last six months needs serious internal strengthening and capacity building. We have worked diligently to maintain our focus and clarify our vision. Luckily we have the most experienced and passionate Nigerian leaders who are committed to guiding and supporting the party. Former President, Hix Excellency, Dr Olusegun Obasanjo, has adopted to help us shape a model organisation that will sustain our democracy moving forward. We are supported by General Ibrahim Babangida. It will interest you to know that these two great Nigerians do not work alone. So we have the comfort of their extensive experience and network. I feel very privileged working with them at this time. When you seat with them, all they think and worry about is Nigeria. I am lucky and happy they trust me, and have found me worthy to share in their passion, experience and commitment to the cause of the country.
At what level would you say ADC is right now?
ADC is in a great shape. INEC records have shown that ADC fielded candidates for election across the different constituencies in Nigeria. For State elections, we have 100 per cent coverage, and for the federal elections, we have over 95 per cent. So are we doing well. I will allow Nigerians to be the judge. After the 2019 general elections are over, ADC will have many governors, and our position as a leading party will be consolidated.
We are the first political party that is sponsoring an Agency that is working to curb the incident of vote buying and all forms of electoral corruption in the interest of the
Nation.
What exactly does this C4e-Integrity hope to achieve?
The Coalition for Electoral Integrity, C4e-Integrity, is working to detoxify the electoral environment. As you all know, the toxicity creates problem for democracy and our polity. We need to have free and fair elections so that good people will have the confidence to join the race to redirect the fortunes of this great country. C4e-Integrity has been holding workshops and awareness programs across the country.
We do this for our country and also for the youth and Women who are desirous to work for the people but scared that the incumbents in their states will use money and institutional powers to hijack the processes. In our Constitution, we have a mandate to give 30 per cent of electoral positions to women and another 30 per cent to youth below 40 years. As a result, we have more young men and women who are running for 2019. We actually have 68 per cent running this time. We preach against giving any material and financial inducement of any kind to voters. We want their efforts and hard work to pay off. ADC does not aspire to be like PDP or APC. We are creating a platform that is more endearing to signpost a new order of authenticity and character that will benefit the younger and upcoming generations, uplift our polity, and ensure that Nigeria is able to capitalise on the potency of its 200 million human capacity.
There has been a lot of noise around your handshake symbol. What is the significance of this symbol?
The Handshake sign of the party is a well thought out identity symbolism that guides our philosophy and leadership as a group. We shake hands, with handshake we showcase our common humanity, welcome and celebrate human relationship, build bridges, knock down barriers, and promote inclusion. The power in inclusion and borderless thinking and interaction is enriching and the opportunities such environment and interaction bring to a people are so enormous. The result is limitless possibilities and development explosion that will foster atmosphere of peace, creativity and innovation. Nigeria has not seen anything yet. When I hear some of the government people or technocrats talk about job creation in certain percentages, I wonder the statistics on which they base their permutation. Nigeria is not working; it has not worked. Therefore, the outcome of what we are trying to build will expose how ignorant these people have been. We shall create endless possibilities.
ADC will use Handshake across Nigeria to knock tribalism, acrimonies resulting from religious bigotry, and bring to fore the best in all of us to privilege one another and the country Nigeria, the continent of Africa and the global community. ADC will end Boko Haram with authentic Handshake with Shekau and his Boko Haram fighters. I will end Boko Haram without firing one single bullet. ADC will turn the herdsmen to millionaire entrepreneurs and global businessmen.
ADC seems to be the third largest party in Nigeria now, judging by statistics on ground, and new things that you have just said. But you don’t have a presidential candidate that is running except the adopted one for now. Don’t you think this is a limiting factor?
We are working strategically in our party. We have immediate and short-term objectives. This includes structuring our party to be able to contain the fast pace of changes within the party, developing the capacity within and amongst our members and staff, both old and new, to fully grasp the ideological orientation encompassed in our Handshake symbol, and consolidating on our gains as we struggle to conclude the 2019 elections. In the medium and long-term, which begin after the elections, we shall enmesh ourselves in more critical learning and capacity development that will help us become the model party of choice, and use our performance as a party and part of government to convert the psyche and worldviews of Nigerians for our great transformation. As we transition, I see no competition. APC and PDP are parties for today; ADC is a party for today and the future. The future Nigeria has no space for corruption, ethnicity, and various other parochial tendencies that have weighed us down as a country since independence. The elite hypocrisy and baseless statistics that seem to debase the country will no longer exist. The ADC Handshake is a great enabler, tonic and catalyst of sort. The envisioned outcome may amaze cynics but not the team that I work with, and not any present member of ADC. They know what we are doing and they have bought into the vision.
You cannot discuss today’s and future Nigeria without Obasanjo, Babangida, and Danjuma, I must tell you. One can say anything about them, as humans, they have their shortcomings, and with hindsight, they have become aware of the consequences of some of their decisions. But one thing you cannot take away is that their passion for Nigeria knows no bound, and they are highly and ever committed to this country. And as providence would have it, Jonathan too. President Jonathan put Nigeria first and refused the allure of using institutional structures available to the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to pursue his naked ambition. I am glad that these leaders are highly committed to the ADC
vision.
Some people say these leaders are autocratic…
No not at all. Autocracy, command and control are synonymous with the hierarchical military order but Obasanjo can in no way be described as an autocratic leader. Obasanjo works well with intelligent persons with strong identity. Check his career – his military and civilian work lives. He and IBB have the record of having very strong teams in their cabinets. He wants to achieve a very good result by working with strong and authentic leaders. I cannot say I know 100 per cent how he led in his younger years, but working with stronger Generals like Yar Adua, TY, and the team they had in the 1970s, he is well vast in team leadership. I feel particularly privileged to have earned his trust, and to be mentored by him at this stage of my development. I have learnt so much. President Obasanjo is a great teacher; he uses different kinds of leadership styles, skills and platforms for teaching. Although rich in military strategies and tactics, his leadership is a multifaceted mix of strategic, authentic, facilitative, coaching, and transformational hybrid with elements of spiritual, servant, and transactional
characteristics.
Some people have also assumed that the influence of the leaders you mentioned may be too much for the party. What do you think?
Despite the involvement of many of these strong men and women in the new ADC, they do not interfere in the running of the party or my leadership. They are so patriotic and thoughtfully concerned about the nation’s future that they avail us the wellsprings of their experience. We have had challenging moments. Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Imo, Rivers, Benue, and Kano states are typical examples. We use very refined party internal processes to correct ourselves and get the party and members to
refocus.
Have you been able to manage the exit of former Governor Rasidi Ladoja in Oyo State?
I do not want to discuss Governor Ladoja. He is a respected elder of one of the already ADC vested states. Ibadan people honour him and I respect him. I know deep in his mind he remains ADC. Senator Lanlehin will be the governor; the people of Oyo already sealed that, not with man but with God. Oyo is a pacesetter state, and it is on the threshold of redefining Nigerian politics with its sophistication and leadership. Governor Lanlehin will be fair to
all.
Back to ADC and CUPP. Do you think ADC has the kind of say it should have in CUPP, and why exactly do you think President Muhammadu Buhari should not come back?
ADC is a member of the grand alliance CUPP. ADC is strategic to CUPP, and will remain significant to the success of the coalition. CUPP is really beyond politics, it is a resolve to rescue Nigeria from further degeneration, from a tyrannical regime and completely no-good cult of gangsters, oppressive and dictatorial regime that gives no hoot whether the country is breaking up or not. Lagos State and the South West have remained in the stranglehold of one supposed godfather, and the entire nation under what the first lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari referred to as a cabal of two men ruining and desecrating the country while some Nigerian men suck-up and grovel to them for favours. The President Nigerians elected has been missing in action and we have a few greedy, lawless and amorphous officials of a rascally political party completely in charge.
What do you mean? Are you saying…
I am not saying anything you have not heard. Mrs Buhari has been echoing the same thing in different ways for more than one year now. Buhari is not in charge in the Presidency. Our elected President is nowhere when the country needs him most. Even for the short time he took charge, he was divisive, and divided Nigeria in the worst possible manner. Worst still, the cabal prefers working with Bola Tinubu instead of the Vice President who at least still hangs around. Plus now, they have added Oshiomhole. Nothing matters to these people. So it is incumbent on all well-meaning patriots and progressive parties to work to rescue
our country. Yes ADC is committed to whatever decision CUPP reaches. But I do not intend to discuss any other party and Presidential candidate in this interview. ADC has about 1,450 candidates running this election. I would rather discuss them. We are a party with high integrity, we stand by our wards, our decision and understandings. We signed the CUPP MOU and we shall always stand by that decision. There must be trust in our politics for us to build a country. I do not want to discuss whether CUPP processes have been fair or not. The arrangement may not be perfect but at this time, it is the only way to save our democracy from monumental abuse, and our people from APC induced poverty, abuse, killings, profligacy, and economic ruins.
