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Politics
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Most governorship contenders in Anambra The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh in this interview speaks on the November 16, Anambra State governorship election, his party’s chances and takes a swipe at the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the poll, Chris Ngige and the need for continuity in the state’s governance. FELIX NWANERI brings the excerpts: The crowd at the flag-off of your party’s campaign for the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State was unprecedented, how were you able achieve it? There was no secret behind the grand flag-off rally that we had other than the appreciation showed by our people because APGA has not disappointed them. Secondly, the governor, who is on his way out, has kept faith with the people. Therefore, it was a show of solidarity and expression of trust with the way that we have piloted the affairs of the state in the past seven and half years. Like I said at the rally; before we came, this place was a war zone. Dr. Chris Ngige, whom we removed through the court because of his lack of honour in keeping weird agreements he entered into with the people who forced him on the people of Anambra State when he lost the election, opened the state to all kinds of macabre warfare. Nothing worked despite the noise being made at that time that he was standing up against his estranged godfathers. But when we got rid of him, the way and manner Governor Peter Obi went about with the relaying of the foundation for sustainable governance in the state was completely unparalleled. The state has been taken out of the doldrums to a level where people are now proud to say that they are from Anambra State. All those negative things that the state was associated with during the pre and Ngige era are gone and nobody would wish to go back to those old ways. So, this time around, our people are determined to sustain the good governance they have experienced. Your party’s candidate and his running mate seem to have intimidating academic qualifications. How will this translate to electoral relevance? First of all, nobody would want a mad man to preside over his affairs. In choosing the party’s candidate and his running mate for this election, we were mindful of the strategic partnerships that Governor Obi has been able to bring to bear in the governance of the state. The international development partners and donor agencies that have partnered with Obi cannot deal with people who are not knowledgeable to pilot the affairs of government. The European Union, Canadian Development Agency, United States Agency for International Development and even the World Bank will be comfortable to deal with people who have the requisite experience, education and exposure to continue to put their money here. Unknown to people, Obi did not only
excel because he was managing statutory allocation very well. That was not the reason for the turnaround in the state. Before we came in, Anambra State was not getting anything from the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, fund because the people who were here then did not understand what it was all about. It was not until Obi came that the state was able to build that confidence that started attracting funds from the MDGs scheme. These development partners are well established organisations internationally; before they can deal with you, they must ascertain that you know what to do with the funds; they will look at your ability to manage resources; they will also be convinced that you have the sincerity of purpose; that the monies sent down would be channelled to projects designed for development. Looking at their career profiles and education, we are convinced that they will readily want to continue to engage the people of the state in all areas of development; that was why we made the strategic choice. We cannot replace Obi with somebody that our development partners will not have confidence in. Some of the characters parading themselves as candidates for the election do not understand the simple rudiments of good governance. Also, you cannot vouch for their capacity to husband and manage resources very efficiently. Normally, if you are approaching these development partners, you would be required to present the qualifications of a chief executive officer. If you come with profiles of people who never saw the four walls of a university, they would be scared. Our party’s candidates are well exposed, and apart from their qualifications, they have attended top management courses at top universities abroad. So, I am sure that our international development partners will find it pleasing to deal with them. How has APGA been able to resolve issues over its primaries? Everybody must appreciate the fact that only one aspirant will be the candidate of the party in a particular election. All those who contested to become APGA’s governorship candidate in the election have come to the realisation that APGA is the only party they have. Secondly, no matter how aggrieved anyone may feel for not becoming the candidate, over time, he or she must have deep reflection over the choice the party made. We acted in the best of the party. It is instructive to note that we did not go out of our way to stop anybody and from what we have seen thus far; there is no way our candidate and his running mate will not stand out in a fair contest. I must also point out that after the party’s primaries; we engaged all those who participated in the exercise to review the processes. We had meetings with them individually and collectively, particularly those who were not cleared to go into the final stage and none of them could fault their non clearance. Sometimes, when you allow emotion to overtake your sense of judgement; you are likely to over carry yourself. Most of them came to the realisation that they wouldn’t have fared better. We were very open with all the aspirants. That was why you saw all of them at the flag-off of our campaign. We had 10 of
Umeh
SOME OF THE CHARACTERS PARADING THEMSELVES AS CANDIDATES FOR THE ELECTION DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SIMPLE RUDIMENTS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE...
IF YOU COME WITH
PROFILES OF PEOPLE WHO NEVER SAW THE FOUR WALLS OF A
UNIVERSITY, THEY WOULD BE SCARED them at the rally. Hon. Uche Ekwunife, who came second, was there with her supporters to show solidarity to our candidate, Willy Obiano. Chief Paul Odenigbo, a former Secretary to the State Government was there; Francis Idigo; John Nwosu; Emeka Nwogbo; Patrick Obianwu; Tony Nnacheta were all there. The only person who was not there was Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, who did not
keep faith with his promise that if he fails to be our candidate, he will join hands to build the party. That clearly shows that he did not come to build APGA, but to use the party as a platform to pursue his personal ambition. The other aspirant who went to court; Chike Obidigbo was in our last meeting, but he had an engagement on the day of the rally and he wrote a letter to explain his absence. So, we have been through with the process of reassuring all concerned that APGA is one family; that one person will be the governor and that God determines what anyone will be at any point in time. There is the allegation that APGA’s candidate was imposed on the party by Governor Obi, what is your reaction to that? That is a pedestrian argument by some members of the opposition parties in the state, particularly the All Progressives Congress, APC. In this process, Ngige of the APC remains the only candidate that was imposed on his party. It is no longer news that Senator Annie Okonkwo was a major contender for the APC’s ticket, but when it was obvious to Ngige that he may not get the ticket because of the stronger followership that Okonkwo enjoys in the party in the state, he (Ngige) had to get some people from outside the state to get the leadership of the APC to force Okonkwo to step down for him. That was the main reason why he (Okonkwo) withdrew from Ngige’s campaign management. He was to lead Ngige’s campaign, as designed by the APC national leadership, but he opted out because Ngige, shortly after