Abia State governorship candidate of APGA, Dr. Alex Otti, narrates his experience at the election petition tribunal, accusing INEC of frustrating his efforts. In this interview with Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM, he also talks on President Buhari’s anti-corruption agenda.
Experiences with Abia Election Petition Tribunal
I will try not to talk so much about the tribunal. You know there is something that has to do with prejudice, sub judice and others. But I think the tribunal is doing well. I believe that the conduct of the tribunal has been well. I have very great hope that we will get justice. That is what is important because once you get justice, every other thing is secondary. Justice is that somebody won an election and that person will be declared the winner. If somebody did not win an election and he is declared the winner, that is injustice, and it will be addressed at the tribunal. That is why I said I believe we will get justice at the tribunal.
Speculations on dumping All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for All Progressives Congress (APC)
Those reports, I believe, are in the realm of speculations. I never told anybody that I was leaving my party or that I was joining APC. But I have a lot of friends. I even have friends in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). That I am in APGA doesn’t mean we will no longer be friends. I am a member of APGA. I ran election under APGA and I remain a member of APGA.
APGA and APC co-operating on the case at the tribunal
There can’t be. The case at the tribunal is in the remit of the judges. I believe that if APC has a case, APC will be pursuing its case just like APGA. There is no such relationship. We are two different parties, but there are some areas where we agree. We agree that change is important in this country. We agree that things should be done better. We agree that corruption should be rooted out of our system. We agree that infrastructural decay should be a thing of the past. We agree that we can use our resources to make life better for our people. So we are not like an opposition that is diametrically opposed to each other. No we are far from that.
Leadership squabbles in APGA, controversial emergence as governorship candidate and the enemy within
First of all, there are no leadership squabbles in APGA. There may have been in the past, but all those have been resolved. I am sure that you followed the party’s convention that happened not long ago. You noticed that the former chairman of the party had handed over to a new chairman. And I am not aware that there is any disagreement. That is the first thing.
Now, your comment about coming from the blues. I do not think that is a fair comment. Yes, APGA does have its constitution, and once you are a member, you are equal with the person who joined about 100 years ago, if there is something like that. That’s the APGA constitution. So at the time I joined, I contested the primaries, I won and the party has supported me.
In terms of witnesses, I don’t think we have any problems with witnesses. We have had a lot of witnesses come to testify. So I don’t think we have any problem in that.
Limiting anti-corruption war to the Goodluck Jonathan administration
Well, it is the decision of the current President (Muhammadu Buhari), and if he says he wants to limit it to the immediate past administration, I believe he has his reasons. He also has a lot of work to do. So he can’t spend the next four years probing administrations, even before the Nigerian civil war. There must be a timeline. It must cut at some point; so that he is not distracted. So I believe that he knows what he is doing. I think it makes sense.
I don’t have a problem with where he says it makes sense and he has the resources to look into the past administrations.
Probing predecessors if declared winner
Well, when we get to the river, we cross it. I believe that what is important at this point in time is to focus on reclaiming my mandate. When I do reclaim my mandate, then I can look at what is feasible and what is not feasible. There is a saying where I come from: you need to see a kite before you determine whether a woman can eat it or not.
Proposals for Electoral Act reform
There are a whole lot of proposals to make. I can assure you that a system which has some of the major umpires taking sides is a flawed system. We have situations where, as we speak, INEC has refused to give us access to electoral materials.
What is topical at this time in Abia State is that we had asked to be given access to electoral materials. The court granted it. We went to look at the materials, and INEC would not provide them. We went back to the court and the tribunal responded positively, to our plea, to give us access in the local government, because the tribunal asked and they said some of those materials were still in the local government. We went there at the local government, and hoodlums arranged by the opposition, which is PDP in this case, attacked our people, the forensic examiners and they had to run for dear lives.
We went back to the tribunal, the tribunal said, go bring those materials to the tribunal, for inspection. They were to bring it on a Monday. But on Sunday, they went and set the place ablaze. That was Obingwa Local Government Area which is one of the most contentious areas in our election. When somebody is presiding over a system that would destroy evidence, it is a criminal offence. People should know the lines and boundaries they cannot cross. So, there are a lot of areas we need to look into.
Hope amid loss of evidence
Well, I am sure the tribunal will look at it, otherwise if we run a system where you can just go and destroy evidence and think you could become free, that will be a Banana Republic.
Assessing President Buhari’s performance so far
I think it’s early in the day. So far so good. He is doing very well. He has shown clearly signal that you can see things changing. The signal is very important. It means that he is not going to tolerate corruption. You see people are jittery. People are already doing the right thing. So, I think it is a clear signal. But personally, I think he should move faster. I am not very happy that the cabinet has not been constituted.
