Ifeatu Obiokoye, who emerged as National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) at its National Convention in Awka, Anambra State recently, speaks with Senior Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO, on the need to repackage the party.
You were state chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra; why did you join APGA?
It is unfortunate that the PDP could not manage its victory since 1999. At some point, internal democracy became a problem. Some of us in the party then tried to see if we could get things right, but the party continued to nosedive. You are all aware of what happened in the last election where the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated an incumbent president from PDP. This failure was as a result of the absence of internal democracy in the party. They (PDP members) went to sleep over the litany of problems in the party. They went to the political battle field unprepared and full of bruises. That indeed was the party’s demise.
I joined APGA, which is a better alternative. A lot of people are now running to the APC, which is not good for our democracy. There should be ideologies, and the members should be guided by that. APGA is our party down here in South East, and the concept of APGA was a movement where people of like minds, who are not happy with the system, came to form an alliance. So I see APGA as the only credible opposition party in Nigeria. The PDP must have to grapple with its internal problems; it cannot stand as a credible opposition in view of what it is facing presently.
But the process that led to your emergence is being contested by some members?
The party has a constitution, and it stipulates either through voting or affirmation. We had people indicate interest in party positions and they had no other people challenging them. So they went unopposed. You see, in our party, there is spirit of brotherhood, and before the National Convention, all the gray areas were sorted out and members agreed that what is paramount is the progress of the party before any individual ambition. This is what it should be, and not people trying to create crisis in the party. Not a case of having several litigations in the court which would linger for years, to the detriment of the party during general elections.
Some people are making moves to form another Igbo-based political party?
The law of the land says there is freedom of association and lawful assembly; so there is nothing wrong with people forming another party. But if they are APGA members, then it becomes a case of bad losers, and they may not be so many. After the convention, those who claimed to be aggrieved chose not to fight, but embraced the new national executive of the party. So I wonder where these other people are coming from to break away from APGA. There may be some PDP members who are sad that their party did not win. So they want to start something new; l wish them luck.
Your party returned another Anambra person as its national chairman; why?
We are talking about the best out of those who had nursed the interest of being our national chairman. The party had to pick the best, and it was more of a coincidence that our new chairman, Ike Victor Oye, comes from Anambra State. When we begin to consider all these things, it goes to encourage mediocrity, and that is not good for our party. We are talking about an alternative political party to the APC, and if you must showcase that well, you need the best hands in all areas of the party. Our national chairman is deeply rooted in party politics and he has always shown the loyalty of a party man. He has those fatherly qualities of a leader. So it was not surprising that he became our national chairman. In due time, you will see what our party would be, and I can assure you that APGA will make the difference.
You remember that APGA won a seat in the Bayelsa and Taraba Houses of Assembly, and our gubernatorial candidate in Nasarawa State, Labaran Maku, came close to winning that election. This is an indication of where the party is going and we are going to sustain it in the next general election.
But the lone ranger states of APGA are worrisome?
I do not agree with you on that. The party is growing and you would agree with me that sooner or later this your lone ranger status will change. We are consolidating, and going by the outcome of the presidential election, the idea of imposing leadership on the people has become a thing of history. It happened in Abia State. It also happened in Imo and most states in the federation. You remember how our party started and the kind of mass movement that trailed it. We as a new executive have started reaching out to other states and harmonising. If you look at how the members of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Working Committee (NWC) are constituted, you would discover that it cuts across the country and that makes all the states in the federation major stakeholders in the party; they would always work for the success of the party.
The lone ranger status you talk about was as a result of the undemocratic actions of some PDP members who were sent as moles in APGA. They are no longer in APGA.
You talked about repositioning the party; what actually do you mean?
First of all, I must congratulate the past national executive members for holding the fort and sustaining the success of the party so far. I also wish to express my gratitude to our former National Chairman, Victor Umeh, who has been a worthy party leader and member. At this point, we are re-oiling the party’s structure and re-energising it, so that members would feel proud of being APGA members. The party should not revolve around Governor Willie Obiano, though he is the BoT chairman of the party. APGA should be able to stand and carry out its activities as a political party. Our BoT and NWC members should be able to galvanise the party in their states, constituencies and senatorial zone. The governor comes in to moderate. When the party comes to the governor with problems always, he is ultimately distracted from doing his job as a governor. So we as party members must do the needful of being party members and carry out what is expected of us.
You know that if Obiano does not impact positively on the lives of Anambra people, it means that the party has failed and that will affect us in future. But I must say here that so far Obiano is doing well and we all need to support him, and as party members leverage on that.
There are those who felt that Obiano would be overwhelmed by the trappings of his office, but they are today disappointed that the man has hit the ground running. All those land mines that were set for him have lost their potency, because he is focused and knows what he wants at every point in time. There was an alleged plot to unsent him after the House of Assembly election, but APGA swept a total of 28 out of 30 seats, and it all failed. It is also an indication that our party is on the ground, and is poised towards attaining greater heights.
Don’t you think the victory of APC in the presidential election would rub off negatively on APGA?
The era of bandwagon effect is over. It is not like before when, if PDP wins, every state becomes PDP. Today we have APC-controlled states as well as APGA. You saw when Governor Obiano visited President Muhammadu Buhari and made it clear that he remained a member of APGA and was not even thinking of leaving the party. That shows you that the issue of every one becoming APC is neither here nor there. We remain APGA, and I can assure you that by the next election, APGA will win more states in the South East. With Maku as our National Secretary, we shall also make great impact and gain more acceptability in the North.
Anybody making projections about APC taking over the country is only making a mistake. It doesn’t work that way and it cannot go that way. You also forget that even APC is contending with its teething problems. Those who may not get what they want from the party may choose to walk away and join another party. So you can agree with me that it is not possible and our party will not die. Some say that the end of APGA is at hand and I must tell you in the most unmistakable terms that the journey has just started.
