Immediate past National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, was the APGA candidate for the nullified March 28 Anambra Central senatorial election. In this interview with Special Correspondent, EMMA CHUKWUNYERE, he talks on the Appeal Court judgment that nullified the election of Uche Ekwunife as senator representing Anambra Central, as well as his preparation for a rescheduled election, among other issues.
How do you feel on the Appeal Court’s nullification of the election of your opponent, Uche Ekwunife of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as senator representing Anambra Central?
I will first of all say that I am happy that the Court of Appeal did not sustain the electoral heist that took place in Anambra State early this year. By coming with a decision that election should be repeated, at least, is an improvement on the previous impression being bandied about that the election was good, and that Uche Ekwunife won the election.
I cried out from the onset that the election was marred with recklessness and impunity. I also pointed out that the environment under which that election was conducted was skewed against other candidates in the election, other than the PDP candidate.
The PDP candidate submitted list of all the ad-hoc staff employed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for that exercise, and during the election proper, the military were fully deployed and we were pushed out of the election.
We managed to hold on to that election and, of course, garnered votes that actually won that election. But through the manipulation of the PDP and INEC – they first of all announced a scandalous figure, 101,548 for the PDP and 77,129 for me. Chris Ngige, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate got 20,000 votes.
Of course, we were very distressed by the outcome of the exercise as announced by INEC and the only thing to do, like I have always done, was to go to the tribunal to seek redress. And at the tribunal, we were able to show that the result announced by INEC was false because we recalculated the figures and we saw on the certified true copies of the results given to us by INEC that PDP got 93,860 on the face value instead of 101,548 and my votes on the face value were 85,898 instead of 77,129.
So, it immediately cast total doubt on the election. And when we filed our petition, they accepted that the result announced by INEC was wrong; that what we added up was the result but they accepted it, claiming that PDP was still leading, even at that.
Were there other issues you took to the tribunal?
Another issue we took to the tribunal was that she was not validly nominated. You are aware that PDP in Anambra State has been factionalised in the past 12 years. And before the primaries started, internal squabbles in the PDP took a heavy toll on the party, necessitating Uche Ekwunife and her group becoming the candidates without going through any primaries or any process as provided by the Electoral Act.
These were the issues we took to the tribunal because the tribunal agreed that the election results announced by INEC were false and said nothing beyond that. If those figures were wrong, it must have obvious consequences on the election because election is not a rule of thumb business. You must be precise and accurate in figures you allot to candidates in an election. You don’t just say this man got 200,000 and tomorrow you say he got 150 and you expect somebody who is a judge to accept that the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. It cannot be. So, these were the things we brought to the tribunal and, of course, because they were there to do a hatchet job, they turned their eyes away from the matters that we brought to court. I proceeded to the Court of Appeal.
What made you sure of getting victory at the Appeal Court?
I am not a stranger to wrong decisions of lower courts in Nigeria. I think I have been able to use the judicial process to show that, most times, the lower courts lack the courage to dispense justice according to law. So, when we got to the Court of Appeal, the obvious thing happened. That election was nullified. I thought they should have declared me winner outright. We were able to prove that she had an invalid nomination. Though the text of the full judgment will come out in few days’ time, we will look at it and see the reasons for arriving at nullification. Be that as it has happened, we are still grateful to the judiciary that they didn’t allow the fraud to stand in favour of the PDP candidate.
So, we are grateful to the judiciary for coming to this just decision, that at least she did not win that election, unlike what she has been telling people everywhere, prancing around that she defeated Victor Umeh silly. I think she has shut up her mouth now.
How ready are you for the repeat elections?
Ever ready! Our people, more than ever, are ready. From the pronouncement of that judgment and the breaking of the news, my four telephones have been ringing all at a time. People were even calling from outside Nigeria. People who didn’t know the time in Nigeria were calling me at odd times and I was busy replying text messages. So, I used that to gauge the mood of the people. If you saw The Punch newspaper publication a day after, you would see, “Jubilation greets the nullification of Uche Ekwunife’s election”. That was front page news. So, our people are so excited because since that robbery was done, they were bewildered. You know how such a thing could still happen at this time in Nigeria where somebody they did not vote for will so brazenly, with machine guns and armoured tanks, ferry things away and impose on them and they had nothing to do.
I am an unrepentant believer in the use of the machinery of judiciary to pursue justice. When that happened, because I have not been used to inciting people to take to the streets to demonstrate, people thought that I had given up. But quietly, I continued doing what I know how best to do and we thank God that they have been revived now.
Anambra Central, where the election was nullified, that is the strongest senatorial zone in Nigeria. It is the centre point of politics in Anambra.
It was keenly contested. It was hotly contested. There were people of influence in that senatorial zone, and when this thing (electoral fraud) happened, the place went silent. Now, they are celebrating that they have another opportunity to express their will. So, I am ready, ever ready. APGA has always advocated the use of ballot box to elect leaders without manipulation. You know, APGA has gone through very strenuous trouble to enthrone democratic order in Anambra State and in Nigeria by extension. All that we have done is coming from the point of the underdog, to wrest power from the super brats.
We have not been used to bullying anybody. Instead, they have been bullying us. So, now that this election will be conducted under a very new template, we are very hopeful that the votes of the people will be what will be counted to declare somebody winner. There will be no godmother, no godfather. There will be no presidential might, which has been the greatest source of political corruption in Nigeria; the use of presidential power to suppress the will of the people, to win elections. Elements in the PDP have been culprits in this habit. Every time there is election in Igboland, federal apologists will return home to decimate the people and leave them desolate after every election.
PDP, which had been using that process, particularly in South East Nigeria, has fallen from the power.
With their exit, we look forward to a new type of election in Igboland, not just in this my rerun election that will be coming up soon. But, I know that PDP is now like a fish out of water.
You said this is a new template, but the rerun will include your former opponent, Chris Ngige, who is now a Minister of the Federal Republic. Do you not envisage there could still be another federal might because of the APC government at the centre?
No, I don’t think so. APC came with a posturing of change in Nigeria. Before it became a consolidated party, the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) and the other parties that merged to form the APC were in a vanguard of struggle with APGA against the ruling party, in terms of muscling the opposition.
With opposition party now taking over the leadership of the country, I do not expect that they may want to muscle the electoral process, no matter how hard they try. What is happening in Bayelsa now is a pointer to what is going on. Elections have taken place in seven local governments. PDP has won in six councils. APC is the federal government. If it were to be the other way round, PDP being at the centre, they would have rigged the Bayelsa election. Without looking at anybody, you won’t see result sheets and they would have announced somebody winner.
So, the change we are talking about is already being experienced. APC has a moral burden not to repeat what PDP did to opposition parties before it was unseated. You can see developments in Bayelsa. Timipre Sylva (APC governorship candidate) won only in one local government area and he is still hoping to win with one outstanding council when he has lost six local government areas out of eight. If it were to be the PDP regime, they would declare any of their own winner and tell you to go to court. That had been their style.
What PDP did to Nigeria in its 16 years rule was the greatest disservice to democracy. PDP promoted democratic banditry, electoral banditry in Nigeria. For quite some time, I have not joined the public commentary because I was in the process of pursuing my appeal and all that, but when I saw PDP chieftains crying wolf on television, I was laughing at them. There is something we say in our place. The cup, with which you give somebody grain, will be the cup you will use to receive the grain when the table turns.
So, PDP that was known for no due process at all in electoral process is now crying against the APC? They are hypocrites. As far as I am concerned, PDP’s time has just ended. It is a political party that should be dismantled. They should be dismantled because if they had any serious commitment to democracy, Nigeria would have been a very strong democratic nation.
But, through the use of Police, Army, it was federal operation all the time. Any place they chose, they would go there and ransack the place and then impose anybody on the people and go away. It is no longer possible, so they are now weeping.
APC has not been brutal like PDP. It was only here in the South East of Nigeria that date for election would be fixed and on the day of the election, you would not see anybody, but in the evening, results would be announced. And no matter how you complained, nobody would listen to you. The next thing you would see was that they would be arranging people to come on solidarity visit to congratulate the winner and they would be dancing in an election that never took place.
These were the sort of things we saw in Nigeria and they are now trying to say that APC did that. APC didn’t do that. They are just lucky and I am happy that the present government is taking the issue of corruption very seriously. PDP promoted corruption in Nigeria. They thought that it was going to continue that way.
Look at the revelations coming out now, the way monies were shared. PDP should bury its head in shame. But for the principle that people should be allowed to express its views and opinions, PDP should be banned from speaking. Nigerians don’t need to be hearing incoherent statements coming from the PDP as an opposition party. They think they are making any impression on anybody. Nigerians hold them in great contempt for the way they desecrated this country and our democracy. So, if there is anybody that will talk to APC, it will certainly be a political party other than the PDP. They need to go on probation.
PDP needs to go on probation in Nigeria for about 12 years or more, so that we see if we can repair the damage they have done to our national psyche, both the economy, the polity, our democracy and our rule of law.
What if Ngige decides to run?
As to whether Ngige will run the election, Ngige is my brother, he is my friend. He is now a Minister of the Federal Republic. I don’t think he needs to gamble, to leave what he is holding now to go for the unknown. You know, it is only within 90 days. If he leaves his ministerial appointment and comes to pursue a senatorial seat, it may be late for him when he is going back to ask for his seat at the federal cabinet.
