Emma Anosike, who represented Anambra North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, is no stranger to Nigerian politics. Since 2005 when he left the Red Chambers, he has remained a loyal member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with Special Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO, he speaks on the fate of the party in the next four years, Governor Willie Obiano’s administration, among other issues.
Crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
A political party is a collection of different individuals that come together to take power. They have different objectives and interests that, when not met, there is bound to be crisis. That is what is happening in the National Secretariat of the PDP. Our last presidential candidate, Goodluck Jonathan, lost the election to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a result of carelessness of some managers and political inexperience.
It behoves him (Jonathan) to put his party, the PDP, in order. It is embarrassing that the party, the largest in Africa, would sit down and watch the baby to be thrown away with bath water. The party should put its house in order. If the party puts its house in order, it will bounce back and become victorious in future elections.
Jonathan’s rejection of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) Chair
He rejected BoT chairmanship because he feels he has more roles to play in the party than the advisory position which he feels should be the role of elders. We are waiting for him to call us together – including present and past governors, present and past senators and other stakeholders – to fashion ways of moving the party forward.
Anambra chapter impasse
I feel terribly ashamed with what is happening in Anambra PDP. It did not start today. I had felt that PDP losing Anambra to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) would have brought sanity and would have taught us a great lesson. But it is unfortunate that the three factions we now have are struggling to go nowhere. I had thought we could have come together to put our house in order. There are, in fact, four factions of PDP in Anambra – Arthur Eze faction, Tony Nwoye faction, Ejike Oguebego and Ken Emeakayi factions – and those who are neutral.
I call on the National Working Committee (NWC) to apply its full force on the feuding members of the party. There is no party in the country that has the class of politicians that know how to win election as in the PDP, yet nothing is being done to harness this advantage.
The only way l feel the problem could be solved is by those who feel they are the cause of the crisis of leadership in the party to make sacrifice by stepping aside in the interest of the party and its members. But what is happening is that they are holding tight to offices in the national and state leadership.
As in APGA, as in PDP
If you do not know where you started drenching, you will not know where it stopped. I want to put on record that the late Senator Chuba Okadigbo, Arthur Eze, Chekwas Okorie and I met and made sure that APGA was registered. I was then in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) committee in the House of Representatives and I made sure it was registered. Chekwas convinced us on why it should be registered and when it was registered.
Chekwas said the compensation, for me, was to get a chairman from Anambra. Ikechukwu Onyeabor was brought by me to be the state chairman. We were looking at Okey Nwosu to be the governorship candidate, but he was toppled by Peter Obi. The rest is history.
At the end of Victor Umeh’s tenure, I was thinking APGA would get a seasoned politician to pilot the affairs of the party as national chairman. But they did not. Whatever that is happening in APGA is also a small cousin of what is happening in PDP by the key politicians of APGA who migrated from PDP. Therefore, I will appeal to the leadership of the party in Anambra and national leaders from the state to remember the dream of the founding fathers of APGA which I am also one.
Governor Willie Obiano and administration of Anambra
I would rate him high in the sense that he inherited very difficult burden; projects and the state that were left for him to midwife without enough resources. There is nobody you hand over such problems expect them to perform miracles. There were a lot of projects awarded by Peter Obi that were not concluded. Many workers were employed by Obi. Instead of sacking the workers, he (Obiano) increased their salaries.
My fear is that some people surrounding him are not allowing him actualise his dream. Some of our brothers from Anambra South and North are bent on sabotaging his efforts. Most of them are gallivanting in the Government House in the name of being good administrators and advisers.
For us in Anambra North, we know such characters. We had been in the field with them before. If they feel they can sabotage the Obiano administration, they will fail.
Second term campaign for Obiano
The people going about this are saboteurs. I will advise that they reduce the pressure on the governor, so that he will give us good governance because it is his performance that will give him another mandate. If any group wants to campaign for his second tenure, it should start driving it on its own. It is not yet time. They should not involve the governor. They should not distract him.
Governor’s 60th birthday controversy
It is unfortunate that people are complaining about Obiano’s birthday. He had been a wealthy man before he became governor. Before he became a governor, he had been eating on the table. I do not see him being extravagant with Anambra’s money; rather he could be stingy with the state’s money. I call on Anambra people to pray for him to succeed because if he does not, it would be shameful to us.