National Chairman of the All Progessive Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, who is the party’s candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial zone in next month’s election, bares his mind to Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, on efforts by his party to reposition Nigeria with the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan as well as other issues of national interest.
What are your thoughts on political activities so far, as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) flags off its campaign in your state, Anambra?
At our flag-off ceremony in December, I made it clear to the public that we need collective action to serve our people. In Anambra, APGA has been nine years in government. There is every need for us to have common vision, common purpose; in other words, now that Anambra people have elected a governor to serve them till 2018 in his first term, there is every need he should be surrounded by APGA legislators, both at the state and at the national levels; so that they would be able to work with the necessary synergy to pursue the development of Anambra.
We need effective representation at the national level where our representatives could make it a routine to hold meetings with the governor, take the needs of the state to the National Assembly and pursue those needs for provisions to be made for them in their appropriation; so that while the governor is doing his utmost best with the resources available to him in the state, we at the National Assembly will be able to attract federal benefits to the state. It’s not something we can achieve through discordant approach where some people will belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and then have very poor relationship with the governor who is in charge of the state.
We have demonstrated in Anambra that APGA is a party God has brought out to make the state a great one and, of course, go beyond the state to help our people in this part of the country. That is why we must continue to build that strength. And this time around, we have nominated very credible, tested candidates, and those our people can trust.
I have been here for about 12 years helping to reshape governance in the state, trying to free this state from the stranglehold of people who have not seen government resources as resources that should be used for the benefit of the people. We have salvaged the state from those wrong hands, and it is now time to consolidate on that. APGA has a governor here for the last eight years, and now transferring to another APGA governor is something worth cheering. So our desire is to do more. We have done well and achieved a lot in the executive arm. We intend to move into the legislative arm to create more impact and to consolidate. We must strengthen the legislative arm.
My people called on me to run for Anambra Central senatorial zone; looking at the challenges, I am persuaded to run. First, in the almost nine years that APGA has ran the affairs of Anambra, we have never produced a senator, and that is an anathema; it is not good for us and we need very strong hands to represent the party in this election. What we have today is a formidable team, so that we can break the jinx in 2015. We are determined to make remarkable impact.
We chose former Executive Vice-Chairman of National Communication Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, a very credible personality and tested technocrat, to represent Anambra South. He midwifed GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) revolution in Nigeria. In Anambra North, we also chose former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Dubem Obazie, and he is a front-runner for that seat from the North. We also have 11 House of Representatives candidates who are all outstanding and can hold their heads high in leadership matters. They are all very strong candidates and we are well prepared for the contest.
We have always had the majority in the House of Assembly since 2011. This time, we are working very hard to increase their number and I know that with the preparation we have made, and the type of leadership we now have in the party and government, nobody is in doubt that we are going to clear all the seats at the House of Assembly.
With the drive and the spirit of the party now, with the determination of the governor, Willy Obiano, who has become the leader of the party and who is ready to lead and to confront all the challenges, the sky will just be our stepping stone because with God and the people on our side, we are confident we will be victorious.
Looking at the political situation in Anambra today, you can see that APGA is the only party that is organised. We nominated our candidates without hitch and our all candidates and all have received acknowledgement from the Independent national Electoral Commission (INEC). I am sure that at the end of the election, APGA will fully consolidate its hold on the state and others that we hope to grab because it is a party the people are passionate about. As the national chairman of the party, I am very happy that this 2015 general elections will be a great opportunity for APGA, particularly in the South East, to take its pride of place.
But what is the strength of the party in some other states?
We are on the ground and our presence is everywhere. We have chosen very credible candidates in other states too like in Abia where we have Dr. Alex Oti, seasoned technocrat and one with deep contacts; in Imo, we have a very formidable candidate, a former Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho. He is a very strong-willed person. He is one that cannot be intimidated by anybody. He has been very active promoting the affairs of the Igbo nation. When all these people come on board, they will be able to collaborate to produce a new economic and development agenda for South East Nigeria. Today, such things seem to be impossible because our brothers in other parties are not taking these things serious.
We need a common front; about three or four APGA governors from the South East will give massive support to initiatives from the South East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) initiated by (Chris) Okoye and his colleagues, and we will begin to harness our common strength. So we will come together to build a strong regional economy to be able to create very strong identity for Ndigbo. They will be able to build a new Igbo brand that the rest of Nigeria will see and say, yes that the Igbo have come back together. And in dealing with us, there will be greater respect than what we are having presently.
APGA does not have a presidential candidate, but has again adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate. How would you assess the presidential contest?
Somebody who is in a contest of this nature cannot be wished away. Buhari cannot be wished away, but we have our first and strong choice in President Jonathan. We have our preference in Jonathan and we have ably demonstrated our support for him and we will not stop until his victory is assured. The presidential election holds so many promises and dimensions. We are voting for Jonathan for a number of reasons. One is that he has demonstrated his deep commitment towards implementing the resolutions of the national conference according to the firm promise he made in his October 2013 Independence broadcast. If that is done, let me sound a little selfish, the people I am going to represent will heave a sigh of relief because those injustices we have suffered in the country will be taken care of. We will be able to get additional state. We will also be able to get away from the cheating we have suffered through small number of local governments they gave us, and you know we are getting federal allocation through the number of local governments we have.
There is no doubt that our losses will be reduced greatly if national conference recommendations are implemented. Also, it is good for us to check the character of somebody that wants to be our president. Jonathan has demonstrated ability to withstand stress; he is somebody that has remained calm in the face of provocations. The Boko Haram challenge is not a simple thing, but he has remained stable. If he were to have a military blood, maybe he would have ordered for the massacre of people. Remember, when Olusegun Obasanjo was there as president, he could not tolerate the Odi or Zaki Biam people. We knew all that happened there, but Jonathan has been very calm, seeking lasting solution. Jonathan will remain a bridge to national unity. The way things are polarised in the country, it is only Jonathan’s victory that will bring Nigerians back together. It is on record that APC did not participate in the national conference, so why should we vote for them? If they did not believe in the change in status quo, which has foisted injustice on a lot of people, why should we entrust them with governance at national level? They are impervious to the need for change in Nigeria; they want people to continue living with their pains. What they did by not being part of the national conference has made them enemies of the Nigerian people. APC does not deserve authority of governance at the national level and we are going to campaign against them. We need somebody who believes that change of the status quo, which has stifled development, must be carried out.
It is only a pragmatic, futuristic and visionary leader that will key with the national conference agenda, to create a better country. Jonathan has such great vision for Nigeria, but there are much falsehoods and fabrications against him. You cannot be saying that you stand for change when your actions are against it. The truth is that the structure we have today cannot sustain us as a country, and there is need to look inwards. Jonathan subjected Nigeria to a national dialogue, and it is only a pragmatic leader that can do such thing.
I was at the national conference where eminent Nigerians gathered, and it is obvious that Nigeria needs help. We must restructure the polity and re-engage ourselves with a sense of mutual trust because there is so much distrust in Nigeria today, and what has given rise to this is because of injustice that has been projected into the system. The national dialogue will chart a new course for the country. APC wants Nigeria to be polarised; they want the people to continue staging war against the country because once there is injustice, there will be war unless you remove grains of injustice.
APC wants to bring the country down. It is important that we have a leader that will seek, first of all, the unity of his people, and then anchor the future of the country on a set of ideals that will be sustainable and which will bring positive change for the people. It took me time to accept to run, but the experience I had from the national conference propelled me. I know that the reports and resolutions of the national conference will go to the National Assembly, and we have to go to the National Assembly to ensure enactment of good laws that will accelerate the change the country needs to become better.