Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Prince Benjamin Benedict Apugo is a member, Board of Trustees (BoT) and also member, National Caucus of All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview, he urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Presidential Liaison Officers (PLOs) as was the case during the ex-President Shehu Shagari era to monitor the Federal Government’s projects in the states. He also spoke about APC forming the next government in Abia State, and other issues.
Work on the Umuahia/Aba section of the Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway is nearing completion; do you give kudos to the Federal Government?
It is not only the road the Buhari government is doing, the government is working everywhere. It is that in our own case, when the Federal Government releases something to Abia, it never gets to the state. Having said that, I’m happy about the road you mentioned, but the Federal Government should also look into the Umuahia/Bende and Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene Roads, they are important to our people. The Federal Government should build airpor; that is what they should do for us to make us look like others. But the issue remains that when the governor in the state is not interested in all these things I’m talking about, he will not even make any request. I am thanking Governor Dave Umahi of Ebony, I’ve not been there but I have heard what he is doing. I am also thanking the governor of Enugu; I have also heard what he is doing. I am thanking them, but in Abia, nothing. For over 20 years of PDP in power in Abia, Umuahia, the state capital is still worst than a village.
There has been influx of people from other parties into APC in Abia of late, how do you feel about this trend?
I feel very happy, I have been arranging it, I have been talking to a lot of prominent Abia sons and daughters to come to the rescue of Abia people. And the only way they can do that is to join APC en masse so that we can take over the government of the state. It is true that as far as we are concerned, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State is dead, completely dead and buried, yet we have to mobilize Abians to be able to have one single project that Abia can say for the past 20 years, this is a single project we have. I have been shouting and crying that Abia does not look like a state because we have nothing to show for it and today, all that I have said have come to pass. Every money that was given to Abia for development, none came to the state.
Before the 2019 election, APC leaders in the state boasted the party was going to form the government in Abia, but it never did, what went wrong?
The truth remains that we had no candidate, the candidate that stood for us, Uche Ogah, was just a makeup. He did not come to contest election; in fact before the election, he called and told me that it would be better to leave the governorship seat for Okezie Ikpeazu. It was from that time that I kept myself off him. It was not an accident, it was a clear game that Ikpeazu played with the seven APC governorship aspirants; he bought the forms for all of them. Well, that is by the way because we are not going to compare the past with what we are looking forward to get in the next election if God permits.
Going by what you said, it’s like your candidate betrayed the party, why did the leadership not reprimand him?
There is nothing one can do when the oil is spilled,;you don’t do anything, but many have now known Ogah, before they did not know him.
There is this belief in some quarters that Ogah will get APC’s banner in 2023, do you think differently?
Forget about that, we don’t talk about 2023 now; nobody knows who will live up to that time. We can’t talk about 2023, it looks funny.
We heard that many APGA members in the state are now joining APC; can one say that APGA is collapsing into your party?
No, no, no. We are not talking about APGA; we are talking about prominent Abians. As we speak, prominent Abians from all walks of life have decided to come into APC to rescue the people of the state. If they had done that earlier, Abia wouldn’t have been in this mess.
Could you tell us some of these prominent Abians that will soon join APC?
You will soon see them, not even hearing the names. In less than another one month, you will see them and I’m happy they are many.
Going by your assessment, PDP has ruled Abia for over 20 years without anything to show for it. If APC takes over power, what difference would it make?
I don’t want to mention PDP because you cannot compare it with any other political party in Abia. It was PDP that robbed Abia of their funds, the federal allocations; none of them came to Abia, everybody has seen it now, do I need to tell you about PDP again? APC has a manifesto, it has a programme and I know if APC governor assumes power in Abia State, in less than 30 days, people will see changes, I mean positive changes. The era of workers being owed will be over. We know they are being owed, but since they are not complaining, some of us will continue to keep quiet.
When you talk about allocations not coming to Abia, is it that the Federal Government denied the state of her statutory allocations or what?
I have been talking about looting of Abia funds, you have seen now, it has been written, it has been published, every money of Abia didn’t come to the state. Individuals took this money, it has been discovered. If all these money that were recently reported and are still being reported came into Abia, what is building of airport, roads and stadium? Abia would have turned like small London. The money was given and somebody looted it, somebody fixed it for himself.
Are you happy with the level of Federal Government presence in Abia State?
I have sent an SOS before, I have called on the Federal Government to come and take a look into Abia. I have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Presidential Liaison Officers in states where APC is not in control so they can handle federal projects in those states.
This will make the people know that the Federal Government is doing something to change their lives for good, but nobody is listening to that. The Federal Government will bring rice, bring money for the school feeding programme and give them even to non APC state governors who are not interested in those programmes. Take the school feeding programme for example, it’s going on everywhere, but none is happening in Abia because the governor will not do something that will promote the Federal Government since his party is not in power at the federal level. The president must look into some of these things, he got over 25 percent votes during the last election and it was human beings that voted for him and they are supposed to benefit from the Federal Government.
What’s your take on the Supreme Court judgment on the Bayelsa governorship election?
Well, I’m not a lawyer. Sometimes, the Supreme Court could be misled and this could be done through misrepresentation by counsel. APC won overwhelmingly in Bayelsa and we have found out that the running mate to the APC governorship candidate in the state did not forge his documents, but the Supreme Court’s decision is final as they say. Forget about what is happening today whereby people go to ask the Supreme Court to review its decisions, but if I should go by what I believe in, the apex court should not be used as a toy. I know if the case should be reviewed, it will favour APC but the Supreme Court should not allow itself to be drawn into this issue of reviewing of its rulings back and forth.
The crisis in Edo APC is still on, what do you think is the solution?
It’s only Mr. President because of the office he is occupying that can solve the problem. Setting of committee this or that may not bring the needed peace.
How do you access the Buhari administration?
Buhari is doing well, but because we do not have APC government in Abia, we are not feeling the impact of what he is doing. I know that states where APC is in control are doing very well and that’s why I said that the Federal Government should use its power to find out if the allocations given to Abia are well utilized. I say this because the money given to Abia does not get to the state, it is hijacked somewhere; for the over 20 years PDP has been in power in the state, no single monument has been built in Abia.
What’s your take on the constituency allowance given to NASS members?
As far as I am concerned, that shouldn’t be because the NASS members came from Local Government Areas and states that should be in a better position to handle such projects. However, some of them particularly those from the North have done well with the money given them, but in case of Abia, it is a complete waste because there is no single project anybody has done.