From Okey Sampson, Aba
Prince Benjamin Benedict Apugo is a member of Board of Trustees of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). In this interview, he speaks about the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari by APC governors, the fight against corruption and his expectation from the president should he reshuffle his cabinet.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently sacked the former SGF over corruption allegation. What’s your reaction?
Mr. President has done well in everything, but that of fight against corruption, he has not done well. He has just started. The president has just started fighting corruption with the sack of the SGF because before now, I was wondering why somebody who looted the treasury of his state openly like that of Abia will be in the senate and nobody is taking him to court. He is even freer than someone who has committed no offence, so what I am saying is that the president must fight this corruption with everything at his disposal because that is the major reason Nigerians voted for him because everybody knows he is a corrupt-free human being.
Sacking the former SGF over corruption allegation is very important, but what I’m saying is there are a lot of others who looted the treasuries of their states and that of the federal government that he should look into, sack and jail them. He has to strengthen the agencies fighting corruption and if need be restructure them because all those people that are there were also there during the last administration and if that is the case, there is nothing wrong for new blood to be injected into system. The legal department should be restructured so that they will be doing discrete investigations before taking suspects to court. You don’t just carry somebody who has done nothing to court because you want to impress somebody who has asked you to do that or somebody who paid you to do that when in actual fact the person has committed no offence. Take my own case as an example; I was taking to court for doing nothing and eventually the case was struck out. Chief T.A Orji masterminded that when he was governor in 2013 because I refused to vote for (former President Goodluck) Jonathan at the convention.
There are hints that the president might be reshuffling his cabinet soon, what do you expect from him, having Abia State in mind?
You see, the president should look into the South East and appoint our people into ministries that are meaningful, meaningful in the sense that if he appoints somebody Minister of Works and he is from the south east, he will know that that Umuahia-Bende-Arochukwu Road is bad; Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene; Aba-Ikot Ekpene is bad, he will do at least one road. Or someone from the south east is appointed minister of Power, he should be able to know that the DISCO in the area has failed; they may be doing well in some areas, but not in the south east, you don’t see electricity at all throughout the year. The state Houses of Assembly in the south east have passed vote of no confidence on EEDC and they are still there, the person (Minister) would have known they should go.
Giving South East Ministerial posts that are not relevant has no meaning for Kingdom sake. It is unfortunate that ministerial slot for Abia was given to someone we have not seen in the past 30 to 40 years; he doesn’t even know the road to Abia because he lives in Lagos and he is a pastor, we have to say the truth. The South East deserves to be given juicy ministerial positions this time around.
What’s your reaction to the allegation that a cabal exists in the presidency?
Well, I don’t know of that; but I know that when Babachir Lawal the former SGF was there, things were done without reference to the president. They did funny things when the president was away on medical vacation, including appointment of Board members, thereby causing confusion for the government. The ex-SGF and some others did those things hurriedly and the president should review those funny things they did when he was away.
Are you in support of the APC governors’ endorsement of Buhari for a second term?
If the president is willing to contest again, I, seeing him as a person, I’m not talking about his administration, taking his person into consideration, I will even ask him to be life president. I will not judge him through his government until he reshuffles his cabinet. People should understand that if not for his health challenges, Nigeria could have gone far. Even with his health challenges, he has done perfectly well in the area of the security of this country and another area he has done very well is ensuring that leakages in the financial sector were blocked; I give him kudos for that too. In the area of agriculture even though we are not feeling the impact of Chief Audu Ogbe’s agricultural programme in this part of the country, he has done very perfectly well in that area too. That’s why I have always said that Mr. President should appoint Presidential Liaison Officers in states where APC is not in control like Abia and other states. President Buhari should appoint Presidential Liaison officers particularly in the South East. The ex-President Shehu Shagari did it. They will be there and supervise Federal Government projects for the people to know that these projects are from the federal government.
Let me give you an example, the feeding programme for school children. You bring it to Abia, you give to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, and he will give it to his people. If they like, they will execute the programme, if they don’t like, they will pocket the money, but it’s a federal government project. If APC as a party is involved, it will be part of the news that the party is delivering on its promises.
The Liaison officers would have offices in the states and if anything comes from the federal government, even if it is road reconstruction, it goes to their offices and they will supervise and make sure it is well executed and the people will know that it is the federal government that built it.
From what you said, it’s like you are worried about 2019?
Yes I’m very much worried because the PDP is still in power. But now that the president is going to reshuffle and APC members will be appointed into different positions, we expect to see some changes.
What’s your assessment of the PDP government in Abia State?
I don’t know from where to start, I have said this before, I don’t know the present governor of the state; I have only in all my life seen him twice. One at the airport when he was introduced to me by one of his aides; the second time was in May this year when he was brought to my compound by one of my sons. When he came in here, I tabled all the problems Abia has and he said I should give him four months that he will turn things around and I was so happy. Four months ended in September, rather things are getting worse. But as a young man I wouldn’t blame him, I know where he is coming from; he came from TA Orji who looted the state. Maybe if he had been given free hand, he could have done something different, but the time is late because there is not much he could do in the remaining one year before election.
Can APC win Abia State come 2019?
Look let me tell you the simple truth; if you go round Abia State, you will know that there is nothing like PDP today. There is nothing like PDP; APC is already in control not by our activities or level of antagonism against the non-performing PDP government, no. But the people having seen that Buhari is not corrupt are prepared to stay for his sake and because of many of us. So, it is not the noise we make that is attracting people to the party in the state; APC is already on ground here. I heard that some PDP members are making noise that APC is not on ground in the state, but the fact remains that a drowning person will be looking for anything to hold on to. Any reasonable human being knows that there is a stage a drowning person will go up to and you wouldn’t want to go and rescue him because if you try that you will get drowned with him. So, PDP in Abia is that drowning person that cannot be rescued.
Recently APC held its NEC meeting, how would you react to the outcome of the meeting?
Even though I did not attend for some reasons, I discussed with my colleagues and I sent apologies. So from what I was told, the outcome was very, very fruitful and nice.
We learnt that the APC is going to hold congress; will it be only at the national or will it be down the ladder?
No, we are going to have congresses down the line, at the local government, state and national level.
If you have your way, will you like the leadership of the party at the national level to remain; in your estimation, are they doing well?
Well, even if as a person I like them to remain, it violates the constitution of the party because it is clear in the party’s constitution that after two years, members of the national executive will have to go for either elective or non elective congress. So, I cannot stop it, it is already documented and that document is with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), so, there is no way I could have said it would not happen; even if they are doing well, I will not say the congress will not take place. If the members are doing well, they must fulfill the constitutional provision by going for the congresses and the convention.
APC will hold its mega rally in the state soon, what are we expecting?
You see, rallies don’t win election, it has been my field, rallies don’t win election because that day you are having your rally, even passersby who are not members of any political party will come. PDP people will attend, they are not going to be your member, if you carry 1,000 buses to bring people to the rally; it does not mean they are members of your party. What wins election is house to house campaign and making people believe in you and why they must join your party. For people like us, rally doesn’t mean anything to us because we can go the motor park and hire a lot of crowd. We are using the rally basically as a sensitisation programme and to commission our new office in the state.