From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Recently during the political parties’ primaries, a media guru and philanthropist, Dumebi Kachikwu, emerged the presidential candidate of the ADC. In this interview, he spoke on the situation in the country and how good governance can be achieved.
What inspired your decision to join the presidential race?
I am on the race of becoming the president of Nigeria not out of desperation or self interest but rather for the interest of all Nigerians and the future of the country. I am someone who cares about the people and the future of this nation; I am not like other people who run for political office as a means of survival or selfish gains. I have a fruitful private business running, hence my presidential ambition is just a patriotic duty which requires me to do what is necessary to address the so many challenges bedeviling the Nation as a rescue mission.
What are you bringing to the table and what can be done to deliver Nigeria from the present situation of insecurity, economic and several challenges?
Many Nigerians fail to understand that four years is a long term if they fail to do the right thing once again and that years of this current administration have gone down the drain. It has been seven years of pains, misery and sufferings, lost opportunities. Hopes have been dashed and many Nigerians are wallowing in abject poverty. These are things I am coming with the solutions which I have already mapped out the implementation plans and timelines. If the media do not care about the plight of Nigerians, then, who will? We have failed as people. We are desensitized. The most painful things for me as a Nigerian is seeing the common man desensitized to the plight of the common man like himself; that’s where the society has lost everything, when the media cannot tell us that over 300 people died in Benue State, if you did not tell that story, who will tell the story. Self, is destroying Nigeria, the interest of the few is what continued to destroy Nigeria. But beyond those peoples who voted in the current leaders, what of the media, how has the media interrogated that process, the media has a job to defend democracy and defend Nigerians. When government failed, when all else failed, the role of the media is to protect the society, but if the media failed to undertake their work the way it should be and do the needful, then the society is in jeopardy. We have to understand that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, who we abused everyday will not be on the ballot paper in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, but his failed political party, APC, will be on the ballot. But Nigerians with their culture and attitudes will be on the ballot; the world will be watching us, because the world will not listen to us again, for decades; we have done this all the time, we know who we are not supposed to vote for but we continued to vote for this people; a typical example is what play out at the PDP and APC Presidential Primaries.
What is your assessment of the 2022 electoral act?
On the electoral act, I think the time is too short, at least it should take like 18 months because Nigerians need a long time to be able to assess candidates. The time is too short even with what happened in the various party primary elections. How will the electorate be able to assess who their various candidates are? The law is something else in Nigeria, the people who made the laws do it out of corruption; how do you expect the electorate to know the aspirants in two or three months? The issue is who paid the most or the highest bidder, and until we have people who do not have the mindset of themselves when they are making laws, we would continue to be in these situations. The current electoral act, hopefully if I become President, there’s going to be an amendment to it to represent the whole interest of the people.
How do you rate the readiness of INEC for the forthcoming elections?
INEC has not shown sufficient conviction that they are ready for the election. Election is a process and that process is what guarantees the credibility and acceptability of the outcome of the elections. From all indications, millions of Nigerians, particularly the young ones are willing and ready to participate in the process as being demonstrated in their desire to register for their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC). There is no reason for INEC not to allow the people to register even if elections are in a month’s time. The excuses INEC is given regarding the Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) is out of it.
How prepared is your party, ADC?
I am sure you know that ADC is the third force political party in Nigeria. We are closely marking the other two big political parties, APC and PDP. You must know that ADC has structure in all the states of the federation, hence we are optimistic and ready to win the election.
Moghalu claimed he left your party because the primary was highly monetized. What do you have to say about that?
No, that is not correct. In the light of all the issues playing out in Nigeria today, the truth is that I don’t want to waste time discussing Moghalu and his scripts. There are so many issues playing out in Nigeria today. As the presidential candidate of a party at this time, my head is wrapped around a lot of important decisions. If you must know, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, was the actual one that was inducing delegates, financially, to vote for him. The evidence of the money he sent to them to vote for him is there. I rather discuss matters on how my party can win the election. He has left our party. For the fact that he took his loss badly does not make him a bad person. Different people react to such losses in different ways. I have reached out to Moghalu several times after the elections; I still look forward to working with him in near future if the need arises.