Judex Okoro, Calabar
In this interview in Calabar, an APGA chieftain and Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on community matters, Chief Emeka Egwuonwu, says the only time Nigeria will be in peace is when an Igbo man is sitting in Aso Rock as president.
Emeka, a one time House of representative aspirant and a member of Ohanaeze Ime Obi in Cross River, says APGA remains an alternative for Ndi Igbo and added that no amount of crisis would make the party lose the pending governorship election because the government led by Governor Obiano has performed.
There has been agitation for Ndigbo to produce president in 2023? Do you think it is feasible considering the lopsided political structure of the country?
I support it. But we can nurture APGA and use it as a voice for us to be able to actualize 2023. In politics, you fight for power. You don’t just surrender and that’s why it is called contest, it’s not an award that you can give to any political party.
If the nation has agreed on this zoning, even though it is not written but exists, and we know that in Nigeria we have three major blocs and if we agree that 2023 is for the Igbo, what other zones should do is to allow the Igbo to float as many candidates as they want. Then, the next thing is to vote for the person from your zone rather than saying Igbo is not united. Once that person becomes president of Nigeria, he’s no longer Igbo president. So, telling us that we are not united is tantamount to telling us that we are not ready, which is an insult. Presidents Obasanjo and Jonathan were all made from outside. So why not make Igbo president also from outside. Else, the whole country is trying to use what our colonial masters have awarded to them to continue holding onto power. I keep saying that the size of Goliath has nothing to do with the strength of David. Others have tasted it, let us also taste it if truly we belong to Nigeria.
Ohanaeze’s socio-cultural body seems to be reaching out to other groups on the need for Igbo presidency in 2023.
That is a very good move. They need to strategise and take the lead. we are solidly behind them. Igbo should also learn how to adopt talking because in politics, if you don’t say here I am, people will overlook you. We should all go out and keep on demanding that it is our own turn. Let us leave who goes home with it, and agree that it should come to Ndi Igbo first. Like I said, let us stop being sentimental and say Igbo are not united, after all in 1999, the West never voted Obasanjo but we made him president; why didn’t we give it to Olu Falae but we chose to give it to Obasanjo because that is the man we wanted. So choose whoever, even if he is a blind man, in as much as he is an Igbo man, give it to us; if he didn’t realise that he is an Igbo man in the morning, in the evening he will realize, that is my take on it. On the whole, let Ohaneze Ndigbo sell the idea of Igbo presidency to other regions in the country.
The only time Nigeria will be in peace is when an Igbo man is sitting in Aso Rock as president. He will see all local governments in the country as his constituency because his people are there; he will not ask Air Force to go and bomb the place knowing full well that thousands or millions of his people will be affected. But I am afraid we have been conquered because Nigeria today appears to have three kinds of laws that govern them – one for the South, Igbo and other Nigerians. Then the only option now is restructuring. If we go into restructuring, we would be able to agree on the creation of states, the components that make up the National assembly, and we would share it in a way that every person will have a sense of belonging.
APGA seems to have been engulfed in an internal leadership crisis between Chief Victor Ume and Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu. Are you not worried that it may affect APGA ahead of 2023?
I, as a person, have my personal belief about nature; every iroko expires and still stands. People must learn how to agree with nature. People have refused to realise that in nature, what is permanent is change. Chief Victor Ume rose from a petty position in the party and found himself as the most powerful national chairman of APGA. Now after he served out his tenure and Victor Oye was elected as party chairman, he still wants to control the party. Even the crisis of Ifeanyi Ubah, I can tell you as an insider that Chief Ume initiated it. You have a national chairman and the onus lies on him to grant waiver to somebody to be qualified to run election outside the national positions, then Ume went and assured somebody without confirming from the national leader of the party, the governor, and the incumbent national chairman.
For Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, she is not going to leave, quote me, Bianca is not going to leave, and we have started calming her down unlike before. But mind you at the formation of this APGA party, even someone from Arochukwu gave APGA at formation N100 million, Chike Udensi gave APGA the highest donation at inception. So, there are people that are instrumental to the formation of APGA but God crowned Ojukwu and we believed in him. But I can tell you that Peter Obi is one man who so much believed in APGA. Leaders are born, they are not made. Peter has all the qualities of a leader and peter is charming, humble and his humility made him very attractive. Whoever sees Peter gets infected by his charm. So, I as a person will tell you that he is one man who if APGA asks me for my last wish, I will say let Peter Obi come back to our fold. But in all these, APGA is not shaken, rather we are trying to rebuild the party and I can tell you that the leadership is working hard to bring everybody back on board. Crises are a normal thing in a political association. APGA is the toast of Ndi Igbo and we shall continue to preach to them to come into our fold; let us build the party. In 2023, we are going to shock the country. We would make significant impact because some Igbo heavyweight would be looking up to us to shelter them and we shall be ready.
The Anambra gubernatorial election is around the corner and a number of candidates have indicated interest to run for the election. But there are fears that APGA may disintegrate before the election. So, what is your impression of the forthcoming elections in Anambra state?
I can tell you without doubt that my party, APGA, has done what most political parties have not been able to do in Anambra. First, they successfully transferred power to another APGA governor. After Peter Obi’s eight years tenure, he transferred power to Obiano who is almost serving out his tenure. APGA is the identity of the Igbo; period. Therefore, no amount of inducement will make an Anambra man to cast his vote against APGA. What is happening now is just election fever and after every four years, things like this are expected to happen because it’s a matter of interest. At this point in time, you expect a good number of persons to take a gamble knowing that they would not win.
For me, I am not losing sleep about APGA retaining Anambra State. I equally advise my people in other parties that in politicking, you must keep something as your bargaining power. In other words, if we play national politics and we get lost at the middle of it, please come back to APGA. Every other party started like this. So, we should not even attempt to kill APGA, neither should we allow the party to fizzle out of Nigerian politics.
Do you think the governor has done enough to warrant Anabrarians keep faith with the party?
Yes! The governor has done more than enough. Anambra is the only state today that does not owe. In every community in Anambra State today, there is what we call community projects which is worth N20 million per community. In this model, all the communities send in a proposal on the project they want. Thereafter, the Igwe and the town union president will meet with government and agree on the execution. The state government will give them N20 million and they will go and execute it. With this, the governor has made in-roads to so many communities. The governor structured in a way that the contractor must come from the community that will execute the project just as he is also empowering the indigenes. We have 177 communities in Anambra and you can imagine how 177 persons every year will become millionaires and this has continued happening every year, so I am not losing sleep; we are going to retain Anambra.
Furthermore, the governor has done very well in the area of security. If you look at what is happening in almost all parts of the country now in terms of security, Anambra is not suffering it because we are on top of the security issue. Also in the payment of salaries where many states are struggling to pay, the governor pays very promptly; that’s why we call him the alert governor. He pays salaries on the 24th of the month, so who will want to leave where they are doing merriment to where they are putting up a shrine. Nobody wants to do such a thing; so we are on course and taking the lead.