How did you emerge as PDP candidate?
Well, I
participated in the primaries conducted by the PDP on the 8th of
January 2011 by Senator Waku and after the primaries, I was declared
the winner by the returning officer. But somewhere along the line, some
other aspirants claimed to have won. But the national executive
committee of the PDP finally decided that I was the genuine and
authentic winner of the primaries of the PDP for Anambra Central
Senatorial zone and then the party gave my name to INEC on 31 January
as the candidate of PDP.
Are you sure the crisis in the party won’t affect your chances?
Ultimately, those
who worked against the party on February 6 (2010) governorship election
eventually came back to PDP to cause more confusion but by the grace of
God, they have left the party once again and are now running for senate
using other platforms. So the point is that they have never really been
part of the PDP machinery for winning elections. I’ll try my best to
get the genuine PDP members who have not left the party to work
together and I believe very strongly that I will come out victorious in
April.
What do you perceive as problem of Anambra PDP?
Well, I don’t think
what has happened is peculiar to Anambra PDP. If you take a study
across the country, there’s crisis in CPC Kano and Katsina; even in
Anambra State, you had ACN candidates who won the primaries but other
people who lost were declared winners. Even in APGA, Anambra State
people who were not members of the party were declared candidates.
Somebody cannot declare for a party two weeks to the primaries and then
win. So because of the strong machinery, they were able to overwhelm
the local party people. So the crisis is everywhere. It’s not about
Anambra PDP.
How can the frequent crises be resolved?
The problem is that
unless the right things are done, you will always have crises. You
cannot impose candidates and then expect people to keep quiet. It will
not happen. So once the proper things are done – party primaries are
conducted according to the rules, guidelines and constitution of the
party – then you will not have crises. And in any case, the crisis we
have this time is of a continuing nature because of the involvement of
the courts.
In so many cases,
the courts have joined in compounding the confusion created by the
parties and it’s going to take a lot of effort to clean up the
situation. But for now, we must concentrate on the election and what to
do to win the election.
Who does the cleaning up?
The system, the
people, you – the journalists – let the winners be declared. In Anambra
Central, immediately after the election, the results were declared and
the next morning which was a Sunday, the information was out that I
won. Three days after, another name surfaced. It shouldn’t take two
days to collate elections done by less than 300 delegates. So our
people must be vigilant and help to reform the system.
How do you hope to triumph over Akunyili and Ngige who are your major opponents?
Ultimately, our
focus will be to do all we can legally and within the democratic
framework to win. Ngige, former governor, formidable opponent.
Akunyili, former minister, formidable opponent, but they don’t have
legislative experience. No matter how many years you serve as a
governor or as a minister, you will need a lot of time to learn the
legislative rope. So when it comes to experience, I think I tower above
the two and I believe the people of Anambra Central will make the right
choice.
What’s your reaction to the alliance between PDP and APGA on presidential election?
APGA has collapsed
its structure apparently by endorsing President Jonathan. We welcome
that and we believe President Jonathan will win Anambra State
comprehensively. What the people of the state should be asking is would
they want to send minority legislators to work with the PDP president?
What is in it for
Anambra State if not for the selfishness of some of the individuals and
the opportunism that you want the president of PDP to be elected but
you want to become a senator from Anambra Central from APGA. Are you
going to declare for PDP after the election or will you remain in APGA
and work with the PDP president?
But Obi is in a minority party and is leader of South East/South South governors?
This election is
not a referendum on Peter Obi’s performance or his personal attributes
or failure. It’s about the individual candidates running for the
individual offices under the APGA platform. Somebody cannot leave the
PDP as a minister serving a PDP government, resign from that government
and from the party, go to APGA and then turn round and tell the people
to vote for the same man you walked out on. You want them to vote for
President Jonathan for president and then vote you in as an APGA
senator to work with the same president a few months ago you walked out
of his government.
It doesn’t make
sense. It’s not about Peter Obi, it’s about the future of Anambra State
and its people. We’ll not allow our people to be deceived. If people
want to use the APGA party they say is Igbo party, if it’s Igbo party
it should have an Igbo presidential candidate. If you cannot have it
then what you’re saying is that people should go with the party at the
centre and that party is PDP.
What do you consider the greatest problem in Anambra State that you will address in the senate?
Clearly, the
greatest problem is that we don’t have proper water scheme, either in
Onitsha or in Awka, or even Nnewi. Then we have the power problem. The
substation that was awarded a couple of years ago for Agu-Awka
substation which was one of the achievements we recorded when I was in
the federal house has been abandoned more or less. Same with the
transmission line to Onitsha. These are things we have to focus on, not
borehole projects or local water schemes. Rather, we’ll have proper
water schemes for the big communities, for the big cities – Awka,
Onitsha and Nnewi. It is the only way.
We cannot do that except with federal intervention.
