APC Will Control Power In 2015— Okoloagu
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As the merging All Progressives Congress (APC), apply to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for registration, a chieftain of Action Congress of the Nigeria (ACN), and APC’s coordinator country in 2015. He also spoke in this interview with MIKE UBANI, on the controversial zoning by the Enugu state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of its 2015 governorship candidate to Enugu North Senatorial District.
What is your reaction to Governor Sullivan Chime’s announcement that the next governor of Enugu state will come from Nsukka Senatorial District following a zoning arrangement in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)?
This is a very good and healthy development in the history of Enugu state. The crises in the Nigerian society today are due to lack of justice and equity. So, once people in leadership positions bring justice and equity to play in governance, there will be less turmoil in the country. I congratulate Governor Chime for his sense of justice and equity. I am praying seriously that God will allow him to complete his tenure in 2015 and go. And after that, I expect every sensible Enugu man and woman to vote for an Nsukka man to take over from governor Chime. Enugu senatorial zone is highly endowed with trained and skilled manpower.
But the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said he was unaware of the zoning arrangement. What is your reaction?
I want to start by saying that I am not a PDP man. The statement credited to the distinguished Senator Ekweremadu, whom I have very high respect , goes to demonstrate the arrogance of the PDP; a party that behaves as if it is the only party in this world. I agree that Senator Ekweremadu has represented Enugu state very effectively in his capacity as the deputy senate president and as a senator. But I want to ask him to revert his mind to our days as law students. Then, we were taught in jurisprudence the sources of our laws. He should understand that part of the sources of our laws is the customary law. Former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, who hails from Enugu East senatorial zone, governed this state for eight years. God granting His Excellency, Governor Sullivan Chime, good health, he is going to govern this state for eight years too. He comes from Enugu West senatorial zone, the same senatorial zone with Senator Ekweremadu. I want Senator
Ekweremadu, to revert his mind to the practice in Enugu state. He should be told that somebody from Enugu East senatorial zone has governed this state for eight years. And somebody from Enugu West senatorial zone where Senator Ekweremadu comes from is on the seat now. It is a matter of common sense and common norm that somebody from Enugu North Senatorial zone should be governor of Enugu state in 2015. It is said in law that where a custom becomes so notorious with the affairs of the people it regulates, judicial notice is taken of it, and it becomes law. And that is why I asked him to advert his mind to the sources of our law. He must be told that what is good for the geese is good for the gander.
Will the gubernatorial candidate of the merging All Progressives Congress (APC) come from Enugu North senatorial zone?
Yes, in line with what Governor Chime has said, the candidate of APC will also come from Enugu North senatorial zone. And if we do a free, fair and credible election, whoever wins will earn the respect and support of the other. I will urge every registered voter in Enugu state to start thinking of electing a credible Nsukka man as governor of Enugu state come 2015. And if it pleases the Almighty God, and I know it will, APC will produce the next governor of Enugu state. In the next general elections, we will make sure that the votes of the people count. Nobody is going to sit down in the comfort of his room and write election results anymore.
How do you react to the persistent claim by the PDP that it is the only political party in Enugu state?
This time around, we will prove to the PDP that a new political force has arrived in the state and in the country too. We are just tired of the arrogance of the PDP. We are preparing for the local government elections coming up in December. That time you will know our strength. All the opposition political parties in Enugu state are now operating under one umbrella, and that is the APC. I want them to live with that foolery and perception that the PDP is the only political party in Enugu state. That will help our case. The problem with the PDP is that it believes the party must win at all times. This time around, I am saying it must not be PDP, but APC.
Do you foresee a situation where Nsukka people will come together to select a candidate who will run on the platform of the PDP?
It was very wrong of His Excellency, Governor Chime, to ask Nsukka people to go and select who will run on the platform of the PDP. Let the PDP conduct credible, free and fair primaries to choose its gubernatorial candidate, as we are going to do in the APC.
If you reflect on your last electoral outing, do you still feel you were cheated or robbed of electoral victory?
It is not a question of thinking that I was cheated. In 2007, I was deliberately denied my mandate at the Court of Appeal because I didn’t have the money. The tribunal did its job very well, and that is the equity and justice I am talking about. If there was equity and justice, I would have won at the Appeal Court, and I would have been a senator since 2007. And then come 2011, I challenge you to ask our people who won the senatorial election of April 2, 2011, before it was cancelled or postponed nation-wide, and rescheduled for April 9. ACN won in my own zone. Even though I went outside the country to have a knee operation after I was kidnapped; and then returned to Nigeria when the election was around the corner, yet Nsukka people voted massively for me. On April 9, there was simply no election in my zone, and INEC declared somebody winner. And because I was personally disappointed over what the federal government and INEC did,
I just felt it was not worth my effort going to court to challenge the outcome of the election. Besides, I was convalescing. Whether I run or not in 2015 is immaterial. But the important thing is that there must be an election in 2015, and the votes must count. If they want peace, we will give them peace. You see, nobody has the monopoly of violence. If by the special Grace of God, INEC registers APC, APC will rule Nigeria in 2015. Let me just use this opportunity to tell Enugu people through LEADERSHIP that General Okoloagu said it is in their own interest to be in the mainstream of Nigerian politics, and that mainstream is APC, If you look around, PDP is fighting itself, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. The PDP is fighting because they heard we are coming. What will they do when we actually arrive the political scene? Will they commit suicide? We are telling them that we are coming to repair Nigeria. The country has been so battered by the PDP, and I think time has come for us to rescue it. Nigeria is such a big country that we should not allow it to die. And that is why the APC has embarked on a rescue mission. . I urge INEC to conduct a free, fair and credible election in 2015, and you will see the APC ruling this country.
