Defected APGA members are running away from their sins –Umeh

In this interview with Victor Umeh, national chairman, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, Deputy Editor, spoke on the conduct of the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun States, expected benefits from the just-concluded National Conference, impropriety of unguarded statements against government, need for collaboration in the efforts to free the abducted Chibok girls, some developments in his party, among other issues. Excerpts:

Sir, there is increased tension in the political arena; what do you think informed this?

 Well, this is what we usually experience anytime we are getting close to election; many political parties go through earth-shaking moments because many players have not imbibed the culture of subjecting themselves to party primaries to get nomination to various elections they want to contest. Everybody wants automatic ticket and when you don’t agree to automatic ticket; and when you don’t agree to automatic ticket, it is either that you are attacked as a party leader or the person who is afraid that he or she may not get the ticket of the party for his or her interest will run away and join another party. So, this is not the way to build our democracy. In America, the Republicans and the Democrats have perfected the institution of party primaries, no matter what you want to contest for; you must subject yourself to your party primaries where you’ll first of all secure the nomination to contest election and then go ahead to contest the election. In Nigeria today, it is not yet the party, politicians will want to insist that they must get automatic ticket, that’s why you’re seeing crisis in all the political parties once elections are by the corner. But for me, I think it is part of the growing process, but the best thing to do is to insist on what is right, follow the constitution. People who will contest election must go through the processes as allowed by party constitution.

What is your reaction to the recent suspension by the Federal Government of resident doctors over their strike and demands?

 It is so sad that people hide under some guises to frustrate the policies of government. Doctors by their training are not supposed to go on strike. If you are a trained doctor, you must be ready at all times by the ethics of the profession to save lives. You cannot say as a doctor because of pay, for example you allow somebody who is sick to die; it is an immortal sin for you to ignore the plight of a sick person and refuse to treat a sick person because you has not earned enough money as you may want to earn. That is not to say that doctors should not be taken care of; they should be well paid because they have bills to pay as well. Taking to that profession one should be very cautious because apart from doing your job to earn a living, you have a responsibility to God to save lives. Money should not be your primary consideration. So, for the fact that some resident doctors have made it a fashion to hold government to ransom because their services are indispensable, you must react in some way to tell them that is not acceptable.

What are the chances of APGA in 2015 in taking over some states, especially in the South East?

 APGA is a great party; it is a very strong party. The kind of things happening in the party will show you that it is a party that is preferred by a whole lot of people who want to contest elections. The struggle for space in APGA has continued to generate one form of action or the other. If the party is not viable or does not hope to win elections, people would not be fighting inside it. So, you fight over something that is good to protect, to own and to stand on it to go for an election. Our good will is intact and we hope to win many elections in 2015, particularly now that the INEC has made it a fashion that Nigeria must continue to have credible elections; when the votes of the Nigerian people will be used to decide winners of elections.

Some days ago, members of your party at the House of Representatives and a member at the state House of Assembly decamped to PDP; what does that portend for APGA?

 Point of correction, the member of the state House of Assembly was not originally an APGA member; from PDP he crossed over to APGA; he simply returned to his party. He did not win the election on the platform of APGA. That’s one; then those who went to the PDP from the National Assembly know why they are making that move. Four of them are running away from their sins and they are afraid of the future. If they have been as they claim, good party members, they would not run away from the party primaries; but they have shot themselves in the foot, the only thing for them to do is to take a walk so that their sins will not catch up with them when the time comes. I am not against anybody in our party; after all, we gave them the nomination to contest the election they won to be in the National Assembly. What sin has the party committed against them? We gave them the nomination to go for the election in 2011 through which they were elected. They are afraid they would not get a return ticket; what did they do to be afraid; if the same leadership that gave them the ticket in the first instance why are they afraid of the same leadership now? So, am sure you are aware of the antecedents of some of them. Somebody who is in the House of Representatives on the platform of APGA decided to contest for governorship election in Anambra State; went through the party primaries, lost and then at the middle of the governorship election she challenged the incumbent governor, then our candidate, and accused him of double registration and asked the court to disqualify him and declare her the authentic candidate of the party. She accused our candidate of crime (double registration is a crime) and because of that, after the election she still went to the tribunal to challenge our elected governor of double registration and the tribunal cleared him. How do you think somebody who took that action is a true party member? You can see she has invited her fate to herself. And now she knows that the time of reckoning is by the corner she ran away and started quibbling; you can see that she is running away from her sins, otherwise if she had not misbehaved knowing that this leadership gave her the opportunity to go there in 2011, if she had conducted herself well, she could have had that opportunity again, but what she had done you can describe it as an anti-party; but because of our generosity, she was not expelled from the party. She would have been summarily expelled from the party when she took our candidate to court; it was a huge embarrassment to the party. And because of our leniency we gave her opportunity to repent, only for her to come now and begin to say that APGA is this, APGA is that; and she has ran to PDP where there will be no primaries, and she would be given an automatic ticket. You can see that the action was not founded on any good reason. One of them that defected came to me some days ago and said that he was misled and that he was wrong and now very sorry. He is Honourable Afam Ogene. He said that he never resigned; he never tendered his resignation letter to APGA.

What do you have to say on the age limit for the post of the president against the backdrop  of President Jonathan’s recent observation that 40 years mark was discriminatory?

 Well, we have a constitution that has fixed age limit for people that will contest various elections. So, those aspiring for elective offices will have to go by what the constitution has said. The makers of our constitution considered it that for some levels of office, you must attain some level of maturity in your life. You cannot put a teenager in the office of the president, he cannot perform; he cannot cope. The age limit was fixed for the maturity so that when you get into office, you’ll be able to discharge your functions creditably.

The National Conference has just ended. The delegates had stormy sessions all through the five-month duration. Now there are resolutions and recommendations; do you think Nigerians will benefit immensely from the outcome of the dialogue?

 When you see the resolutions and recommendations from the National Conference you will now understand the amount of industry put into that conference. Issues that had kept the country backward were all tackled with utmost objectivity. And the delegates to the conference were able to reach quite a number of resolutions to help us restore Nigeria to the path of progress. All the injustice and maginalisation that were inflicted on some parts of the country were addressed. Although we were not able to agree on the percentage of the revenue derivation formula, there was a consensus agreement that there should be upward review of that from 13 percent, but the figure was not agreed upon whether 18 or 20 percent or thereabout.

In the last two elections, in Ekiti and Osun, security was heavy and tight, but some people criticised it, what is your take on that?

 The elections were not militarised as some people claimed. It was just the commitment of government to provide adequate security for credible elections to take place. Now, people make issues out of nothing, without knowing what they are talking about. Without adequate security for instance, Aregbesola wouldn’t have won the election in Osun State. He was a beneficiary of that adequate security. The adequate security gave confidence to the people and they came out to vote and their votes were counted. You cannot predict the outcome of an election until people cast their votes; if you make statements that indicate that you’ll lose, if you win then what happens? So, elections are not militarised in Nigeria, government is just trying to improve the quality of elections and their outcomes. Elections are now being properly policed for the safety of the voters and the electoral officials and it is turning out well. It was the same thing in Anambra State where people voted and APGA won; it was so in Ekiti State people voted and PDP won, and it was so in Osun where people voted and APC won. It was just clear that nobody was intimidated. Those who were arrested during the election were people who may have become over-zealous for one reason or the other. The result of the election show there was no manipulation. You will agree with me that before the elections in Ekiti and Osun, there were apprehensions and fear of possible violence going by activities leading up to the elections, but because of the security on ground during the exercise not even one case of death was recorded which was unusual. Everybody conducted him- or herself in the most civil way during the elections.

 For over 100 days now the abducted Chibok girls are still in captivity. What would you have done differently if you were the president?

 Well, it is not about what I would have done if I were the President. The issue in Nigeria is that we don’t deal with the fundamentals- issues that we should eliminate, issues that give us problems. The Boko Haram problem was caused by poor management of educational policy in the Northern Nigeria, particularly the North East. For instance, Boko Haram’s hatred for Western Education is uncalled for; how can you say “No” to Western education? Then you’ll live in darkness! The Northern leaders should have taken it upon themselves to ensure that their children were properly educated on the benefits of Western education. You have to be able to read and write to become part of a modern society. Because of this lack, they still have people who behave as if they were in the Stone Age. Now that the Boko Haram menace is here with us, the entire Nigerians must take the blame and responsibility. Look at the crises in other parts of the world, it is not every time that you use gun to settle problems. Look at the problem between Israel and Palestine; since I was born and until now, I have always heard about peace process in the Middle East; every day there will be ceasefire, and the ceasefire will expire and fighting will continue. So, it has to do with the culture of a people. You don’t blame the President for not sending jet fighters to Sambisa forest to throw bombs and then kill the people you are crying you want to rescue. We’ll continue to use diplomacy and precision to approach the issue for a better result. Remember that the Americans came, the French government sent troops and Nigerians thought that within one week they’ll rescue the girls, today we are no longer hearing about their presence in that region. It goes to show you that it is not something that you will use force to achieve the right result. Nigerians will need to continue to pray for those children for their safe return.

 Sir, what circumstances led to the resignation of Peter Obi, immediate past governor of Anambra State, as chairman Board of Trustees of your party?

According to him, it is for personal and family reasons. I have his letter of resignation. I have read about three different accounts on why he resigned. But according to his media assistant, he said he resigned because one man is dominating the party, and that people are leaving the party. But he has not left the party. But the truth must be told because it is that truth that will set people free. We made him leader and chairman of Board of Trustees and immediately thereafter, the national secretary sent him a budget for convention of the party to ratify his appointment, but he refused to bring money for that convention to take place. From January 2014 to March 17 when he handed over to the other governor, he had the opportunity to provide money for the convention where his appointment would have been ratified. We cannot hold convention with water, it costs money; he didn’t provide money apparently because you know in January there was a judgment against our leadership, so he lost faith that we would continue to be the leaders of the party and he refused to bring money. And we went ahead and got the judgment that set aside the one against our leadership just about two months ago. When he handed over, he went to pursue other things, including ministerial appointment. At the end of the day he couldn’t get it; in other words, his calculations couldn’t work out for him. You see, truth is that the budget for convention was prepared and I personally handed it to him. I didn’t want us to be saying all these in public, but now that he is telling the world that his appointment was not ratified, there’s nothing else to do but for us to defend ourselves, to say why the appointment was not ratified.