Dr. Ben Nwoye chairman, Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Speaks on the crises in the National Assembly (NASS) and the party, saying that the emergence of Ike Ekweremmadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Deputy Senate President is a blessing in disguise.
The crises plaguing APC at the National Assembly seems to have taken the shine off the party’s victory during the last elections. How did the party get to this stage?
On the ongoing fracas at the National Assembly, my view is consistent with the views of our of our party. The President had said that the National Assembly should be left alone to choose their own leadership and they have done so. It is left for all of us to rally round them so that they can do the work that will be meaningful to the development of the nation and bring about the change which Nigerians voted for. The leadership of the party has also accepted the situation which we found ourselves. Therefore, the fighting which was witnessed at the National Assembly recently was unnecessary and uncalled for.
But the APC seems to be worried that PDP outsmarted them to clinch the position of the Deputy Senate President which was not expected if the in-fighting for the positions were not there. Does it mean that your party was not prepared for such possibility before the Senate was inaugurated?
I acknowledge the worry because it is troubling for some people but as I said, it may turn out to be a blessing for us. As you know, APC does not have super majority in the Senate, we must understand that.
Number two, people are over-blowing the significance of that position. I am not trying to undermine the office, it is a wonderful office. The issue is that this kind of arrangement is new in our democracy where a party enjoys a slight majority as a ruling party at the Senate. In this regard, in order for the business of the people to be carried along, there will be need for bi-partisan type of relationship. In my own view, I don’t see anything wrong with that. This is because since Ekweremadu is now part of the leadership of the Senate, the PDP cannot stall the legislative process in the Senate. This is because the PDP is now a stakeholder in the leadership of the Senate. So, bills will not be looked at as APC bills but Nigeria bills for the progress of Nigeria. In the end, if you look at it properly, this is why I said it might be a blessing in disguise.
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Don’t you think that the division the crisis created will affect the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari because the combatants may have seen it as ego issue?
What makes a party is the ability to manage any crisis. If you recall, not long ago, crisis rocked the PDP during the primaries at the Eagle Square where a National Chairman of a party was publicly humiliated and somebody came up at that stage to become the acting chairman there and then. Also, Tambuwal issue at the House of Representatives after the 2011 inauguration is still fresh in our memories. But those stormy issues never destroyed PDP as they weathered the storm as a strong party. It was a contentious atmosphere to the party then but it did not kill PDP. If you bring it to APC, right from the on start, people never gave us a chance. This is a party that was formed due to amalgamation of various parties and people still see themselves as members of the merging parties. This is because the time they spent in their former parties is longer than what they have now spent in the new merged party. After all, APC is less than two years old. Though they have allegiance with APC, they still parley with their old friends, those they have known closely for so long. So, those interests will still pull themselves together in small pockets, but at the end, the party supremacy will prevail. What is happening will not deter us from implementing the programmes which the people have elected us to implement. We don’t have excuse for non-performance, APC will perform and bring the change they promised the nation. We in Enugu suffered a lot to ensure that Buhari emerged President. We ensured that the PDP did not rig the elections in the state. Many of us were wounded in the process and se suffered irreparable losses.
Ike Ekweremadu was reported to have said that he decided to contest to make sure that the Igbo are not left out in the scheme of things. Does that mean that the Igbo have got their fair share from this administration?
I don’t know if he said so but as we know, people misquote others. Senator Ike Ekweremadu ran for the Deputy Senate President position on his own right. He has the right to do that and he was fortunate to have won. That is good for him. Unlike other civilized nations or stabilized democracies, we are still evolving. I will always use the United States of America as example because that is the one I know having stayed there for a long time. Politics over there, is on the basis of national interest. While in Nigeria, it is first of all, regional interest then ethnic. So, if you are talking about the statement attributed to Ekweremadu, you can see why he began to take stock for Ndigbo position. The President is not Igbo, his vice is not Igbo, the Senate President and House Speaker not Igbos, the Chief Justice of the Federation not Igbo etc. So, the Igbo being one of the tripod which Nigeria stands, can make the argument legitimately so that they have now an Igbo man on the national hierarchy. This is not a partisan argument, it is an unfortunate argument but that is how our country was formed. It was a country that was co-opted into existence. It was not by choice. If you look at the United States, the word ‘united’ mans that people agreed to unite. If you look at the particulars of the union, you will see when each state entered the union. They were individual counties before they became united to form a union. But we don’t have that here because there is no document to show that we voluntarily agreed to come together to form a country called Nigeria. There was no agreement. It was the foreigners, the colonial maters who decided that the best way to govern us was to merge us together forcefully. And we have to live with that. That is why each ethnic group believes in themselves first before they talk of Nigeria. That is why when people get at the national level, they talk of what they will get for their people. They see Nigeria as a cake. That is the context or historical reality why Ekweremadu may have made the statement attributed to him. But the issue is that Ekweremadu ran an election at the Senate and won, you don’t regard that as an appointment. The Igbo has not gotten any appointment yet. It is clear that the Igbo want the Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF) position and I am hopeful that South-East will get the SGF position.
It has been alleged that you and your team mismanaged N400m sent to you for election campaigns and other needs of the party during the last election. How true is this?
I won’t join issues with them on that. But I can tell you that those lies are sponsored by those who want to become minister at all cost. Some people are afraid that somehow, my name might come up or I might be the one to submit the list of nominees. It is unheard of in the politics of Nigeria that party finances are discussed on the pages of newspapers. I will not participate in that discussion. Those who felt aggrieved to the point of responding have gone to the radio, TV stations or newspapers to respond. But I am a party leader, the chairman of the party in the state. As a leader, I know the rules. We don’t discuss party finances on the papers of newspapers, no matter the level of accusation, I will not violate that rule. They know that if party finances are mismanaged, there are processes to follow for the matter to be addressed; they know where to take the matter to. They also know that our party rules forbids anyone discussing party matters in‑ the press unless he or she had exhausted all the internal mechanisms to handle such matters. Even to say that I was taken to court in Enugu over such an allegation was false. Nobody took me to court. They even sponsored a write up on social media that I was locked up in the EFCC cell. These are false claims they published against me and other leaders just to get noticed in their warped belief that such wicked actions will fetch them ministerial or other positions. But things are not done that way rather; it may have damaged their expectations.
It is also said that your vice chairman, youth and women leaders were suspended by you before the elections. How true is it?
That case had been resolved a long time ago. That is something I didn’t want to speak on. They are all part of the structure of the party in the state up to now. The issues that led to that have been resolved. But let me correct one thing, the youth leader was never suspended and the women leader and my vice are back in the fold. It was an internal party issues, which have been taken care of and we all are now working as a team in the party.(The Sun)
