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The governorship primaries of APGA has raised some dust with the emergence of Chief Willy Obiano, a man who is seen not to be a politician, what is your take on this?
Well, to start with, I will say that APGA conducted the best and transparent primary for the November 16 Governorship elections in Anambra State on the 26th of August, 2013 in Awka, Anambra State. Our nomination process was open, and voting was done in secret but covered on live television. Everything was done orderly and the winner emerged through the almost unanimous support of members ,by pulling 817 votes to claim victory . The person who came second had 150 votes ;and since that primary, nobody has challenged it either openly or secretly. So it goes to show that the outcome of the primary was accepted by all and sundry. The complaint we had was during the screening when some people were not cleared, otherwise all the people that got to the primary accepted the outcome. Those that were not cleared raised some objections and went through the appeal process and lost on appeal. But one thing I will tell you is that the screening panel and the appeal panel were men of impeccable character and did a thorough job. We did not want to say anything in public about why any person was not cleared as the reasons for their non-clearance was contained in the certificate issued to them after the exercise. They chose to go public, and we have also come to explain the reasons for their not being cleared, and the public has since seen with us. The reasons why they were not cleared were apt. A political party that wants to win in an election will go into that election with a candidate that will not expose it to any risk. it is our entitlement and we did just that.
There were insinuations that even before the primaries the person that would emerge was already known. What’s your reaction to that?
There was no such thing .People will always speculate. On the day of the primary, I was away. But from the reports I received, it was clear that nobody was sure of who was going to win. Everybody was desperate struggling to get the support of the delegates. Some of them even accused the Governor of doing everything to ensure that a certain candidate won. If it was pre-determined that a candidate would win, the Governor would not have been desperate on the day of voting. He would have made sure that whoever he wants would win. On the day of voting ,the Governor was reported to be talking to some of the aspirants to see if they will step down. If he was sure that his preferred candidate would win, he would not be making those overtures even at the venue. So it is a case of people always looking for a way to justify their loss in a contest.The primary was keenly contested, and the party men and women made their choice based on their assessment of the aspirants. The person who emerged as the party’s candidate, despite sentiments, you can see that he clearly stands out over the other aspirants based on experience, education and exposure.
The man who won( Chief Wlly Obiano )will always stand out in this type of contest, particularly as the people are looking for somebody who can sustain the lofty achievements of the out-going Governor. They needed somebody who possesses the requisite education, experience and exposure. So looking at the career profile of the winner of that primary, somebody who had a distinction in secondary school, had a second class upper from the University of Lagos, had an MBA in Marketing, had an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Wisconsin, attended many international senior management courses even at Harvard. He is also a patron of the Lagos Business School. Somebody who has worked in First Bank, has also served as a Chief Internal Auditor for Texaco World wide for six years, has also worked in the Bank for a long period of time, served as an Executive in a Bank for nine years, a Chartered Accountant .This is somebody the state can entrust its finances on based on this profile and experience.
But most people still say that he is not a politician….
We know when people begin to talk about politics, that somebody is not a politician or that he is not well known. But you can see that Obiano contested against politicians, people who are well known ,yet the delegates at that primary preferred him to the regular politicians. This goes to show you that your character will stand you out, because your qualification will not be that you have been in politics for twenty years. The more you are in politics, the more notorious you will become, and the more rejected you will be in a contest like this. One is that what Obiano had going for him was that he hasno excess baggage, he had not stood in the way of anybody in the past, he has no enemies which most of the aspirants cannot say they don’t have , and when it comes to a contest like this, the man who is a virgin can beat those who have been there for many years. As somebody who supervised the process, I can tell you that even as the National Chairman of APGA, people interacted with me so much and they will always tell you the kind of person they would like to be the next Governor of Anambra State. All those people you may put above the others are the most rejected. People will be discussing them on the pages of Newspapers as strong candidates, the candidate to beat and all that. But by the time you meet people who are in the polity their opinions will cancel out and they will lose. So that is why I am saying that Obiano has his newness in politics as a strength in the contest, and I can tell you that the larger electorate are at peace with his candidature.
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Going away from the APGA primaries, you have people like Senator Chris Ngige, Ifeanyi Ubah and others, to face. What efforts has the party made to market your candidate and ensure his victory at th s?
Well, somebody like Senator Chris Ngige is our familiar customer.We have been dealing with him since 2003. We defeated him in 2003. He was wrongly declared the winner in that election. We followed him up in court and got him removed. In 2010, he contested again, and we deafeated him. And in 2013, I don’t think that he stands any chance of doing anything, particularly now that he is operating from a platform that has pitched itself against our people. going by their actions. I don’t think that he would be a challenge. The other person, Ifeanyi Ubah, the Labour Party candidate, is also a new person in politics. He is a businessman and is doing his beat. But don’t forget that Obiano is standing on a platform, a political party that is in charge of the state presently, The machinery of government and other stakeholders will be with him .So Obiano would be standing for the election based on his goodwill, the goodwill of the Governor, the National Chairman of APGA who has been there all these years, and many other stakeholders including the name of Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu our leader. So APGA is a very special platform in this election and our people are very emotionally attached to it. Obiano will be harvesting the goodwill the Governor has earned through qualitative governance in the past seven and half years. In fact the message for the people is to continue with the good works of APGA government the good works that they experienced in the last seven and half years. No other challenger would have this opportunity or privilege,So the man they are calling the dark horse will turn out to be the White horse that is riding on horses that are known.
So our combined goodwill and his urbane nature with his technocrat background will make him the man to beat in this election. And we have done something to strengthen that ticket by pairing him with a Deputy Governorship candidate that has tremendous goodwill, somebody who was a former Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget in our government, a gentleman with a versatile knowledge and wonderful education. So these two men can easily be trusted by the electorate in the State and by the time we campaign for them, you will see the other candidates trailing behind. So it will be a mistake for anybody to measure the chances of Obiano based on his popularity.It is not a popularity contest because he is standing on an organized platform, on an organized structure, and with the support of a government that has performed.
You said that Ngige is running on a platform that has pitched itself against the interest of the people. Can you elaborate on that? what is your take on his allegation that Obi was desperate to nominate somebody that will be a lackey?
Somebody who worked in a bank where the Governor has interest;( Fidelity Bank). That is what he is saying. You see, that somebody had his career in a commercial bank that is one of the leading banks in Nigeria can by no measure be a disadvantage for him to run for an election. Obiano has worked in that bank and meritoriously retired without blemish. So it would be wrong for anybody to say that the Governor wants to use him as a lackey, it is not true. Anambra State has so many banks providing services to it. it is not only Fidelity Bank, you have the Access Bank, Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank all of them, the government has accounts in all of them. Fidelity manages an insignificant proportion of government business.
So what Ngige is just trying to do is just to do the normal politics of blackmail. To say that since this man worked in Fidelity Bank, and Obi has interest in the Bank, then Anambra people should reject him. But the question should be that while he was in, the Bank, was there any fraud? Somebody who was Chief Internal Auditor of Texaco World Wide, and you know that an auditor is very strict just like a disciplinarian. Somebody who will ensure that nothing goes wrong with the finances of any organization, having worked in the bank and risen to the position of Executive Director for nine years before he retired without blemish. He is a man that has garnered the requisite experience in financial management that Ngige does not posses. Governance is about prudence, the ability to husband and manage resources, and Ngige is a Medical Doctor. That is what he is, and he cannot claim any knowledge of managing resources. He cannot husband money.
So what he would be doing is whatever he gets, he spends. But Obiano is somebody who has the training and exposure to attract financial resources, to provide essential services to the people of Anambra State. So it is not about, oh this is the man that worked in Fidelity Bank and therefore Anambra people should reject him. No. it is a wrong approach, and for us Ngige stands no chance in this election because Anambra State is not about Ngige, in 2003, he contested election, and lost, but stole our mandate through the machinations of the PDP and the connivance of the then INEC under Prof Abel Guobadia. We had to go through the court for nearly three years before we could regain the mandate. In 2010, he contested again for Governor and lost to us.
Now in 2011, he contested for Senate and is contesting again for Governor. So the state is not about an individual no matter what he thinks of himself. I want to assure you that this time around, he stands no chance. One is that elections are not about one man. He is not the only one that possesses the ability to be Governor of the state.He became popular because he was kidnapped by his godfather and that is what brought him out and during that fiasco he was able to do things that his predecessors were not able to do. But all those things he did, our government under the leadership of Obi has dwarfed all his achievements. People said he built roads but Obi has built eight hundred kilometers of roads, and he is still building more to the credit of APGA.
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