Daily Independent (Lagos)
7 January 2009
interview
Chief VICTOR UMEH, National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) leaves no one in doubt about his position on national issues. In this interview with Reporter CHUKWUJEKWU ILOZUE, Umeh bares his mind on issues in Anambra State beginning with his assessment of Governor Peter Obi's administration, the controversial road work on Nnamdi Azikiwe Avenue to the new-found love between Obi and members of the state House of Assembly... Excerpts:
When Governor Peter Obi assumed office on March 17, 2006, he promised to take Anambra to the Promised Land. About three years after that, how far has he gone?
In less than three years, our government has been able to show the people of Anambra State what governance is about, through His Excellency's Anambra State Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS). Our government has been able to tackle development in all facets of the state life simultaneously.
ANIDS is a marvellous model which any objective person cannot help but applaud. The government has been able to foray into road construction; tackle the problem in the education sector and health sector. We inherited a lot of rot in the education and health sector, but it is a different story today.
Our government has been able to double what was on ground by the previous government when we came on board. I beat my chest and say that Anambra State has come a long way; and our own government has also come a long way. We would leave the rest of the judgment to the people of Anambra State.
You could see 2008 has been the most peaceful year in Anambra State. In the recent past, people were able to come in here, do their business and leave. I can say that the government of APGA through Peter Obi has been able to take the state from the war situation to that of peaceful era.
So, without blowing our own trumpet, I want to say that APGA government led by Obi has delivered to the people of Anambra State.
I noticed that the few colleges I visited with the governor ahead of the Christmas, I could see the rejuvenation spirit among teachers and students themselves and an output of emotional gratitude to Obi. They said he was the only governor that visited students in schools. He gave these schools N10 million cash for rehabilitation.
There is testimony by the Bishop on the Niger that since 1982 no governor has visited Iyienu General Hospital, where our present Commissioner of Health was born. You could see that a lot of areas that were abandoned in the past have been revamped by Obi. I want to say that this government has delivered.
As whether we have reached the Promised Land, concrete foundation has been laid for this movement. And what we need is every effort to sustain the tempo of development which we have set the stage for. The governor, instead of being pulled down, should be encouraged. Anambra is now on a steady move - outside the force of gravity or anarchy.
Ndigbo are proud of APGA, but no party would be happy to be controlling only one state. What efforts are you making to capture more states in 2011 elections?
If you read my New Year demands from President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua published in some national dailies, you would see that what I said Nigeria needs in 2009 is nothing but laying concrete foundation for democracy. We have not been able to practice democracy here and that has been responsible for all the distortions and failures the country has witnessed as a nation.
A country that is incapable of conducting a credible, free and fair election can never be said to be practising democracy. And aligned to these problems are the most nefarious galloping we have been having in Nigeria, inconsistency in government policies. So, what Nigeria needs is to first of all put an enabling environment for democracy to thrive. When that is done, all kinds of development and prosperity would come to this country. Look at Ghana and South Africa, these are two countries that were far behind Nigeria at least in the years past.
Nigeria fought for the independence of South Africa. Between the mid '70s and early '80s Nigeria was a heaven for Ghanaians because of the mere collapse of Ghana, its economy and its leadership. There was exodus of people from Ghana to Nigeria - and that is why there is a common saying (name of a popular travelling bag) in Nigeria today: 'Ghana must go.' People came with polythene bags carrying their personal belongings and ran to Nigeria. All those people have since left Nigeria.
Go to Ghana now, it is a democracy model in Africa and the place is working. Even our leaders are now sending their children to Ghana for education. Another thing that has failed in Nigeria is leadership caused by inability to conduct a credible election.
So as for APGA, I will tell you that credible election has not been conducted in Nigeria since APGA became a party. In 2003 when election was conducted, APGA won the entire five states of South East, but non was given to APGA as a party. We had to go through the court to pursue the return of our stolen mandate. It is a difficult thing to achieve in Nigeria.
And because we succeeded in Anambra State, an APGA government is now in place in Anambra State not because the Electoral Commission declared APGA winner. We had to go all out to the court to get it despite all odds and stiff opposition from the central authority.
In 2007, APGA won the April 14, 2007 elections in Imo State, but the governorship election was annulled. A very stupid thing was done there. Elections were conducted into the 27 House of Assembly seats in Imo State along with that of governorship. The same ballot papers were put in the same ballot boxes every where in the whole constituencies in Imo State. The ballot papers were counted after being separated. And because APGA won after the counting and collation, the governorship election was annulled.
And the 27 House Assembly seats were declared in favour of PDP, despite that they said irregularities, violence, marred the governorship elections in nine local government areas. One would expect that if irregularities and violence marred the governorship elections in nine local government areas, the House of Assembly elections in those local governments would also be affected. But INEC and Maurice Iwu said that violence and irregularities did not affect the House of Assembly election that took place the same time and annulled the governorship election. We would continue to pursue it.
This 2009 APGA would spring surprises again in Nigeria. We are in Court of Appeal, having settled the struggle in Anambra State. Anambra State is now stable for APGA. We are now in Imo State. We have re-opened the case in Court of Appeal in Abuja. We have asked a very simple question: Whether INEC has power to cancel elections it has conducted. The answer is no under the Nigerian law. And, when we went to the Tribunal in Owerri to challenge the 28 of April re-run election, the tribunal declined jurisdiction. We went to Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt to challenge the decision of the tribunal, the Court of Appeal declined jurisdiction and said that our matter, indeed, was a pre- election matter.
They were concerned with petitions arising from the elections on 28th April, which ought not to have taken place. We went back to Court of Appeal, Abuja because we have challenged that action at the Federal High Court Abuja in 2007. We have been able to attach the results of 24 local governments collated which showed that the APGA candidate Chief Martin Agbaso won by over 90 per cent of the total votes cast on the 14th of April 2007.
We wrote to the Court of Appeal President telling him that it would be judicial anarchy if those suits can go on simultaneously, because you know that Ohakim and Ararume were already at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.
And when they looked at what we filed at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the President of the Court of Appeal wrote the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt to stay action permanently on that election appeal pending the determination of our own appeal in Abuja, so that the Court of Appeal would not suffer embarrassment. That was what was written on the letter. And when they assembled in Port Harcourt to argue their appeal and the panel read the letter to them as written by the President of the Court of Appeal to their utter consternation. They now saw that the injustices we are fighting for two years is still on.
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