We’re determined to take over Delta in 2019 —APC chieftain

Chief Hyacinth Enuha is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State. He speaks with ALPHONSUS AGBORH on the defection of some members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members to the APC, among other issues. Excerpts:

Ahead of the 2019 governorship election in Delta State, your party has been creating the impression that it is determined to take over the state. How prepared is your party for the task?

We are preparing seriously to take over Delta State, because we know that this present government is not doing well. Even among the PDP chieftains, though they don’t say it in public, they agree that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is not doing well. And if he continues, the PDP chieftains fear that the APC will take over. One area they seem to be conscious is that the chance of the APC to take over is high.

What we decided to do is first to resolve the internal strive we have. We got together and decided to unite the party first before thinking about personal interests. Thank God, we are succeeding. We held a unity rally at Ughelli, home of the former governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Chief Otega Emerhuo and it was a huge success. All the chieftains, leaders, stakeholder and party faithful gathered and pledged to be united; so we are now one big family. With that accomplished, we can all now begin to work to dislodge the PDP government in the state. Not only that, we are determined to deliver the state to the next APC governorship candidate.

How do you see the defection of the members of Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the PDP to APC in the state?

The coming of the Modu Sheriff faction of PDP in Delta State to APC is a big blessing. It has energised APC as a formidable party in Delta State. You know Dr Cairo Ojougboh who led the group to defect was the national deputy chairman of the PDP until he led the team into the APC. I know Dr Ojougboh is a formidable politician at the national level and in Delta and the electorate are already seeing the positive effect of Cairo. We have decided that strengthened. It is becomes the coordinator for the various interests of leaders. When we came together, they recognised the role he can play in boosting our party in the area of publicity. So we decided to give him that task of pushing our publicity efforts. And he has done a fantastic job in this short time he has been with us.

The defection of the PDP faithful to APC in the state is a blessing, considering that they have structures all over the state. In this direction, the PDP lost and the APC gained in Delta State.

Impunity in the choice of candidates have been said to be the albatross of the APC, how do you intend to address this challenge?

When the fish starts rotting, it starts from the head; it is the head that determines impunity or the absence of it. It is the leader that shows whether there is impunity or not; when the leaders show the way, the followers will follow. When leaders don’t tolerate acts of impunity, there will not be impunity. This time round, the leaders of APC are determined. We will not repeat the mistake of PDP and it is already working. We abhor it (impunity) and we are passing the message down to all followers.

How do you rate President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?

Anything that can be measured can also be improved and there are indices to measure any government. First are the promises made to the electorate whether they are being kept. If you look at the promises of APC government led by President Buhari, that is security, fighting corruption and revamping the economy. Like security, you don’t need to go far; the progress the government has made is there for all to see. First, the issue of Boko Haram, the result is there for everybody to see. Second is the restiveness in the Niger Delta region, which has been largely resolved. When the government came to power, oil production fell as low as 6,000 barrels a day but as we speak, it is over 2,000,000 barrels a day.

This could only be achieved because of peace in the Niger Delta. Thirdly, the government is working on other areas of insecurity namely kidnapping, herdsmen/farmers clashes across the country and I am sure that very soon, all these areas would be fully addressed.

Still on corruption, the president said one time that if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. Everybody is now talking about killing corruption. The EFCC has been doing a better job and we are seeing the results of their efforts. We are not yet there but we are on the road to killing corruption. We know when you fight corruption, corruption will fight back but because this government is determined, progress is being made. For instance, look at the case of Abdulrasheed Maina and the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir Lawal, what evidence do you need to show that the government is not determined in fighting the corruption? The APC government at the national level is not protecting anybody in the fight against corruption and I assure you, more sanctions are to come.

On economy, we all know that the present government met the economy in a state of rot. So it took some time for the government to get up to speak. But now, all the necessary structures have been put in place to revamp the economy and the economy has been revamped and we are in a recession and we are getting out of it. The executive order signed by the vice-president on the ease to do business in Nigeria is being implemented religiously. Recently, the IMF and World Bank gave kudos to the government for tremendously improving on the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Despite claims that Nigeria has come out of recession, Nigerians are still complaining that nothing has changed in the area of prices of goods. What is your reaction?

In a situation like this, things don’t just happen like that; there is always a lag. For instance, the price of rice is gradually coming down. What we should watch out for is the trend. Before long, it will definitely go down further. There have been many programmes initiated by the Buhari administration but the pace of execution is not fast enough and I hope the government would move faster on the execution of these programmes. The one I am much interested in is the N5,000 stipends to be paid to the elderly and disabled persons. A lot of the people have been registered over a year ago and they are anxiously expecting the programme to start. If the programme can be implemented across the country, it will make a great difference. We have seen the effect in few states where it was started. The elderly and disabled persons are praying for the government because of the programme and we should strive to implement it fully across the country. In Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State, for example, over 2,000 persons, most of who are over 80-years-old, were registered for this and they want the programme to start in earnest.