Business mogul and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) governorship candidate in the November 6 election in Anambra State, Obiora Okonkwo speaks on why he dumped the Peoples Democractis Party (PDP) and likelihood of factors such as personality and antecedents of candidate, as well as stability of the state to determine the winner of the election in his interview with newsmen. KUNLE ODEREMI brings excerpts:
Why did you leave the PDP to pitch tent with the Zenith Labour Party?
I have been involved in politics as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2015, I contested for the Senate and there were issues about who was the valid candidate of the party. The court eventually decided that I was the candidate and actually ordered that I should be given a Certificate of Return and sworn in as senator. The Appeal court later ruled otherwise. In 2019, the PDP offered me a ticket to go to the Senate for Anambra Central. I looked at it and felt that my political ambition should be better realised on a platform like the governorship where you are responsible for your actions. I offered to work with a candidate that the party would provide. That was how Uche Ekwunife is the senator today from Anambra Central. We had an understanding that she would go to the Senate and I would go for the governorship seat.
Immediately after the election, we embarked on the process of putting the party together to deal with all the issues that are common with political parties in Anambra State. God helped us to bring it to the level that we had until 48 hours to the governorship primaries on June 26, 2021 and the party, in its own wisdom, dissolved the executives for what they termed conflict of interests. We were concerned initially because we knew that with that singular action, they had breached the constitution of the party. The constitution of the party is very clear; that the state congress should elect the gubernatorial candidate of the party; and that state congress was very specific –the state executive committee, local government executive and the five-man per ward and three ad-hoc members. The constitution went further to say two-thirds of that number shall form a quorum. What it means is that in any business of the party, if you do not form that quorum, that business is null and void. The party went ahead to conduct that exercise.
Eventually, the primary election was conducted. When that result was announced, many people were disappointed. I did not know that for the short period we were marketing ourselves and programme, we had been able to build a silent, committed followership that has turned into a movement. There were calls that this project should not just end like that. I recall the commitment of those who decided to work with us that they would not be behind me but with me. This is because if somebody is behind you, you might be moving forward and he might be moving backwards. So, remembering that it was a commitment we made to one another, I was not flattered when they made that appeal that we should not just stop. It took a while to decide what to do next. I made some further consultations and I saw that genuine confidence that we have something to offer; that somebody like me with a10-point agenda will be needed for Anambra State and even the South-East, and that we could be a source of inspiration for Nigeria at large.
Won’t you consider yourself lucky that you were not announced winner of the primary election because there is controversy as to who is the candidate of PDP, with Valentine Ozigbo and Ugochukwu Ubah emerging from parallel primaries? The other political parties, like APGA and APC, are also having problems.
Yes, there are problems in all the major political parties. Litigation is endless in PDP because they have two major things to contend with. They are already saying that the product of that exercise is null and void. That means that the PDP might not have a candidate in that election. APC also has its own issues and the problems are still there coupled with the latest Supreme Court judgment that may have made it null and void for any primaries conducted by the national chairman of the party. Then, the other party is APGA, which is going from one crisis to the other.
It looks like a good number of the people of Anambra have realised that our state is in a total political quagmire. There were concerns that we might fall from a frying pan to fire and that people might wake up one day and an unexpected person might just be declared the governor of Anambra State. So, I hearkened to the voice of the people and decided to take up this project with full knowledge that this is a difficult task. This is because anyone that hears that I am from a known party to one that is relatively not well-known, will wonder what happened. If the person does not have the other details, one may conclude that one is going on a suicide mission. I would not blame anybody. I would have thought so myself. However, there is prospect in this venture.
We decided to agree to this call because the people who were with us in PDP are still with us today. We decided to seek the governorship on the platform of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). There was a window for substitution of candidate and we took advantage of it. I have looked at the advantages. As we speak today, I am the only governorship candidate from Anambra Central, which has the highest number of registered voters. Apart from that, I am from Idemili Federal Constituency that has over 600,000 registered voters. So, that flank is open. There is the North, which has the second largest number of registered voters and they were compensated with Governor Willie Obiano. Many people from the North are angry, having thought the PDP could pick a running mate from there, which didn’t happen. We have taken care of this in my candidature.
Strategically speaking, we thought that with my strength in Idemili, and my reach in the central and a partnership with the North, we could make a difference. There is work of mobilisation and sensitisation to be done. We will do our best. The choice of ZLP is strategic. It is the last party on the ballot paper. We will tell voters to go vote for the last party on the ballot paper, instead of leaving them to start looking for our logo in the mist of so many others. It is not going to be easy, but I believe that it is only people that can make things easy. Political structure is human and not spirit. Anambra people are already in the kind of mood that what would determine the outcome of this election is individual and not political party.
You talked about Anambra Central, which has done eight years plus three of Dr Chris Ngige and that is about 11 years before it went to Anambra North. In your calculation, you did not factor in Anambra South, which, the last time they were there was during Mbadinuju and perhaps Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife. Don’t you think the issue of zoning would affect your chances?
We have come to the end of that agitation. Like I have always said, in the first place, the agitation was unfounded. It was for the simple reason of some people who wanted to eliminate me from the race without reasons. Anambra has never zoned the governorship seat. And it might interest you to know that the biggest propagandist of that zoning was APGA. One wonders, if APGA had zoned its ticket to South, why are they pushing other political parties to go to South? The only reason you were hearing about zoning was because I am in the race. They did not want me to be in the race because they know that I would win. Inside the PDP, you heard about 14 aspirants from the South talking about zoning then. If they had the strength to win, they would not have been agitating for zoning. But talk about zoning has ended. Even those who were talking about zoning before now would tell you that it ended during the primaries. It is not an issue now and nobody talks about zoning.
Beyond that, South has had its share. Mbadinuju served as governor and it was not by any person’s fault that he did not complete eight years. We in Anambra also believe that those who should be crying of marginalisation should be the ones that never had a chance. The power base of Anambra had been in the South. A kingmaker is usually bigger than the king. It is just that people do not manage what they have. But even if you go to that South, there is also a dichotomy there. There is old Aguata South, old Nnewi South and there is Ihiala that is standing alone. I think that the answer to the issue of zoning as reflected in the primaries shows there is nothing like that any longer. Have you ever wondered that in 2003 when Mbadinuju was leaving office, why did APGA not choose its candidate from the South? Talks about zoning are all about politics of deception.
Where do you think Anambra is and where do you want to take it to?
Since the advent of this Fourth Republic in 1999, Anambra has not fared well. I can tell you that Ebonyi and Enugu states have progressed more than Anambra. We are strong individually but as a state, we have not benefitted anything from this democracy because of the people who have governed. The biggest problem that we have in Anambra State is that we have abandoned our virtues. You need huge infrastructure development in Anambra State and this must come from huge bulk funds. Those bulk funds we have access to. We can access up to $10 billion into Anambra and the entire South-East will benefit economically. If the funds are prudently used, the multiplier effects will show in four years. We have looked at it, that a typical Anambra person does not need too much but that “can do” spirit in them has been dampened. You need a leader, who would tell them look at me, I was born in this place; I grew up where you are; this is what I have become because I did it this way. I do that in my own community and I have seen the change and the difference it has made.
Education is key. Now, you have our kids sent overseas to study but by the time they are due back, if they do not get a job in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or NNPC, they do not have the interest to come back here. Those are great talents we are missing. When I look at those little kids on the streets who are addicted to tramadol and all that, I see Olympic champions; I see the likes of Kanu Nwankwo, J J Okocha, and so on. They are in the street because the leadership has not given them good direction. Are you aware that Anambra did not send any contingent to the National Sports Festival? That was because they could not fund it. So, where do you develop those sports talents?
We have programmes that would take Anambra many notches high. It is because of government’s failure in Anambra that our people are running across the Niger to develop Asaba. If previous Anambra governments did well, businessmen in Onitsha, who have gone to Asaba to live, would be in our state. Thirty years after, Anambra is in bad shape. Most states created with it have gone far ahead. We would change the narrative, if elected to office.
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