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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Former National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sir Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, has absolved the Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, of wrongdoings that resulted to the poor performance of the party at the 2023 polls contrary to the opinion held by some members of the party.
Obi-Okoye, instead, blamed the members of the party, especially the candidates for their poor performance, saying that they shot themselves in the foot.
He said that APGA members campaigned for Peter Obi and his Labour Party (LP) for President only, but the electorate went further to vote for LP all through.
The former APGA spokesperson, a lawyer, also rebuked Chief Edozie Njoku for parading himself as the National Chairman of the party, saying that he was merely distracting Chief Victor Oye who is recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He also spoke on other national issues in this interview with Sunday Sun. Excerpts:
Much has been heard about the rancour between Chief Victor Oye-led APGA and that of Chief Edozie Njoku-led group. What exactly is going on in your party between these two men?
I say with every respect that Edozie Njoku is a contraption of fraud as it were. There is a process for the production of the national leadership of the party. Edozie Njoku came in 2019 to contest for the national chairmanship of APGA. He was informed that he came late; that no form would be sold to him. He sent text messages that we still have. And we are using them in our court processes. So, on the 31st, INEC who is by law empowered to monitor and supervise was here in Awka. Edozie Njoku and his cohorts claimed that they had their own convention in Owerri, Imo State. Before a convention is held, by law, you must give 21 days’ notice to the INEC. Who gave INEC 21 days notice for Edozie Njoku’s convention? That’s the starting point of the process. Then, on that 30th, did INEC monitor and supervise his election? Nothing like that. So, basically, that’s why INEC stands that lawfully, as far as they are concerned, that Oye is the National Chairman that they know. Beyond that, this matter has gotten to the Supreme Court level. Remember that at the High Court in Kano, we were not parties; Oye was not a party, but Oye was joined as a party at the Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal made certain pronouncements which include the affirmation of an existing judgment of the Court of Appeal, Awka Division. They mentioned it in the Court of Appeal judgment. And at the Supreme Court level, the Supreme Court said we affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal. They struck out the purported appeal by Edozie Njoku and said ‘he is not a party to this suit’ and gave him a cost of N1 million. So, that Supreme Court judgment is still there. That’s why whenever I see him having press conferences, brandishing papers and making claims, I get worried. What kind of country are we in? The other time he said that Honourable Justice Mary Odili, retired justice of the Supreme Court, wrote a letter five months after she had retired. Is it possible that a retired justice of the Supreme Court will write a letter to the litigant five months after she’s retired? But because we hold her in very high esteem, we did not want to pursue that course. What has happened about that letter? Who has investigated it? There is a problem about some of these things. These are some of the documents Edozie will come to the press and brandish. But know it today that the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal. And when that happens at that level, it means that all that was decided, both on facts and law, by the Court of Appeal has been affirmed and decided equally by the Supreme Court. Therefore, the legal position is that Oye remains a lawful and legitimate National Chairman of APGA notwithstanding whatever Edozie Njoku and his co-travellers may be doing outside the streets.
APC didn’t get 25 per cent of the votes in Abuja as required by law at the last polls, but it’s already preparing to inaugurate its candidate which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) named as president-elect. As a lawyer, do you think the inauguration should be held considering the prevailing circumstances?
Even last week some people have gone to court over that. There are two schools of thought; some people saying that he must have 25 per cent before he is declared. There is another school of thought that says that you mustn’t have 25 per cent. And incidentally, I am a lawyer like you said and I am 43 years at the bar. So, I think my views will also be strong on this matter. For me, the contemplation of the constitution is that you make 25 per cent in two thirds of the states of the federation including the FCT. The word, including, makes it conjunctive – the states and the FCT. So, the FCT becomes the 25th state or the 37th state as it were. And the provisions of our constitution, the same constitution, which contemplates the FCT to be the status of a state; all of that is in the constitution. But you know we are in the period of politics. Even the lawyers will speak like politicians. But let me tell you today, and it is important that the public knows this so that people do not get embarrassed when the Supreme Court holds my view that you must not have 25 per cent in order to be declared. That is really the law and that is what the court will say at the end of the day. There is a stronger case; not the 25 per cent matter. The stronger case is the eligibility of both candidates because at the time the Vice Presidential candidate became nominated as Vice Presidential candidate, he had been nominated as a senatorial candidate. And you see that the dates in which his nomination was forwarded, his earlier nomination had not been withdrawn. That is a stronger case. But we are praying for peace in Nigeria. There will be inauguration in any way because somebody must be sworn in on the 29th and we will allow the tribunal and finally the Supreme Court to determine whether the election was right or not.
APGA used to be the third largest party in Nigeria. Currently, it is now the fifth. Labour Party (LP) has taken over that position followed by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP). Are you worried about this development?
We are counting today. We will still count tomorrow. There was a time we never existed. With time we will recover what we lost. What we have lost, as it were, is in terms of our strength at the National Assembly. At the state level, we have one governor. Labour Party has one governor. NNPP has one governor. So, we are equal. It is only at the National Assembly level that they have more representation. So, this is part of why I want to take over the leadership of APGA so that we can build strength, we can build capacity and come back to our position. We can’t be struggling to be the third largest. What we should be struggling for is to be the largest political party in the country. That’s my vision for APGA.
Some people have blamed the Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, for the failures of APGA at the last general elections. They said that he used his mouth to destroy the party and that was why the party didn’t do so well in the 2023 polls. Do you agree with them?
First of all, let me take it from your language, we did not fail. We won the majority of the seats. Maybe lower than what we used to. When you look at the results of Anambra State, compare it to Enugu State, you see the tsunami in Enugu State. PDP was totally swept away in the National Assembly elections in Enugu State, but it did not happen in Anambra State. We did not fail in Anambra State. The result was also not comfortable. There were too many circumstances. We shot ourselves in the foot somehow. Some of us campaigned for Peter Obi. Vote for Peter Obi for President, but vote for me for House of Representatives or vote for me for House of Assembly. So, some of our candidates shot themselves in the foot. And you are talking to the ordinary people in the streets. So, when they got to the polling unit, they voted for Peter and began to vote for the Labour Party all through. These things happen, but they were justice… We also remember that period. The nation was going through this cashless situation. So, for everybody, the vision of the Obidients was what was ringing in everybody’s mind. We will recover what we lost, but I want to tell you that we did not fail and His Excellency, Prof Soludo, had nothing to do with our result. Talking about the National Assembly, has APGA ever had more than five members at the National Assembly? Going into that election, remember those that defected, like the Umeojis, APGA had only two members of the House of Reps going into that election. But after the election, we now have four. Is that a failure or a pass? We did better moving from two to four. So, we are only unhappy that for the first time we had barely 16 members in the House of Assembly. Luckily, a majority. We have never had less than 24. I think 24 have been the lowest we’ve had. So, dropping from 24 to 16 wasn’t a palatable result for us. But we still have the majority and we will recover under my watch.
