From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka, is one that knows his onions when it comes to party and political issues.
He spoke to Sunday Sun on multiple political, economic and administrative issues in the country, including the contentious plan by the ruling party to turn the country into a one-party state, and the insinuations that both the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have become appendages of the ruling party.
Morka, a legal practitioner, also took a swipe at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing it as a party with culture of permissiveness, impurity, and lawlessness, even as he argued that there is no clear-cut ideological difference with the APC.
What actually worked in favour of APC in the off-cycle governorship election?
APC has momentum. We have developed incredible momentum since 2015, when our party came to power and the re-election of former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 to the election last February of the current President, Bola Tinubu. APC has managed to offer Nigerians an alternative vision of how the country ought to be governed. And Nigerians are watching very closely and very keenly. You must understand that politics is about alternatives. APC is an alternative to what it used to be. Nigerians have elected to stay with the alternative to PDP because PDP was a disgraceful show for 16 years, with no discernible accomplishment in terms of nation building, and moving Nigeria forward. In Bayelsa, where you had the PDP incumbent, don’t forget that APC won that election in 2019 with David Lyon, but, of course, lost through the courts and PDP was the beneficiary of that court ruling. They did not ask for the court to be dismantled when that happened. They took the power and held it till today. In Imo, Governor Hope Uzodimma has just finished his first term and as the incumbent, he contested and won the second term. Contrary to all of the belief and efforts to incite the people of Imo against him, the people rejected and sided with the governor because again, he had laid down sufficient footprint of his administration in the delivery of good governance to the people of Imo. It is a different case when external actors, such as some labour leaders, tried to instigate the people and create a hostile atmosphere, calling for a strike right in the middle of an election. Who does that? It was clearly a surgical intended strike to pervert that election, or maybe even rise against the government. But the good people of Imo rejected that and voted massively for Governor Uzodimma. Again in Kogi, APC is the incumbent. Even though outgoing Governor Yahaya Bello had obviously laid the foundation for Usman Ododo to run, the PDP challenger, Dino Melaye, clearly didn’t go into the election with the intention to run and win. He did not even vote for himself. Yet, he is now being loud-mouthed, calling for the election to be annulled. How do you, as a candidate, call to annul an election you did not even vote for yourself? You didn’t have the confidence to vote for yourself, yet trying to discredit the election that produced the governor-elect, Ododo. It does not make sense.
What is your take on the favourable court judgment to APC?
We can’t really try to magnify the problem beyond what it is. The PDP has been the longest beneficiary of court judgments over electoral matters. Since 1999, PDP has really enjoyed it. Look at the election in Zamfara and Rivers, APC was cancelled by the courts; the PDP did not issue a statement condemning the court. My point is why is it that every time the PDP loses an election, they scream and say that something anti-democratic has happened and that somebody somewhere is manipulating the courts? Why is it that when they win, when the courts side with them like in Osun State, we will not see any statement issued by the PDP to claim that APC manipulated the court. Why didn’t they make that accusation or was it because it was in their favour? Is it every time that PDP goes to court, they expect to win, and when they don’t win, then they call for the dismantling of the court? That is irresponsible. That is not democracy.
Does it surprise you that many Nigerians are no longer comfortable with the APC?
There is no iota of truth in that. There is no discomfort against the APC from Nigerians as you claimed. If you gauge the mood of Americans, you might also be misled to say that the mood of Americans is against the Democratic Party and against Joe Biden. If you gauge the mood in Ghana, you might reach a similar conclusion. Anytime the economy is not up to par, as far as people are concerned, the ruling party is held responsible. That is a normal feature. Yes, one must admit that the economy has affected the individual, especially with the fuel subsidy removal, which has an immediate impact on people and their purchasing power. Journeys you used to undertake with N500 may now cost N1,500. So, clearly, the mood you are referring to, for me, must be a natural reaction in any economy when the economic indicators are not as favourable as people are comfortable with. That will necessarily cause more focus on the government in power. But it has nothing to do with any kind of issue with APC, because what you must also look at is that this APC-led government is also doing everything, mobilizing resources, and intervening in ways to help cushion the burden created by this policy. This is a policy designed ultimately to solve some of the foundational problems of the economy because without ending the fuel subsidy regime, this economy will in the long term unravel because you can’t continue to fund a programme that you have no business funding. The market should do that. By the way, we must also recognize that over the years, both the PDP and the APC government have all participated in promoting and implementing subsidy regimes. Nigerians also must now realize that over these years, the government was carrying the burden of the cheap fuel we had. It got to the point where that became unsustainable, and President Tinubu must be commended for having the courage to actually take that decision. Why do we complain the transient pains are upon us, had he not taken that decision, the medium and long-term consequences would have been more devastating. The country has an opportunity for good, effective, sustainable recovery economically speaking because of that policy.
What do you tell Nigerians feeling that INEC is now an appendage of APC?
That is ridiculous. It is nonsense to say that INEC is now an arm of APC. Are you saying that when the PDP was in power and controlled almost two-thirds, if not more of the states in Nigeria, INEC was its appendage? You are implying that every time a ruling party has control of more states and national spread, then the electoral commission becomes its appendage. That is not a smart question to ask because there would not have been an electoral body in the first place. Why conduct an election if somebody cannot win even in all 36 states? There is such a possibility. Election is like the World Cup, a winner must emerge at the end of the contest. We cannot denigrate our democracy in this manner. When you frame a question like that without any ostensible justification, you raise the spectre that our democracy is flawed. But how is this different from successful democracies? How is it different from American democracy? Sometimes, Democrats control the House, the Senate, as well as the presidency. Nobody says that all of the electoral departments of states are part of the Democrat or Republican Party. Why is it so easy for us as Nigerians to rant a presumption of regularity in favour of other people, but when it comes to our own, we use English to simply make nonsense of everything we have. That is self-defeatism; we are not helping to build our own democracy. Because, it inevitably means that anytime any ruling party appears to have greater control or dominance, the insinuation will continue. You also have to realise that in our political system, unlike so many others, we operate a partisan democracy where there are no clear-cut ideological divides. People miss that point. APC is the progressive party in relation to the PDP, but does it stop people from the PDP from joining the APC? It doesn’t. And when PDP is in power, even at the national level, has it ever stopped anybody in the states from joining the opposition party? People move up and down. So, when a party is in power, somehow, more people gravitate towards the party for whatever reason. That party will naturally wield more clout, dominance, access and success at the poll because key people in different states who influence opinion may have shifted to join it. It is easier to move from one party to the other in Nigeria than it is in Germany, the UK, or in the United States. It is because there are other features that underline democracy. We can’t discount that. This idea that whenever it happens, people will say that the electoral umpire is in our pocket is not true.
What about the feelings that you have hijacked the judiciary?
I have answered it and I said that it is utter nonsense. That is all rubbish. People can say that and you can frame that as a question. I don’t understand how one can say that of the same Nigeria courts and INEC that just declared election in favour of PDP in Bayelsa State. Is it the same court that rejected APC’s prayers up to the Supreme Court and awarded PDP victory in Osun State? The fact does not justify that conclusion and the media also need to help moderate these conversations by laying facts. They must conduct a scientifically verifiable opinion poll before concluding that the majority of Nigerians said this or that. If INEC had declared any of LP or PDP winner, would those Nigerians that you are approximating their opinions complain or say that the commission is in APC’s pocket? I am sure that PDP or LP supporters will be celebrating everywhere. So, what is wrong with APC winning elections or winning court cases that the PDP has also won or lost sometimes? The court verdict in Plateau State was on the mark, the same thing with Kano.
Are APC leaders aware that Nigerians are suffering?
It is too generalised. But I have answered the question as it regards the economy. I have explained issues about the fuel subsidy removal and explained the context, why it was removed, and why the complaints people are feeling are transient. And that in the long term, the same Nigerians complaining will be celebrating that this was done for good reason.
What was responsible for the relative peace in the leadership of the APC?
It is the same reason we are winning elections, the same reason we won some court cases. Why the PDP was busy bickering and looking for who to blame, APC is concentrating on the work at hand. During these elections in Kogi and other parts, we had a situation room at our headquarters where those of us who didn’t travel to the states collated information. I am sure you noticed how many press statements I put out during the period because we were working. We don’t take anything for granted, even in Bayelsa when they were moving our votes for counting to Yenagoa, I issued statements. We are the ruling party, but we didn’t order the police not to allow such movement. INEC did what it wanted to do, we didn’t like it, and we didn’t approve of it. My statements were very clear. If we have the authority and manipulative capacity that PDP people are suggesting we have, why would we not deploy it in Bayelsa, an oil-rich state? Why was I busy writing statements complaining about what INEC was doing if the commission was in our pocket? It is unfair for any Nigerian, anyone or any journalist to suggest that the APC is somehow awarding itself votes. APC is not INEC and I think it is also an insult to INEC and those responsible mature Nigerians who govern INEC to say that they are just there to do the bidding of anybody. We always complain when elections don’t go our way even when we know that our complaints won’t stop them from actually doing what they are supposed to do. We issued statements to tell them not to move, but they still moved the vote collation to the state capital in Yenagoa. As for the secret of the peace in the APC leadership, I will say that the party today has come of age. The party has gone from its early years to celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. APC is 10 years old now and as such it has come of age. With maturity, we are showing Nigerians how a party should be organised. Yes, we will have our issues and challenges, but we will deal with them as maturely and as effectively as we are able to do. What happened in PDP concerning Anyanwu as its candidate in the Imo governorship election will not happen in APC. As a national officer, he became a candidate without resigning. Many of our national officers resigned to contest the general election, but in the PDP, they have a culture of permissiveness, culture of impurity and lawlessness where a national secretary of a party picks up a ticket to contest for governor without resigning and as soon as the election was over, he returns to reclaim his seat. Now, they are in court over the matter. That will not happen in APC.
You dismissed the insinuations to make Nigeria a one-party state, but how healthy is the opposition and how tolerant is APC to accept opposition?
APC is the largest party in Africa. We are determined to offer credible leadership within the context of the political, economic and social environment of Nigeria. Don’t forget that lots of the problems we all complain about today, especially the economic problems, were constructed generationally. It was not constructed by Jonathan, Yar’Adua, Obasanjo era or by Muhammadu Buhari, and certainly not by President Tinubu, but from the get-go, the birth of this country where we simply took everything about the economy and dumped it in one basket of crude oil export without intentionally diversifying the economy of the country. No matter who is in power, they are going to struggle, because the economic purse is very lean, and even getting leaner. Let me even say this, which is why the Tinubu-led government is working differently. He is trying to tackle fundamental problems because unless we reposition, we will not be very happy in 10, 20, 30 years from now. Don’t forget that the global North is transitioning away from fossil fuel. Many of them are going from clean energy to other forms of energy other than crude oil. The projection is that by 20, 30 years from now, you will hardly find vehicles powered by crude oil anywhere in the developed world. Who will then be buying this oil that we remain dependent on? As of 20 years ago, this country should have been innovating away from dependency on crude oil. We should be innovating, moving away and looking for other ways of building new clean resources and diversifying the economy of this country so that we can continue to earn revenue into the future. This obsession for oil needs to stop and the opposition has a legitimate role to play. Any smart opposition in any democratic country should be looking at policy and evaluating government policies. Oppositions must not mean condemnation of the government all the time. Opposition means you must critique and affirm. Where the government is wrong, critique it. Part of oppositional legitimacy is your maturity to be able to say the government has gotten this right even if people are against it. Take, for instance, the fuel subsidy removal; the three major presidential candidates campaigned on the promise of removing subsidy. How come now all of a sudden Atiku thinks subsidy removal was wrong? Peter Obi said that Tinubu made a mistake by removing the subsidy whereas he campaigned on that same objective. That is duplicity, insincerity and paying lip service to Nigerians. There is no other better approach to removing the subsidy. The reason that previous governments did not remove subsidy was because there was no easy or pain-free way to do so. Whether it was removed on the first day of your inauguration or six months later, subsidy in Nigeria, the way it was managed and implemented, will hot painfully and it is haunting now. However, my message to Nigerians is that the day of celebration of these fundamental policies is aimed at reinventing the economy. Those days are just around the corner and we are going to see it soon.
Has peace returned in Delta State APC chapter?
Yes, we have peace in Delta APC. But those who think that there is no peace simply make the mistake that every internal schism, inevitable in any organisation, any political family, is a crisis. Some people even blow it up because of their own agenda. Beyond those cacophony of sound around the question, the party is stable, has a validly elected executive committee at the state level with a state chairman, the state working committee, and the local governments are staffed by well properly elected officials of the party in the state. People who may raise issues, think or suggest that there are controversies are people who have put themselves outside of that state structure and may raise questions trying to promote crisis and discord here and there. But, make no mistake; the party is intact, and solid under the leadership of the state chairman and our political leader, Senator Omo-Agege.
Has the Tinubu-led administration impressed you so far?
As far as I am concerned, Tinubu is the best-prepared president. He came prepared to govern and that is exactly what he is doing, governing. But when I say that, I am not saying that it is an easy task to accomplish. He has set very tall standards, set very high expectations for Nigerians, but he is also confronted with enormous challenges. But, the mark of good leadership is not to have it all soft and easy, it is to make tough decisions when necessary. But with a good heart and a clear mind, in terms of where you are trying to go, I think some of the tough decisions this government has taken and will take, going forward, will continue to be in the very best interests of Nigerians. I have supreme confidence about that.