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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Former National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sir Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, has given reasons why he was contesting for the chairmanship of the party in Anambra State in its upcoming convention.
Obi-Okoye, a lawyer, said that he had garnered relevant political experience to steer the ship of the party having held various political positions in the past. He said that if given the opportunity to serve, he would give the job his best. Excerpts…
Why do you want to be the chairman of your party, APGA, in Anambra State? What motivated you to declare for the position?
What is important is what am I bringing on board apart from my rich profile as it were? What do I have to offer to APGA? And after many years of having been a PDP Chairman, why would I want to become the chairman of APGA at this time? A little joke. I asked my friend who is an Arsenal fan what is really happening with Arsenal? Great talented players, young, energetic, full of skill but barely three weeks to go and take the cup, they lack the experience, the capacity, the ability to go and win the cup. That’s the difference between a lot of the youth who are enthusiastic and exuberant about taking this position as state chairman. There is something we must understand given the circumstances in which we are. We have a national leader of the party. Today we have a national leader of the party, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. For me, the incoming leadership of the party must imbibe and understand the fundamental principles of the National Leader in order to drive the party. We must also understand the positive destructive endeavours of the present regime. His Excellency believes that things cannot continue in the way they used to be. In the short term, it may appear unpopular but in the long term, it’s all for the good of the people of Anambra State. And we are happy he is working assiduously well to change the environment, change the social politics; change our attitudes and our beliefs. So, the incoming leadership of our party must understand that and know that it is no more business as usual. You must have the capacity to understand the national leader’s vision in order to be able to work. And I believe also that the party has to be reengineered in many ways; talking about funding the party. Everything I have mentioned in the book, My Political Odyssey, is something that I have practised before. I said that the party must not depend on stipends and subventions from the government. The party must workout ways in which it will raise revenue for the party. There were a few things we did those days. We formed a company which we had a right to do. We had a company that did the fencing of Nsugbe, the first fencing of the College of Education, Nsugbe for a cost of about N64 million. There was a variation later. The profit from there was used in running the party. And I believe that the party leadership should really go into commercial enterprise. We did things like renovation of classrooms under the SPEB and building of small, small things. Money made from it was used in running the party. There were also programmes we did. We had special membership which we categorised into platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Those in the platinum category, very big people like the Innosons, the Chikasons, the Ibetos, they gave us a lot of money. We drew up a long list and I can bet you that after the first deal we were able to raise N50 million for the party. That was how we were running the party in those days. We also created tax incentives. Certain private individuals who will want to fund the party, that government should also give them tax incentives so that they can make their deduction from this. These are some of the innovations I want to bring into the party. We also think that APGA started in 2002 as an interventionist movement. APGA was never like the normal political party driven by this interventionist desire to change things the way it is being done wrongly as it were in Nigeria. We must sustain that perspective which falls in line with the positive destructive endeavours of the present government. We must build around that and sustain our traditional relationship with certain institutions – the ecclesiastic, the traditional institution, the market people. These have always been the fundamental pillars of APGA. APGA has never driven on party people. So, we seem to be weakened recently in our relationship with these fundamental people. I intend to whenever I take over the leadership, to build back and sustain communication. Party politics is all about communication. You must sustain communication between all these institutions and the government so that the people will understand the policies and drive of the government. Government may be doing the right thing, but where there is no proper communication… Those days we built communication down to the ward level using even the town criers. They’re very powerful at the village level. We must reactivate, re-enact all these things. I also think that with all seriousness, we have had crises in APGA for quite some time and there will be a need to set up a truth and reconciliation committee to address these fundamental issues; some bordering on how we conducted our internal affairs, primaries, congress and so on and so forth. And I believe that the committee should come out with the truth and make proper recommendations to the leader of the party. I also made suggestions concerning sustaining compensation as it were or empowerment for party followers and leaders.
What exactly did you suggest? I ask because this issue of compensation which you just mentioned has been an issue among political parties. What would you be bringing to the table as a recommendation to the national leader of the party to ensure that every member of the party gets a fair deal?
Everybody wants to be an employee; everybody wants to be a Special Assistant, Special Adviser, Commissioner; the government certainly cannot do that. I had recommended that we create a cooperative model whereby people will be trained. At the end of the training, you give them grants to set up personal businesses. People can also be trained in unions where they have particular skills. They could be given grants to set up their business either as a group but even in ordinary business, contract works and so on. In a cooperative union, about seven people can be put together and say go and do this job, make some money and take care of yourself. I believe that will be a more permanent means of sustenance. You find out that when you’re given an appointment and the tenure ends, those groups of appointees are left jobless in the streets. So, there must be more sustainable ways.
Those that will emerge as the new leaders of the party will face fresh challenges especially as they concern future elections in Anambra State. These challenges may be very serious considering the new dynamics of Nigerian politics. Did you think about that before declaring for the post?
Going forward altogether, I also see the need, like I said, to have a very experienced politician who will confront the issues in 2025. There will be a big battle in 2025. APGA is in government, we will win again. We will be contesting with the new Obidients. When they finish at the Supreme Court, I believe that their last ambition in politics for life will be to capture Anambra State. I also believe that the APC will be getting stronger. So, we must have a chairman who understands the battlefront and has the capacity to plot and confront these issues. These are the issues that have informed my interest in the race.
