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• I feel some fifth columnists masterminded Oyo schoolchildren’s kidnap
From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Chairman of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) in Anambra State, Eminent Uzochukwu, has criticised President Bola Tinubu, saying that he has performed very badly so far.
Uzochukwu, who’s also the Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, said that Tinubu has no reason to seek a return to office in 2027 considering his abysmal performance in his almost four years in office. Excerpts…
How ready is your party, the APM, for the 2027 elections?
APM, as you know, has resurfaced; in the sense that right from the time that this current political dispensation was blown, APM became a dominant party. Right now, as you may be aware, we have two governors, up to 10 senators, and about 13 House of Reps members as we speak; and still counting. This current political electoral system that is on now, we have so many, many candidates who are vying for different positions in APM. APM is one of the parties to contend with as far as this current election is concerned, incoming election is concerned. We have been busy doing the needful. We have people contesting for the Senate here in the North, South, and Central in Anambra State. We have people who are vying for the House of Representatives in Anambra State. We have the state House of Assembly. We have so many candidates. What else can I say? Remember, parties were formed purposely to vie for elections. We do not have independent candidacy as far as Nigeria is concerned; the constitution and the Electoral Act. You must go through parties. Parties are the ladder through which people climb. You cannot, under normal circumstances, climb and throw away the ladder that pushed you up. In parties, there is free entry and free exit. Nobody is nailed to a particular place. If you feel that the place is not comfortable for you again, you move on. APM is quite on the ground. We are prepared for the 2027 election.
With APGA and NDC in Anambra, how do you think your party will be able to defeat these two dominant parties?
What you see in those parties, I can call it flash in the pan; flash in the pan kind of existence. People are following just one man. Peter Obi is just one person. Yes, you can give it to him that he has that popularity. But I want to tell you that with the type of primaries they conducted, ours was rancour-free. We had our primaries seamlessly. Nobody has gone to court to challenge anybody. But I want to tell you that NDC, their problems are all over the courts; internal issues, not to talk of the one that is bedevilling them from outside. People are contesting their primaries. Nobody is contesting the primaries of APM. There is that satisfaction; there is that camaraderie that exists between people who contested the election. People failed the primaries and took it in good faith because the process was very, very fair and credible. Nobody complained. Nobody went to court. If you talk about the one in government, let me tell you one thing. Nothing is permanent in this world. Nothing!
Are you referring to APGA?
Yes, I am referring to APGA. Nothing is permanent. Yes, in APGA, go there and find out discontent. The primaries elicited so many issues, which they are managing anyway. Being able to manage a situation is what leadership is all about. But I want to tell you that it will still come to light. People are not happy with the way they handled their primaries. That’s their internal issue anyway. But I want to tell you that a party that has been in government all this while, from 2006 till date, the people are beginning to say, let’s have a fresh breath. It can’t continue to be the way it is now. So, my people used to say that if you go to the toilet and stay too long, I want to assure you that flies will come visiting. That’s what is happening with APGA in Anambra State. It can’t be that which it used to be. We are political animals. And we always want change. That change, whether you are doing good or bad, people will say, let’s try another one. And that’s what is happening in APM today. In the last 10 years, if you went to Bauchi, to Oyo State, and talked about APM, people would say they didn’t know about it. But the governors of Oyo and Bauchi States are with us in APM now; card-carrying members. The other day, we were in Ibadan to elect our presidential candidate, Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State. So, people have become very much, you know, averse to the existing political structure in Anambra State. They want a change, something different. That’s why we got people who are prepared to run elections and win; fresh blood. Let me use that word. People who are just fresh from the mill; people who actually would want to come and make a change, a difference in what is happening in Anambra State. We have a governor. And he has tried his best. But people are saying that his best is not enough. That’s the truth.
How would you rate Tinubu’s performance so far? Do you think he deserves a second term?
Do you want me to praise him? I am in opposition.
But in all honesty, do you think he should continue in office for a second term?
Continue? Is that his father’s place? Is that his estate? The essence of yearly or constitutionally provided tenure is because people will have the opportunity to change or retain. That is why it is in the constitution. I go to the same market with you. Am I right? Do you think he deserves a second term? He does not deserve it. But I am one person. The masses will say that during the election. But the issue is that the present government has not done the way people expected them to do because of the promises made before his coming. The buck stops at his table. The government has made us poorer than we were before his coming. And what is government? It is for the well-being of the people. Security of life of the people. If the people are complaining that they have been so burdened; that they cannot feed three times as they used to. That means the government is not doing well. If I come to your house, I see how charming your children are. I don’t need to ask anybody questions. But if I come to your house, probably you are the only person growing fat and your children are growing lean on a daily basis. I’ll know that that family is not doing well. So the issue is that where we are today is not where we expected to be when we gave them the mandate. People are disillusioned. Let’s leave the issue of the current war between Iran and the U.S., Israel. Before this time, people were suffering. Before this time, people could not eat three square meals a day. It has been, you know, people are sparingly eating. It’s known all over the place. What is the exchange rate? They said that they merged the two. If you’re merging, did you take into consideration its consequences? That would have been the first thing. Do the analysis. If I do this now, how is it going to result? Are people going to be happy? But that was not done. They jumped into it. Subsidy is gone. And everything went up. People are suffering. From here to Onitsha, you know how much it is, of course, and what it was before this time. People are suffering. Did he come to lift our burden? Or did he come to give us more burdens? So the president is the father of all. The father cannot be feeding while the children are sleeping with hunger. It never tells well of the government. So being a member of the opposition, the masses are already yearning for a change. They said they came to give us renewed hope. What they did was renew our poverty. It’s written all over the place. Go to the market and price goods. It’s out of the way of the masses. The masses are suffering. Most parents have decided to send their children to become maids in different homes for a pittance. And it’s because they cannot afford to feed them again. Things are very difficult. Let me ask you. Is the market better for you than it is for me? If we go to the same market, the way I feel it is the way you feel it. From where you came from to this place, before it would have been N200. Was it what you paid? Things are really very difficult for the people. So people are yearning that the government should be thrown out through elections.
Do you consider the presidential candidate of your party, Makinde, a better option?
Well, he is my presidential candidate. I elected him. I was in Ibadan. I went for the primary. I stood for him. If he is not going to be better, I wouldn’t have supported him. I know what it means for somebody to be the president of a country. Yes, the father of all. So he is definitely going to do better. Forget about what is happening in Oyo State. It was stage-managed. Why is it on the eve of his declaring for the APM that they kidnapped so many schoolchildren? Something that has not been heard of before in Oyo State. That’s the issue. That will be taken care of. Security issues are not restricted to one state. It’s all over the place. And it was there. In fairness to Tinubu and his administration, this security issue was there before they arrived. Why people are blaming him is that he is the father of all. He is the commander-in-chief that gives orders. In fact, the constitution made him all-knowing. In other words, he knows it all and can deploy resources wherever it is much more needed. So he cannot shift the blame. The blame still will go to him as the man in charge, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. That very particular position is never subordinated because it’s constitutional. So if there are flaws in his administration, we hold him responsible and he must be accountable to the people.
When you said that the kidnapping of the schoolchildren and their teachers was stage-managed, what are you trying to say?
What I’m trying to say is this: Why at that time? Why at that particular time that the governor of Oyo State wanted to declare for the APM? Why at that time that the governor was trying to hold a rally to showcase his coming into the party? That was when they struck. I’m not blaming anybody, but just look at it.
So where are you pointing accusing fingers at?
There are fifth columnists in everything we do. Fifth columnists may have done that. Oyo had been peaceful, quiet all this while. Why now? Why the time they struck? They said that the owl cried at night and the baby died in the morning. So it begs the question.
But he has always been a member of the opposition party. He left the PDP. Are you saying that people more powerful than him may be responsible for that?
No, no, no. I’m not saying that. Fifth columnists abound in every society, in every organisation. Those whom you think you are working with, but they are not with you. And the man is not spiritual. He is not clairvoyant as to have known what was going to happen the next day. Saboteurs may have done that. And who are the saboteurs? They still remain within the realm of imagination and truth. So you just hear certain stories about Anambra State that have not been happening, and you try to find out why it happened. Oyo State is not different from other states in Nigeria. Borno has been burning even before the current government came. Adamawa, Plateau, Benue, they’ve all been burning before the current government came. But what we are saying is that the Commander-in-Chief should assert himself as the Commander-in-Chief and do his job. This job is never subordinated. He can delegate functions. I agree. But the power of the Commander-in-Chief still remains his powers, because it’s constitutional.
How confident are you in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a free, fair, and credible election in 2027?
Well, you know we have a new man in INEC. And that new man in INEC, let’s give him the benefit of doubt. Because other people before him had given the people a cause to doubt. But the man has spoken that he’s going to be a different person. We know what has been happening. Nobody should assume that he doesn’t know. But he’s new. He has not been tested. The ones recently done were by-elections. That, for me, was not a real test. The real test comes in 2027 when he will take care of the entire federation at the elections. Let’s give him the benefit of doubt. He’s a SAN; a professor of law for that matter. In other words, he inculcates into future leaders. He’s not a small man to be doubted. Let’s try him first, before we make our findings known. That’s my take.
