Disqualification of aspirants: Mischief makers want to kill APGA –Maduekwe

The governorship primaries of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State was held on Monday, August 26. Yet, last week new crisis erupted in the party as its screening committee, headed by Alhaji Tayo Sowunmi, disqualified prominent aspirants, who wanted to be the standard bearers of the party in the scheduled November 16 gubernatorial election in Anambra State.
But in this exclusive interview with CHIDI NNADI, former senatorial aspirant on the platform of APGA from the Anambra Central District, Mr. Chike Maduekwe, a lawyer, said there was no fresh crisis in the party, tracing what happened to mischief makers that are hell-bent to ensuring that APGA loses in the coming Anambra governorship election. Excerpt:
Why did you leave APGA in 2011?
I
was in APGA in 2011 and was hoping to be the senatorial candidate for the party in Anambra Central. However, few things happened and it became clear to me that there was no vacancy for an APGA candidate from Anambra Central and since there was no need fighting with the party, I left and Prof. Dora Akunyili was brought to come and run for the party. So, I went to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to finish the race because, of course, at that time, I said let us go ahead even if we got only 20 votes, the party must finish what we started. Even the Bible says that he who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom. So, that was why I went to ANPP but, of course, I am back to APGA.

What is your comment on APGA crisis and the reconciliation efforts?
First, I must say that there was a reconciliation which all of us yearned for and with other people who believe in the soul of APGA. There was reconciliation between the factions, which was led by His Excellency, our governor, Mr. Peter Obi, and the national chairman, Victor Umeh. So, I don’t think there is still crisis now in the party. What is happening is that there are some mischief makers, who are not interested in APGA, winning the governor’s seat in Anambra. And when I say mischief makers; how can we in the last few days hear that all the candidates in whom we believe can win the election have been disqualified? And from my discreet enquiry, not on any objective ground but on some flimsy excuses that somebody does not have a voter’s card; another was not cleared because they said the name in his letter head was not the same with what he signed on, which was his title in his village. Somewhere else, they said  somebody has not shown capacity to fund the election. I understand another aspirant was disqualified on the grounds that he was invited by the EFCC. My brother, the constitution of Nigeria is very clear on the grounds of disqualifying somebody from becoming a governor and it does not include invitation by the EFCC. Our jurisprudence is that any person, who is accused is deemed to be innocent until found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
So, for me, there are one or two enemies and I can assure you that the boss of APGA is not involved in this mischief. I have also heard in the media that some people in Abuja do not want some candidates, the thing doesn’t make sense. If we are practising true democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is about the majority having their way while the minority will have their say. Therefore, you can’t pre-determine the chances of anybody. Nobody can sit down in a room with a few people and begin to play god, it does not happen. I believe that in the next few days by the grace of God, APGA will overcome these challenges, because what has happened was that all the people that are qualified to run for the election have been disqualified. And we are praying to find the source of this mischief and the mischief must be stopped because the party belongs to all of us.

But how come the panel still cleared some aspirants?
The people that were cleared were cleared, but I am telling you that those who were disqualified are those who can run and win the election. Any of those people they disqualified whether Emmanuel Nweke, Tony Nnacheta, Chinedu Idigo, Chike Obidigbo, Oseloke Obaze and Prof Charles Soludo, any of them can become a governor and perform better than Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.
These are gifted, middle-class people with good pedigree and antecedents that are visible to the people. It is the antics of mischief makers. It would appear that is what the mischief makers want and I will use this opportunity to call on all APGA leaders and senior citizens in the party because the problem we have in Igbo land is dearth of leaders. We have politicians in power and as we know, exercising power is different from exercising authority; authority is when you get the consent of the people. This kind of game is the reason the whole masses in APGA are unhappy because they were getting ready for delegate conference and there can’t be delegate conference because we don’t even have candidates.
Most of the people that were cleared can go and run, but I can tell you that the first-class candidates have been disqualified. So, I will call on our governor who I know will not be part of this kind of thing, since he is the leader of the party, to insist that this kind of nonsense will not stand.

Could the presidency be responsible for the new APGA problem?
I don’t like to work with rumours, but I can tell you one thing, this president I have known, a lot of people who are hanging around him today don’t know him. I have interacted with this president when he was the deputy governor as far back as 2005 in Bayelsa. I have met with him to discuss projects when he was the governor. His closest advisers, Douglas and others are people I dealt with in Bayelsa. This president is not a person that I would believe will get into such meddlesomeness, as far as I am concerned.
However, there are people around him who meddle with everything.  So, it’s being rumoured that why Soludo left PDP was because the same people have reserved the PDP governorship slot to a certain candidate and has made it clear to him that he was not welcome. I have also heard that these same people around Mr. President also tried to influence APGA to stop Soludo from running. What I can say is this, I am aware that APGA has some kind of alliance with the PDP, but in the laws of Nigeria and within the registration parameters of INEC, APGA is an independent party, PDP is an independent party. If any APGA leader sits down to allow an outsider to dictate to us who will be our candidate, then that is a tragedy. Some people peddle information and say that our governor is too close to the president; maybe the president has told him. Anybody who knows the president will know that he is a perfect gentleman, he doesn’t get involved in such things. I am aware that some people around him meddle with information.
So, if it is true that it happened, our people, the leaders of APGA owe it as a duty to the masses that constitute the soul of APGA to put an end to that kind of meddlesomeness.
But if it is true that any leader of the party took instructions from any person in Abuja who is not a member of APGA and is not from Anambra State to disqualify Soludo, then it is, indeed, a matter of deep sorrow and such pseudo Igbo leaders should be named and put to shame for trading the birth right and constitutional prerogative of Ndigbo to elect their leaders for a mess of porridge. It is a great paradox that any leader could contemplate such political suicide.
The stakes must be very high and the circumstances surrounding this sordid debacle certainly precious for those involved. But these people must be told that our people are neither slaves nor second class citizens of Nigeria who must go cap in hand, with bended knees to Abuja to be told who our next governor will be. God forbid that we have fallen so low in the polity.

Contacting APGA national chairman 
I have not spoken to Victor Umeh for a long time. Recently, I tried to reach him, but it was difficult to reach him. But I am in touch with my governor and I know that the biggest interest of this governor is to find somebody who will build on the legacy he has set up. Many people don’t like Peter Obi, the politicians and most of these politicians are those people that are the problem of Anambra. They don’t like him because they say he doesn’t share money, we don’t elect any governor to come and share money. Governor Peter Obi has brought back sanity, political propriety to the office of governor of Anambra State.
As a matter of fact, I have read in different papers where comparisons have been made and he was compared with Fashola, Fayemi and so on, because of the image that he has given to the office of the governor.