The Deputy Director of Media and Publicity for the Senator Andy Uba Governorship Campaign Organisation in the 2021 election in Anambra State, Mr Ikechukwu Onyia, speaks with IKENNA OBIANERI on the 80-man Anambra Transition Committee and other issues
You are dissatisfied with the number of persons in the transition committee set up by the Governor-elect of Anambra State, Prof Charles Soludo, but his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, sees your party as being meddlesome. How do you react to this?
No, we are not being meddlesome; we are talking about governance and Anambra State here. This is not about party politics but about public governance. It goes beyond APGA as a political party. It emphasises our position that they are not ready for governance and it must be noted. When you look within Anambra, you will question their (APGA) claims as regards what they said they had achieved.
Now, they are telling the world that we don’t have the right to ask questions regarding the transition committee, but it is not APGA transition committee, it is a transitional committee that is preparing the ground for the next leadership of Anambra State, which every member of the state should be interested in, not minding their political party. The decisions, actions and inactions of the committee will have direct effect on everybody, including the All Progressives Congress and other political parties. So, APGA should not see the transition committee as an APGA agenda or an internal activity. No, it is a formal process that has to do with the taking over the leadership of the entire state.
We are interested in issues that have to do with public governance of Anambra State, irrespective of the political party that is enjoying the mandate. For us, that claim that we should mind our business is faulty. They don’t understand that the government we are talking about is the government of Anambra State and not of any political party, and APGA needs to be educated. We have to educate them. APGA needs to be educated that governance is not about a political party but an activity that should be everybody’s business.
Your party, the APC, is at the election petition tribunal challenging APGA’s victory at the poll, but some people think going to court over the outcome of the poll was unnecessary. What do you make of that?
One thing about democracy is that it allows individuals to have opinions. Some believe there is no need to go to court, they have the right to take such a position, and others believe there is a need to approach the court to interrogate the process. Clearing your reservations about the electoral process or outcome of an election will help our democracy. Sometime after the 2003 election, APGA felt it needed to go to court. Former governor Peter Obi went to court challenging the victory of Dr Chris Ngige and declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission that made Ngige the governor. He (Obi) was in court for three years. In fact, many stakeholders, including the then APGA chairman, prevailed on Peter Obi to drop the court processes and support Ngige. Many people, including bishops, went to Obi and told him to stop going to court and that he should support Ngige. So, it is normal. Peter Obi refused and said he would pursue his case. I believe anybody who chooses to go to court as against taking the law into their hands believe so much in peaceful resolution of issues. It also shows they believe so much in strengthening our constitutional democracy. What did Andy Uba say? Uba said having looked at the process, there are a lot of grounds for him to interrogate the process. Some persons believe there is no need going to court while some others believe there is need going to court. So, it is about individual choices and we respect that.
There are reports that Governor Willie Obiano is not happy with Soludo over the large number of persons in the transition committee, some people that report emerged from your party. Is it true?
I wouldn’t know if the governor is happy or not happy about it, but our position is simple and it is that the number is too much. Our position is that Anambra State’s transition committee should not have up to 80 members; we are saying that the 80-member committee they announced to the media was just to entertain the public. They are good at announcing big names like they did when they set up their 50-year developmental plan that was meant to submit their report in August 2020. This is 2022; no report has been submitted after all the names and media hype. So, we are used to APGA’s name-dropping. They have assembled these ones now and announced it to the media. A transitional committee like that ought to have an office by now, and if you want to submit any document or any information, there is nothing like an office to go to. So, the announcement is a mere name-dropping to keep people entertained. That is the way we perceive it. They are only assembling a crowd. They are not looking at a team that will sit down and work. For them, they just assembled a lot of of names and made an announcement, which shows that they are starting on a wrong footing.
Even Soludo’s aide, in defending the number, cited the example of United States. That is to tell you that these people are not serious with governance and some of us are worried. Even while we are in court, we are worried about their behaviour. The signs are not good and every lover of this state should be concerned. If 80 is not large for members of a transition committee in a state with an annual budget of about N150bn, I think we should redefine what large is.
It is believed in some quarters that there has been no credible opposition to APGA in the past. How ready is the APC to play this role in the next four years?
The fact is that most of the stakeholders across party lines are not ready for opposition, and we believe that opposition strengthens democracy. If you don’t check him, believing he is a professor, you will be in for a shocker because Soludo will not be the first economist or PhD holder to govern a state. So, if you are expecting magic from Soludo, you are in for disappointment and with the signs, I think there is a need for the opposition to help the state thrive. If APGA retains power, I believe the APC needs to stand up and play the role of an opposition because with the look of things, the Peoples Democratic Party is not ready for such in Anambra. So, the APC needs to stand up and play the role of an opposition to help our democracy pending the time the APC wins its case in court. If by God’s grace, the APC wins Soludo in court, we expect APGA and others to play the opposition to help democracy in the state.
The PDP came second in the Anambra election while your party came a distant third. While the PDP did not challenge Soludo’s victory in court, the APC did. What informed that decision?
We are in court to interrogate the allocation of numbers as results. The first, second and third is the reason we are in court to contest the outcome of the election. First, we are saying that wasn’t our result, so we went to court to say no. It was not a reflection of the actual result. So, since the tribunal directed INEC to release the CTC of the election materials used, they have been playing games. It means they have things they are hiding. As regards the PDP not going to court, it is their right to go to court or not.
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