Anambra 2013: Only APGA, PDP are contesting, others de do show – Dr Okeke FROM DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, NNEWI Sir (Dr) Jeff Okeke, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart from Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State is fast becoming a heavyweight in Anambra politics. Currently he is the vice chairman of Bamanga Tukur Foundation in the State and an ardent believer in the PDP’s candidate for the November 16 governorship election, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu. Dr Okeke, a businessman turned politician in Nnewi analytically gave his verdict in the forth-coming election. According to him, the contest was between the PDP and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He said that Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige might not come third in the race because of what he termed his fizzling out popularity as a result of Governor Peter Obi’s achievements, while in the case of Ifeanyi Ubah of the Labour Party (LP) he said he had no structure, adding that 60% of his followers were PDP members who would vote for their original party at the polls “despite the money given to them.” As for Godwin Ezeemo, candidate for the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) Okeke noted that he was not contesting to win but to divide the votes of Senator Ngige to fight injustices meted to him (Ezeemo) in All Progressives Congress (APC) during its guber primary. He further predicted that Ezeemo would later collapse his structure into PDP. He talked about the PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, Governor Obi and his administration and other issues concerning Anambra politics. Excerpt: What can you say about PDP and Tukur chairmanship? The man, Bamaga Tukur, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shown us confidence to believe in him. We have been following his political antecedent; we have watched him very closely and have come to conclusion that he remains the best National Chairman in the history of the party. There are reasons for this conclusion. Looking at the cr isis that engulfed PDP in recent time which had to do with the issue of going for convention, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cancelling the convention and things like that, you will see that Tukur is a man who has proved his capability to weather the storm. And he has sustained our faith in the PDP even as some people have decamped to form the so called new PDP. Those people are rebels. We have full confidence in Bamaga Tukur leadership of the PDP and our President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan as well as our state (Anambra) chairman, Chief Ken Emeakai. Anambra goes to polls November 16 to elect new governor but your party, PDP, is in crises both at the national and state. Can PDP win the guber election? I want to commend the National Chairman of our great party, Tukur, for taking a bold step to restore peace in Anambra State PDP by making PDP in Anambra to be a political party that is not owned by anybody. In recent past we used to know one family controlling the affairs of the PDP in Anambra State. If you want to be a governor, you go to their house. Anything you want to be down to the councilor, you have to go to their house. But today we have a party that is owned by members of the PDP in Anambra State with Hon Ken Emeakai as the State Chairman. I want to commend the effort of the National Executive Council of the PDP because that is the first victory we are looking at. That’s number one. Number two is that we all went for the primary election to produce the candidate of the party unlike where a candidate is handpicked either by the president or national executive and impose on the people of the state to go and elect him as governor. This time around, the power that belongs to the people had to be exercised as they went to their wards to elect delegates, who in turn elected who becomes the candidate of the party. And it was done properly and candidate for the party was elected at Awka which was a good development. And with what is going on, the court cases and all that, a new person emerged as the flag-bearer through the court process, accepted by the party and accepted by the INEC as the only candidate of the party in Anambra State in the person of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu who is a grassroots politician. This time around Prince Ukachukwu is going to be the next governor of Anambra State. PDP as it is today has 60% chances of winning the governorship election to produce the next governor of Anambra State come November 16. There are so many reasons for this conclusion. PDP is the largest in Africa and has the largest followership in Anambra compared with other political parties. But because of crises in the past, one family trying to impose a candidate on us that is why we have been loosing elections in the state. Now that the crisis is over at the state level and the candidate of our choice emerged every other obstacle will be taken care of and victory for PDP is assured. What makes you believe that Ukachukwu is people’s choice whereas there are three claimants to the candidature? Well, among the three, Comrade Tony Nwoye is a very personal friend. He was a one-time State Chairman of the PDP. But from what we read from the newspapers the process that produced him wasn’t a proper process and that is what we are fighting for. We are fighting for the proper process. If he was disqualified by the screening committee and later qualified, there must be error somehow. That error was what the court corrected. For the fact that the court has decided that, Ukachukwu, who came second during the primary election should take over the position we see no reason others should not accept it. Coming to that of Senator Andy Uba, he did not contest any primary. So he has nothing to complain about. I was there at the primary and one of the delegates, too. Andy never contested and he wasn’t there. So how can he emerge as candidate of the party? It is impossible. What he should do now as a Senator is to ensure that his party does not lose in Anambra. It is going to be a collective effort. And we will all smile if PDP eventually wins. Uba is not a contender, he is not a candidate. The emergence of Ukachukwu is purely the work of God, bringing this man from nowhere and making him a candidate of the party. If litigations arise as a result of his emergence as the PDP candidate or after his election as governor, God will always follow him to court and give him victory. And I see him becoming the next governor. I tell you he is going to be the best governor Anambra people dream of. He is a grassroots man. This is a man who will see you and call you by your name. It is like magic. He knows almost all the PDP members by their names in Anambra State. That tells you how close he is to the grassroots. He has the capacity to take Anambra State to its promised land. He built 5,000 houses in Abuja single-handedly. We want him to come and do it and other developmental projects in Anambra. He is going to be the best governor. Out-going governor Obi insists his successor will come from Anambra North but Ukachukwu is from South. What are Ukachukwu’s chances of winning? You should understand that power is not given. Our people say it is ndoro ndoro ochichi (struggle for power). You need to struggle for it. Anywhere power is given to somebody that is the beginning of dictatorship. That the North wants to rule Anambra State is a personal business between the governor and people from the North. That does not concern the entire Anambra State. Wherever the people of Anambra see a credible candidate, they should vote for him. Any day we decide to start zoning in Anambra all the stakeholders will be involved. It won’t be Peter Obi’s idea. It will be the idea of Anambra people. Then if one may ask, after North comes which zone. How did he get his formulae. It is not going to work. But outside this zoning thing, governor Obi at his concluding period started doing very well, working excellently well more than all his predecessors. If he were the one going for this election, I would personally vote for him. But as for telling us who will replace him, it is not true. All of us will go to the field and the electorate will decide. What other areas do you think Obi has done well? He has done marvelously well. I will start with security. His approach to security situation in Anambra State is wonderful. His predecessors used barbaric form, bringing in bakassi, killing people by way of jungle justice without charging them to court and giving them fair hearing. But Obi came and today we sleep with our two eyes closed. All the people that ran away from Anambra have come back. He has done well in security. Then in development, road construction and all that he is the only governor who has done roads in Nnewi South since the inception of the democratic system. No governor ever visited Nnewi South, a local government with 20 wards. No governor has visited there, no governor has given us a single pipe-borne water except Obi. So, we appreciate that. And I know he has also done the same in so many other areas. In education, he is doing very well. Since the beginning of the administration the educational system in Anambra has improved. But in the area of Anambra State Water Co-corporation he did not do well because he is having problems with the corporation. Generally, he has done well more than any of his predecessors. He did 101% better than Ngige. But Ngige is coming out again under All Progressives Congress (APC), won’t you vote for him? Ngige is just a, I will use the word, greedy man. He has been in the Senate all this while. I remember the promise he made to us, that even if he is to spend one month in the Senate that people will know that he has come to the Senate. Since he has been there I’m not sure he has ever sponsored one bill. What kind of Ngige are we expecting to be in the Government House? Because he became governor when Anambra State was in a dark side, he tried to do some little magic and people were shouting. He didn’t do anything. And he is a very greedy and selfish human being. I worked with him in the past election when he was elected into the Senate and I also contested an election as at that time. I personally asked him: are you contesting for the Senate, he said no. I was running for Anambra State House of Assembly in my own constituency under the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) but he put another person there. He shortchanged me and put somebody else. Finally, my brother intervened who restored my ticked and throughout my campaign he never visited my constituency. I only abandoned PDP at that time because of the crisis in the party to run under CAN platform. And all of a sudden that same man who said he was not contesting election to the Senate, we began to see is posters everywhere. At the end of the day he won and most of us lost. And since that time he has never made a call, and not eve called a meeting to say since we lost and we contributed money and time to his success that we should have this or that as a consolation or compensation. He never did that. And now he wants to be a governor. What kind of governor will he be? And who is going to support him. Ngige you knew before is not the same Ngige you know now. Let him go to the poll and see what will happen. He cannot even make a third position. When the Igbo were deported from Lagos State to Anambra he was the only Igbo man who supported the idea. Is that the kind of person we are going to elect again to be the governor of Anambra State? It’s not gona work. But apart from Ngige there are other serious contestants who can challenge Ukachukwu. Is it not true? Who are those other serious contestants? For instance, I don’t know how the Labour Party candidate can challenge Ukachukwu. If you know Ukachukwu very well, this is a God-sent man, simple in nature. He is an evangelist. Well, Ifeanyi Uba has done very well in the oil business. I don’t know how he started but all I know is that capital oil is everywhere today. We all give him credit for that. But that will not make him a governor. He doesn’t have the charisma to be a governor. He can go to the poll with all the money he has, I learn that he shares money here and there. He bought trailers for campaign and all that which they use for carnival. Let him continue with the carnival, we enjoy it. When I see them passing I enjoy it and even dance to the music because I know that he is organizing a carnival for us not campaigning. He is not going anywhere. He can’t even take forth position. Well, I’m not wishing him bad but I know he is not winning. PDP is the largest party in Anambra State. 60% of those who are following Ubah are PDP members. When the time comes they will all vote for the PDP. We know where we are going. And we know where we started. We have been there. You will see the votes when the time comes. Talking about Godwin Ezeemo, he is fighting injustice. Ezeemo is a good man, credible enough, wonderful man to be a governor. He is fighting injustice done to him by Ngige. So, I see him trying to divide the votes of Ngige. He is not fighting PDP. When the time comes he might even decide to tell his followers to go and vote for PDP because he knows he is not winning and he is a material for PDP. In some quarters people insinuate that Ukachukwu promotes violence. How do you react to that? Well, promotion of violence you say, I have read that in the papers of course. When you talk about violence you talk about Jeff because I love violence, too. Sometimes you apply violence to make peace. Well, I have not seen Ukachukwu as a violent man. You know when you have a name, political name, if your boys do anything people will say it is you. So, the bottom line is that Ukachukwu is not violent. He is truly an evangelist and he practises what he preaches and he is the next governor of Anambra State after the November 16 election.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:16:11 +0000
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