Apc ‘ll rule South East in 2015 – Anyim Dr. Nyerere Anyim emerged the National Vice Chairman, South East of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He spoke with Ugochukwu Alaribe in Aba on his plans to deliver the zone to the party as well as his ambition to emerge as Abia governor in 2015. Excerpt... The ‘Abians for Change group’ said they have adopted you as their governorship candidate in 2015, have you accepted the adoption? I think I have made it clear that I going to run for governor in 2015. If by God’s grace, the Lord tarries, there will be election in 2015, I will run for governor, it has been widely known in Abia state that Dr. Nyerere Anyim will run for governor in the next election. In fact, some quarters are already catching cold about my participation in the race. Under which platform will you be contesting? The APC platform which will be soon be registered as a political party. Have you left APGA? I have not left APGA but APGA is part of the All Progressive Congress (APC) which will soon be registered. I belong to the APGA- APGA which is an important member of the APC. When you say APGA- APGA, what do you refer to? It refers to APGA members that share the core belief and vision of APGA. There are others who are of APGA –PDP; they have one leg in APGA and the other in PDP. APGA presently has two factions, are you of the Victor Umeh or Maxi Okwu factions? I belong to the APGA that is duly recognized by INEC. The APGA that is recognized by INEC is the one headed by Victor Umeh and there is no going back about it. There is only one APGA; it is led by Umeh, any other group claiming leadership of the party is only there to deceive the public. Are you satisfied with the leadership of the party in Abia state? Yes, I’m satisfied with the leadership of the party under the state chairman, Prince Nnanna Ukaegbu and his executives. We elected them as leaders and have a duty to help them succeed. He has been trying to hold the party together. Whether I’m satisfied with them or not, should not be the matter; the major issue is that we have a party we want to make stronger in Abia state. We have to work with them to achieve this. Chief Victor Umeh or any of the state chairmen in his camp are not known to have identified with the APC; do they not share the vision of the group? I think they do, but said they would prefer an alliance instead of merger. But for me it is a problem of semantics whether you say merger or alliance. The most important thing is that they have acknowledged that there is a great need to have a formidable political party in Nigeria and which they want to be part of. They believe in the mega party, It depends on nomenclature, whether they call it alliance or merger, it doesn’t matter as far as the objective of advancing democracy in Nigeria is concerned. We will oust the PDP from Aso Rock and also get majority of the states in 2015. Many people believe that the sharing of positions as regards to who gets what in 2015 would tear the APC apart? Such people have been disappointed because that is not the spirit of APC. They have forgotten that APC is a gathering of progressives who cannot afford to fail. First, the list of interim officers of the party has emerged. We are aware that there would be many of such doomsday predictions, but they will continue to fail. The APC will be growing from strength to strength, it is a moving train? Those who say the sharing offices will divide the group crisis have now swallowed their words. They will continue to underestimate our strength and unity of purpose; that alone will continue to be our driving force. Don’t you think the APC may go the way of past efforts at a merger of opposition political parties in Nigeria? From the way the APC is moving, it has already surpassed peoples’ expectations. There has been no such merger of opposition parties as big as the APC in Nigeria’s political history. Check the parties involved, their sphere of influence and personalities, and then you will agree with me that APC has come to stay. The ruling PDP has already caught cold and is now jittery. If you can feel the current political temperature of this country, there is no doubt about which state or position the APC are. The APC will win 2015. Do you support your friend, Gov. Rochas Okorocha’s position that the APC would win the South east zone in 2015? I have just emerged the National Vice Chairman South East of the APC. But I think Okorocha didn’t want to disclose our full intention to win the presidency and majority of the 36 states. He said APC will South East zone? We will support him to do that, it is a great vision which every right thinking Igbo man should embrace. Does the APC have the capacity to accommodate the number of governorship aspirants who may wish to realize their ambitions on the party’s platform? It cannot be a problem if anyone decides to throw his hat into the ring for the contest. In football, there are 22 players struggling for the ball, it is the same case in any electoral contest, but the major issue is who scores the goal? The party will conduct primaries for all the aspirants who declared interest to run under its platform. The most important thing is who do the people want? APC is a mass movement, it is going to a democratic contest and anyone who emerges victorious will be supported by all. There has been this raging controversy about which part of Ukwa/ Ngwa zone would produce the governor in 2015, is it those in Abia South or Abia Central zones? The three senatorial zones have been the basis of sharing political offices in Abia state. Abia North has done 8 years, Abia Central will complete its 8 years in May 2015. Therefore it is rational and morally justified for Abia South to take its turn of producing a governor of the state from May 29, 2015. It is the people of Abia South that will produce an Abia governor in 2015; there should be no controversy about it. Our Ngwa brothers in Abia Central zone should be patient till it rotates to them again. I believe there are some forces behind this controversy; it is the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob. There are people who are orchestrating this division. It has been the game over the years. These are people outside Ukwa/ Ngwa zone sponsoring this division. They know the right zone to produce the governor, but would not hesitate to cause division among the Ukwa/ Ngwa bloc. It is all part of the design to keep the Ukwa/ Ngwa people divided. Our people should resist it and abstain from being used to abort our dream of producing an Abia governor of Ngwa extraction in 2015. Abia is a PDP state; the party is also firmly rooted in all the wards of the state, do you think APC if finally registered would boast of the necessary structures to defeat the latter in the 2015 general elections? You can’t say with all degree of certainty that PDP is rooted in all the wards of the state, it is an overstatement. Ask the people at the grassroots, they will prove you wrong. If the PDP is everywhere, what impact have they created? If they are everywhere, they won’t carry people at the back and their feet will be crawling on the ground. The 2015 governorship election in Abia state would be different ball game. The people have tasted the PDP and are not happy that they have done nothing with the mandate given to them. So, APC becomes the natural choice. The signs are very clear that the soon to be registered APC will take over power in Abia state in 2015. If elected governor in 2015, what would constitute your major programmes? INEC has sounded it clear that the ban on electioneering campaign has not been lifted. At the right time, once INEC gives us the go ahead, we will unveil our programmes to the people. Meanwhile, without politics, we have been doing a lot to reach our people. Some of them include the various infrastructural development projects we are doing to assist our people; in the field of education, we have the scholarship scheme under the Divine Agenda education initiative where many indigent students from various schools in the state have benefitted from. Again, our sports programme, the Divine Agenda Sports Academy where our young talents have done great exploits. The club is now playing the state football league. These are some of the things we have been doing to make life better for our people. In fact, we are set to unveil more people oriented programmes. What value do you think you can add to governance in the state? What I want tell you is that from my private sector background, I can bring a lot of improvement to add to what is being done now. It is not something to be discussed on the pages of newspapers, but when the time comes, it will be left for the people to judge by themselves. We will aggressively pursue youth employment which is the nucleus of development, skill acquisition programmes won’t be only in name, but designed to truly empower trainees, there will be massive infrastructural development, capable of laying a solid foundation for our economic progress, affordable education for the people and affordable health care system especially in the rural areas where lives are lost because of lack of money to get medication. On the other, I’m an apostle of wealth creation, we have an army of youths with great potentials; we must tap our human and natural resources to make life more meaningful to the citizenry. Our focus will be on wealth creation and self dependence. Abia state has no business waiting for monthly federal allocations before realizing its programmes, we going to change that pattern. Abia people are naturally gifted that in the area of technology, we can easily produce and export if the conducive environment is created. We can make Aba the real Japan of Africa by making maximum use of the Technology Incubation Centre in the city. What of the Ariaria International Market which I believe is highly underutilized? Its importance to the economy of the state is yet to be felt because of some factors which I won’t disclose now. Get the indices rights; you will see Aba becoming the true Japan of Africa and the impact on the populace cannot be overemphasized. We are going to use the resources of the state to create wealth and work for the people. Would you adopt the Community Government Council introduced by Gov. Rochas Okorocha in Imo state? It is a laudable policy, we will strictly implement it. The rural communities are part of government; we are supposed to bring development down to such areas to make the people have the real feel of governance. It is unfortunate that development is only concentrated around one or two towns and the state capitals in Nigeria; it has always been counter-productive because of its many negative implications. Rural development would be given the serious attention it deserves. This is where development is supposed to start from. What do you make of the controversy about who is the true chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum between Govs Jonah Jang and Chibuike Amaechi? It is not the best for our democracy. It is not the best for those who are supposed to be role models, to live exemplary lives to the youths who are the leaders of tomorrow Your word to the South East electorate in 2015 My advice is that they should refuse to eat the king’s meat and see if they would not be better than those who wallow in it. We should stop complaining; vote for their conscience. The time is here for us to change the old order to enjoy with those in the progressive fold.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 08:41:04 +0000
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