Chidi Nze Duru is the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress. In this interview with BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, he bares his mind on the happenings in the party and how its leadership has been able to handle them effectively to ensure they go into the 2023 general elections as a united force. He dismisses the much talked about Peter Obi’s candidacy as a no-threat to the ruling party’s quest to retain power in 2023. Excerpts:
Reports have it that your chairman promised a return ticket to some lawmakers who lost their primary elections as part of the bargain for them to remain with the party. Is that the case?
The only condition in which the party can substitute any candidate is well spelled out. Either the candidate resigns and says he is not running or the candidate dies. The power to substitute at will is no longer there. So, it was not possible for the chairman to have made that promise in the Senate. He couldn’t have gone to the Senate to engage in a barter arrangement of such quid-pro-quo nature. I’m in the party and I can tell you that our candidates emerged through the primary and in accordance with the guidelines and INEC observed the primaries and within the window set by INEC, June 3rd-9th for presidential and national assembly primaries.
As for threats by lawmakers, you must know that it has become a seasonal habit. Every four years there must be a movement across parties. So, defection by politicians is a normal thing, nothing outrageous. Those of them who did not get tickets to return to the upper and lower chambers; some of them for very good reasons, may think that they have to go to another political party to retain their seats.
Those other political parties may also be waiting to harvest disaffection from one party or the other. So it is a seasonal thing. And I think that this time around it is no different. If anything, this time around, I think the level of disaffection is not as it was in the past when the level was over 97 percent. It happened in 2003 again in 2007. It is a seasonal habit by Nigerian politicians. Whilst in APC it is a concern that a number of them could not secure tickets to come back, that is not to say it is a fresh thing that has never happened before.
For those in the national assembly, the wish is that for those of them who have done well, I’m one of those who formulated the idea that for those who have done well, especially for the legislative work, you give them as many opportunities as possible to come back. Because there’s what you call institutional memory; the older or longer you stay in the parliament the more experienced and respect you command not only among your peers but the others leading the country, such as the president, governor. It is not that the chairman promised them a ticket to the party, the visit was to let them know of other opportunities available in the party. Yes, it is good to placate them to stay with the party.
What is happening in Abia Central Senatorial District where the party didn’t submit any name even as it’s apparent that Sam Onuigbo emerged?
The truth is that the party submitted the name of Emeka Atuma but for whatever reason, INEC refused to publish his name. He has, however, gotten an order of court compelling INEC to publish his name, the party has been served and I am aware. There’s also another suit by Sam Onuigbo, who has challenged the whole issue and APC has been served. He is claiming that he is the rightful candidate who won the primary to represent the APC. Any comments on the propriety or otherwise of the action of the party now will be sub judice.
The chairman said Ahmad Lawan participated in the party primaries, but INEC is saying it was Machina that participated, what actually happened?
The NWC of the party met and approved and submitted the name of Senator Ahmed Lawan as the candidate of the party, for Yobe North. I’m aware that Machina has also gone to court, so the matter is now sub judice. We are a law-abiding party, if at the end of the day, based on the prayers before the court, if the court decides that he should be the candidate of our party, we will do the needful.
“Every four years there must be a movement across parties. So, defection by politicians is a normal thing, nothing outrageous. Those of them who did not get tickets to return to the upper and lower chambers; some of them for very good reasons, may think that they have to go to another political party to retain their seats”
Is there any document showing that Ahmad Lawan participated in the primaries?
There is no document to show the participation of the Senate President, but bear in mind that decisions are made for certain reasons, it doesn’t mean we are always right. But when we sat as NWC of the party, the decision was taken and that decision was that the name of Senator Ahmad Lawan should be submitted as the candidate of the party.
On what part of history would you be counted I the ongoing Peter Obi wave sweeping across the country? He is your kinsman from Anambra.
Obi’s politics and mine are different. We don’t belong to the same political party. He was governor of my state; I respect him, where he served two terms. He was Governor under APGA, at that point, I was in the National Assembly, though before he came into politics. In any case, I respect him for what he has achieved and his talent and his ability to have found his way into the opportunity to become the governor of Anambra State.
I also know that when we left APGA, he joined PDP, but he has now left PDP, he is flying the flag of Labour Party. So we play our politics differently, I respect his views, and I also know that he has managed to have some swat of support across the divide, it transcends not just in Anambra, but across the country. The essence of politics is competition, we are not a one-party state, and I respect his decision to put himself before Nigerians, and if Nigerians find out that he is a better candidate to meet the expectation and yearnings of what they need at this time and vote for him, so be it, and he becomes our President. But should Nigeria find a case for APC to retain power in 2023, and for APC to give them hope that things can get better, and for APC to, using the institutions of governance and knowledge of how government can be run, to keep and hold the realms of power, as we have done and I will continue to participate in that process. I’m confident that given another opportunity, APC will do much better than it is currently.
Is Obi a threat to the APC?
Every party is a threat, Sowore is a threat, Kachikwu is a threat, Atiku is a threat to APC, but what is important is that we are not complacent. APC understands that the party in power is a sitting duck, waiting to be taken out. We understand also that change is for the opposition to take over power and for the party in power to lose power and become opposition. On the basis of that, APC has long before now, worked hard to ensure that it can communicate to Nigerians what it will be, should the party be reelected in 2023. One of the first things we have done is that while other parties are managing their internal crisis or are trying to find their way out of their internal crisis, APC has managed the various tendencies in the party.
Therefore, it is easy for us, across the board, that as of today as I speak, even before the July 1 window of uploading the State Assembly and gubernatorial candidates, APC has resolved the State Assembly in five states out of 13 states. Out of 28 governorship candidates for the 2023 general election, APC has resolved all 28, but only 10 are being uploaded today, the other 18 is because we are fine-tuning the deputy governorship candidates that will run with them and before Tuesday next week, we will be done with that. The whole essence of it is that we are starting on time. We want to dust this and get it behind us.
