Longest serving Chairman of the PDP in Anambra State and now running mate of ADC Guber Candidate Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu spoke to Okey Maduforo on his defection and the coalition of political parties ahead of the next general election.
People are surprised that you chose to abandon the PDP for the ADC; what informed that decision?
What is constant is change, and we have made a great deal of effort in the PDP to make things right but it all failed and ours is not that we are leaving the PDP because we saw a place where food is ready but because as it is today there appears to be challenges in terms of direction of where is the party heading to.
I for one have come to find out that the PDP as it is today cannot have the strength to go for national election considering the fact that we were unable to win the Presidency and win the majority of seats at the National Assembly and the number of Governors across the country in the last election.
For the PDP governors, honestly I have my respect for some of them but at their meeting in Ibadan, they came out with the communique that the PDP is not going to work towards any coalition, that shows you that they are not ready for the politics of this country in the coming election. But the PDP was expected to lead the coalition of the parties that would salvage Nigeria’s situation which was expected.
It is my view that there must be a party or a coalition that can salvage the situation of this country at the moment. This is not a coalition of winning the election but to save the country from the dangers that are facing Nigerians, and everyday you hear of the rise in insecurity across the country with new terrorist groups emerging.
I felt very unhappy with the communique of the PDP governors and I asked myself a question that, in what other way can one play a role towards ensuring that these problems brought by this present government to this country in this past two years are addressed for them to know that hard work can pay.
Do we just sit back and watch the country drift away in that manner or to work towards saving our country. The unending crisis in the party is self-inflicted and it has lingered for too long. I say it without mincing words that there is no basis for (Samuel) Anyanwu to continue to hang on as the National Secretary of the PDP.
If it were in situations where men still had honour no matter what it is he has no reason to continue to the detriment of the party and to continue to deepen the crisis. He should have taken a leave but many politicians no longer have the honour to throw in the towel in the interest and progress of the party.
So considering all these factors, I saw in the ADC an emerging political party that is desirous of galvanizing Nigerians towards a broad based coalition to wrestle power from the present APC government and that is what propelled my move to the ADC.
The issue of being the gubernatorial running mate of the ADC candidate is a matter of happenstance. At the time that I was already having the mind that one has to move to help in salvaging the country, there was substituted primaries of the ADC and having a person like John Nwosu as candidate of the party and his emergence gave more hope.
ADC is geared towards preparing itself for the governance of the country and showing the country the way forward. When I was approached to go for the position of a running mate of the party, I was initially hesitant but I made wide consultations and came to reason with the followership and I was advised to join the party as a running mate.
John Nwosu our candidate has been a tested businessman who has made a name in the private sector and the business community and he has what it takes to rescue our state from the APGA government in Anambra State.
The ADC appears to be the point of departure for that coalition, and that may have affected your decision…
I believe that if the coalition is actualised it will give strength to the ADC in Anambra State in the next election. I am convinced that if the coalition is consummate, Anambra will be a test state for the coalition and that is why one has to make that move towards having a formidable coalition for the good of our coun – try and Anambra in particular.
The coalition means hope for Anambra people and hope for a better Anambra State in the next four years. APGA and APC are one and the s a m e and they are now together which is indeed a sad commentary for politics and governance in our dear state and that is not in the best interest of the state and the country at large. But the ADC offers the opportunity for Anambra State to liberate itself from the situation that it has found itself at the moment.
John Nwosu has been around in Anambra politics but he is still seen as a greenhorn…
That is not correct because John Nwosu has been engaged in politics for long now since 2012 and has been contesting, only that he appears to be on the quiet side and he is not the noise making type like some other politicians. He works behind the scenes and operates quietly yet making great impacts.
I remember when his people in Nnewi chose him as their own gubernatorial candidate but he was asked to hold on due to the zoning arrangements of Anambra politics and true to his nature he stepped down for next election and now that it is turn of Anambra South he is today the candidate of the ADC contesting to win the election.
And it is my belief that working together will mean well for the state and I see that working and not just because of my being his running mate but because it is a formidable working team for the good of the state.
There is this pressure of discarding the electronic voting system and going back to the old ways of conducting election?
You see, sometimes one wonders the type of National Assembly members that we have in this country. People just sit there and take a position not about what concerns the good of the people but for their own interest.
You see a system that has been an improvement in what we have been doing before and instead of finding the solution to why those electronic gadgets are not working and correct it they want to take us back to the stone age and that is not good for the country. They should be thinking of how to get the electric system to work and not to discard the system.
Back to the coalition, do you think that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu can be removed when some governors are joining the APC?
The coalition is not for governors but for Nigerians, and when Peter Obi became governor how many governors did APGA have? APC had 22 governors , but they were only able to win 12 states in the election, so the governors are not the ones to decide the next general election but the people and what will earn him the respect is for him to ensure that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts free fair and transparent election and not to try to do things that are against the run of play.
CULLED FROM : New Telegraph
