APC’ll Soon Rule In All States Of South East – Umenzekwe

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State and member, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) board, Chief Modestus Umenzekwe, in this interview, talks on Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the new Electoral Act, among other issues. FELIX NWANERI reports

President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. What does that portend for the nation’s democracy?

One thing with Nigerians is that we are always in a hurry. I have taken time to observe President Buhari, which, if you could remember, in one of his addresses to the nation, he said ‘I am a slow person, but I will get there but Nigerians did not understand him.

The President is a very meticulous person, very careful, he takes time to study whatever is presented before him, and once you start giving him pressure, he starts being careful in order to understand why that pressure is coming. From my own understanding of Mr. President, he doesn’t like pressure. So, the hullabaloo about amendment bill, protests and all that were unwarranted because the President is a true democrat.

He wants democracy and you can see it from his actions. Whenever there is a coup outside Nigeria, he would always condemn the military attack and all that, and like our people keep insinuating, maybe he has something in mind. He has said it times without number that he has no need for tenure elongation or to stay longer than necessary in office.

So, when people make all these noises and protests, I am baffled. I knew he would sign the bill but he wanted to study it. Some people think that the President doesn’t read; he reads a lot. Even though he has experts around him, he must read painstakingly. So, he took time to read the provisions of the bill and he did that within the time frame provided by the law.

I congratulate him, I congratulate Nigerians, I congratulate the National Assembly and its leadership. They have done marvelously well and you can see the synergy between both Houses. The National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council are working as partners in progress and you can see the way we are moving, budgets are passed, if there is any reason for an amendment, they always come together to handle it. That is not what we used to have in the past, when there was a lot of rancour because the opposition thought that they were in charge. Whatever the President did they punctured it but you can see the way things are running smoothly now and we are making progress, with development being noticed in almost every part of the country.

Before the President’s assent, members of the opposition and civil society groups were of the view that anything short of signing the bill into law is a pointer that the APC is plotting to rig the 2023 presidential election. What do you say to them now?

If they insinuated that, then let them apologise to the President, the APC government and makers of that bill because the President had no slightest intention not to sign it. If you observe him very well, he is a very calm person. When you insinuate wrongly, the onus is on you to apologise, so that we can move forward.

How would you assess Buhari’s cabinet vis a vis achievements of his administration?

I will say that Buhari’s united cabinet is a good legacy; the cabinet is one. I have always commended Buhari’s style of leadership and the way he has kept his house in order. Yes, during meetings they may disagree, which is normal, but at the end, you see them going the same direction. So, Buhari has done well by making sure that his team is intact.

Even if there was a need for changes, those changes are made without rancour or bitterness. From time to time, you see the President making sure that things do not go haywire. All the ministers listen to him and he listens to them. The APC administration has achieved a lot and there is no doubt that it has outclassed 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Rail lines are being constructed in almost every part of the county because Buhari gave a marching order that the 36 states of the federation must be linked by rail.

I believe they are going to achieve this before they leave office. Even if they don’t achieve it, it will between 90 and 95 per cent completion and by the time APC wins in 2023, Buhari’s successor will continue from where he stopped.
Look at our roads, if not for APC, like Buhari said, everybody would be trekking from one city to the other. He has used the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to achieve that. The workaholic minister is there, doing what he knows how to do best even when his training is not in Engineering but in Law. Look at the Second Niger Bridge; it gives me joy anytime I am passing that route. It is my state and I normally drive to that place to see things for myself.

Don’t you think that such cooperation between the executive and legislature is not working against the interest of the masses who expect robust debate on issues?

We have seen wholesale approval of loans requests by the executive without scrutiny on the side of the lawmakers… Are you not seeing what they are doing with the loans? Are you not seeing development throughout the country? Why did they disagree on the Electoral Bill if it has always been that smooth? I said it from the beginning that they argue but they are united. You see, the pull him down syndrome is not there because each and every one of them wants this country to move forward. When you are outside, you will be criticizing but when you get into that place, you will realise that it is another world. I said in one of my publications that it is what Buhari met when he came into office that caused his illhealth and nobody has refuted it. He came in and met what he never expected, he nearly ran away, but as a courageous man and as a military man, he summoned courage and today, he has pulled us out of the woods and people are outside there talking.

Let’s talk about your state Anambra; some people say the APC has no place in the state; what are you doing to make sure that the party wins the state in no distant time?

We are working seriously to make sure that APC wins Anambra State and in the near future you will see it come to pass. Things are the way they are now because the people believe so much in APGA, they hold tenaciously to it, so they don’t see mistakes. I won’t say they are wrong or right, but all I know is that APC has made inroads in the entire South-East, Anambra inclusive. There is this wrong impression that APC is a Fulani or Hausa party. All the parties, APGA, PDP and the other political parties, they are all Igbo parties, they are all Hausa parties, they are all Yoruba parties, and therefore they are all Nigerian political parties. If any of the parties is owned by a particular tribe, why are people talking about zoning? You go to Abuja, you see an Igbo man contesting for local council there, you come to Lagos, you see Igbo people contesting, so what is happening is normal in any true democratic setting and APC is working to make sure the next thing now is to win Anambra and even the entire South-East and it will happen in no distant time.

What is your take on the incoming administration in Anambra State?

Party filiation aside, do you think the Governor-elect, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, has what it takes to do well? I want to thank you for saying political party affiliation apart. The much I know about Soludo; he is an intellectual giant but that is the much I can say. He is not poor in administration, so I believe he will perform, taking into consideration his track records, what he has done in the past and his work at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). During the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo when he introduced the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), the programme worked. So, I think he will bring those things to bear in the development of Anambra State. I believe he will do something irrespective of political party.

Do you think that Ndigbo are making a rightful demand by asking that they be allowed to produce the next president in 2023?

I am an Igbo man, so anything that will benefit the Igbo, I won’t be against it. My take in all these things is that whether it is right or not, let there be a handshake across that Niger. We need negotiation with other tribes to achieve that. So, if an Igbo man becomes the president, it is not a crime; I will support that wholeheartedly. But let’s watch and see where the political parties are heading to. They are talking about zoning and all that. Let’s see where they are zoning the presidency to before we take up the matter but I will be glad if an Igbo man becomes the president of Nigeria come 2023 because it will usher in reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. It will also be a welcome development but what I don’t like, be it Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba, is violence and inflammatory statements. I am a calm politician, who believes in dialogue, ability to convince people to agree in what I am saying and not attacking someone unnecessarily, so I believe that with organised dialogue Ndigbo will get the presidency.