As the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) heads for the polls in Anambra, the Chairman of the party in the United Kingdom Chief Richard Udgochukwu Ilorah spoke to Okey Maduforo on the prospects of the party in the South East. Excerpts:

You were at the gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressives Grand Alliance. What informed that?
Yes, I came home purposely for the primary election of APGA. I am at home because I have retired from active service and will be here to make sure that APGA is returned to the Government House in Awka, and we are working towards that.

How has the party been thriving in the United Kingdom?

Well, I don’t want to go so far as you know the current Chief Of Staff to the governor of Anambra was chairman of APGA in the United Kingdom, and last two Saturdays we had primary election and I came with two of my members from the United Kingdom and we had our accreditation of delegates. It is the foundation that the former Chairman laid that we are following, and I wish to tell you that our party has come to stay.

We were in touch with the party at home even during the tenure of the immediate past National Chairman of the party; we visited him and worked with him to the success of our party.
Our impact in APGA at home here has been impressive and we have more chapters of APGA even when the party was in control of three states in the South East like Imo and Abia but unfortunately APGA has one state now which is Anambra.

But the target now is to take control of the five states of the South East geopolitical zone and that is possible with what Gov Charles Soludo is doing.

People are now convinced that APGA is the party for Ndigbo and there is no better party than APGA .

And most of these states like Abia, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu will soon become APGA states in no distant time.

You made a valid point going by what you said but what happens in the case of Presidential and National Assembly elections

Definitely, if we have APGA in the five states and possibly make inroad into Akwa Ibom and Cross River and Rivers or Bayelsa, we as a party would surely make great impacts at the general election.

But our elections in Nigeria can be funny and I do not really want to go deep into it but truth be told, it is nothing to write home about.

You do your work according to your conscience but there some people that do not have conscience.

They just go in and write the results and whatever it is, they would be declared winners.

But if things are done the right way, with the example of what Soludo has done in Anambra state and everything is done right, APGA will emerge victorious and by then other states in the old Eastern Region will be APGA from the local government level to the House of Assembly to governor to the National Assembly and to the Presidency.

If things can be done the right way, APGA can go for Presidency and win but you know the Nigerian factor and what it represents.

I am a Nigerian we still have a long way to go when it comes to the Presidential election but that of governorship, House of Assembly and National Assembly, we can get there .

You are going to see our impact you are going to see what we will do in the fortcoming election because we are prepared especially here in Anambra State.

APGA United Kingdom has always produced somebody at the government house and very soon maybe we are looking at somebody from APGA UK becoming the next governor after Soludo and we know it is possible and it can work in view of what we have done so far.

We in APGA United Kingdom have strong structures on the ground both abroad and at home and we have that capacity to deliver any candidate, be it governorship or other elections.

I am from Ufuma in Orumba North local government area and we have Ufuma 1 and Ufuma 2 and when Peter Obi was handing over to Willie Obiano during that election, I came home to do my best to make sure that my party returned to the government house and we succeeded. And I have not retired but now I am free and I have come home to deliver APGA, and of course deliver Gov Charles Soludo as a second term governor.

The primaries have come and gone and the candidates have emerged, what is giving you that confidence?

Last two Saturdays that we had our primary election, so we are now talking about not only winning the 21 local government areas but the 326 electoral wards in Anambra, and no ward would be left out this time around.

That also includes the wards of those contesting election in other political parties because what Soludo has done so far cuts across all the electoral wards in the state.

So, whether Soludo will be returned or not is not the issue. You can see what is happening in the APC and the internal crisis that is in that party and you think that they will win.

Even in the Labor Party, there are still internal issues within the party and we learnt that they seem to have two candidates which may end up in the court. The Peoples Democratic Party is also having its own problems and who are the candidates by the way?

There is no challenges before Soludo and if there is that opening for someone to go for the third term I think Anambra people will also vote for him again.

Go around the state and you can see for yourself what Soludo has done so far.

Before now, when I travel through Ekwulobia before I get to my house in Ufuma, it used to take me like two hours but today under 20 minutes I can travel from Ufuma to Awka due to the new road that leads us from Amansea in Awka South local government area through Ndiukwunu to Ufuma.

When you see something good appreciate it and go to places like Ekwulobia, inside Awka Capital roads and the one that comes from Amawbia to Ekwulobia which used to be one lane and it has been dualized and same is happening from Ogbaru local government to Ozubulu in Ekwusigo local government area and connecting Nnewi North and South local government areas as well as the one that is being linked up from Agulu in Anaocha local government area passing through Neni and Adazi to Nnobi and Nnewi. So, who is the candidate that will compete with Gov Soludo?
Around Awka here I stopped over for some minutes and I saw and inspected the fun City.

We had our leaders in the past like late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, late Odumegwu Ojukwu, late Dr Micheal Opkara and they are being remembered for what they did and their contributions to the growth and development of Igbo land and that is the way Soludo would be remembered in this election and even after serving out his tenure as governor of Anambra State.
There some people that will not be remembered for anything good and history will always be the judge.

But we have heard stories of elections in other states and a lot happened by arm twisting the electorate?

I have addressed this before; you only have such a thing where you have someone that is not doing well and has nothing to show for the four years in office and not someone that has overtaken other governors that had served in Anambra State.

There are people in opposition there but here, opposition is very weak because they do not have anything to hold on to to campaign against the governor.

So the opposition here is not formidable at all, they do not have bite, and don’t forget that recently a lot of people in the opposition dumped their party to join APGA. That tells you that the government house Awka is not vacant.

That thing that will happen so that we go to court and the powers that be up there will now come in with their federal might cannot and will not happen in Anambra.

The results will be very clear and nobody can rig it because it will be too difficult to manipulate.

I know people are planning dirty but it will not work here and they already know that it will not work.

Among party faithful, there are some complaints, although he is providing infrastructure…

How do you empower human beings? Look at the free education that he introduced in Anambra State from basics to Senior Secondary School 3 and that is how to empower people. Look at One Youth Two Skills Initiative of the governor where thousands of youths had been engaged with something meaningful and some of them have become employers of labour and they are on their own feeding themselves and their families.

You don’t expect the governor to go about sharing money to people, that is not governance at all.

When they give you money and go to celebrate by now the money must have finished and you are hungry again and you wait for next four years to collect another money and you call that Empowerment?

In fact if they give them money they should collect the money because it is our money that they stole from us but then go there and vote for the right person, after all it is secret ballot and when you vote for the right person you are sure of feeding for the next four years and even beyond.