Just last Tuesday, Senator Emma Anosike was elected the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State. In this interview, he tells OKEY MADUFORO about his plans for the party and the coming general elections.
Your emergence as the Chairman indeed came as a surprise to some people in the party. How do you see it?
It is not a surprise given the fact that our party the APC has a constitution and guidelines for the conduct of the party congresses and that was what the party followed to the letter so there is no ambiguity over my emergence as the party Chairman.
These issues of consensus and basketing appear to be strange to party politics in Nigeria?
This is not strange at all because when the Constitution was written it did not have anyone or group of persons in mind and it was adhered to by the officials of the Congress Committee.
In our party the APC, it is not only delegate or direct Congress that is stipulated in the Constitution or guidelines, we also have consensus elections and any of them that are applied is admissible and legitimate to the party.
Remember on that day the representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were there to observe the process and they are conversant with the guidelines of our party for that.
On that day we saw a great number of people known as foundation PDP members and the old members of APC protesting?
I am not aware of any member of the PDP at the Congress because what I saw are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and not the PDP. Today, the APC is a political party to beat in Nigeria and people are keying in to be part of this Progressives movement and our party has received a large chunk of members from other political parties and the PDP is not an exception.
The people you are talking about are members of the APC and not PDP and go to their wards you would discover that they are card carrying members of the party in their respective wards. The issue of protest does not come in at this point because there were provisions for claims and objections and we had time frame for that and it is left for the committee concerned to brief us about any petition that was brought to their table.
Don’t you think that this might ignite another round of crisis?
No, the era of crisis in Anambra APC is gone and our party has come a long way for us to be dragged back to those years of internal wranglings. Some people need to know the history of this party, the APC.
It started with the Action Congress (AC) and later it grew to become the Action Congress of Nigeria the (CAN) when the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) merged with the AC and later the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) members led by the then Governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha,
also merged with the ACN and it became the All Progressives Congress (APC). So, all this while the party had moved on from strength to strength and today APC is the party in power and heading for a second term in office and you think that we shall remain neck deep in crisis.
How do you intend to check mate this looming crisis?
There is no looming crisis in our party and it is known to us all that my mission as the state Chairman of the APC in Anambra State is to sustain the tempo and growth of the party and there are no members of the party or stakeholders that I do not know one on one.
So, anyone dreaming or feeling that my emergence as Chairman of the party would cause problems is missing the point.
I have been around the politics of Anambra State and the country at large so there cannot be a crisis under my watch. I have been interfacing with members and stakeholders of our party at various levels and the response has been far reaching and we are indeed making inroads as a matter of fact.
The 2027 general election is around the corner and the performance of APC in the last gubernatorial election appears to be the yardstick to measure what would happen?
No two elections are the same and you cannot use the last gubernatorial election or the rerun election to judge what would happen next year.
Our party is fully prepared and more emboldened by the emergence of this new executive and we shall make a difference.
Bear in mind that our President Ashiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu is going for second term in office and this is no child’s play at all and we are poised towards delivering him 100 per cent.
There can’t be a crisis in our party when many people are joining our party here in Anambra and don’t forget that we have six members of the state House of Assembly who last year dumped their parties to join APC. So, it has become clear that the APC is the beautiful bride and every suitor wants her hand in marriage.
But APGA is in the governing party in Anambra State?
It depends on what you mean by being in charge in Anambra State. This is because we the APC are in control at the National level and that is what counts at the end of the day. In a democracy the party at the center is what matters and that party is the APC.
We also have the ADC which is an emerging political force in the country?
You see when aggrieved people meet, they seem to share the same belief but the issue is that when it comes to who becomes the presidential candidate of the party you will now find out how they are an emerging political force in the country.
They would be busy discussing positions and who becomes a candidate and at the end of the day you would surely find out that there is no force in that party.
What happens to the zoning arrangements in that party? What happens when some political blocks in the party lose out of the power play? You would surely see them crash because the spirit of sportsmanship would not be displayed.
You appear certain that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu would return in 2027?
Not that Tinubu would return but that Nigerians would reelect him for a second term in office. Go and understudy the economic template of his administration, go through his policies in infrastructural development and you would discover that that Mr. President have done well and the issue is that he told Nigerians the truth about the state of affairs in our country and had urged us to join him in his journey of total restoration and that is where the Renewed Hope Ambassadors came from. Again how many states are in opposition today? That is where you would derive this victory from.
For us in the South-East and Anambra State in particular it is hundred percent and not the usual 25 per cent spread that we always talk about. And in the driving force of the Renewed Hope Agenda is Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Governor of Imo State. He has shown so much interest as the rallying point of the APC in the South-East and he has remained the point of departure for us here in the South-East.
His leadership qualities are such that carries all and sundry along being a good spirited party man and his connectivity has been one that has remained a binding force for us as a party and above all he is the vanguard of that Renewed Hope Ambassadors.
The South-East has gained so much from the administration of Tinubu and when you take a tour of the five states in the area you can agree with me that we are better off than before.
Again, with our brother, Engr Dave Umahi as the Minister for Works, you can see what is happening to our road Infrastructure in the South-East and that is to our own advantage. So, we in Igboland have no reason whatsoever not to vote for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the coming election.
