…says party leadership in Anambra’ll no longer tolerate recklessness of members
As the APC in Anambra State concludes its primaries, Sen Emma Anosike spoke with OKEY MADUFORO on the readiness for the 2027 general elections in the area.
Since this week you have held primary elections at all levels what is your impression so far?
Well you’ll agree with me that there is a great departure from the usual things that happen in our party in Anambra. Without prejudice to the past executives of the party, what has happened so far in our party under my watch is a different kittle of fish given the fact that the primary elections have been successful and transparent.
So far, we have not had any issue of protests though we are not there yet. The primary for the Federal House of Representatives went well, although there were some hitches which were also corrected. You can see for yourself that the party is being taken to another level.
Some members of your party were expelled before the primary elections; what actually happened?
Yes the party is supreme and in the Constitution of this country there is no provision for independent candidate, so if you want to contest election you must be sponsored by the party hence you must subject yourself to the party and its leadership.
In the case of those expelled, our party’s constitution stipulates that if a member takes the party to court, he or she stands expelled and it also has a caveat that states that one must exhaust all avenues for the resolution of the problem within the party first before going to court . But in this case there were no petitions before the party’s disciplinary committee for conflict resolution and they headed straight to court.
As far as our constitution is concerned, it is expulsion. It also has a proviso which says that the member must first withdraw the suit in the court first before the matter would be looked into within the party but the suit are still pending before the courts, hence they remain expelled.
Gone are those days were illegality and indiscipline had been the order of the day; we as a political party would no longer tolerate such recklessnes and rascality in Anambra APC. This is one of the steps towards restoring the party and setting it on winning ways. The next general elections would be the chance of the party towards stamping its strength in Anambra State.
Last time there was this online party registration of members; we would like to know how it went?
Essentially the party is poised to know our numerical strength and to know who are the real party members. The newly amended Electoral Act provides the much needed platform for that and the party leveraged it during the last registration process.
With what we have already in the custody of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), we are good to go.
The number has doubled greatly and it is not a question of making estimations. You covered our three primary elections and you saw for yourself the crowd of members who came out to vote; the option A4 had also helped matters.
So when the party sweeps the three elections nobody would raise eyebrows about the figures or the strength of the party. With the huge membership and the response to the primary elections, you will agree with me that no political party can challenge the strength of our party in the coming elections.
Other political parties appear to be singing the same song of confidence; would it be the mother of all wars?
What we are going into is an election and this is a democratic process so it is not a question of the mother of all wars. First of all we are all Anambra people before politics; so it is a brotherly thing and the contest is expected to be healthy. Again we have implicit confidence in INEC to do the needful and be fair to all: so going by this premise, we, as APC, are sure of victory.
But there are fears that being the ruling party in Nigeria, the government that appointed INEC Chairman you may compromise the process?
The fears should not come in at this point because the Nigerian electorate are wiser now, they would always consider the pedigree of those contesting and what the political parties have done for the masses.
You know that when people or parties begin to entertain these fears, let it be known to you that they are afraid of losing the elections or that they are not prepared.
For us in APC, we are ready and set to win all the Federal House of Representatives, Senate and State Assembly seats in Anambra because we have nominated candidates with proven Integrity and pedigree.
Are you ruling out the ruling APGA in Anambra State as well as the NDC which is trending now?
The masses, that is the electorate, have that duty and constitutional power to decide, and if they choose APC and reject APGA and NDC it is their choice and you cannot take it away from them.
In the case of the NDC that you claim is trending, we shall meet them at the polling units on the day of the elections.
Don’t forget that with the huge membership of our party in Anambra State, if they all vote on that day the election would have been won by 50 percent. I bet you that we shall also battle for the other 50 percent and that tells you that we are coasting to victory.
How about the Presidential election where there has been campaigns against the second term ambition of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu?
First of all, Mr President is a realist and he did not come in to begin to paint words; he had to tell Nigerians the way it is, the state of affairs of our country. This made his administration to face those challenges fully.
Don’t forget the state of our economy before now and when you compare it with the present situation you will discover that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is indeed doing pretty well and should be commended.
When you study and investigate the state of our infrastructure, you can see that the South East is better off than before. Visit any part of South East and see for yourself what the regime of Tinubu is doing.
Anambra State is even among the highest beneficiaries in term of road networks, and our brother His Excellency Engr Dave Umahi the Minister for Works is in charge. Go to Imo State and see what the APC government under the leadership of Governor Hope Uzodimma is doing. Francis (Nwifuru) of Ebonyi State and Peter Mbah of Enugu State are also doing marvelously well.
And at the national level, APC is working; go to the other parts of the country, the APC in the states is doing well for their people. That is in the character of our party and that is why the agenda for the second term election of Tinubu is Renewed Hope.
But when you look at the rush to the NDC, are you not worried?
It is not all about the rush but how many of them have voters card?
Last election we had similar rush to the Labor Party and at the end how many of them had voters card and took out time to go and vote?
These are the issues and once you cannot vote, how do you actualise your dream of voting for your preferred candidates. You can see that those candidates that won under Labor Party did not waste time in defecting to APC; which shows that they know the party that Nigerians are craving for.
Today Labor Party is no longer the party that they want but the APC. The rush to NDC would certainly end up the same way; that idea of joining the NDC to ride on the back of some names to win would not play out in the 2027 general elections.
NDC zoned their Presidential ticket to the South and to do one term…
Apparently it is the turn of the South and we have a Southerner in power, so they just chose to play to the gallery because the North knows the zoning arrangements. However it is one thing to make a promise and another thing to keep to it.
There are several promises made out of desperation that were never kept. Well we, the APC, will meet them on the election day and Nigerians would choose between an incumbent that is already covering a lot of mileage both in governance and in politics and one that is making promises that the voters are not even sure that they can keep.
You don’t change a winning team at the middle of a football match because they are on course. Nigerians know it and can count on the regime of President Tinubu. The election is already a done deal because Nigerians are desirous of re-electing us in the 2027 general elections.
