From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Chief Basil Chukwuemeka Ejidike is the chairman of Anambra State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In this interview, he said that APC in the state is now more united than before to win the Anambra State 2025 governorship election.
He described the defection of Senators Ifeanyi Ubah and Uche Ekwunife as a big plus for the party.
He assured that the party would elect sellable and acceptable candidate after its primary election and somebody the party and state would be proud of to win the governorship election.
Excerpt:
I think you are not a visitor in Anambra State, you are resident here in the state, you know that APC of today is entirely new party altogether. We have moved from what it used to be as APC. As a matter of facts we have taken stocks and looking inward of what we have been doing and today we are better off. We have also set up investigative committees to look at our activities in the past, just to be able to identify our areas of weakness and areas of strength and cumulative results of all these investigative committees. Of course, that is what we are applying today. We have to identify the areas we needed to be restrengthened and areas we are sure we are very, very comfortable with and we are working on them. And more importantly is the fact that we are able to engender peace in the party because with peace and unity every result can be achieved. Today, APC in Anambra State tends to hold more meetings than any other political party in the state. And, of course, you appreciate the fact that the more we meet, the more we tend to tear down areas of difference. We are now beginning to appreciate and understand each other more. So, even the Bible tells us that the family that prays together tends to achieve more together. And putting that into focus we have been doing a lot that I think today we are more peaceful and with that peace I don’t think there is nothing we cannot achieve. So, we are set, the party today is different from what we used to have as the leaersdership of the party is a new APC and by the special grace of God come 2025 the result will be very, very clear in our favour.
Do you think that APC will produce sellable and acceptable candidate to challenge Governor Soludo and other political parties’ candidates?
Why not and, of course, it’s on record that as at today that any other political quantity in Anambra belongs to APC stock. What I am saying in essence is that most of the political gladiators in Anambra are of APC stock and we cannot have such a number or quantum and we will not be able to produce a sellable candidate that will effectively challenge the incumbent governor especially when we know he has not performed. We can only achieve that and I pray and hope we get over that hurdle that is our ability to conduct a free and fair primaries. Because one thing is to have these numbers of gladiators, another thing is to be able to be fair to all of them so that nobody will have need to grumble on any issue. So, my prayer is that this time around APC will be able to conduct a free, fair and transparent primaries so that at the end whoever emerges as the winner will know he won and whoever loses will know that he lost. And once we have primaries that’s transparent, something that’s open, something that’s acceptable to every aspirants, I’m of the opinion all of them will come together and work on a given purpose and that purpose is that is ensuring that APC flag will fly at Agu Awka Government House. So, I’m sure that APC will definitely bring somebody who is sellable, somebody who is acceptable, somebody Anambra will be very, very proud of and that person will effectively challenge and wrest power from the incumbent governor, there is no doubt about that.
The former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige recently alleged that there are factions in the state party, how true it is?
I’m laughing at this question, I don’t even want to waste my time on talking on none issue. You live here in Anambra State and relate with politicians and political parties and if something is broken you know it’s broken. Of course, you know that APC you know today is not the same APC you used to know, like I said we have metamorphosed to something bigger, something anybody can be very, very proud of. Well, I heard of that comment, but I’m surprised that Distinguished Senator Ngige would say that because that is figment of his imagination, which of course, can never come to bear. My brother if you are talking of a faction, you should be talking where we have two factions within a given political party. Like I said, last year alone 2023, APC in Anambra State had more than four stakeholders meeting in the state more than any political party had done. And to organize any stakeholders meeting it took the party not less than N8 million to organise one major stakeholders meeting in the state and we were able to have it up to four times. I mean that shows how serious we are and shows the strength of the party. And you are also aware that the party visited the National Chairman of the party and members of National Working Committee in Abuja just last month, December and we were also privileged to have four sitting governors in that meeting; governor of Imo, governor of Yobe, governor of Niger and governor of Kwara State, four of them were in that meeting when Anambra party executive came to visit the National Working Committee. And we were received and honoured. Apart from that, in December I received the National Chairman of the party when he came for one of his engagements precisely on December 22, 2023. So, he was in Anambra State and I was at the airport to receive him. On the same December 22, I was at the airport to receive the SGF, Sen. George Akume and on the December 23, I was also at the airport to receive the Vice President of Nigeria, Sen. Shittima. I wasn’t there to receive them as Basil Ejidike, I was there to receive them as chairman APC Anambra State, so where were other factions? The factional chairman would have come or join me to receive them. Also on December 2, 2023, I received Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Senator Uche Ekwunife, Rt Hon. Mike Uya, the former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly and John Nwokeji, I received them into APC and I received them as chairman of APC Anambra State. I’m also the coordinating chairman of APC in the South East. So, if I’m doing all these things where were other factions? So, there are certain issues you journalists should not bother to continue to highlight, when there is no issue, you want to create one, this is your own creation. So, somebody cannot woke up to say anything because he has freedom of speech, that’s his wish and you know it will never materialise. So, there is no faction in APC in Anambra State. APC in Anambra State is strong, united, stable and one indivisible entity and nobody can divide the party again this time.
How do you describe the defection of two bigwigs and political gladiators, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and Senator Uche Ekwunife into APC folds?
It is fantastic and fantabulous. As far as I’m concerned the defection of these two bigwigs into APC is good omen for the party. They are good market that anybody will want to associate with, so I’m happy to have them in our folds. You know APC is not the only party in Anambra State, but they chose to join APC, it is an indication that we are doing something. If we are nothing, nobody will want to deal or associate with nothingness and for the fact that they chose to work with us, it is an indication that we exist. And I want to say that I’m happy and one common thing we have with them, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and Senator Ekwunife is the desire of the state to move into the main stream politics. We are tired of opposition politics, it has never favoured us and it will never favour us. So, they are desirous Anambra getting into the centre as we are desirous of the state moving into the national grid. It is only when we get there that the real dividends of democracy will begin to trickle down. How many years has APGA been in power? Tell me any major development they brought here. Look at Ebonyi State, can you compare Ebonyi State and Anambra State today? Anambra is like a village in Ebonyi, is it not shameful? Because we chose to be in the opposition, APGA has not even graduated to be an opposition, it’s a marginalised opposition in opposition, in opposition and in opposition, it has no place. If you are talking of opposition party you talk of PDP. So, where is the place of APGA and that’s why anybody who is through with APGA will want to look for somewhere else to move forward, there is no root after Anambra and nobody wants to do that. I think we have suffered as a state and as a people. And Ifeanyi Ubah, Ekwunife and others understand the need for us to work very extensively to ensure that our people now move to the main stream politics come 2025 governorship elections.
What are your achievements so far as the state APC chairman?
Well, one major achievement as APC chairman is my party, but when you talk about achievements it’s not one man show, it’s a collective thing and you know that when the house is not suitable you hardly can move forward. As a party, we’ve been able to raise APC from the ashes of yesterday into a monumental edifice into something that is now becoming attractive to others. In other words, we have been able to unify the party, we have been able to stabilize the party. And it’s that unification and stability that is the attraction and we are able to attract notable politicians from other political parties to APC, just like you mentioned Senators Ifeanyi Ubah and Ekwunife they are known quantity and for them to be attracted that means we are doing something and I have also said that these days we have been able to hold meetings more often. If we are not united, if we don’t find comfort in coming together we will never want to hold a meeting. That’s why in some cases you find a situation where executives will go into office, for two, three, four years they refuse to hold meeting because they are afraid of coming together, but we meet more often because we now enjoy meeting each other knowing that there is strength in meeting. So, my brother, we raised the party from the abyss to the position of strength. We brought the unity, we brought the stability and the party is more attractive to people outside and we are now attracting more people than any other political party. APC today is the in-thing, if you are not talking about APC you can’t be talking of any other party, what else should be more than that. And again, let me also say that we are not resting on our oars, we are still working and I believe so much that the end justifies the means and that’s 2025.
How do you assess President Bola Tinubu’s administration so far? And what is your advice to the president on economic hardship and how to cushion the effect?
His achievements are wonderful. It is now we are beginning to talk of building a nation, it’s now we are beginning to initiate ideas that will lead the nation into something more sustainable. This is a situation where the president has on his own tried to move into areas his predecessors never wanted to go. The president is more courageous, foresighted, bold and he believes in facing the problem squarely. So, what I’m saying in essence is that with vision he has and given time because time heals every wounds. The fact that he has taken bold steps, ‘a situation a child is born and without crawling he has started running,’ don’t you discover it’s abnormal? So, he decided take Nigeria back to rudimentary things we ought to have done now which would have led us into something more reasonable and that’s the problem we are having because we skip a lot of things, we cannot skip them to achieve any height, no, you count one before you count two, if you count three without counting one and two, you still come back to count them and that’s what Mr. President is doing now. I think the only thing I will like Nigerians to do is to just give him time because all the bold steps and decisions he has taken will definitely need time to materialise and actualise. And when they are done the dividends will begin to trickle in and we will forget every pains. The president has started very wonderfully well, but the pains are there and I know that very soon it will fizzle out. For the hardship in the country, the president has started doing something to cushion the effect of the pains. You are aware of what he’s doing in Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to strengthen it to ensure he cushions the effects of the hardship in the country. He knows his onions, the only thing we need to do is to give him time. As for whether we are having difficulties, yes, we are, there is no doubt about that because it is now we are beginning to face the real nationhood building. Those things that we did not do before that would have seen or taken us to greatness are things we are now beginning to do today. So, taking us that back will have its effect, but if we cooperate and work with the president, knowing he knows and understands the terrain. He has been in Lagos as the governor and we can still remember what Lagos was when became the governor and what Lagos turned out after his tenure as governor. We hope he would be able to replicate what he did in Lagos as a president. But, he can only do that with our cooperation and with our understanding. We should give him the necessary support, the encouragement and work with him and understand with him that this is a project he cannot do it alone, it has to be done collectively and I think we will achieve good result at end of the day.
How would you describe the administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo in the last two years?
Well, for me I had expected more from the governor of Anambra State, Prof Soludo, knowing what he told us before coming onboard. I’m just beginning to ask myself whether he has forgotten the slogan of turning Anambra into a Dubai and now he has the opportunity two years is gone and we are still talking as if he has not started and that’s why I said he should do more. It’s not that he has been idle, but looking at the expectations that attended his coming one would have expected that by now a great difference would have been there for everybody to see. What bothers me most is the issue of insecurity in Anambra State. I thought issue of insecurity would have been a thing of the past, but it has not. Don’t mind the relative calm in the cities. It is only when you go into the hinterlands where the majority of the activities should be happening. You see during the festive period I didn’t go beyond Ogidi from Oraukwu my town, but my State Secretary had event at Ajali in Orumba the previous day two policemen were murdered at Uga junction and all rest of them. These are issues I thought would have been taken care of in the past two years. Those issues are insurmountable my brother. He needs to get down to business, the issue of insecurity worries me most because it’s only when we have security that we can talk of peace, peace of mind and peace of everything. It’s only peace that brings about stability, it’s only when you have peace and stability that you can talk of development, talk of investment. How many investors have been attracted into the state? None, because of lack of security. I want the governor to concentrate more on this issue of security, that’s where the work lies more. The moment you have development and investment coming in, opportunities will be opened, job would be there for our teeming youths and restivenss nature of the youths will subsides and at the end happiness will reign everywhere. So, I wanted to see a situation where the governor works very, very hard, but look at many police stations were torched some three years ago and up till today we have not heard of any of them being rebuilt. We now have the difficulty of people who have complaints, where to go to complain. Many police posts and stations burnt have not been rebuilt. The security vehicles that were burnt for the past three years have not been replaced, the ones they are using now were given to them by the Obiano’s administration. No communication gadgets, no logistics. So, how do you want these security agencies to operate, they will use their legs in chasing the criminals, they will be struggling with bare hands to pursue criminals? The governor should encourage the security agents for them to put their maximum, the morale is very, very low. I have interacted with a lot of them, they will tell you that the governor doesn’t want to assist them and they have families like you and I. The governor should do more.
What is your take on clampdown of street traders and some traditional rulers over bestowing of chieftancy title on Senator Ifeanyi Ubah?
Well, that’s what I’m saying being insensitive to the needs of the people. You see my brother, the time of politicking will come, this is time for governance. Whatever I’m saying now is not to criticise anybody, but to offer my humble suggestion as an indigene of Anambra State because if the state is good, it’s good for all. And my advice is that the governor should stop chasing shadows and face the real issue of governance. What is the essence of suspending a traditional ruler, what has he done? That he gave chieftaincy title. Two months before that, Vice President was given a chieftaincy title, National Chairman of APC was given a chieftaincy title and whole lot of others, what did he do? He would have suspended the traditional ruler as well. You see there are certain things as leaders we should live above. We should not be condescending all the time, it’s bad, it’s very unfortunate. I had expected more from somebody of his stature not just as a professor, but as a human being I respect. Being a professor doesn’t give you everything, but as a human being I’m surprised the way he behaves. Initially I thought Anambra has gotten it right, but from what I’m seeing I’m very disappointed, but wish him the best.
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