‘Abuja-based APC chieftains causing problem in Imo’

Uche Nwosu, former Chief of Staff to Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, was elected as governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). But, the result of the primary is yet to be affirmed by the APC National Executive Committee (NEC). In this interview with reporters in Owerri, the state capital, the politician says he was validly elected as flagbearer. OKODILI NDIDI was there.

The APC National Publicity Secretary has said that the party is yet to decide on the governorship candidate in Imo State, despite the fact that you were declared winner by the Primary Election Committee, led by Ibrahim Agbabiaka…

There is no contention to my victory at the Imo State governorship primary. Probably, the Publicity Secretary was not well informed. What we have in the records is that the governorship candidate of APC in Imo State is Uche Nwosu. Not only that, I have a valid Court Order barring the party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from receiving any other name that is not my name.

 There is no contention in that. The only primary that was upheld was that of Agbabiaka, which I won and everybody knew it was the authentic primary. The earlier primary that was to be conducted by Ahmed Gulak  was cancelled and disbanded and a new committee was reconstituted. Gulak never conducted any governorship primary. The only primary that was done in Imo State was the one conducted by Agbabiaka which I won so I think the Publicity Secretary should go back to the records”.

There is this allegation that the party wants to adopt another procedure in picking the governorship candidate, despite the result of the primary. Will you accept this?

I don’t think the issue of substituting me as the authentic governorship candidate will arise, because it will amount to sending the wrong signal to the public and telling them that we are undemocratic. When you have an election that was democratically done and you are trying to do another thing, I don’t think that will happen. I still have confidence in our National Chairman, Adams Oshiomole to do the right thing.

 It is just like a general election and somebody won and you declare another person as the winner, which cannot be done. So the person that won has been declared winner and that is me and certificate has been given to me and my name has been submitted so I don’t think our National Chairman will do anything in the contrary. I am sure that by November 2 all these will be laid to rest and my name will be in INEC, already my name is already in INEC as we speak if you go to INEC the name you see is my name, because from INEC reports it is my name that is there.

There is also the insinuation that most of those that contested the governorship primary with you were sponsored by other political parties to cause confusion in the APC?

Of course, this is true, many of them were in the PDP they just came over to the APC, you know this is politics, some are being sponsored by elements in PDP and APGA to come and cause disaffection in APC. Remember that we have being one big family since APC came on board in Imo State, we don’t have rancor but when other parties came we started having problems, most of them are being sponsored. Most of them cannot win their booths, talk less of winning their wards in a general election. 

But what I tell them is that APC still remains one big family and no amount of distraction will stop the APC under the leadership of Owelle Rochas Okorocha from winning elections, most importantly the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari who we have made up our mind to support and be with him until after his second tenure. So those who think that their coming to APC is to destroy the  party and make it look a like a crisis prone party I have one thing to tell them, they should go back and ask themselves if APC is like those parties they are coming from, APC is a party that is built on justice and peace and rule of law and the party under the leadership of Owelle Rochas Okorocha will win the state in 2019.

Do you still see the APC winning the election with all these  conflicts?

I am very much confident of winning the 2019 governorship election. My popularity did not start the day I decided to run for the governorship election. I have been with the people, I have been with the masses, I have been with the youths, I have been with the women. Even when I was a Commissioner and when I was a Chief of Staff, it is not a matter of days, not like these Abuja based politicians  who just come in and start moving around, but the people know me and the issue is about who is on ground and who is with the people.

The question our party should be asking is, do we want to win this election and how do you win a general election. Of course, you must have the people with you and you must make sure that the people also believe in you and not about staying in Abuja and making all the noise while the people does not know you because you are not on ground. 

I have asked these people to come back home and organize a rally and let me also organize my own  and let us judge by the turn out, who is truly on ground and who is more popular, who don’t win elections on Television or on the pages of newspaper, elections are done in the villages and Wards and not on Television, elections are not done in hotel rooms in Abuja either, they are done in the state, I challenge them to come to the state and prove their popularity, this is where I am coming from. I am not talking about being an Abuja politician.

Do you actually have any doubt about the ability of the leadership of your party to do the right thing on the issue of the governorship candidate of APC in Imo State?

I don’t think the party will do anything contrary because it is very clear that I am the candidate of APC. But, where I disagree with the party is on the issue of automatic ticket. Most of our people were short changed, people like Kingsley Uju, Prof Nnamdi Obiareri and Paschal Obi, who were very popular with the people, and you substitute them with people who cannot win election, I don’t think they know very well that most of these people are unpopular because on the day of the election, NWC is not going to come to the state deliver the candidates, it is left for we the people in the state and the masses to  deliver the candidates, these are the things the party needs to weigh in before taking any decision that may  affect the chances of the party. 

Let the party set up a fact finding committee to go to those places and get the facts come back and analyse it, call a stakeholders meeting before taking any decision, because any decision taken without first going to the rural areas to get the actual facts will amount to a fatal error because I wonder how these people are going to win election. What we need are popular and acceptable candidates who can win elections for the party and not by sentiments”.

You have been in the fore front of the campaign for President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection in the Southeast on the ground that he will hand over to the Southeast in 2023, but Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola contradicted recently by saying that power will return to the Southwest after Buhari’s second tenure in 2023. How do you explain that?

Let me tell you that this is politics and in politics anybody can say whatever he like to say but believe me in 2023, power will return to the Southeast. In politics, politicians use everything to lure voters but our case is different, the Southeast by the special Grace of God will definitely produce the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023 but one thing I want to ask of the people of the Southeast is let them come out enmasse and vote for President Muhammadu Buhari. Time has gone when we should put all our eggs in one basket because the only way we can achieve this 2023 is to show that we are with President Buhari and I have no doubt whatsoever that we are not going to get it in 2023.

Many APC members in your state are threatening to dump the party, if the anomalies trailing the primary are not corrected, especially the substitution of candidates. What is your advice?

My advice to our National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, is for him to ignore those Abuja-based politicians because they are not popular and cannot win elections for the party. In 2011, these people were in their party, the PDP. Owelle Rochas Okorocha defeated them, including Hope Uzodinma and all of them that have come into APC now. He defeated them with their then incumbent governor, Ikedi Ohakim. In 2015, the same Hope Uzodinma was in PDP and we defeated them again so I don’t think there is any magic they can do in Imo state to take power from Rochas Okoroch. 

I beg our NWC not to make any mistake of listening to those who call themselves Abuja politican, Owelle Rochas Okorocha remains the APC leader in Imo State and in the Southeast, in the 2015 general elections, no state in the Southeast got up to 100 thousand votes for President Buhari it is only in Imo state he got above 150 thousand votes. The party should not make the mistake of believing those who are not popular, we have a very big task at hand and again the party should call the National Publicity Secretary to order. Calling serving governors names and referring to them as bad losers is a bad omen, it is an insult to the party, nobody can do this in other political parties, the leadership of the party should call him to order.

 What he should have done is to call the governors and leadership of the party to a meeting because now I don’t know if he is trying to build the party or to destroy the party. I am also appealing to the leader of the party, President Buhari, to call a meeting of the governors and APC stakeholders to resolve these issues because we don’t have time. We should not joke with this our election, it is important to the masses, it is important to the country, it is important to continue with the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, we should not joke with our chance."

(FNTV)