Sir Ifeanyi Eleje is the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South in the 2023 general elections. In this interview with PAUL OKAH, he speaks on what he refers to as the lack of quality representation in the Senate, why Afikpo North has been in darkness for over 10 years, as well as the solution to the country’s dire security situation and other issues.
Why did you declare interest to represent Ebonyi South in the Senate come 2023?
The basic thing is that representation in my view involves a lot of bridge-building and engagement of your colleagues. I didn’t see it in the representation we were having in the last eight years. You can’t be a representative of the people and you operate as a fringe person. You must be able to stand in a public gathering. However, I didn’t just get up and decided to run. My people have been urging me to run for several years and I decided to listen to them this time. Also, the APGA Governorship candidate in Ebonyi state, Prof. Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh, came to visit me on four occasions and I shared his views and visions of what he wants to do in the state. It struck me that this man had clear ideas of challenges in the state and of what I also see as solutions. I shared his concerns for the future of the young people in Ebonyi state. I said I would like to be part of the solution. I had to travel abroad and consult with my family. It was when I came back that I agreed to run. I won the primaries and that’s where we are now.
Why did you opt for APGA as the platform to realise your ambition?
The first thing is that there is a culture in the so-called traditional political parties. I have been both a member of PDP and APC and can boldly speak about them. I worked with and campaigned for Senator Emmanuel Agboti. I also campaigned for David Umahi to become the governor in 2015, as it was the turn of Ebonyi South to produce a governor. When he came on board and he had the momentum on his side, we all joined to campaign for him. After he came on board, after some time, we felt he was drifting away from what we felt should be. Let me use computer terminology to explain. Hardware is good, but software is better. If you build proper software, the hardware comes naturally. In Umahi’s case, yes, it is good to build bridges, but there must be people who have capacity to buy cars for the bridges to be enjoyed, otherwise only mad people will be using it as places to sleep under.
So, there was a gradual erosion of confidence in the direction of governance in the state. In order not to dissuade the governor, a lot of us didn’t criticise him openly, but we were watching, especially as he was in his second term. Some of us hoped that somebody who would change the trajectory would come on board. Having been in both the APC and PDP, I know that the culture there is like a closed club. There are some people that are deliberately prevented from getting a platform because it changes the narrative in the place. You see, primary elections are important in a democracy. But when the processes of primary elections are flawed or skewed to exclude certain people, then you can never throw up your best. That is one! APGA offered that platform.
Second, we have seen over the years that it is important for any group of people to have a fallback position in the political situation. The South-west has used it very effectively. The potentials the West exudes today are their ability to consolidate under AD and AC of those days, because when they have a unified block, others could seek them for partnership. It is not like that in the South East. Some of us are thinking, with somebody like Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo emerging as governor in Anambra under APGA, somebody like Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe joining APGA and others in Igbo land, we will get it right. Prof Odoh himself is projecting in the direction that people hope can come on board and rescue the people of Ebonyi.
In totality, APGA is an alternate party for the Igbo people. And those who have deliberately been blocked by the traditional parties are finding a platform in APGA. It is important to remind you at this stage that Peter Obi of the Labour Party was produced by APGA. All the credentials that threw him into limelight were as the governor of Anambra under APGA. The difference is that the APGA platform, even as it is, does not suffocate the candidate it brings out.
In the PDP, when you emerge as a candidate, the party structure is so overwhelming. They tell you who will be commissioner this or that. The candidate doesn’t have the freedom to exude confidence and direction. But in APGA, there is that flexibility. Obi was able to use it and his personality showed forth. That has propelled him to where he is. So, some of us think that APGA is a more defining platform for somebody who wants to showcase what he can do.
Do you believe APGA can dislodge APC and PDP in Ebonyi?
I don’t see why not. Let’s face it, for now, the two parties are enmeshed in crises, right from the national down to local levels. Look at the APC inauguration of appointed local government chairmen. You can’t run an election for only one party. It is not an election but an appointment. After the appointment, there was a ceremony in an open field as an investiture. There has been a lot of disenfranchisement and there was a charade in Abakaliki that the people have been sworn in, but that remains to be seen as there are still potential court orders.
Coming to the party itself, you can even see that in the published list by INEC, it is unheard of that you will list a contestant as a court order. It is a disclaimer by INEC. Nevertheless, we have a purposeful team canvassing for issues and engaging people on contending issues, not on personalities or being cantankerous, but staying on issues that are affecting the people.
How do you hope to beat other candidates in the race, considering they are in popular parties?
Without mincing words, if you look at the Labour Party candidate, who has been in the House of Representatives, Linus Abaa Okorie, who is from Onicha LGA, the candidate of the APC, Umahi, who is on the list by court order, is from Uburu in Ohaozara LGA, the governorship candidate of the PDP is also from Onicha. So, Ohaozara and Onicha are contentious areas. These people have their own abilities and capacities, but I don’t want to talk about them. I want to talk about myself and things I have done in my personal capacity and resources that benefit the people. I am not looking for a physical empire. I believe that the empire of the future is the empire of the mind.
So, I am really trying to recreate what I have in mind for my people, where the young people do not find Okada riding as a job after graduating from the university. So, I will not encourage people by coming to give them Okada. You will be encouraged if somebody should graduate from the university and all you can think of to do for him is to ride Okada. It is so bad that you cannot leverage your position to bring institutions around your area from where these people can seek the starting point. We know senators that have put up bills for federal government institutions to be established in their areas. We know that there are job opportunities, that because of oversight functions of National Assembly members, they have privy and opportunity to put forward. But we know that some of these people, because of want of personal aggrandisement, they trade and exchange some of these opportunities for personal gains. We must rise against that. If you want to run for a public office and you didn’t have your personal house and suddenly you have an estate, what it means is that you traded your influence and office for personal gains.
INEC has said over 7m people didn’t complete their PVC registrations; what’s your take on that?
I am happy that it is getting a lot of attention in the public space. I liken it to somebody arriving at the bank that closes at 4:00pm and he gets into the banking hall by 10 minutes to 4pm. He is already in the banking hall and you say you will not attend to him. Anybody who has keyed in to register by any of the available means, that registration should be taken to conclusion. That is the only way INEC can maintain their integrity. It is a disenfranchisement if you don’t give them the chance to complete their registration. You must give them the chance and you must follow up. You must do proper sensitisation to ensure they collect their PVCs.
What do you think is the solution to insecurity that is threatening the country’s existence?
With regards to insecurity in Nigeria, if we are able to have credible elections and people believe in the processes and outcomes, people will be willing to give elected people some time to see if they will be willing to engage the problems that pervade the whole place. If you recall, when Buhari was first elected, Nigeria was so peaceful because people were willing to give him the chance, because they believed that he is a veteran, an incumbent. He came with credentials, a general, non-corruptible; people said let’s give him a chance. I am sure you still recall his body language. People were willing to wait. For almost six months, he did not appoint a cabinet. What that tells you is that Nigerians are willing to support leadership they believe in. If there are credible elections and credible outcomes, insecurity will abate and everybody will watch what happens. So, there is a need for leaders to know the ball is in their courts. They need to do the things that have to be done quickly. We need to dismantle the cabals of corruption. You need to employ the wealth of the nation to work for the people. You need to engage the teeming mass of young people. You need to fix the education sector to see that people are in school. When young people are in the streets, you can’t have peace. Look at what is going on with ASUU, for God’s sake. It’s unbelievable. The multiplier effect of universities remaining closed is terrible. Our leaders should see peculiar threats to us and respond to them.
What is your advice to the electorate now that campaigns have kicked off?
My advice is that the electorate should encourage the people contesting to focus on issues. The electorate should not, by their own dispositions, encourage the politics of personality. We should encourage the politics of issues. If somebody comes to the platform and is telling you that the man in the Labour Party is a thief, the electorate should demand for what the person will do, not about insulting people. Let’s have issue-based campaigns. If you say the right things, let them clap for you. I don’t care. If I say the wrong thing, boo me. Attacking people hasn’t helped us, but it has been encouraged by the electorate. If the electorates don’t react positively, the candidate will stop attacking personalities during campaigns. If you take something to the market and the people are not buying it, you won’t take it there again. If you take nonsense issues to the electorate and they are lukewarm, you will re-strategise and take something better to them next time.
