By Vincent Kalu
The National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Victor Oye, has maintained that there was no crisis in the party, but that some people wants to use the judiciary to cause disaffection in the party, adding that their mission was to truncate the second term ambition of Governor Willy Obiano. He however said they won’t succeed.
APGA has been in the news over your removal as its national chairman, what actually happened?
I was abroad when the news broke and everybody was surprised, as I also was. There was no time; nobody gave me any prior notice of any litigation and nobody informed the party of any litigation, the next thing we heard was that an Enugu High Court had issued an order of mandamus.
To me, the order was preposterous and reckless. The nation’s judiciary should be seen to be growing and wanting to help nurture our democracy instead of working with some dangerous elements in the society to destroy it. Mandamus means mandating, directing or compelling a higher authority to carry out an order earlier issued. But in this case, no order was issued. So, why mandamus? Again I wasn’t a defendant in the case. Even the man the court declared acting chairman was never a plaintiff or a defendant to the case.
Again, the man is not a member of APGA. He left the party and went to PDP, where he contested the governorship primary election in 2015 and got only one vote out of 1000 votes. He is alien to the party, we don’t know him. His Emekuku Ward 1, has disowned him, the entire APGA in Imo State, where he comes from has also disowned him. In the register of the party, his name is not there.
How could a court have issued that kind of order without proper scrutiny of that order and the consequences of such an order? To us in APGA that order isn’t enforceable and we do not recognize it because even the police and INEC that were compelled to enforce the order have already gone to the same court to ask the judge to set aside that judgment. Can’t you see there is something fishy going on; why should a judge of that status issue such a reckless order? I find it incomprehensible and so that order to us never exists. When a law is not enforceable, who will obey it?
With this development, don’t you think it is going to affect the chances of Governor Obiano in getting reelected?
No. It will not affect him. The most bizarre thing about this judgment is that the same people that went behind to get that order have gone to file that the case be transferred to another court, saying that they do not have confidence in the judge. What kind of people are they? So, you can see that they don’t have any locus. They were the people who went behind to collect the order and they are back to the same judge asking the case to be transferred to another judge. Can you see the trick?
But this is the second time it is happening, what could have been responsible?
These people are agent of darkness and that is the way they operate. They use powers that are mundane and ancient. The authority of God, which comes from above will destroy all of them. They cannot stop Governor Obiano from returning to office. He is already a second term governor. He has performed creditably well that everybody is happy with him; the party is happy with him, likewise the people of Anambra State, and they are standing solidly behind him to continue the good work he is doing for Anambra.
The State has become a benchmark for development across the country. It is the safest State in Nigeria, the most agrarian State in Nigeria, and the State that pays workers’ salaries, pensions and gratuity regularly. He has performed excellently and should be commended. Agents of darkness are trying to stop him from the marvelous works he is doing for the people of the State, but God will not allow them, they will fail, and they have failed and will continue to fail. No force on this earth will stop him. Any man working to stop Obiano will be destroyed by God.
If they want to contest the election let them go to the people and face the ballot, and not to go there to destroy our judiciary that is held in high esteem all over the world.
In the real sense of it, Obiano doesn’t have any competitor. All those people masquerading don’t have anything to offer to Anambra. This is a governor who is developing the State at terrific speed. In December, he awarded 111 new road contracts, and he is doing about 109 road contracts left by the former administration. He built three magnificent flyovers in Awka, and he has installed streetlights in all the major roads in the State.
From Amansea Old road, there are streetlights all the way to Onitsha. There are streetlights all over Nnewi, Awka and Ekwulobia. So, he doesn’t have competitors for the coming gubernatorial election.
The people causing problem have been expelled from the party; they are no more members of APGA. Martin Agbaso is not a member of the party and so, there is no way he can be the chairman of the party, and it is impossible. Our constitution is clear on how to remove a national chairman.
How prepared is AGPA for November 2017 election in Anambra and 2019 general elections?
We are over prepared and we are ready and that is why they are fighting. We will win the election in Anambra any day it is called. We are the only party in Nigeria that is disciplined; we are focused and committed to what we are doing. We are the party to beat in Nigeria. PDP is hemorrhaging, while APC is asphyxiating, but APGA is the only political party with a clean bill of health, and that is why people are walking round the clock, right, left and centre to constitute a nuisance to the progress of the party and we will not allow them to succeed; we will never allow it.
Do you entertain any fear for Nigeria, especially concerning the quit notices from various ethnic groups to another?
Nigeria has come a very long way. I like what former President Goodluck Jonathan said in 2014 that his election and tribal differences are not worth spilling the blood of any Nigerian. That is where I stand. Life is sacred, it is not something anybody will play with, but the way we talk about one another is very exasperating and painful. Those countries that got independence did not get it through force. If you want to go, you should go; nobody should force you to stay if you don’t want to stay. It is the choice of the people. If a particular section of the country decides to go out of the country and stays on its own, there is an international law for that. If you want to separate from Nigeria you have to through a process; if you are looking for self determination you have to go through a process and you have to involve the international community because it has to do with global recognition.
Self determination is not something you achieve overnight; you have to go through referendum and a whole gamut of processes, which are compelling in international humanitarian law. That is the way it should go, it should not involve spilling of blood if any section wants to leave.
Issuing threat to anybody is undemocratic. It is uncultured and a negation of our collective patrimony as a nation. Nobody has monopoly of violence, for a section of the country to be threatening the other is not proper; all of us have equal stake in this country – Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Ijaw, Ibibio etc. This issue of threat should not be condoned again; all those people who made such threats should be treated in accordance with the law, because what they have done is tantamount to insurrection. It is enough to throw the country into chaos. That is why it should be taken seriously.
I commend the acting President for the steps he has taken to allay the fears of some people who felt threatened by the quit notice. His government has not done enough, it should bring to book all those people who made that threat, and it is not something to be swept under the carpet. I speak as a national leader. For me, the unity of this country is paramount, but where we cannot stay together, we should separate peacefully that is the proper thing, and no one group should threaten the other.