From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Otunba Nick Ovuakporie recently shocked many people when he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and abandoned his position as the secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State. In this interview, Ovuakporie opens up on the real motive for jumping ship, declaring that the APC and its governorship candidate, Ovie Omo-Agege who doubles as Deputy Senate President, stand no chance in the upcoming general election.
You are former state secretary of APC and we were shocked to see you defect from the ruling party at the central to the main opposition party. What informed that decision?
Like you rightly said, prior to my election as state secretary of APC, I was a very active member of the party, it might interest you to know that I am a foundation member of the APC. I have been a member right from the days of the merger talks that culminated into APC in Nigeria and Delta State in particular. I was indeed very active, I played different roles in ensuring that the party was birthed and ran as a political party which it ought to be. In responding directly to your question, my decision was more than personal, it was a rather nationalistic decision. It has always been my dream to see a Nigeria that works, these are patriotic views, my views about politics have been very patriotic, they are beyond what ordinarily could be termed bandwagon reasons for playing politics. Within the APC, I was looking beyond money, to support good governance. That is why during the presidential primary, I opted to support the vice president, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo even when so many other people in the party elected to go for money bags whom they assumed had so much to part with. I opted to support a rather consummate politician with track records, and it is in tune with the yearnings of the average Nigerian. So, I am not someone who is corrupted by money or mundane colouration.
What we hear is that your movement to PDP was for pecuniary interest, that you were induced with N25 million
You will agree with me that APC is a party that runs its affairs with propaganda; we were the ones who held the fabrics of APC together. I won’t be surprised at such a bogus allegation because the APC that I was part of, is a party that runs on propaganda; they raise false alarm and say things that are usually not true and unverifiable to divert the attention of the unsuspecting public. The question is who gave me N25 million? I took a patriotic decision to join forces with patriotic Nigerians to rescue and recover our country that is in complete shambles.
You said you supported Osibanjo for the primary, one would have expected that because of age and the principle of rotation which PDP has defied, that you would defect to Obi’s Labour Party
Good governance is beyond ethnic jingoism. Good governance or bad governance does not know tribe. You will agree with me that the suffering of the average Nigerian has no recognition for where you come from, everybody is hungry due to the faulty policies of the APC-led Federal Government. And the suffering is not selective, it is not tilted towards a particular ethnic group. The thought of the average Nigerian should be nationalistic not where you are from. Good governance should be the primary drive of our concern. In accessing those who are currently contending, I found Atiku Abubakar most worthy. And that conviction was further confirmed with his choice of Okowa as running mate. Okowa is a thorough bred politician whose burning desire has always been to the benefit of the masses. The damage the APC government caused Nigeria is not that which could be easily dealt with by an inexperienced Obi. The damage is almost irreparable. So, experience counts at this moment. The ticket to help redesign Nigeria’s situation is the Atiku-Okowa ticket.
What did you find wrong in APC in Delta, what was the problem?
A lot of things; APC is not the party for anyone desiring good governance. Since my defection, I have had cause to engage with a lot of persons, and when they expressed their expectations, I tell them if a state secretary and the co-secretary of the state campaign council could defect, could resign his office because I was not just state secretary, I was the one who signed the inauguration of the state campaign council as co-secretary of campaign council, be it presidential or gubernatorial. If I could, out of patriotism, resign my appointment of a party where I occupied a very vantage position, then what are they doing in APC? It is a pointer to the fact that the APC is an empty bottle, it has nothing to offer.
Was there in fighting within the executive committee?
APC has always been in disarray in Delta State, and the party has always been administered with greed and along ethnic lines. How do you reconcile a situation where the gubernatorial candidate is from Ughelli North and the state chairman is also from Ughelli North? Is that party ready for anything?
… Just like the PDP where the presidential candidate and national chairman are both from the North…
… That is a peculiar situation; circumstances threw up that situation. So, my concern here is that APC is not a party ready for governance, it is a vehicle some persons have designed to achieve very selfish ambitions. That is why crisis has never been absent in the APC in this state.
What has been the role of the Deputy Senate President who is the governorship candidate in trying to resolve the crisis?
Very divisive. The Deputy Senate President has failed, he does not have leadership potentials; he has failed completely.
But he is gathering momentum ahead of the polls…
… Which momentum? Don’t be deceived by social media hype. The pictures you see on Facebook are part of the deceit, there is no momentum in APC. It is only a mad person that will vote for APC or vote for Omo-Agege in particular.
Why do you say so?
APC represents suffering. How do you differentiate Omo-Agege from APC? Is he a saint from heaven? What makes him saintly overnight? We are talking of APC, Omo-Agege. Don’t try to dress him in new robes.
Before you left APC, a lot of persons defected into the party from PDP…
… Those people are retired politicians, they have no electoral value. They have nothing to add, they are people who have lost bearing politically, they are people who were induced to join APC. They induce people to join APC just to give false illusion that people are joining whereas the real thing is that the party has been completely relegated to the background. It is a party that every right thinking politician should not identify with, and that is the truth.
You said you supported Osibanjo for his character, could it be that because he did not win the presidential ticket, there was no more space for you in the party?
No! I supported Osibanjo for his person, his character. I told you that my views about politics have always been nationalistic. The character of the individual appeals so much to me, and I am situating it with the current challenges Nigerians are going through today. Atiku Abubakar and Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa fit in appropriately to redefine the shape of politics in Nigeria. I am talking about individual character, experience. Don’t forget, the former vice president has experience as the chairman of National Economic Council, he already understands how governance works, he already knows what is going to do from day one.
But his opponents have experience too as former governors for eight years…
… This is not the issue of being a governor, it is about understanding the working of governance at the presidency. It is beyond being a former governor of a state.
What value are you bringing to the PDP in Delta State?
Electoral value, specifically, it is incumbent on me to deliver my unit and ward to the PDP. I am from unit 005, Oyede ward 12 in Isoko North Local Government Area. The result from my unit will prove my mettle. So it is the electoral value through creating what could give us winning edge and victory. I can assure that I will win my unit and ward for the PDP in the coming elections.
When you were in the APC, there was this allegation and it is still flying till this moment that the state government under Governor Okowa received N4.2 trillion and has borrowed over N400 billion with nothing on ground in terms of development to show for the humongous amount. Do you still stand by that allegation?
I have never been part of that allegation, that is Omo-Agege’s allegation, and he should be in a better position to prove his points. I told you earlier that APC is a party that thrives on propaganda, and Omo-Agege has over time become a champion of such awkward politics. You don’t criticize the government blindly. Now, they say charity begins at home, has he been able to prove otherwise, as the Deputy Senate President, that he is even better than the people he throws tantrums at daily? Governance is not as easy as people imagine. You say borrow, how? You should be able to substantiate all the allegations. When you say nothing on ground, are you saying that the upgraded airport in Asaba is not visible even to the blind? Is it the same airport Omo-Agege uses every now and then? Is it not also visible to all that there is flyover at Koka now? Is that flyover not impacting on the socio-economic lives of those resident in Delta and beyond? His estimation that there is nothing on ground is very archaic, it is very unfortunate for a man of that standing to be making such bogus allegations. The Prof. Chike Edozien state civil service secretariat, was it built without money? I don’t understand when the opposition keeps throwing up bogus lies just to confuse the people. The developments are innumerable, the impacts of governance in Delta State are so innumerable, the good works of Governor Okowa who is the next vice president of Nigeria are so glaring.
What gives you this confidence that Atiku will win in view of the crisis as a result of the disagreement with the G-5 governors and the issue of rotational presidency?
Don’t forget that I told you that bad governance has no tribe, good governance impacts all. The issue of tribal consideration, what matters most should be that those who are seeking public office, are they Nigerians? Our primary concern should be what they have to offer, their blueprints, their dreams for a better Nigeria should be more sacrosanct. The issue of tribe has not really helped us. Then, as far as I understand, there is no crisis in the PDP, the issue of two or three or four individuals who have their grievances cannot impact on the decisions of the electorate. The governor of Rivers State does not have the PVCs of Rivers residents, he does not feed people who live in that state, he does not have that kind of control to tell someone yearning for good governance who to vote for and who not to vote for because he lost a presidential primary.
See, the electorate are more important than these individuals, and the electorate don’t have their aprons tied to these persons, it is about the individual voter. And I am sure you will agree with me at this point that the average voter wants a complete rescue, he is concerned about recovering our nation from its current woes.
What of the impact of Peter Obi particularly in areas that were hitherto PDP strongholds?
I don’t want to talk about Peter Obi because I don’t want to give him undeserved attention. Obi is just one person seeking to govern Nigeria. The discussion is beyond social media wave; we are talking about reality. And the reality is that the average Nigerian has agreed to the fact that at this point in time, our nation cannot afford to gamble with another neophyte in governance. The decision of who to vote for rests solely with the average voter. Don’t forget, there is no more rigging, this is a BVAS regime where the voter is the king maker. The electoral system has been reformed. I don’t think the Obi factor will have much impact in the presidential election.
The issues that came up after the PDP governorship primary have left the party divided with some of the leaders moving to APC. What are the chances of the party in the March 11 election?
The PDP is not divided. Viewing the activities of the PDP from the outside is different from viewing it from the inside. Having joined the PDP, I have seen the party where love thrives, there is a lot of unity. As a political party where people with vested interests exist, there are bound to be little skirmishes, that is not to say the party is divided, the party is very united. And the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori would emerge as governor after the March 11 election. So, there is ample unity in the party, and even those persons you mentioned, have come to realise that the PDP is the answer to good governance, some have already sheathed their swords. The party will go into the election as a united house and come out victorious.