APC had more problems at inception than now – Aganaba

Preye Aganaba, a founding member of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and a 2015 senatorial candidate of the party in Bayelsa State in the last general election, he speaks on the crisis in the state chapter of the party. Aganaba also bares his mind on other recent national political development. TOM OKPE reports.
*******What is your take on the crisis in the state’s chapter of the party?
I don’t think the Bayelsa APC is in crisis, but it depends from where you are looking at it. In a political party, people have their different views and different interest and so, it is inevitable that different issues should arise. Eventually, however, those issues are always resolved politically and somehow we are getting to a point of resolving the issues in Bayelsa APC. The pioneer chairman of the APC in the state is a good man who put in a lot to the establishment of the APC in Bayelsa State. The same thing with the former governor, Timipre Sylva without whom, the APC in Bayelsa State might not have been a reality.
Everybody contributed their quota. There are bound to be issues and I wish and hope that those issues are resolved. Right now, there is an Acting Chairman in the state and we are looking at how to rebuild the party and move forward from there. What is happening is all politics and at the end of the day, a solution will be found, steps will be taken. But what we have now is an acting chairman whose mandate is to rebuild the party and bring everybody together.
******Does that mean that the former chairman has agreed to work with the acting chairman?
Though he has not agreed, there is hierarchy of power in a political party. If the NWC has met and concluded that it was the best decision for now, then, I believe that everybody should tow that line. That may not necessarily mean that the aggrieved parties will go home and sleep, of course, they are still making their case, but for now, we have an acting chairman whose mandate is to build the party and gather all party faithful together.
********What about the allegation of anti-party against the former chairman, especially the allegation of hobnobbing with the governor. The information is that the Bayelsa State government paid for the party secretariat, how true is that?
That is not true. I paid for the first APC secretariat in 2013 with my personal cash as there was scarcity of funds then in the party and that was the secretariat we used for the general elections in 2015. The property we now moved to from there is being claimed by the Bayelsa State government alleging that the property belongs to the state government. But that matter is in court. So, I am not aware that Governor Dickson is funding anything in APC.
*******There was a time when the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank and the former governor, Timipre Silva had issues. Has the party been able to deal with this issue, also with the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe?
I don’t think there were any personal issues between Timi Frank and former Governor Sylva. I am sure it is all about interest and at the end of the day people were sent down to resolve those interests. I don’t think there are still issues because the bulk of them, as I was aware, were resolved behind the scene.
There are no issues in Rivers State because if there were, at the time the governorship candidate was brought out in 2015, you would have seen those issues playing out. Most of the issues are media creations. If there are issues, I would have been aware because I am very close to most of the actors in River State. There is a lot going on right now and most of the things you get to read in the press on River State are not true.
*******But there were physical clashes during the congress.
I think the congress matter is being handled by the NWC. I don’t have any information about that. But in most states, there were issues with the congresses. It is all about interest. You go for an election and your interest is not carried along, but that does not mean that people have problems. For example, in my local government we, big wigs like I, Timi Alaibe and others who, on their own rights, want to be delegates. It doesn’t mean that if one of us doesn’t get to be a delegate there is a problem. It is all about interest.
********Are you not worried that this interest is tearing the APC apart in the state?
I have so much confidence in this party. From our first congress here in Abuja to the day we demonstrated to shut down the police headquarters to our presidential primaries in Lagos, I was there and I saw APC leaders couple together something that Nigerians never thought could come out of an opposition political party. I have confidence in the leadership of this party to resolve every issue.
********There are fears that the process that brought people together to set aside their personal ambition and interest to forge a common front may not be there in 2019. Are you still really convinced that the party will put up a good fight?
In my own opinion, I think we had more issues putting this party together in 2013 than we have today. Maybe because we are in government, everybody is seeing what is going on. There were lots of issues in 2013 and 2014, but the leaders were still able to put this party together and go into an election. If you remember, in Kano, Shekarau was the leader of the APC and when Kwankwaso moved in, he was made the leader and that turned into a crisis. It happened in Rivers State. The current SSG in Wike’s government was the person leading the APC and when we moved in, there were issues. It happened in almost every state, even in Edo State with Tom Ikimi leaving the party. We had all these issues. I remember going into our first congress to elect our national chairman. We almost postponed it and Tom Ikimi left the party that very day. We almost shifted the congress. I was with our leaders, moving from house to house and we were able to bring everybody together to go for that congress to elect our current national chairman. Maybe because we are in government, everybody is seeing what is going on. Meetings are going on and very soon, you will see most of these things being resolved.
********Are you satisfied with the current NWC?
Don’t forget that this NWC took an opposition party into government, which is something that has never happened in the history of this country. There is no way one can begin to look down on them now because of certain issues going on. So, I will say we are satisfied. I don’t think anybody who can trace our history can cast aspersions on members of the NWC. We know that the tenure of this NWC expires next year, 2018. Anything can happen and we are not certain. There can be an extension of tenure.
*******If the party, in its wisdom, decides to retain the position of National Chairman in the South – South, will you support the current chairman to continue in that position?
These are hypothetical questions. When we get to the bridge, we will cross it. But the NWC has done well by moving us from an opposition party to a party in government. There is no way you can cancel that feat. We were part of the decision making process in the South – South that met and eventually settled on Oyegun who was one of the three candidates. He is our candidate and I don’t know if that will change any time soon.
*******One of the things Nigerians will be looking at in making a decision in 2019 is the performance of the party. Are you satisfied with what the APC has done so far as a government?
Government wise, I think we have done well, but we may not be where we ought to be and that could be because we did not know that the country was where it was when we got into power. But we have done well. A few days ago, the story of Nigeria getting out of recession was all over the news, the prices of basic foodstuffs is going down. I get a minimum of 20 hours light per day. I am not too bothered about the economy because it is in good hands, but perhaps by the politics within the various zones. That is what will determine the outcome of the next election. The APC with Buhari will win that election, but to what margin is what I cannot say. We will also do well in the National Assembly elections.
During the party presidential primary, the campaign slogan for Buhari was 12 million assured votes and I don’t think that one vote has left kitty.
*******Considering the health of the President and other factors, would you encourage the President to re contest? Do you think he can still win?
If President Buhari runs for election today, he is going to win. I don’t think the President is as ill as the cynics are trying to sell. Like every other human being, he can fall sick. The problem is that because he is in government and he is President, there are lots of stories. But he is back and healthy. I don’t think that for now the APC has any other choice than to field him. People are free to contest the primary, of course. I was in the convention committee and we had a free and fair primary in Lagos and he won with more than half of the votes.
********You said “we have done well”, yet most of the federal roads across the country are not passable; the people have been cut off. In Abuja, those who live on the outskirts cannot get home easily because the roads are in terrible shape…
About five years ago, there was this theory that Nigeria could not absolve more than N200 billion worth of capital fund injection into the economy. Some believed that we could not spend N200 billion for capital development in Nigeria because the economy was not buoyant enough to seamlessly absolve it. Last year, almost a trillion naira was released. I don’t want to believe that some of the stories you are telling me are true. I know some of the roads are bad, but don’t forget that there are not enough to serve Nigeria and her high population. But I am also sure that most of the roads in the South East are being worked on as we speak. Two weeks ago, the East- West roads falls along my constituency and I was inundated with calls by my people, promptly, I called the Minister of Works who told me that people had been calling him and he had responded by instructing and mobilising contractors to sort out the problem. I don’t want to believe that most of the roads you claim are bad are actually that bad.
*******During campaign, the APC made lots of promises. Would you say that almost three years down the line, you have actually delivered on those promises?
As a party, we have done very well. We did not know how much rot was in the system before we came into government and with the foreign exchange crisis that we were faced with, things were somewhat steep but I can assure things are looking bright, especially the economy is beginning to pick up. We still have one year before we get into any semblance of election. I am sure that by this time next year, we will be able to draw the curtain and say in definitive terms whether we have done well or not.
********Majority of government agencies are being run without boards as required by law and many of those who have been given appointment by this government were not there during campaigns. Do you think these same people will be willing to make the same sacrifices to bring the APC back to power?
Like I said earlier, it is all about interest. I am sure that in the next couple of months, most of these issues will be addressed. There are lots of meetings going on and most of these issues will soon be addressed.
*******Most of the big players in the APC today were in the PDP government and knew the workings of the country. Are you saying these people did not know what they left or did not derive any benefit from that government?
I have said that we just came out of recession, food prices are dropping, cost of PMS also dropped. By next year September, we will be able to draw the curtain on whether we have performed or not.
********There are calls on the President to change his cabinet in other to move the country forward. If you are to advice him, what will you be telling him?
I will ask him to come back home and get those people who campaigned for him based on the promises of the APC; People believed before they went along campaigning for him. It will require people not waiting for him to give directives before things are done because you have people who believed in you, worked with you and are now with you in government. So, they already know where we are coming from and the consequences of not keeping to our campaign promises. When somebody gets something without working for it, he tends to not value it and that sometimes create disconnect between the government and the people.
********The Minister of Women Affairs said she will not support the President for a second term bid. Are you worried about this comment?
She has a right to her choice, but I think she’s not being fair. If you want to make such public statement, you should resign and then make such statement. She has a right to make such statement, but she wasn’t fair making them as a Minister.
*******Also, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar claimed that after using his resources to ensure victory for the party, he has been sidelined. Do you subscribe to this view?
Those are his personal comments and his franchise in a democracy.
******As a national party, how do you think the APC can carry everybody along in the interest of national development, and equity and unity?
From what I know, there are efforts to resolve most of these issues that people complain about. Whether you like it or not, we are going into a major election soon and we cannot do that with a divided house. I saw leaders of this party couple together a dysfunctional system, put it together, went into an election and won. I still believe in the ability of the leaders of this party to put it together before 2019.
*******What is your view about the clamor for restructuring?
I am from the South- South. One of the things that attracted us to the APC in 2013 was devolution of power, creation of state police, restructuring in very vague terms. These were things we have heard right from when we were teenagers, that these were the things that would fix our region. Naturally, these things made the APC attractive to some of us. It is encouraging our party has set up a committee to advice the party on how to go about it because you can say you want to restructure, but if you don’t build a framework for it, you will not get anywhere with it. I am sure that the committee will come up with a framework and I hope it is established on time so that it will not be another campaign weapon.
********We want your own personal opinion
The restructuring most Nigerians are talking about is very vague. But what I talked about is devolution of power to states, resource control, state police and people should not forget that the biggest problem in Nigeria today is failure of governance. If you do restructuring and move the whole power to local government, if governance fails, restructuring will have no effect on the people. So, as an Ijaw person from the Niger Delta, we have always canvassed for our issues and those issues cut across party lines. But most times, some people attempt to use party coloration to make demands. Some of the persons making demands for restructuring are doing it not out of patriotic or genuine motives but for superficial and political reasons. But devolution of some powers to state government and local government, resource control and state police are the three basic things I think we should concern ourselves with when we talk about restructuring.
******The Niger Delta agitators have joined the fray of issuing quit notices. What is your view about this?
In 2013, when we were about going to establish the APC in Bayelsa, we had a lot of resistance from the state government and the police. The Ijaw Youth Council issued a statement asking us not to come to Bayelsa State because it was, according to them, going to create crisis in the state. The state police command refused to give us police protection and we came to Abuja here and they gave us police and we went to Bayelsa to open our state secretariat. Most of these calls are all political calls. I have been involved in the issues of the region and for me it is best to discountenance it.
********But recently, youths in Bayelsa went on rampage inside the premises of the Local Content Board, asking them to pack and go, if they could do that, why do you think these agitators should be ignored?
That was the central zone of the Ijaw Youth Council who alleged that the Executive Secretary of the Local Content Board is trying to move the activities of the board from Yenagoa to satellite towns like Lagos and Abuja where they are building some offices against the local content Act. For me, that is not militancy, but a peaceful protest and I am sure that they were able to arrive at some compromise. Most of the calls from certain persons from the region should be discountenanced. They are mostly political calls from people seeking relevance and attention from government. I worry about our region because if this is how we want to go in the next five to ten years, I don’t know what will become of us when oil becomes worthless.

Quote
In my own opinion, I think we had more issues putting this party together in 2013 than we have today. Maybe because we are in government, everybody is seeing what is going on. There were lots of issues in 2013 and 2014, but the leaders were still able to put this party together and go into an election

Quote 2
As a party, we have done very well. We did not know how much rot was in the system before we came into government and with the foreign exchange crisis that we were faced with, things were somewhat steep but I can assure things are looking bright, especially the economy is beginning to pick up. We still have one year before we get into any semblance of election. I am sure that by this time next year, we will be able to draw the curtain and say in definitive terms whether we have done well