Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State, Chief Ndubuisi Nwaobu, speaks on the party’s preparations for the governorship primary, insecurity in the South-East, 2023 presidency and other issues in this interview with Cajetan Mmuta

‘In Anambra, it’s PDP’s turn’

Your party, the PDP, recently organised its membership revalidation and fresh registration. How far did it go?

Our membership drive, which we did in March was a huge success, in the sense that there was a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of the PDP family in the state. People trooped in huge numbers on their own, without any coercion or incentive to identify, register, and obtain the party’s membership cards. I can tell you without sounding immodest that that exercise gave me a great deal of hope that the PDP will surely come to power in the state.

The party targeted at least 500 more members per ward. How many members can it boast of now in each of the 326 wards in the state?

I can tell you that in many of the wards, we surpassed that target, while in some, we were unable to get to that target. But, all in all, we can comfortably say that our membership strength in the state is quite good.

Some stakeholders are threatening that the successful candidates for the governorship election must come from Anambra South, what’s your take on this?

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I wouldn’t want to use the word threatening. I do not think they threatened. What I think played out was that, in politics, people are bound to come together if their interests are in alignment with what people think will best suit their purpose. So, I would say that the 12 aspirants who are all from Anambra South, in keeping with enlightened self-interest, had a discussion and made an appeal that it would be more beneficial to have a candidate from their zone.

Having done that, politics is all about a game of numbers and, therefore, I will urge them to even move beyond that to hold a meeting and prune down their number from 12 to maybe two persons. That’s the way to go about it, and that’s the way to show they are serious about their wish to ensure that someone from that zone emerges as a candidate of the party.

Is the party putting in place measures to ensure that the aspirants do not hijack the voting process during the delegates’ congress?

There is no way they will hijack the process. You see, our party today is not a one-man party. Our party is much more than that. We are so organised that every local government has its own mandate to determine what it wants. You can’t foist anything on the people. For instance, in Awka South Local Government, where I come from, people would be sent from Abuja as members of the congress committee.

These people are not from Anambra. When they are in the state, we will support them because they don’t know the state very well. So, we must send those who know the state to go with them down to the local government areas.

When they go there, they will have to pass on to those who would go to the wards who are Anambrarians. Their job will be supervisory, and they can now do random sampling of the wards and know if things are going on the way they ought to go.Though the committee’s role is supervisory, its members would determine whether the exercise was well conducted.

Again, mind you, the Independent National Electoral Commission will be involved in the monitoring of the process. The commission will deploy their officials to monitor and ensure that the exercise goes as strictly planned.

How many delegates are expected for the governorship primary?
About 3, 200 delegates, and of this number, about 2,200 of them are already known. These are officers of the party at the wards, local government and the state levels. All the aspirants in the PDP for the past one or two years have their names and they have been canvassing votes.

What are the chances of your party upstaging All Progressives Grand Alliance in the state?
Power of incumbency does impact positively where the person has performed. It crashes and gives a negative return where the person has performed poorly. This is the scenario we are in today because the governor has completely failed. Anambrarians are crying that they never bargained for this. So, power of incumbency will not have so much role to play this time around. Rather, I think that the people will like to consider other options.

Are you not afraid that violence may rock the poll?
The burning of police stations, killing of police officers and military men, among others, are things all men in the civilised clime should condemn. And I condemn such actions in their entirety. My hearts goes out to the families of our security personnel who have met untimely deaths or sustained injuries in their avowed duty to defend their fatherland and Nigerians.

Be that as it may, Nigerians have not had it this bad with regard to insecurity. Day in, day out, there is one tragedy or the other in the country. People are killed, kidnapped or maimed almost every day.

When the PDP was in government, insecurity was an isolated case within the Borno axis. But today, there is insecurity across the length and breadth of the country. Whereas one refuses to condemn those who are taking the laws into their hands, the fact remains that the level of nepotism, injustice and marginalisation in the land today is not one that gives confidence for unity of purpose among the citizenry. We have never been so divided. And the level of insensitivity of the leadership of the country today is really one that elicits questions. Do we really have a government in place?

Considering the current state of affairs vis-a-vis security in the South-East, do you think the November 6th governorship election in the state will hold?
If I tell you I am not worried, then I’m not being frank. I am deeply worried and concerned that if nothing is done quickly, the election may be thwarted as a result of insecurity. Again, I think that the security agencies should re-strategise, or plan to see how best they can rekindle the confidence of the citizenry and assure them that they are for them.

How realistic is the clamour of the South-East for the 2023 Presidency, recognising the power play, threats of war and other emerging issues?
Power is not given but taken. I share the sentiments of my people, the Igbo, that the next president should be from the South-East. Equity demands that too. But, I want to say that we have to walk the talk. We have to establish the bridge, extend our hands of fellowship across the Niger and reach out to the north. We have to reach out to other parts of this country and let them know that a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction will mean well and carry other sections of the country along.