Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Basil Ejidike, talks on the gale of defections to his party, and other issues, in this interview with Cajetan Mmuta

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that on November 6, 2021, Anambra State will be making another history as the people go to the poll to elect the next governor of the state. How prepared is your party for the contest?

If you are not a visitor to the state, and you have been here with us, of course, you will discover that the party has been moving on very steadily. The fact remains that during the past election in 2019, APC did not do well, and that was when I came on board. There is a difference between a political party and a political club. And ours is a political party, and we must work to win the election. So, immediately after I started, the first thing I did was to constitute a committee to find out what exactly went wrong. Where did we get it wrong, what is our strength, and all that?

Thank God, the committee did a thorough job. It submitted its report and we have been religiously following the report of that committee. What you are seeing today is the outcome of that committee’s report. We have not left anything to chance, because we believe in Anambra State, that the APC has all it takes, humanly, materially, and the rest of them.

Name any known political figure in Anambra State that is not in the race, the question is how come the party has all it takes? It has all the gladiators, yet it has not been able to win the election? And that also is what we have tried to sort out.

That is the result you are seeing today. And, of course, over two years ago, I made it very clear, based on what I know that we are doing on the ground, that, very soon, there will be what I call a political tsunami in Anambra State, and of course, what is happening now is almost equivalent to a tsunami. The degree of defections is something we have never witnessed before. And apart from the fact that the party has done its work; the Federal Government has also done a lot.

Look around, you will find that there is no place you will find construction going on and that construction work is not being done by the Federal Government either directly or indirectly. You talk about road construction along the Onitsha-Enugu expressway, the Second Niger Bridge that links the Onitsha-Owerri express road, and the seaport that had gone moribund in Anambra State, but is now in operation. There is no place you go and you don’t see the presence of the Federal Government.

Even outside Anambra State, you talk about the renovation and reconstruction of Akanu Ibiam airport. I don’t know, if you have gone through the Enugu-Umuahia expressway recently, you find out that a lot of work is going on day and night there. Go to the streets in Anambra State, if you find any road being reconstructed there, it is either direct Federal Government intervention or through constituency funding. That’s exactly the situation, and thank God, the people have come to realise all these, and that there is no other political party that can make the people more comfortable than where we were before.

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The state had tried the PDP and, of course, PDP failed. They have tried APGA for almost 16 years now, and APGA turned out to be the worst. Out of the numbers, what is left is the APC, and they are now determined to give APC a chance, having tried others. I mean, seeing is believing…but they are acting based on experience. Apart from what we have done as a party, people have also experienced other parties and have now come to agree that this is the way to go.

More importantly, is that the opposition does not pay. Our people are not known to be in opposition; I mean through history, we have always been in the mainstream. How come that we condescended to be in opposition for how many years now? And it hasn’t paid us. I think it is now better than we join the mainstream politics, to reconnect back to the national grid and join hands to work.

But government and governance are about meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people. What has the APC got to offer the people of Anambra state, when if it assumes power?

Ndigbo has a common saying that you know the taste of the excreta from the smell of fart. So, if the party is not in control in Anambra State and it is embarking on all these infrastructural development of the state, you don’t need to be told what will happen when the party is in full control of affairs in the state, and at the national level. And I think it is based on what they have experienced that they are now running towards the APC.

But let me tell you that the party is determined to turn things around in the state. The issue of school feeding, we have never been experiencing such a thing, the whole thing started with the APC. You talk about the Federal Government’s traders’ money; this idea of giving indigent traders; for a woman selling tomatoes in the market, you know the importance of giving the woman N10,000 to boost her business.

So, these are alien to us down here, and these are engineered and sponsored by the APC. So, the party is poised, and I think with the little the people have tasted of the benevolence of the party, they are now determined fully to see what will come their way.

Don’t you see it as a hard nut to crack for the APC in the election, having observed that APGA has been in power for over 16 years in Anambra State?

There is no hard nut there for us. APGA is a crumbling party. Recently, former two ex-speakers of the Anambra State House of Assembly; Rita Maduagwu and Chinwe from Ogbaru are now in APC. And of course, by last week, we received six members of the Anambra State House of Assembly into our party. Can anyone in his or her right senses say we have any government in Anambra today?

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We don’t have any government in Anambra; don’t you see what’s happening all over the place? Look at the security situation; something that started in Imo, and the governor was able to stand up to that. But in Anambra State, there’s nothing; they burnt the several police stations that have not been rebuilt, burnt vehicles and the morale of security agencies is at the lowest ebb.

What’s your view over concerns in several quarters that the November 6 poll may not hold despite the assurances following the spate of killings and burning of properties by hoodlums, which resulted in the death of Dr. Chike Akunyili, among others?

The only thing I have to say is that the issue of security should be a collective thing. Everybody should be concerned about what is going on, and it is only when we come collectively that we will be able to proffer an answer to that. I mean, it is not something one can solve alone. But then, the government should be up and doing in that direction.

What are the key things Anambra people should expect when Senator Andy Uba becomes the elected governor of the state?

These are some of the things we have already started doing, and of course, knowing the importance of security, when there is no security, lives and businesses are threatened. And when you stay under threat, you can hardly function, no business can move on. Our people are reputed for business, and when they cannot move their goods around, buy and sell, everything will be grounded.

So, the issue of security should be paramount. Then, you talk about education. The educational system is collapsing. We should not allow that to happen. Education is the main industry in Anambra State. We will look into education; tackle the problem of unemployment, because if our youths are assisted in one way or the other, the crime level will not be so high. But more importantly, the party and the incoming government will ensure that the economy is revived.

Currently, the Southeast states are known as killing fields, and Ndigbo is not in tune with the APC, while Anambra is regarded as the pride of the Southeast. What economic master plan does your party have for the state?
That’s what I have said, that there is no functional government in Anambra State. When there is no functional government, anarchy sets in and that’s exactly the situation.

Nobody is giving the direction, nobody is leading the way. Government should lead the way and the followers will follow. There is a yawning gap between the government and the people, and of course, there is near-absence of government. So, how do you expect things to work? We need to restore the instrumentality of government, and once the thing is there, every other thing will take its normal course.

People believe that your party will be going to the poll as a divided house because the issue of reconciliation has not been adequately addressed after 13 governorship aspirants kicked against the emergence of Senator Andy Uba during the party’s primary. What do you have to say about this?

That was before. You know I told you that no election is perfect. Every election has its shortcomings, and the good thing there is that our party, the APC, within it, has an internal mechanism of resolving internal problems or issues, and this internal mechanism has been at work.

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That’s why initially you have a number, but today you know Chief Amaobi Nwaokafor is a Director, John Boscom who also contested, is a director, Azuka Okwosa and many of them… and we are working together as one body. And, of course, Chief Muoghalu has been a party man. He has seen it all within the party.

He has been at the uppermost level, and I think he understands more than most of us. He knows when to call it a stop, and as a disciplined person, he is. We expect him to lead the way, and he knows what to do at the right time.