Chekwas Okorie: Soludo Might Cause APGA to Lose Anambra

In this interview with CHIBUIKE CHUKWU, Chief Chekwas Okorie, the founding member and pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), discusses the impending Anambra State governorship race, Governor Charles Soludo’s chances, and other national concerns. Samples

You previously stated that the APGA, APC, and Labour Party will compete in the November Anambra State gubernatorial election. Does this imply that you don’t take the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seriously, considering that they were once the state’s and the country’s dominant party?

As I write this, I have no idea who the PDP’s nominee is for the same November gubernatorial race. Additionally, I’m not sure how many people are familiar with the PDP candidate running in the election. Therefore, it’s about the present reality rather than the party. For sixteen years, the PDP ruled Nigeria, but that is the past. To the best of my knowledge, the PDP is still in existence in Anambra State today. I have several acquaintances who are well-known members of the party, but none of them appear to care about the events there; some of them are even unaware of their candidate. They are unsure of who is financing whom due to the PDP conflict. Because they are unsure of their target audience, even the PDP mainstays in Anambra that I am aware of are not participating in the campaign. Therefore, if I do not include the PDP in my vote-counting before the election, it is for a valid cause and not maliciously. If you ask anyone in Anambra, they will likewise say they don’t know if the PDP is running for that office.

I am aware that you do not belong to the PDP, but with your extensive background in party management and the Nigerian political landscape, what do you believe to be the issue with the once-dominant PDP?

They ought to have expanded on their 16 years of reign over the nation. As someone who has managed a political party for a considerable amount of time, I can basically tell you that the PDP’s issues include indiscipline and a lack of party control, which again verges on a lack of internal democracy within the organization. The PDP failed to remember that a party is appreciated if it has complete control. The party is in charge in a political party system. Therefore, the party is meant to place each member where they belong, regardless of how powerful you may believe you are or how much money you may believe will allow you to get away with certain actions. You are free to leave the party if you do not wish to be a part of it. Both joining and leaving a political party are entirely optional. However, the PDP sat down and catered more to the wealth of their disobedient members. Additionally, there were (and still are) blatant instances of anti-party activity that, even when I was the party chairman, would never have been accepted for a day. However, they proceeded to turn the other face. When the former governor of Rivers State assembled a group of five governors, whom they dubbed the G5, the PDP was there. Additionally, they were obviously against the party’s bid for the president in the 2023 election. Although they all worked against their party, the former governor of Rivers State’s was the most notable. Nothing happened, and he never feigned anti-party activity. From then on, the PDP adopted a culture of indiscipline. A party enters a free fall when it is in that circumstance. The PDP has been in free collapse as well. Who would have guessed that the entire PDP would now be pleading with people to come around? They are everywhere, sending prominent figures like Professor Jerry Gana, appearing on television, and pleading with Peter Obi to come and accept their presidential ticket. In the past, the PDP presidential ticket was quite popular, but now they are pleading with Peter Obi. Among those pleading with Peter Obi to come and accept their ticket is the governor of Bauchi State. They are telling him that if he accepts the ticket, he would undoubtedly become president and that no one will be able to defeat him. They obviously want to utilize him to improve the party’s reputation. Thus, this is how much the PDP has declined. All of this is taking place in the public sphere. Although they and everyone else are aware of it, it is regrettable that they have not yet begun to solve it. Some of them think they are taking action to address the issue, but as long as they are unable to enforce their will and hold those stubborn party members accountable—a necessity for any party with any semblance of discipline and control—their problem will persist. And 2027 is drawing near. It’s a shame that those who don’t want the party to continue to exist are still there while disguising their anti-party actions.

For the presidency in particular, Governor Charles Soludo has been courting the All Progressives Congress. According to some, it stems from a sense of panic and desperation for reelection. Considering that Anambra is the sole APGA state, what are your thoughts on this?

APGA might lose Anambra State because to Soludo. This is due to the fact that Soludo had the chance to reconcile with APGA. I went to him directly because the party was already in danger when he joined APGA. “You are coming in at a very auspicious time,” I told him. You did not start the argument in APGA, so you are not involved in it. No faction can be assigned to you specifically. You are now the party’s de facto leader because you are the only governor. And that you might get these divisive figures to the roundtable and engage in dialogue by using your position and leveraging it. The house divided against itself cannot stand, therefore I told him, “If you want me to also play a role in that reconciliation as a former chairman and the party’s founder, I would be available.” I felt that our chat was quite fruitful and healthy. And before I left him, he said as much. We went over all of these in his Enugu home for three hours. If you read my book, the final paragraph essentially praised Soludo and the prospects for APGA’s future expansion. “A New Vista Beckons” is the caption for that chapter, which essentially extolled Soludo’s virtues, his background, his profile when he assumed office, and the expectation that he would not only succeed as governor but also bring about peace in APGA. However, he rejected all of those offers, choosing instead to set up camp with one of the groups, and he spent a staggering amount of money on this. What has he done with the party’s soul now that he has cornered it after everything? “The idea was for you to go for a second tenure,” I informed him. Since you have the right of first refusal as the current governor, you will be able to run for a second term without having to pay this type of money. There’s no one coming to take it away. Furthermore, no rational member of the APGA will oppose the only governor, who would serve as the foundation for future electoral victories. However, he didn’t find any of that appealing. He finally gained control of the party, and the chairman he had elevated to the position of chairman, who had previously been his PA, went back to his formal position. Additionally, he no longer talks, jumps around television houses, and does all of that. As a result, the party has neither advanced or improved, and they have all returned to their cocoon in Awka. Instead, the party in Anambra is split up into a number of dissident factions. What do you want to do with your house like that? The president’s announcement that the party had endorsed him during his visit to Anambra was motivated by the same desperation; in fact, he was the first to do so twice, before the APC. Naturally, I know that Tinubu cannot be duped now, as the president is a party man. He is aware that an elected official has no obligation to support any individual on behalf of a party. If a party has made such a decision, the governor should not make such a statement; rather, the national chairperson of the party should. He was aware that he was only entertaining the audience. The president is committed to running for a second term, so if he wants to, let him go and live in the Villa. Playing around and playing with a state like Anambra will make him appear less politically smart than he has been given credit for.

Do you believe the governor has done enough to persuade Ndi Anambra to reelect him in November, aside from the divide within the ruling APGA in Anambra?

Well, I don’t get very encouraging information from that place. Additionally, I was aware that the November election this year might not favor Saludo because most of the roads are in poor condition, the rainy season would have arrived, as I had long predicted, and some of the roads I saw being commissioned would be washed off because I didn’t think they would withstand a serious rainy season. Additionally, as the rain continues to fall, the majority of these roadways are collapsing. The thing is being used against him by his opponents. You know, some roads have been constructed, but they are so bad that not even the rain can save them. And the administration can only truly take pride in this infrastructure. Not much more than what Peter Obi said and did in the areas of health, education, and everything else. Only those routes are in question, and they aren’t surviving the season. Simply put, I don’t think he will prevail in a free and fair election.

Because of Soludo’s harsh criticism of Peter Obi, Obi’s detractors have something to discuss. As the previous head of the party that supported the two men’s candidacies for governor of Anambra, what do you think about this?

Attacking Peter Obi is detrimental to Soludo’s political standing. I don’t see his political reasoning for attacking someone who has become so famous, so I’m not sure why he is criticizing Peter Obi. Therefore, attacking Peter Obi is not in Soludo’s best interests. Obi is now a major figure in Nigerian politics, having advanced from being a local champion to the national stage. Therefore, attacking someone like that is similar to attacking Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu or someone else attacking Nnamdi Kanu. These individuals have already left their mark on the public’s hearts. Targeting these individuals thus becomes politically naïve. You may choose to ignore them and carry on with your activities, but refrain from attacking. so he can’t get more votes for that attack. Rather, it will subtract from what he would have received.

After leaving Anambra, how do you feel about the ADC coalition? Given that Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and Atiku Abubakar are all supposedly vying for the presidency, some claimed that personal goals could destroy the alliance before the 2027 election.

To begin with, I have no idea that Peter Obi is an ADC member with a card. The PDP wouldn’t have been pleading with him to visit if he were.

Defection is possible, though.

(Cuts in) You can’t sign up for a party overnight, and you’re defecting once more before you can say “Jack Robinson.” Before they can find an excuse to quit, some people at that level stay for a while. Instead, you come in today and go out tomorrow. Therefore, he is not a card-carrying member of ADC. He’s still freelancing, in my opinion. He is still supposed to belong in labor. He hasn’t actually left the Labour Party, and he hasn’t joined any other. I’m not sure if Peter Obi will be an official member of the ADC because if he is, the PDP and other groups that have been pleading with him to run won’t have been showing there. However, the ADC has made it very clear through their current chairman, David Mark, that there will be no preferred candidates and that the convention will be free and fair for everyone to attend and run. These words reassure people that democratic practices will be let to unfold. The presidential primary of a party is, of course, a delegate election. Therefore, if someone wishes to win, he must put in a lot of effort to get as many delegates as nominations. That’s my perspective on it.

Given that many people thought the electoral umpire tampered with the last election, do you, as a stakeholder in Nigerian politics, have any faith or confidence in INEC ahead of the general election in 2027?

For someone like me, the word “trust” is too strong, yet I also can’t claim that I don’t trust. I say this because, to a great extent, technology was let to play out during the most recent election. Unfortunately, we learned that there was a malfunction at the presidential level shortly after. Furthermore, there were many questions raised because the presidential election and the National Assembly election were held on the same day and at the same time, and this error only happened at the presidential election level. The typical Nigerian has no question regarding the purpose of that malfunction. Thus, the National Assembly is responsible for this. The new Electoral Act has not yet been seen. I am aware that the changes were taken to make sure that issues like glitches don’t happen again, that the elections are resourced, and that the results are sent straight from the polling places so that voters can see the results instantly. These are some of the things that we have not yet seen, but if they are implemented, the next election may have greater legitimacy. And because even the last election’s turnout was poor, we simply hope that more people will show up this time. Regardless of your outcome, it was evident that Peter Pbi and Atiku Abubakar received up to 13.7 million votes, according to INEC data, in the most recent election. Then, with 8.9 million votes, Tinubu became victorious. The most straightforward explanation is that more Nigerians who cast ballots opposed Tinubu winning the presidency. Therefore, the fact that only 8.9 out of 13 million people cast ballots for him indicates that our system needs to be reviewed. To all intents and purposes, that win was illegitimate because he did not have the support of the majority of people. And for that reason, I agree with a former vice president who stated—and I have been suggesting—that our election should be conducted according to the norm in multi-party democracies, which states that the victor is the candidate who receives 50% plus one vote. This indicates that you have received the majority of the vote. This kind of outcome, when someone with 8.9 million votes is ruling over 13 million people who rejected him, is not possible.