‘APC can’t go to 2019 poll with divided house’
Preye Aganaba is a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Bayelsa State and a member of the presidential campaign council. The 2015 senatorial candidate of the party and a former governorship aspirant, in this interview, speaks on the
One of the things Nigerians will be looking at in taking 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 are going down. I get a minimum of 20 hours light per day.
I am not too bothered about the economy because it’s 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 the kitty.
Considering the health of the President and other factors, would you encourage him 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.
There are calls on the President to rejig his cabinet in order to move the country forward. If you are to advise him, what will you tell him?
I will ask him to come back home and get those people who campaigned for him based on the promises of the APC. These people believe in him before they went out campaigning. It will not require giving directive before things are done because you have people who believe in you, and have 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 not value it. That, sometimes, creates 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.
Everywhere you go in the country, there are complaints. As a national party, how do you think the APC can carry everybody along in the interest of national development and equity?
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 can you say about the current crisis in Bayelsa APC?
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 interests. 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 puts in a lot to the establishment of the APC in Bayelsa State. Same thing with the former governor, Timipre Sylva, without whom the APC in Bayelsa State might not have been a reality. Everybody has 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 for now is an acting chairman whose mandate is to rebuild the party and gather everybody together.
Does that mean the former chairman has agreed to work with the acting chairman?
Even 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 toe 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 anti-party allegation against the former chairman, especially the allegation that he is hobnobbing with the governor? How true is it that the State government paid for the party secretariat?
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 Seriake Dickson is funding anything in APC.
There was a time the APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Timi Frank and the former governor, Sylva had issues. Has the party been able to deal with that?
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 am aware, were resolved behind the scene.