Credible congress will end Anambra crisis, says Ukachukwu

HOW do you see the situation in Anambra State with regard to the crisis in the PDP?

The crisis has been that of external influence and the people who dont want things to be done the way it should be done; people who dont want things to be fair, who feel they are in charge and they are the leaders, and everybody should come and give them returns without reflecting to say, this thing should be a general thing where everyone should be involved. The problem is that of some individuals who have connections with some external people in the state. They enforce their decisions on the people without recourse to the fact that the people should be the ones to determine what will happen to them.

So far attempts to organise congresses in Anambra have failed. Do you think the new committee under Prof. Jerry Gana can succeed?

Gana has a reputation to protect just like the other people in the committee like Gen. Ike Nwachukwu and Frank Ogbuewu. They are men of integrity and their role is reconciliatory in nature. I think that they will do well. If everybody are ready to accept the committees report and recommendations, and the party is ready to implement the recommendations, there will be peace.

The national chairman has been accused of fueling the crisis and of not being serious about resolving the matter...

Prince Vincent Ogbulafor is like a father who has so many sons and daughters; he wants to listen to everybody and whichever way he goes, people will say he has taken side. He is giving a listening ear to everybody to find a solution.

Ogbulafor said that the Gana committee is the last on crisis, after which the party will wield the big stick...

People could have quoted him out of context, because wielding the big stick means no matter what happens. What he could be saying is that the party will take a decision and abide by it. The party has to take a balanced decision in order to carry everybody along. I think that is what he means.

Why do you think this crisis is taking so long to be resolved?

Anambra is a peculiar place but the crisis has a solution, which is free and fair congress. If they want a solution to the problem in Anambra, let them conduct a free and fair congress. If someone emerges as winner, we will know that he has more people and he will be able to carry everybody along. If they say they want to pick anybody in Anambra to conduct a free congress, it will be difficult because that person may belong to a faction. It is difficult to find somebody who is neutral. The external forces might not be neutral. We are saying that if they want to take off, they can constitute a committee of people from other states to come to Anambra and set out seven days to conduct elections. Take three councils at a time; get security men and video coverage in each council. It has taken four years to sort out the crisis in Anambra and so seven days will not be too much to conduct election in the 21 councils.

Do you believe that the present national executive has the capacity to conduct a free and fair election?

Yes I know that they have the capacity. The national chairman has been a party man, passed through injustice and so on. It is all about having the will, desire and determination.

What actually went wrong with the last congress?

People that came to conduct the election had determined who would be the chairmen and who would take over the party and some of us said that it would not work.

It is alleged that you moved all your materials and men from the ANPP to the PDP yet, you are trying to harvest in a place you did not sow.

The time of planting and time of harvest is a very long time. We have been the people doing a lot of cultivation and planting on this issue. From inception, I was among the first three people that supported Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, the first and only elected PDP governor in Anambra. I was part of that government because of my contributions. In 2003, all the people that won election into House of Representatives were my people. The two senators that went were my people. I won the election, which they upturned in the court of appeal. I won it in court; they sacked the judge. They said I came in from ANPP, they forget that I left the PDP because of injustice. Even when I went to ANPP, they pursued me to that place because they knew that I would still win elections there. I went to ANPP to show them that they are not on ground. They said they disqualified me but on the day of election, they allowed my picture and my name. I won the election and they did not include my name on the result sheets. I went back to PDP because I feel that the man from Asaba causing the problem and his staff had gone. And because they have gone, we came back to the house to rebuild ourselves.

When we finished with the ANPP, we came back and occupied our rooms; and people who are there are Abuja politicians who do not have a base in the village. What I am saying is free and fair election and when that is done, they will see the one who planted and the one harvesting. They thought that I would not come back to harvest what I planted. You cannot cultivate today to harvest just tomorrow. The PDP set up Gana committee to come and woo us back to PDP. They talked to me to come back to the party.

Against the backdrop of your experience, what is the missing link in the electoral system that can take care of Anambra?

To check electoral fraud is simple. When they print electoral materials and bring them to the INEC headquarters there, let them enshrine it in the constitution that security agencies police should inspect them. Cameras will be there and everything will be documented. This will stop the act of INEC ordering for 10,000 ballot papers in South Africa and bringing back only 2,000 and write a result for 8,000. When they take these materials to states, the state party publicity secretary, the police and the civil defence and SSS will inspect to see that everything is complete under camera. No security threat about it. It is the same people that will conduct the process, so no hidden agenda. The third aspect is local council. The partys executive secretary in Anambra, the police, civil defence and the SSS in the council will inspect it under camera. They will see that the number of people that registered in the council is the same number of ballot papers for the council. The same thing will be done in the wards. When all these are done, when materials will reach the polling booths, it will be very difficult to rig. If the people at the council level know that the papers will be inspected, they will not give it to anybody overnight.