Professor Julius Ihonvbere served as member of the National Convention Committee and chairman of the Task-force sub-committee for the recently conducted National Convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC. In this interview at the Eagle Square venue of the convention, he spoke on the politics behind the emergence of the new national executive committee and other sundry issues .  Excerpts:

By DAPO AKINREFON

HOw do you see the first national   convention of your party?

This is our first convention and we brought in almost 7,000 delegates from across the nation. We had over 7,000 other supporters outside the venue and I think that is a show of strength. It demonstrates that APC is together, its influence is nation wide and its vision is for a democratic and more progressive Nigeria. So, this is a huge success.

But some delegates from Ebonyi and Abia states protested at the Convention secretariat for not being accredited by the planning committee…

(Cuts in) I was there because my secretariat was at Zizi hotels. The truth is that those were people who lost out at the congress, so they are the faction. They found themselves in Abuja and were trying to hijack the materials. But they failed because there is a legitimate list from Ebonyi State. So that is not a problem because we are not running a church.

Even in a church, there are factions, after all the Protestants came out of the Catholic Church.

So, when people come here to protest, that is the beauty of democracy, we are not worried about it. At the end of the convention, the new national chairman will set up a committee that will go round the nation and deal with aggrieved members.
Before the commencement of the convention, it was gathered that the party would go by consensus but it was turned down. What happened?

APC is not PDP. I did four national conventions for PDP and they were all selections.
Even the last convention held by the PDP was the funniest, we are a democratic party. We believe in consensus, which means we discuss, we dialogue, we exchange ideas and exchange positions.

When there is no agreement, we go for elections. So, I think they tried everything possible to reach a consensus.

How true is it that some of the aspirants were forced to step down for a particular aspirant?

I think it was a discussion among brothers. Looking at their pedigree, strength of character, solid party credentials and the ability to work hard to build a new party.
You see anybody can be a national chairman but only those that can traverse the length and breadth of Nigeria, who have the articulation, foresight,  vision, the sense of nation-building and believe in the objectives of APC is the best we can expect.

So a few people were told that they do not have a national base and do not have some of those credentials and rather than embarrass themselves, were asked to step down. They were not forced to step down.

How do you see two aspirants from Edo State contesting against each other, don’t you think it was a deliberate attempt to pit them against each other?
At a level, it is possible but it is essentially felt that Edo has quality people. But as an Edo person, I would have preferred that they sat together and reached some accommodation with each other.

Do you have fears that those who lost out may leave the party?
Not in the APC, we are doing everything openly. If you lose openly, you cannot begin to complain and those who are running now, are matured people. They have been through the mill, some of them have been at the grinder and grounded by PDP in the past. So, they know that going back to PDP is not an option.

Osa Director, in a recent interview, alleged that governor has sold APC to the PDP, what is your opinion on this considering the latest development in Edo State?
Well, I will not take such silly comments seriously.

The governor is APC. Remember there was a debate on whether he wanted to join PDP, he won that debate because at the end of the day Ogbemudia came out to say they went to Oshiomhole and he refused. The condition that applied then, still applies today and I do not see how he has sold APC.

Control of structure

I think some people want to control the structure while he is governor. It is not done anywhere in the world. So there were a few contradictions arising from that, those who could not work out the political expectations decided to leave.

Let the PDP come and do their congress and let us see what will happen, part of them will come to APC.

How do you see the drama playing out in the Edo State House of Assembly?
It is an internal affair of the legislators in Edo but more seriously, in politics you adopt several strategies of war.

One is do not allow your enemy to grow too strong while you are watching, secondly, exploit the weakness of your opponents.

Third, overwhelm your opponent with your superior strength before the enemy begins to grow fangs. All those factors applied in the Edo State House of Assembly. They were employed and were successful supported by the judiciary.

How soon will the crisis in Edo APC be over?
It will be resolved very soon, they were suspended and not expelled. Very soon, they will talk to one another.