By Levinus Nwabughiogu

Many people were surprised when the news of his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, filtered in just before the general elections. It was difficult to believe that someone who had been a founding member of the party since 1998 and eventually rose to become the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives could ditch the party. But Prince Chibudom Nwuche tells anyone who cares to listen that the PDP first ditched him. In this interview, he shares his experience as a PDP member. Excerpts:

What is your impression of the general elections?

The elections were good for Nigeria and further consolidated the gains of stabilising our democracy and has set Nigeria firmly on the democratic trajectory. We can now count ourselves amongst the comity of stable democracies where power is procured only through elections and not by unconstitutional means. The APC and president elect, Muhammadu Buhari, won a resounding victory but our country was the biggest winner as we transited peacefully in spite of several predictions to the contrary. The elections recorded significant successes in spite of the rigging in some states where violence was deployed and voters murdered, intimidated and results written with the connivance of security agencies and INEC personnel. I would recommend a full probe by the Federal Government of these atrocities with a view to arresting the perpetrators, their sponsors and any law enforcement personnel who may be complicit, and bringing them to justice.

The stance of INEC in refusing to cancel elections in states that were marred by commercial scale violence, where, in some instances, many were murdered in election related violence only sends the wrong signal.  It would have been more edifying for the system if INEC cancelled such elections and insisted on perpetrators being punished as deterrent to others,and to encourage integrity and faith in the electoral process. On the whole it was commendable for President Jonathan to have conceded early and spared the nation the anxiety of a long drawn out post-election process that could have easily led to a breakdown of law and order.

What reason(s) can you adduce for Jonathan’s failure at the polls despite a flamboyant campaign?

Prince Chibudom Nwuche

I would rather rephrase the question in terms of why the PDP failed as it was the party that principally lost the elections and its candidates are embedded in this loss including President Jonathan and several others. The reasons are many. The first is the failure of the party to listen to the wise counsel of leaders and generally those that meant well for both the party and the country. The advice include the need for the party to re-examine its leadership selection process to enable it produce the best minds instead of the practice where godfathers dictated those to be engaged, based on criteria like loyalty to themselves instead of to the party and the country.

Party tickets for election were awarded to godsons, cronies and sundry “friends”. The refusal to reward those that had worked for the party and encourage loyalty amongst members instead of patronizing people with little or no political value, selected on criteria only known to their selectors played a role in PDP’s defeat at the polls. There was also general injustice and impunity in the party where no regard was paid to addressing the grievances of members. Money became a factor in determining those the party favoured for tickets at primaries.

In this atmosphere of impunity, actions were taken without consideration for members opinion and rigorous analysis, like the subletting of the party campaigns to NGOs and some ministers, without a clue or public acceptance, leaving party organs and ardent supporters redundant. Party leaders simply did not put in their best in the campaigns and generally allowed their followers to make up their minds based on prevalent sentiments. Most of these leaders were neglected after the 2011 campaigns whilst some ministers and aides of those in power became arrogant towards them and treated them like outsiders. There were avoidable disputes like the one that rocked the governors forum and led to the split that eventually nailed the party’s coffin.

The party ought to have provided better leadership and nipped the crisis in the bud but there was a   feeling of invincibility and that the party and its leaders could practically do whatever they wanted and the members and the masses had no say in the governance process. You had the marginalization of key stakeholders and leaders with substantial following amongst the populace and party members generally. A ready example was the sidelining of former President General Olusegun Obasanjo from the Ogun State chapter of the party and the award of the party structure to others with much less stake in the polity.

I strongly advised against this but was ignored. Many members left the party in spirit the day Obasanjo publicly tore his party card and many felt like also tearing their cards.  There was the fallout of the party primaries that saw the shortchanging of many popular politicians by  party officials. Many of these including governorship and senatorial candidates decamped to other parties and many eventually won the elections.

Those who remained behind were not placated and either stayed aloof during the elections or worked against the PDP. There were also no primaries for the presidential slot in spite   of the protestations of many party members. I had advised on many of these issues to party organs and individuals but it wasn’t taken seriously; they preferred the counsel of those whose qualifications for such advice was at best suspect and at worst dubious and did not mean well for the party.

Could those be the reasons why many founding members of the PDP including you have left the party in droves?

Many founding members left the party as a result of the impunity, injustice, arbitrariness, marginalization and disregard for those not directly in government. My story is fairly long but I will summarize it. I was a founding member of the PDP having joined the party at its formation in 1998. Prior to joining the party, I was very successful in the oil and gas business and only ran for elections because of the persuasion of my people. I ran election to the Federal House and served as Deputy Speaker between 1999 and 2003 whilst Salisu Buhari and Ghali Naaba were the Speakers in that period.

Since leaving office, I have only sought to represent my people in elective offices as my strength is with the masses, with whom I have kept faith and have genuine interest in their welfare. However certain godfathers within the PDP have truncated my peoples desires for me to serve them because they said I was too independent and they could not control me. These godfathers with their ill gotten resources and consequent influence ensured that I was blocked from serving the country in any meaningful capacity since 2003.

These same characters also rigged me out of the senatorial primary of Rivers West inspite of my enormous popularity and the endorsement and protestations of the poor masses. I left the party in spirit much before the   formal announcement because of the injustice meted to me and my supporters. Many of my supporters had all this while been urging that I leave the PDP and join forces with more progressive-minded people who would value my popularity and contributions.

I am not seeking for any appointments or benefits for my self but to be in a place where I can contribute genuinely to building a better country that will empower my people and the generality of Nigerians. I am still reasonably active in the oil and gas sector and legal practice and able to meet my modest needs. I also know that a more people oriented government will drive policies that will grow the economy and drag with it, many business concerns and my people.

Would you want to go back to the party?

No. I prayed and fasted for several days before taking the decision to leave after 16 years and I will not go back to join those kinds of characters. I consulted for several months with many of my colleagues and political soul mates, some of whom are senior members of APC and also many who later joined the APC before leaving the PDP. Imagine a party that I was requested to hold forth and serve as Deputy National Chairman in a period of crisis but could not even address the injustice meted to me in a mere senatorial primary. The immediate past Chairman, Adamu Muazu, could hardly find time to look at my petition.

Whilst I have delivered my unit, ward, local government area in every election, these characters who can not deliver their ward and have no following are promoted over those with substantial following. How do you expect such a party not to decline?  With due modesty, in my short stint as Deputy National Chairman under Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, an accomplished Nigerian patriot, we delivered the first free and fair primaries in Anambra State. Can you say the same thing for the current executive of PDP? Many of my political soul mates who left the PDP for APC are not looking for what to eat and by the grace of God able to meet their needs as they have professions and a second address. Many of us are in politics to serve our people and to help develop our country and not for personal gain.

How would you describe President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory?

It wasn’t a victory only for President Buhari and the APC but for the generality of ordinary Nigerians who desired change from the status quo. They wanted a different vision for Nigeria than that offered by the PDP. Also periodic change and renewal are veritable hallmarks of an advancing democracy.

What agenda would you set for him?

I will align myself with the self evident agenda set by the generality of Nigerian masses who turned out to give him a resounding victory in the general elections. Nigeria’s problems are visible even to the blind – these include the need to stamp out corruption and to punish those found guilty as deterrent to others. With the savings from the fight against corruption to address the issues of poor infrastructure bedeviling the country, the provision of health care, jobs, and general welfare of our teeming population of mostly young people. To address the issue of insecurity and ensure that no Nigerian will be made to suffer the indignity of being captured and put into forced slavery, raped and murdered by bands of criminals operating under religious cover.

That no part of our nation is ever again ceded to such hoodlums. To lead by example as Nigerians are generally good followers of their leaders example. In leadership, there is nothing more compelling than the sacrifice and example of leaders to propel the people to greater effort and achievements. Leaders should not only pontificate to the masses but lead by personal example. There is urgent need to diversify the economy away from the current dependence on oil and the shameful import of refined petroleum products in a country blessed with huge crude oil deposits.

New refineries should be built in partnership with the private sector or alternatively provide the enabling environment for them to construct new refineries. Initiate policies that will encourage entrepreneurship through long term, single digit interest loans, instead of the current policy where banks only lend for short term imports at double digit interest rates, and invest the balance in treasury bills with the CBN. This will empower thousands of businesses that will create jobs to employ our teeming army of unemployed youths and graduates. Currently, the CBN has effectively crowded out most of the private sector especially small businesses from the loan market.

The president-elect has said that killers and arsonists in Rivers elections would not be forgiven. Do you support that?

I most definitely support the punishment of the perpetrators of electoral violence and their sponsors including law enforcement officers who connived or looked the other way,and allowed hoodlums to kill and maim innocent Nigerians. Imagine a situation where on the eve of the elections there was shooting in many communities from dusk till dawn and voters were consequently afraid to venture out to vote, and hoodlums snatched the result sheets and wrote fictitious results. There were deaths, injuries across the state. Yet INEC had the audacity to declare such elections as free and fair.

For instance in my my ward on account of my joining the APC, the party scored over 4,000 votes while the PDP scored about 150 votes, and the result was duly announced and signed by INEC and all the party agents and copies given to us. This result was later changed in favour of the PDP at the collation centre by INEC officials. It is imperative that the full weight of the law is brought to bear upon them as a deterrent and recompense for those who have been cold bloodedly murdered, maimed and intimidated. To allow these misdeeds and crimes to go unpunished will be a clear invitation to anarchy and a Hobbesian state of nature where the lives of men will be nasty, brutish and short and an absence or incapacity of a sovereign or central authority.