2027: Obi, Atiku still big threats to Tinubu — Duru, APC deputy organising scribe

• Says APC won’t implode over defectors from opposition parties

Deputy National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nze Chidi Duru, is a man of many parts – a parliamentarian, politician, entrepreneur, and a reporter’s delight.

As a two-term active member of the House of Representatives, Executive Chairman of Grand Towers Plc, and founder of First Guarantees Pension Limited (FGPL), Duru has built himself into a big economic and political brand.

In this interview, he addressed a wide range of issues, particularly regarding the defection of political office holders into the APC, the threat posed by Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in the forthcoming 2027 presidential election.

He also dismissed insulations that APC may implode on account of the defection of political holders into the party and the face-off between the old and new members. 

What are the gains and shortcomings of the consensus option APC adopted in the Ekiti State governorship primary?

In 2022, in an interview, I espoused the view that we should be seen in Nigeria’s body polity to be doing the same thing done elsewhere in other parts of the world.

One of the views I canvassed very strongly then and even in the parliament in 2003 was that the incumbents, particularly those that occupy executive positions, should be given the right of first refusal, for a second term in office.

It is only on that basis that it is possible for political parties to hold their elected officials to account. The handshake and interface between parties and elected officials will be more intimate.

Of course, cross-fertilization of ideas would happen because the party would be aware that in the next election, the second term of office, the elected official occupying executive position would be their candidate, and therefore, in the interest of the party to work with him to ensure the delivery of the dividends of democracy.

The elected official would implement the party’s manifesto, and the expectation of the citizens in that constituency would be met. If they failed to do that then it would open up the flank for the opposition.

This has been my view and even though it is a variant of it that the incumbent in Ekiti State would appear to be a consensus candidate, it is not the way I had advocated, because opportunities were availed to the aspirants to compete against him, three other aspirants purchased forms, two were disqualified, one, on her own, voluntarily withdrew, which opened up space to have that consensus arrangement.

But I would like to see, going forward, that elected party officials occupying the executive positions are allowed to enjoy the right of first refusal, and we don’t submit them to an unnecessary contest in the election of our would-be candidates in the party primaries. The interface between the party and those elected officials will be encouraged.  The optics of it is that parties will hold the elected officials to account.

When I speak about this proposal, it is for those at the local government area, state governors and their deputies, and at the national level and the President. That will be my hope, and expectation, and we have a better opportunity to do so now that we are undertaking an exercise to amend our party constitution, which should be seen to be enshrined in our party’s Constitution.

Looking back at the past two years, and as the organizing secretary, what were the low and high moments?

I will look at it from the perspective that everything we have done is the experience we have gained. We have brought a number of innovations in the department, concerning how we handle primaries. I am not saying that it was not the case before, but largely, people can count on and rely on the primaries we conducted through the Directorate of Organisation.

We assumed office in 2022 at the height of the primaries for the 2023 general elections. Immediately after we were sworn-in, we had responsibility to midwife the primaries in all spheres of contests, beginning with the State Assembly, the National Assembly, the House of Representatives and Senate, the governorship, and, of course, the presidential primaries.

We delivered on that mandate. It is to our credit that we had less litigation arising from the conduct of the exercise we undertook.

We had a problem in only one state, Taraba, where there was adjudication in all 36 states in Nigeria. It appeared to suggest that our candidates in that election ought not to have been put forward based on the Electoral Act that declared irregularities in the conduct of the primary, and directed that we should re-conduct a proper primary in the state.

The other notion that we also introduced is the fact that the governors are beginning to have a greater say in the process of the exercise in their respective states. That has been very helpful and very important, because we are now having stakeholders of the party coming together, having meetings, and largely trying to achieve some measure of consensus among the party members.

But again, it is not denying people the opportunity to aspire and ventilate their expectations, if they would like to go beyond that. The hallmark of the department was shown when we conducted the presidential primary. There was an effort to claim that there was a preferred candidate leading to that primary.

Our directorate stood its ground that people who purchased forms to aspire to be the party’s candidate should be allowed to reach out to the electorate. In this case, the delegates that hopefully decide who to vote for. And to our credit, it became the position of the NWC that it did not take a decision to pick a particular aspirant as the preferred candidate of the party.

That was a major shift, a landmark, and our department cannot be celebrated enough for taking that decisive step because that ushered in the current president, who won the party primary, went into the main election, and won as the President.

To our credit, the bandwidth of the inflow into the party also significantly increased in many ways that are also measurable. We introduced measures to ensure that all funds realised through the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms were accounted for in a dedicated account.

Only on that basis would any of the forms be made available to those who wanted to contest within the party. It led to the amount of money we raised for the party. It was historic because it had never happened before in the history of the party.

We have also continued to vet those who participate in party affairs to ensure they are men we can rely on. If at any time we suspect that any of the people we appointed to fly the flag of the party is not representing the party in conducting exercises in a given constituency, we have always had cause to recall, disband the committee, and reconstitute a new one.

Thankfully, it has not happened in many cases, but on a very infinitesimal level. It has been a great time here, and we will continue to expand the frontiers of how democracy works and help the party to institutionalize itself within the rank and file of the party.

Again, we will continue to encourage critical stakeholders to have faith in the party, to believe in the party, knowing full well that it will be in a position to open its door and offer candidates and aspirants the opportunity to make themselves known to the voters and members of the party.

Talking about the influx into your party, does it not bother you that Nigeria is becoming a one-party state?

I am not so sure that Nigeria will be a one-party state. I am very confident it will not happen. What is happening now is what is called seasonal movement from one party to the other. Members moving from one party to another happened during the PDP era, too.

If you recall, a party chieftain once boasted that the PDP would govern Nigeria for 60 years, but it did not take more than 10 years before the then leading party was ousted. There was also a gravitation of seasonal politicians from the opposition party, some of them then APP or ANPP, some in AD and ACN that metamorphosed into APC did not stop the fact that a major shift happened in Nigeria in 2015.

It became possible for an opposition party to go into an election, win, and be sworn in as the ruling party. We began to see the decline of PDP, which boasted that as a behemoth, nothing would happen to it and that they would govern for over 60 years.

We are also in that season where there are those who would not want to be in the harmattan season, preferring the sunny season by leaving their parties to join the APC. While some are bringing value, others are looking for better opportunities in the APC.

But what must be very clear is that APC, unlike others, is governed by rules and a given ideology. And regardless of the influx happening now, an attempt must be made to ensure that we do not lose the soul or conscience of the party.

APC has never gone out to say that the party will be in power forever. We realise that at the end of the day, it is the electorate, not the membership of the party, that will determine who gets what, who gets elected, and who represents them in a given office.

For that purpose, every effort is being made to go beyond membership of the party, to engage the electorate, the wider society, because we do recognize the fact that APC members are only a fraction of the electorate’s voting strength in Nigeria, which was what the PDP did not recognize then.

They believed that membership of the PDP was enough to sustain them in power and ensure that they were not voted out of power, so that they could continue to remain in office. While we recognize this shift that there is an opportunity for people to come into the APC, we are very clear that membership of the APC alone is not the basis that can guarantee our election victory.

Going forward, we will continue to work hard, engage the public and the electorate to be sure that this system and the best of the policies of the government begin to crystallize for people to see and benefit for themselves.

What do you tell Nigerians and chieftains already nursing fears that there may be an implosion over the influx of members of other parties?

If we do recognize, as I have pointed out, that membership of a political party is not a guarantee to win an election, it only means that we are going beyond membership to innovating policies that will affect the lives of Nigerians, put food on their table, and ensure that they have a good feel of the party.

We will tangibly engage them, see that policies would uplift them; ensure that the expectations of the average electorate are met, as opposed to pandering to the welfare of members of the party as if it is a guarantee that we recognize the electorate, with voting strength and power, as more important than membership.

What are the measures the party is putting in place to ensure a peaceful existence, because in almost all the states, where the governors left the opposition to join the APC, old and new party members are at loggerheads?

I don’t think that the situation is as exaggerated as you are painting it. There is no crack anywhere. In Enugu, for instance, I know as a fact that consensus has been reached, an approach made, and hands of fellowship extended between the erstwhile state chairman, Ugochukwu Agballa, and the incumbent governor who has taken over the leadership of the party in the state.

If anything else, we must be reassured that the Caretaker chairman, Ben Nwoye, and largely his members, are members who have been with the party since its formative stage and have never moved from one political party to another. What it means is that they are one people of the same family, and there is no debate.

There is nothing we are aware of about anybody going to court to challenge the decision of the NWC with respect to the decision that was taken in the case of Enugu State, which, by the way, is in the interest of the state. You are now seeing the major gladiators coming, holding the broom. It means that APC is home in Enugu state.

In Delta, the leaders of the party have also aligned their interests with the governor and his team, who joined the party with him. The chairman and the membership are working together to ensure that there is collaboration. Where there are differences, which must happen in party politics, we must never shunt out people for disagreeing.

But the most important thing is that at the end of the day, there will be an ultimate resolution, that in the interest of the party, we must come together and work together to promote what helps the party at any point in time.

It does not matter in Anambra State whether I have differences with what took place in the state; it is taken as given that I will work for the APC. Will I have a different view from the process that threw up sometimes what happened in the state, of course, but after that, we have a party, and I will come under that commitment to ensure that these are done.

The danger and risk that we will always run is that when there is a disagreement, it is extrapolated to mean that the party is in crisis. In recognizing that I will wager that in no distant time, the position of NWC, which is a mandate that has been given by the NEC at the last meeting, to constitute a peace and reconciliation committee, will come to the fore.

Where opportunities will be given to party members if there are points of disagreement, points that we don’t see or can’t sit together, or not aligned together, to come together to talk about it openly, in a manner that will encourage members to see that ultimately we need to work together to see that what happened in 2015 will not happen to APC.

Every APC chieftain believes that the 2027 presidential election is at best won and lost. What is giving you that confidence even when Nigerians are suffering?

I don’t think that any APC chieftain believes that the 2027 presidential election is won and lost. We believe that we have a presidential candidate, a president who is a member of our party, who won the election under a very difficult situation in 2023, who is doing his best to see that policies are put in place that will address the needs of Nigerians.

No APC member or chieftain would say that we do not recognize the challenges that are present in the country today. We also believe that the language communicated to Nigeria is that we are doing our best to address those issues. If you have listened to the Minister of Finance, he did say that the policies the government has put in place in the last two years are beginning to bear fruit.

He mentioned, for example, that the 50kg bag of rice has now gone down from over N100,000 something to below N80,000 today, and is still coming down. The cost of foodstuff is also coming down. Inflation is dropping, too, and the policy of the government is working.

Yes, there were challenges before now. The cost of Naira to Dollar hit almost N1,800, but in the last few days, we have seen incremental strengthening of the Naira to the Dollar. Today it is less than N1,460 and still strengthening. In that respect, it took a seasoned investor, if you recall, I did a tweet four months ago that the money to have in your hand is not the Dollar but the naira.

Aliko Dangote has even echoed it by advising Nigerians who have Dollars today to sell them. The money to have is Naira. If he has any dollars today, he will sell them in the market because the Naira will continue to strengthen against the Dollar in the next few days. That is the policy at play, the assurances that are given to Nigeria that the moment it begins to work, the moment the policies of the government, the physical and monetary policy, the moment this begins to happen, we will begin to see the impact. No doubt about it.

But the reality again is that the government is making the effort to address these issues, yes, of course, is the government aware that there is hunger in the land, and there is pain and hardship in the land, yes, of course. But the attempt to address them will begin to bear fruit very soon. It is just a matter of time before we turn the corner, and then it can only be building the basic foundation and taking Nigeria to where we should be.

How much of threats do Atiku and Peter Obi pose to President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election?

We recognize every threat, every contestant, every political party, even if it is the party formed in my village as a contestant, and we do not take any of them lightly. We believe that we are in a democracy, and that if we rest on our oars, not vigilant, there is the possibility that we may be overtaken as the PDP suffered in 2015.

And that is why APC is not arrogant and never tells Nigerians that it will be in power for 60 years. That is why we recognise the fact that membership alone, even if we are one million in number, 10 million members, or 20 million members in comparison to the population of Nigeria it is still only a fraction of the number of the electorate in Nigeria, which is far bigger than the membership of the party.

Our effort is not just to bring members into the party but to incentivize them, to encourage them to continue to engage the citizens, the electorate, who, at the end of the day, will elect our officials and our members we fielded for the various elections.

Is the national leadership of APC facing any threat over the speculations of the elective convention?

I don’t know if the party’s national leadership is facing any threat. What I know, however, is that the NWC is discharging the responsibilities given to it by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to extend the tenure of the various elective executives of the party from the ward level to the local government, up to the state levels, by six months.

We have done that, and the extension will end by December this year. We hope that the reason for such an extension is still valid today. Discussions are ongoing, and by the time the deadline draws closer in the coming weeks, there will be a clear sense of what the party will do going forward. As for the threat, I don’t see any, since we are governed by the party’s constitution.

(The Sun)