The All Progressives Grand Alliance presidential candidate, Peter Umeadi, in this interview with IKENNA OBIANERI, talks about the 2023 presidential election and the driving force of the party in its quest to clinch the country’s presidency
As a retired chief judge, why did you decide to join the murky waters of Nigerian politics?
I picked your word, “murky.” Yes, politics is a struggle for power. Anything that adds value has an adjective attached to it. The good side of politics is that it tends to develop people; nothing good comes easy, and politics is expensive and tedious.
I have retired from the judiciary and the next step for me is to get involved in politics and pursue national development. This, to me, is my own little way of impacting the lives of our people.
How prepared are you in this presidential race, and do you think your party stands a chance in the midst of so many political heavyweights?
On August 13, I called a meeting of all the state chairmen of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the various states of the country, out of that number, only three did not attend. Recently, the national chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Oye also called all the chairmen for a meeting at our national headquarters in Abuja, and he told all of them that the expectation is that they would deliver Peter Umeadi and indeed APGA in the 2023 presidential elections in their various states, wards, and localities.
So, this is the position of APGA. That is how APGA is working to ensure that on the election day, APGA faithful and APGA party wards that have shown themselves resilient and content are expected to show up at their polling units and vote for APGA.
But considering the fact that power is neither given nor taken, do you think the South-East is doing enough in terms of collaborating with other zones to achieve power?
Yes, I got your point. The moment you said north and south, let me tell you what it means when power is not given and not taken. As a student of military history, it is like a general who won but at the end had nothing to go home with because all the structures were not available. So, there is a kind of victory you get in the Nigerian elections, and the power still goes back to the north because they won, but it is a pyrrhic victory, a victory that is worse than a loss because it will plunge the country into something that will be regrettable.
So, to get the country right, there is no need for a winner-takes-all situation.
If we are sensible, we should put our hands above our shoulders and work for a Nigeria that will survive beyond the 2023 elections. Then, power must go to the south; that is the issue, and I am telling you that many Nigerians understand that, and it must come to APGA because APGA is the one-stop shot that will calm the nerves in Nigeria.
How can you assess INEC’s preparedness for the forthcoming elections, and do you think the current spate of insecurity across the country may mar the conduct of the elections?
Nothing will stop the elections from holding in 2023, and all those who think that the elections will not hold are engaging in what I call inanities.
In this country, we lift inanities so much that they begin to obscure the real issues. I am of the view that the election will hold in 2023 and the winner will be announced.
You are insisting that elections will hold, and all over the country, there are killings and kidnappings going on. Just a few days ago, the National Security Adviser warned the governors to hold back their thugs. Also, recently, the vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party alleged that its candidates are being molested all over the country.
One thing I will say about security generally is that we need to look at the security architecture in the country and ask ourselves, “Who really is in charge of the security structure in Nigeria?” Is it the governors or the Inspector General of Police?
Who do the commissioners of police listen to? The issue is that we have to be up and running in terms of security; we have to look at our security application generally, not just for the purpose of the election but also for the purpose of feeling safe and freely moving about our normal businesses. We have to be honest with ourselves: why are those security issues not being resolved, and if they are not, should we not be talking about sanctions?
In the present circumstances, on whose table does the buck (issue of tackling security) stops?
In the current structure, it ought to be with the governors because they are the chief security officers in their states but in reality, who does the security apparatus listen to?
We have seen a situation where a governor gives an order on security and it is not carried out because the officer says he is waiting for instruction from his boss somewhere.
Which areas do you want Nigerians to hold APGA accountable should your party win the election?
I have distributed my manifestos and I have said it in a book: the philosophy of APGA is tied to social progress. So, APGA is going to bring about a repositioning of the country in four years. After four years of APGA presidency under my watch, the repositioning of Nigeria that would have occurred will be difficult to reverse.
When I talk about social progress, the bottom line of social progress means care: care for the people, care for the men, care for the women, care for the youths, care for the children, care for the disabled, and care for the elderly. With social progress, Nigeria will attain great heights. APGA will create the conditions for all individuals to reach their potential by instigating change from the ground up. I will remove my personal interest from the picture in performing my duties as the president of Nigeria.
If I allow my personal interests to interfere with one minute of my time as president, then I will not have done what I should have done. I am telling you this because when I went to the NBA conference, all of you watched it, and some other presidential candidates were there also, but the morning after, Reuben Abati on Arise TVtook on the NBA president and asked him, “You brought all these presidential candidates to the NBA conference; whose voice did you take home at the end of the day? And the NBA president said, among all the presidential candidates that attended the conference that he took up and went home with one voice mentioned by the APGA presidential candidate, Peter Umeadi, who said, as president, he would remove his interest from the picture.
Still on security, how do you think voters should protect their votes? One thing is to vote, another is to protect the votes…
I’d like to tell you that the Electoral Act 2022 and the machines that go with it, such as the BVAS are among the greatest gifts the current president have given Nigerians. I also expected that from day one of Buhari’s presidency, because we all know what he went through in the elections before, where he lost about three elections, and we all knew how it ended; he went up to the Supreme Court, and he was not happy with what happened then.
This Electoral Act will be the pattern for how a free and fair election will be achieved because if we have a free and fair election, we will have done a lot to achieve peace, progress, and stability in the country.
The reason the former President Goodluck Jonathan is held in high esteem is because he allowed himself to be voted out. That is the kind of system we should create — a system where everybody is allowed to have a say at the poll and whatever the people say at the poll should be allowed to stand — and as president, that is the kind of system I will create.
You seem to have chosen agriculture and education as your areas of focus.
Yes, those are important issues but the overall goal of my manifesto is ensure that no one will be left behind. You should also include health, education, agriculture, and energy, and also paramount in my mind are the issues of women, youth, children, and the disabled. I am going to abide by all of that. That is why I have always said that, apart from history, the next thing I am going to champion is the implementation of the Child Rights Acts because the child is the nation, and it is the child that is the basis of all development.
Knowing full well that APGA is not considered a national party, are you in alliance with any other political party?
A candidate will not make the decision to form an alliance with any other political party on their own. There is a structural arrangement that has to be made at the level of the party structure by the national chairman and the executive of the party. You must not forget that, as Peter Umeadi, I am only a candidate for APGA, as there is no independent candidate.
The party is supreme, and I have made it clear that the party should be a political organ housing any candidate who seeks political office. I will abide by anything that my party says, but I will tell you one thing, when you go out to compete, as I have shown you an example of in the NBA conference where I came first, you don’t begin to do what others are doing or copy what others are doing. (Punch)
