The Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Enugu state chapter, Dr Ben Nwoye has lambasted the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, describing him as an inconsequential rabble rouser.
In this interview with Patience Ogbodo-Iwuagwu, monitored by 9news Nigeria, Dr. Nwoye speaks on the crisis rocking his party, Nnamdi Kanu’s reappearance and his threat to return to Nigeria with hell, among other issues.
Excerpts:
What is your take on the crisis rocking APC as a result of the just concluded Primary election?
All over the world, we have never had any election in a democratic dispensation where perfect election was conducted. Those who are aggrieved that election is perfect are usually those who win election and when people lose, they found fault either in the process or in the system or even in some cases in the electorates. If you look at the recent history of the United States which was assumed to be the best democracy, there are still aggrieved candidates. If I could recall, in United States when former President George Bush came to the office, there was a problem of whether or not Bush won the election. There was a problem, people went to court and the matter went all the way to the Supreme Court, raising the issue of constitutional crisis. At the end of the day, it was decided that they cannot keep counting, that was the case of should we keep recounting or should we stop counting? So in that particular election, we saw a judge just by a vote of 5 to 4, only one vote and George W Bush became the President of United States. It was an imperfect election but they had to move on. The same thing happened in the most recent election in United States. We had Hilary Clinton versus Donald Trump. People accused Russia, they accused social media, Facebook precisely but in the end, Trump won, Clinton and her supporters were aggrieved but they have to get together, the same thing was the case following the 2015 election, we saw open protest by the supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan when the result was being announced by the former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega.
The whole world saw the protest on live televison so people were usually aggrieved when their candidates fail to win or when they themselves fail to win but as time passes by, the truth will begin to set in through party members and patriotic citizens. We realised that in democracy, when you throw in yourself to contest, you will be a sportsman, you cannot just continue to blame the referee or the spectators for your poor performance You will take it as it come and move on. So, I am indeed hopeful that those people that lost will take it as it has come, they will move on. By God’s grace, we will have a stronger party, a stronger candidate, we are going to win Enugu state Government house, we are going to take the three Senatorial seats; we are going to take the eight House of Representatives seat, and we are going to take majority of the State House of Assembly. APC will rule Enugu come 2019 and of course President Muhammadu Buhari will be returned.
What is your reaction over the reappearance of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, do you think that his coming back as he stated in the video will change the political atmosphere in the region?
Namadi Kanu is inconsequential; his language of speech is inconsequential, because he has no effect in political atmosphere of Nigeria. These are rabble rousers. He ran away and caused the death of innocent citizens while pursuing his self-interest in the name of seeking his own sovereign nation. He left to enjoy himself somewhere, now he is sending message that Igbo people shouldn’t participate in the election, when Igbo people are looking forward to leading the nation in 2023. They should ignore him as a statement of someone who is a dreamer, he enjoys himself but unfortunately he deceived some youths. It is the incumbent upon the elders of Igboland to inform the youths that the man is a deceit because those that have being killed cannot come back.
