Igbos Should Follow The Right Channel To Get To Buhari

Igbos Should Follow The Right Channel To Get To Buhari

Chinwoke Mbadinuju, a former governor of Anambra State under the platform of the PDP, is now a member of the ruling APC. In this interview with Vanguard, he spoke on number of issues ranging from the party, Ndigbo, President Buhari’s administration, APC, etc. His words:

President Buhari does not by any means hate Ndigbo. As for appointments, yes, some Igbos across the Niger are complaining, but it is still too early.
The President has just made few appointments. We should exercise patience and give him time before attacking him. Even former President Jonathan whom Igbo gave almost all their votes, what did Igbo get from Jonathan? Nothing! Is it 2nd Niger Bridge or Onitsha to Enugu to Abia to Port-Harcourt roads, indeed nothing?

On the performance of his former party, PDP in the last elections?
PDP has been the party on the ground for about 16 years but its performance all these years cannot be said to be satisfactory. For me, the issue of performance is not necessarily the number of years each party has been in existence. PDP was a party destined to save Nigeria’s democracy but it failed. PDP became a party of the past not a party of today and tomorrow.

And because nature abhors vacuum, the PDP was no longer able to take care of its members, APC now fills the space.

Over the period, PDP turned to something else, it became a party of “use and dump” according to its former National Chairman, with many victims, including my humble self.

Do you believe the APC can wrest power from PDP in the South-East?
It is very easy. I believe there is no question about APC taking over power in the zone. In the last election there was little or no planning by APC in Anambra State that was why we lost. The leaders were more mindful of money, how much was brought from Lagos and Abuja and how much was shared.

There was no proper engagement and party members were running up and down chasing the money bags to no avail. But this will not happen next time around. By the time of another election, PDP will still be in shambles.

On the party leadership
In APC both Tinubu and Buhari are leaders in their own rank. Even in the PDP arrangement it is the President that they usually regard as leader of the party. This has become a convention. In the case of APC, there are four regional parties, namely CPC, ACN, ANPP and APGA that had functioned independently and each of these parties had its party leader and that was how the issue of one party “Leader” came up. It was not wrong for people to refer to Tinubu as leader in a limited party situation.

The over-all party leader of APC today is President Mohammadu Buhari and he is known politically in Nigeria as leader of APC. National President and National Leader are about the same in appellation.