Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu on Friday at the Party’s National Secretariat in
Abuja spoke to journalists on wide-ranging issues such as the party’s
reaction on Supreme Court Ruling on APC Rivers Governorship Candidate; the
Party’s affirmation of Senator Ayogu Eze as Enugu State governorship
candidate; Imo APC suspension of the State Governor, Owelle Rochas
Okorocha; comments by the Kaduna State Governor Nasir Elrufai on foreign
interference in our elections; Niger east senatorial candidate; recent
Police redeployments and the Party’s preparedness for the forthcoming
elections.
Excerpts:
Supreme Court ruling on APC Rivers Candidates
Our legal department is looking into the judgement of the Supreme Court.
It is not the kind of judgement we looked forward to base on the facts
that we are aware of. The only option before us now is to review this
judgement and see what other means that is legal. We think we deserve to
field candidates in Rivers state. We know we did the right thing. We had
our primaries even though there are issues around it. I don’t know why it
appears the APC is the only party that is being subjected to this kind of
scrutiny from the electoral body. It is the same APC that PDP has
continued to raise flags as being the party that wants to rig election and
is supposed to be working in cahoots with INEC. If this is the way to work
in cahoots with INEC, we need to ask further questions. We know what we
did in Rivers compared to what PDP did in many of the thirty-six states.
PDP shouldn’t field candidates in many states if the same parameters
applied by the electoral body are applied to the PDP. Our legal department
will review the outcome of this as unpalatable as it is and we will be
able to say categorically the next step we might be taking and come out
with it in due course.
Party’s affirmation of Senator Ayogu Eze as Enugu State Governorship
Candidate
In Enugu state, we are aware of the judgement that says our candidate;
Senator Ayogu Eze is not the rightful candidate. We would say that we have
acknowledged the judgement of the court but we do know the party followed
the procedure and the processes that led to the emergence of Senator Ayogu
Eze is what this party believes in. We believe that the Appeal Court will
do the right thing and upturning it. Senator Ayogu Eze remains in the eyes
of the party, the governorship candidate for Enugu state. The person that
has been so declared by a court is unknown to this party because he did
not even participate in the primaries that we organised. So there is no
way he could have emerged as our candidate. Again, as I speak to you we
have appealed the judgement and secured a stay of execution. So even
legally as at today, Senator Ayogu Eze is the candidate of APC in Enugu
state. We are very confident he is going to deliver.
Court decision on Party’s Niger east senatorial candidate
We stand by our process, our process stand up to scrutiny. Take it to
anywhere; we are sure we did the right thing without prejudice to what the
lower court has said that is why we have the opportunity of an appeal to
the higher court.
Imo APC suspension of State Governor
We are aware of the situation in Imo and we have made our point clear. Let
me reiterate that APC does not have an alliance with any party including
the Action Alliance. We are not in alliance with any party whatsoever in
this election. However, we welcome support for our candidates from any
party but we do not have such an arrangement that accommodate the
candidate of any other party besides APC candidates. In Imo and all the
thirty-six states, including the FCT, we are campaigning for APC
candidates and we expect APC candidates to win elections anywhere we are
campaigning in a free and fair atmosphere.
We are also aware of the fact the Party’s local chapter has taken some
disciplinary action as regards the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas
Okorocha. In last few weeks, we have been going round the country to
present our scorecard before Nigerians and to seek a renewal of this
mandate to continue the good work that President Muhammadu Buhari has
embarked on. The National Working Committee has not been able to seat on
that and many other issues pending. In due course the NWC will meet and
that may be one of the issues that will be considered. As at today, the
real issue in Imo is to emphasise the fact that APC is supporting all APC
candidates in Imo and we do not recognise candidates that are not from the
APC. We encourage the people of Imo to vote massively for APC candidates.
The governorship candidate in Imo remains Senator Hope Uzodinma.
Comments by Governor Nasir Elrufai on foreign interference in our elections
We stand fully by the statement as regards any country that thinks we are
a colony; that we have a right to defend every inch of this country; and
we are not a banana republic. So what Governor Elrufai said clearly is the
position of this government that we are proud as Nigerians and we are
ready to defend the integrity of this country and that any country that
thinks in the name of election will want to interfere and dictate to us or
intimidate us in any way, it is unacceptable. That is exactly what
Governor Elrufai has said. The PDP can twist it the way they want.
Governor Elrufai never said people should not come and observe or monitor
elections. And he was not referring to people who are genuinely coming to
monitor and observe the elections. Nigerians also go to other countries as
monitors and observers. So that is acceptable to us, we welcome peer
review. What we don’t welcome and what is unacceptable to us is any
country thinking we are a colony, we are not. We are a sovereign nation.
APC Preparedness for elections
The APC has been working on a daily basis through our activities in terms
of implementation of policy and programmes that touch on the common
people. These are what we are now showcasing to the public as a means of
telling them that the change we promised is actually taking place; seeking
a renewal of the mandate they gave us almost four years ago
As we all can see, PDP missed the bus. They got to the bus station and
instead of boarding the bus; PDP is busy picking on issues that do not
concern them. All the time they ought to be campaigning, they wake up on
daily basis based on their infamous Dubai strategy meeting that failed
before they landed in the country
PDP showed abinitio that they were not coming into the elections to win it
through the ballots. They put in place all sort of methods and illegal
means they had wanted to deploy one after the other to get back to power
through the backdoor. The PDP was busy creating false and fake news,
spreading all sort of fallacies and that has now come to be their undoing.
It is clear that the elections in February 16, the election on March 2 are
elections that the APC has demonstrated clearly that we are ready to win.
The PDP has not offered any alternative to whatever APC is doing. When you
look at the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, he
said on national television that one of his priorities is to make his
friends rich but we are busy improving the lives of the common people.
Nigerian will remember that. Atiku has said he is coming to sell national
assets to his foreign and local friends. The question we are going to ask
during the election with our PVCs is what happened to all the national
assets during the 16years of the PDP and especially when Atiku was vice
president and chairman of the privatisation council. National assets were
sold for a pittance and they have all gone down. The only things that
remain today are those that are personal to him. The gains he made from
his position as vice president. This is the person that is contesting
against our candidate. A person we just discovered paid heavily to get a
24-hours entrance into the US. That is the kind of person we want to have
as president. Nigerians won’t do that.
Recent Police redeployment
Few weeks ago, it was the same PDP that was crying that the police have
been compromised and that the former Inspector General of Police was
poised to deliver the election to APC. Now the president has taken the
position by appointing a new IGP. Now I don’t know where the noise is
coming from.
There is no need to deceive ourselves. The whole noise about the posting
of commissioners of police is about Kwara state, Dr. Bukola Saraki who is
scared stiff remembering all he had done in the past when he had the
control. What he normally used the police for, the way he used to
manipulate INEC and he is thinking that the same thing may happen to him.
How could you suggest to the police not to carry out its routine exercise.
If the police think it is part of its preparation to ensure a free and
fair election, provide security before and after the election is to move
its personnel around, how does that bother anybody? It is because Bukola
Saraki has realised without having control over INEC and the police, there
is no way he can win his seat to comeback as a senator. He cannot even
deliver his polling unit, without being aided by the police and INEC and
that is what he has been doing before but is no longer available for him.
But let me assure him and his co travellers, the APC doesn’t need those
illegal things to win elections. Infact, we need them to do their jobs, we
need them to provide a level playing field to all political parties. That
is all we want from the police, that is all we want from INEC. We don’t
need the template Bukola Saraki and the PDP have been using and we are not
going to use it.