Chief Ibrahim Bamidele Emokpaire, is an astute politician, a technocrat, a human rights, and justice lawyer, Chairman and Convener, Progressive Solidarity for Asiwaju. He was also the Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the United Kingdom Chapter and one of the contenders for the National Chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before he eventually stepped down for the former chairman of the APC, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
In this interview with Gbenga Aderanti, he talks about the forthcoming governorship election in Edo, Obi’s visit to Atiku and also looks at how the ruling APC has fared in the first year. Excerpts.
What do you make of the recent visit of Obi Atiku?
There have been lots of speculations of what transpired between these two individuals, we both know that these two men are obviously ambitious, they want to preside over this country’s affairs at all cost and they are ready to go to any length, to carry out their ambition. There have been a lot of speculations about whether or not they are coming together or not as a unit to contest in 2027, so, merely seeing them together, 2027 comes to mind for everybody, and they begin to look at the possibility of the two coming together.
If the two of them decide to come together, won’t that be a threat to the APC?
Well, they had already expired politically. I think Obi feels he is still very young and he is just coming up, but I wonder how a 64-year-old will think he is very young. Looking at his records, he has contested before as Vice President under the banner of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He also contested under the Labour Party as President. These individuals, we have seen them all, and we know how both of them have used divide and rule. One of them was playing ethnic cards as much as he could, and blackmailing people to get to achieve his aspiration while the other was using religion.
These were the tactics they used, and honestly, Nigerians did not fall for the antics of these two men. Even when the issue of Muslim-Muslim heated up the polity during the last elections, our party was still able to work hard, and we were able to produce a formidable president in the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We believe that come 2027, Atiku or Obi will not pose any threat even if they come together under the umbrella of the PDP or Labour Party, or whatever alliance or association they might form. We don’t need to take this as a threat, though we would take it seriously.
The problem for both men lies in who’s going to back down for the other. Both of them are ruthlessly ambitious, and their supporters, especially that of Peter Obi are cutthroat supporters who see Peter Obi more than a presidential candidate. They may decide to abandon the ‘Obidient’ ship or go neutral if Peter Obi decides to become Atiku’s running mate a la 2019. This would then play into the hands of the APC and President Tinubu.
Any party out there that is ready to contest we know they are out there to oust the ruling party. We would do everything possible to give them fair play, and we would contest fairly, believing that our party, APC, will prevail.
How would you describe President Tinubu’s one year in office?
It has been a Herculean task, but he has been able to work his way through, irrespective of the challenges the country is facing. The current administration has been faced with enormous challenges. Nigeria is a peculiar country where the problems you campaigned to end get ambushed by fresh problems every day after you become president or governor, which thereby expands and compounds the problems in geometric proportions
We see a turbulent economy worldwide, where the cost of living becomes untamable. We are not insulated from the problems associated with everyday living. We are part of the world economy and we know the removal of the petrol subsidy would disrupt the perception of the administration unfairly. However, the subsidy needed to be removed. It was a situation of talk and die, or don’t talk and die for Nigeria. Either way was a devil’s alternative.
Having said that, I would say a lot has been achieved and reasonable efforts are still being made in the sense that he was able to stand firm on the subsidy removal and did everything possible to ameliorate the hardship this has brought on Nigerians in the area of infrastructure like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the many roads and rail projects commissioned in the FCT Abuja. Even though I believe there’s still a lot to be done in the humanitarian approach of the President’s strategy to cushion the effects of the economic hardships facing Nigeria, I believe that by next year, things will take better shape in the economy.
I believe the President needs an inverted food sustainability programme from the grassroots where people can afford food. Food affordability will reduce most of the tension in the economy caused by inflation and subsidy removal.
Then again, we have to applaud the President for his social welfare efforts, especially the Students’ Loan scheme. The bill has been passed, and it has become law. The Students’ Loan Scheme will go a long way to eliminate illiteracy in our nation and help to develop education in the country.
Though the president is mostly touted as a capitalist, he has shown that welfare is a key focus of his administration. This is an administration that is planning a scheme to expand the scope of NYSC to foster wealth creation for our youths.
At the beginning of this administration, the government floated naira to inflate the economy. Though we are experiencing the teething problems associated with this policy, I believe that in due time, we will have the required stability to sojourn on as a nation.
We also see that within the economic indices, there are signs of improvement within this period.
The president has been able to travel far and wide to attract investors. He has been the chief marketer of Nigeria; he has been selling Nigeria to the rest of the world. He has made the investors see the potential Nigeria possesses. He is working assiduously to make sure Nigeria becomes a greater country again.
President Tinubu has done significantly well amid the enormous challenges we are facing after the removal of the subsidy.
Everybody agreed that the removal of subsidy was a necessity, as they say, no gain without pain. Our economy will bounce back; Nigeria will witness prosperity when this administration’s policies begin to yield fruits.
Many people had high expectations about your party transforming the country…
Give this administration another year; you will begin to see some results of the policies. I believe prosperity will come, and I just have to urge Nigerians to be patient with this administration to see the best way they can individually contribute to the growth and development of this country. Every hand must be on deck, and in due time, there would be a 90-degree turnaround for everybody to see the prosperity we’re all yearning for.
At one point, you wanted to be the National Chairman of the APC, but at the last minute, you stepped down for the former chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, what informed your change of mind?
Yes, I came out to contest for the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, that was in 2018, and at the time I came out, I believed that I had a lot to offer the party. I believed I was better qualified to be the national chairman of the party. I had a vision, and I developed the manifesto. I developed a plan that would foster unity that would bring harmony within the party, and also mentor the youths within the party so that the youths would be able to play a role within the party and they would now mature into political ascension, I put that in my manifesto and went about it. I believe that as a party, we should partner with the administration; the party would be carried along in terms of policy making, and policy delivery, and also to actually defend our policy because if we carry people along in policies, they will help in defending the policies.
As a party whatever becomes the administration, if it is successful, the party will be praised for it, if it is not successful, the party will take the blame for that, but when I was asked to step down for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, after wide consultation with my supporters and members, and we all agreed that lets give the Comrade a chance. He should be able to carry out some aspects of our manifesto, which was handed over to him when I was stepping down.
I was persuaded to step down so that we would have unity in the party. I gave Adams Oshiomhole all my support, all my prayers that he would succeed when I was stepping down, even at the joint press conference we had, I willingly and was happy to step down for him.
You said you participated actively during the 2023 elections, especially, mobilizing for your presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What exactly did you do?
During the 2023 election, before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu even came out, and declared to be a contestant, I was able to put together a formidable structure across the country. Since I had a semblance of national structure already, I used that to expand and develop a structure where we were able to put together, Progressive Solidarity for Asiwaju (PSA). It was formed in 2021, we were using the platform to urge him to contest because, in the first place, I knew President Bola Tinubu to be somebody who has vision and will be able to deliver for Nigeria. We worked with him in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as our national leader, I knew the quality of his leadership and I was very hopeful that he would do much much better than anyone in the party.
From day one, we had been campaigning for him all across the 36 states plus the FCT and in the diaspora. We set up offices in the United States, Texas, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, and Scandinavia. All these offices were in the diaspora. We were able to set structures across the globe and we pushed this message, and to God be the glory, he obliged us in January 2023, that he would give himself to serve, and then we started working to make sure he became the candidate.
With our head office in Abuja, we had people coming to us to make sure he emerged as the candidate of the party. We had delegates from across the state to make sure he became the candidate. We worked with other organizations like TSG and other groups before we became part and parcel of the campaign.
We had structures all across the polling units in the country. We had 4000 members, from polling units at state level. This was how we set up the structure, and we started working on them and we were able to deliver, making sure that he emerged the candidate, and when he became a candidate, the work did not stop, from PSA to the top, we had jingles from day one, campaign banners, campaign flyers, all sorts of things, we had to work so hard to ensure he became the president of this nation, and again to God be the glory, we prevailed.
I’m happy to be among those who worked for the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Our team comprises professionals from the top to the bottom, skillful professionals in different fields. We have artisans and youths as members. In one of the states alone, we have over 4,000 members, all across the polling units in that state alone, which gave the impetus to garner votes across the state as a group to achieve the victory. There is no doubt that our group is ready to give this administration the support it needs because we have worked hard to bring in this administration.
Governorship election will soon be held in Edo State. Do you think your party has a chance?
The answer to that is a resounding yes. Our party has a chance of winning the election. The election is for the APC to win, we know that the present governor, Obaseki, and his team, over the eight years have performed abysmally, there is nothing to show other than the MOU that he is signing all over the place and that is why he has the nickname ‘MOU Governor.’ All that he has done is to weaken the existing institution and also ensure that there is nothing to show in the eight years. That gives us the upper hand
But as a politician and a party man, I wouldn’t want us to take it for granted, that the Edo people will automatically come out and vote for APC, yes, they will come out en mass and vote for the APC, but what I’m hearing right now is that the governor and the PDP are working to carry out technical rigging, because the governor has a relation that is in INEC IT department and they are planning technical rigging in terms of using electronic technology to ensure that they rig themselves in and rig every other person out, they want to create confusion in the APC’s stronghold.
Our party needs to be vigilant, prepared, and ready, and take nothing for granted. The chance of winning is high for us. This election is for APC to take.
PSA has structures in all the 18 local governments in Edo state. We are teaming up with our party, the APC, to secure Edo State.
I believe that the APC has the best candidate in the person of Monday Okpeholo, among the contestants in Edo State, apart from the fact that the APC left good legacies during the time of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
