When he joined the Labour Party (LP) last year, George Moghalu was categorical about his resolve to govern Anambra State. In an interview with JIDE ORINTUNSIN, the former Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) explains how integrity and not money will secure him victory at the polls.
What are your chances in the forthcoming Anambra governorship election?
It is a simple question that requires a simple answer. My chances are very bright. I can repeat it a thousand times, so my chances are bright. You asked again about the threats from the other political parties, especially the ruling APGA and the APC. However, I have not even started looking at the strengths of the other parties yet.
I am not bothered about what is happening in other parties. I am concerned about what is happening in my party, the LP, because every election has two stages: the primary and the main election. For now, we are concerned with the primary. An Igbo proverb says one must first struggle to get the land before getting a mat. This is because if one doesn’t get the land, there will be a problem of where to put the mat. The emphasis now is to convince party members to choose me for the assignment. It is after I secure the ticket on April 5, God willing, before I start thinking about what is happening in other political parties.
As a new entrant into the party, you have been accused of planning to reap where you did not sow. What’s your reaction to this accusation?
It is not about reaping where I did not sow. The truth is, yes, I am a new entrant into the LP, but I am not a new entrant in the political space in Anambra and the nation. I have remained a political player from 1990 to date. So, you can’t expect me to be an unknown quantity. For now, it’s not about reaping what one did not sow. The party also needs politicians of my stature to be able to run the election. I have been around. It is about me and the platform. It would be a wrong assumption for anybody to say that I am trying to reap where I did not sow.
The LP leadership has assured all aspirants of a level playing ground. Do you think they are paying politics?
Why do you think that they are playing politics with it? So far, I have every confidence in the leadership of the party of being able to deliver on their promise, because the best thing that can happen to any political party going into any political contestation is to ensure a free, fair, credible primary process so that at the end of the day, everybody will be happy. Like I have always said, there is no difficulty in calling the winner to congratulate the person once you feel that the process is free and fair.
Are there moves by aspirants for a possible consensus or alliance ahead of the April 5 primary?
I’m not aware of such an arrangement. What I know is that a good relationship exists among the aspirants. I see it as a family affair because only one person will represent the party. Granted, we all have the right to contest for the ticket once we feel qualified, but, in the end, it is thrown back to party members who will vote during the primary. It will become a matter of the delegates choosing whoever they think can present their interest better.
Why do you think you have an edge over other aspirants?
It is not in my place to start determining the edge. It would be better for you to make inquiries when delegates emerge. Ask them questions, and they will tell you who will emerge as the winner.
The fear is that the indirect mode of primary would give the ticket to the highest bidder. Does this bother you?
I don’t see it as such, particularly in the LP, where I am contesting today, because delegates that will emerge will come out through a direct process. It means that they are representing the people’s interest: locality, local government, ward, and things like that.
How strong is LP in Anambra, considering the speculations that the Obidient Movement has dumped the party?
There is no iota of truth that Peter Obi will leave the party or has pulled out members of the Obidient Movement from the party. It is not true. I usually don’t like commenting on speculations because there is no fact to back them, but as for this one, I can tell this is not true. The Obi I know will announce it if he wants to leave the party. He will make it public. So, people are just speculating.
I also don’t see anything wrong with visiting the governor of Bauchi State. They are both national leaders. Before he became the presidential candidate of LP, he was a two-time governor of Anambra State, and he visited a second-term governor of Bauchi State and the chairman of the governor’s forum of a major political party like PDP.
What is wrong with that? They are consulting because Obi wants to be president of Nigeria, so he is moving around to consult with those he can work with. As for the visibility of LP in Anambra, I can tell you that the party is very much on the ground.
We can test the strength of a political party when the campaign begins and after the election. Since politics is very local, the party still occupies many elective offices. The LP has two out of the three senators representing Anambra at the National Assembly, seven out of the 11 House of Representatives members, and more than 10 in the State House of Assembly.
Does that not show you that the LP is on the ground? This is coupled with the fact that its 2023 presidential candidate is from Anambra State. Some of us aspiring to fly on the flag of the party have our followers that we have kept from our days at the National Secretary of APP and ANPP, down to when I became the National Vice Chairman, to when I became the National Audit till now that I am running for governor. Don’t also forget that I have tried to be the governor under APC.
What are your fears as you approach the primary?
I don’t have any fear, to be honest with you, because if you are looking at fear from the general perspective, the only concern I have for the election scheduled for November is the insecurity in the Southeast. I hope INEC lives up to its responsibility as the umpire. They owe it as a duty to give us a credible election. It provides them an opportunity to redeem their image. It’s an opportunity to cancel out all the negative comments about their performance. So, to be honest with you, I don’t have any fear,
I have said it repeatedly: power belongs to God, and He gives to whomever He pleases at His own time. God’s will must be done; that is why I am always worried when we, as politicians, make pronouncements like I must do this or that. We have had cases where people declare what they will do on Monday but could not wake up after Sunday. The moment you play God, be ready to face the consequences.
What is your impression about the rate of defections in recent times, especially that of Nasir El-Rufai to the SDP?
Defections of politicians have remained a problem in Nigerian politics because most politicians see political parties as vehicles to actualize their ambitions, not necessarily as a platform for ideological development. I cannot give you an honest answer because my recent defection to the LP was my first time moving from one platform to another.
I may not be experienced enough to talk about this, but some politicians have moved from one party to another up to six or 10 times. The moment they disagree with anybody or do not get what they want, they leave.
It is common here, and it is worrisome because it does not show development and growth of our political and democratic institutions. Political parties should be more than vehicles for the actualisation of political power. They should be seen as institutions for the development of political ideology.
In Britain, we talk about the Conservatives and the Labour Party. In the USA, they have the Republicans and the Democrats and what they stand for. Any contestant has the conviction of what they believe. It provides them an opportunity and platform to sell, and that is why you can be challenged.
When a Democrat becomes Republican, it raises eyebrows, and questions will be asked. It is unlike here in Nigeria, where somebody can be in party A in the morning, party B in the evening, and by the time you think that he has settled in party B, he will have gone to party C. All the movements are just trying to shop where it will favour him.
From the APC to the APGA, most aspirants in the forthcoming Anambra election believe they have a strong network with the presidency. Meanwhile, many of them, do you have much to do with the presidency? I don’t have any network with the presidency. However, my network is connected to God Almighty, who holds the ultimate power and determines what happens to mankind. We can only talk about today, not about what will happen tomorrow.
None of us can talk about the next hour, let alone tomorrow. Some stakeholders believe in my candidacy and are supporting me. As for the determining factor of what will happen about the contest, it is for God and God alone.
What are you going to do differently about the insecurity in Anambra?
It is a serious issue and challenge. You are part of the system to know that news about Anambra has always been negative. It is either one person being killed or kidnapped. It has now become our consistent narrative, and that is most unfortunate.
A lot of things can be done better. There is a need for a rejig of our security architecture. I don’t want it politicised because that is the direction everybody is going. Addressing the issue requires both a kinetic and non-kinetic approach.
Soludo says the insecurity in Anambra is exaggerated. Do you agree with him?
How can anybody claim that we are exaggerating? When a 75-year-old retired Archbishop was kidnapped and kept for one month, was it also an exaggeration that a sitting House of Assembly member was kidnapped, killed, and his corpse found over one month after?
Was it also an exaggeration when a band of armed gang arrived at a burial ceremony at Ihiala and hacked down over seven to nine persons? Was it also an exaggeration when a lecturer in Awka was mowed down? I don’t want to appear as if I am playing politics with this. My concern is that the primary responsibility of the government is the protection of lives and property, and anytime that government fails to do that, the government has failed, and there should be no defence for it.
If I may ask again, why did it take us three and a half years to come up with a solution or pretend to come up with one? Why have we failed to invest properly? You want to address the issue of insecurity, and you are bringing used tokumbo vehicles.
How many points of agenda do you have to govern Anambra?
I have said that the principal thing is to restore the people’s confidence in their government because everybody has lost faith. People are counting days, and until you restore the people’s confidence in their government, you are wasting your time. For me, that is the principal responsibility, and for you to do that, you must address the needs of the people.
We come from a state that is small in terms of landmass, but we have enormous human capital in every facet. We have it in abundance in Anambra State. It is only for the government to create an enabling environment for the people to develop their state. So, it ought to address the fundamental issues and get the people to feel safe because you cannot talk about attracting investment without addressing insecurity. You can’t talk about industrial agriculture without addressing insecurity. The moment a farmer cannot feel safe going to the farm, you are wasting your time because the potential for agricultural development is enormous. I keep asking myself what has gone wrong. Time was in this country, before the advent of oil, that every region was living independently and progressively on agriculture.
Then, it was about oil palm in the Southeast, groundnut pyramids in the North, and cocoa in the Southwest. Our leaders then invested in agriculture and used it to develop the religions. What has gone wrong? Has God left Nigeria? The answer is no.
What is your comment on the growing incidence of vote buying during primaries and the general election?
I am very much worried about that. Very worried because we have successfully weaponised poverty, and the political class is effectively using it to their advantage. I feel sad about it, but I am going into this race believing that my credibility and who I am will sell me. It is not about money.
Let people throw their money. I will encourage the electorate to collect it because poverty has been weaponised to put the people down so that at every election, you give them peanuts and collect their destiny. I feel sad about it. We must improve our voter education so that people will understand that their vote is their power to change the narrative. It is not about the money they will collect because no amount would be enough to mortgage their future for four years.
What are the other areas the governor can do better?
There are areas, like infrastructure, that he has not impressed me. That you have some patches of it like road infrastructure is not enough. That cannot solve the problem. Our hospital system, investment in agriculture and a lot of things need to be done to change the narrative. So much needs to be done, and the current government has not impressed me.
