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  • 2025: I’m ready to join others to deliver Anambra to APC – Moghalu

    2025: I’m ready to join others to deliver Anambra to APC – Moghalu

    A foundation member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), George Moghalu, has reiterated his resolve to join hands with other progressives in Anambra state to deliver the state to the party in 2025.

    He also welcomed the new decampees into the party ahead of the 2025 off-season governorship election in the state.

    Moghalu said this in a statement by his media office on Saturday in Abuja while reacting to an online story captioned “Moghalu: Ifeanyi Uba cannot win Anambra for APC.”

    Describing the caption as fake news, the immediate past Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) noted that at no time in the course of an interview with some journalists did he say what was attributed to him in the headline.

    He noted that the headline was at variance with the content of the interview, insisting that the caption was the imagination of those spreading the fake news.

    The statement read: “Our attention has been drawn to the fake news being circulated by a faceless group with the above-referenced caption and credited for our Principal, Chief Dr George N. Moghalu. 

    “It is clear it is a sponsored article with the sole intention of creating enmity between our Principal, his friend and his brother, both Leaders of our great Party in Anambra State. 

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    “It is very unfortunate that these faceless elements are trying everything possible to twist facts that are before the public. The interview granted by Our Principal was widely reported in the Sun, Nation, Thisday and Daily Trust Newspapers. 

    “From the content of the interview, it is clear that the headline under reference only exists in the imagination of those spreading the fake news. For the avoidance of doubt, let us set the record straight. 

    “At no point in the interview did our Principal say that Senator Ifeanyi Uba cannot win Anambra for APC.

    “We wish to state that our principal is ever ready to join other progressive-minded stakeholders to move the party forward. 

    “We welcome Senator Ifeanyi Uba and other progressives who joined our party, The APC. 

    Urging party members and the public to disregard the “baseless and sensational headline”, the APC Chieftain also advised the media practitioners to endeavour to practice responsible journalism.

  • Moghalu: APC can unseat Soludo in 2025

    Moghalu: APC can unseat Soludo in 2025

    Chief George Moghalu is one of the founding fathers of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Managing director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA). In this interview with JIDE ORINTUNSIN, he speaks on the economy, the Abdullahi Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) and the chances of the party in the 2025 governorship election in Anambra State

    Why were you not among the stakeholders from your state that visited the National Working Committee last Wednesday? Is it that you have not been integrated fully or there are still issues to be sorted out?

    Let me put some issues in the right perspective. The issue of integration you mentioned does not arise because you can only talk about integration for someone outside. I am a bonafide founding member of APC. So, it is an irony for a tenant to sack the landlord in his house. For me, the issue of integration does not arise. As a bonafide member of APC, and as a matter of my orientation, I am one of those who insist that things must be done properly. Due process must be followed, and an enabling environment created for things to work. I am a stickler for things being done properly. That is what I have always demanded. Before now, you asked me why I went to court and I said that it was because things were not properly done. You cannot ask us to participate in the primary, and then afterwards you sit back in the bedroom, write results, come out and announce it and expect me to accept such a result. I will be honourable enough to congratulate the winner if I lose in a free and fair contest. But, when you manipulate the process, I will tell you that it will not work. That was exactly what I did last time, and I will do it again if the need arises. However, if things are done properly, I don’t have any problem.

    I am very excited about the people joining the APC but the party has no governorship candidate yet. So, by the time we get to the bridge, we will cross it. Our party is built on equity, justice, and fairness. When there is a need for us to look for a candidate, we will go to the primary and everything must be done properly. Whoever emerges through the primary becomes the party’s candidate. So, the issue of endorsement does not even arise. It must be a level-playing field. We are excited that people are joining our party. So, why was I not part of the stakeholders that visited the National Working Committee? This is because I was indisposed and I felt it wasn’t necessary to be there at that particular time

    Can we then say you are still not comfortable with the happening at the party?

    I am very comfortable because I have no reason now to doubt any action since you cannot read anybody’s mind and cannot challenge an action out of intent.

    Recently Senator Ifeanyi Uba defected to the APC and when he was presented by Senate President to the party hierarchy and the leadership of the party in Anambra was trusted on him…

    Nobody can do that.

    But the national chairman declared him the new leader of the party in Anambra…

    Things are not done that way; nobody can entrust the party leadership to anybody just like that. It is not possible because a leader evolves from among the people. You can elect the chairman, governor, and president, but a leader evolves among the people. It is the people that choose their leader. Leadership is a responsibility and spontaneous reaction from the people. You don’t declare somebody a leader.

    Who is the leader of the APC in Anambra State currently?

    We have leaders who control people by their actions and people relate to them based on their status as leaders. I am a leader in my own right and there are other leaders that are also respected. The party cannot impose anybody on us as the leader of the APC in Anambra State except they want to rock the boat. It is not in the party we built, and we are talking about justice, equity, and fairness. It has nothing to do with peace, but giving respect to who it is due. In order of hierarchy before this time, Chris Ngige came first in Anambra APC and I am next to him. We are the founders who built the party in Anambra. Time was when we were called a Boko Haram party.

    The APC Anambra has already begun the build-up for the 2025 governorship election. The party leadership believes Sen. Ifeanyi Uba can win Anambra for the APC. What do you think will likely play out? 

    You said that the party’s leadership believes that Senator Ifeanyi Ubah can win Anambra for the APC but I tell you that those days when elections are won in that manner are gone. Every interested person will throw his heart in the ring.  The party must create an enabling environment and a level playing field for every interested person.

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    Do you think Ganduje can provide a level-playing field for all interested aspirants?

    You asked whether I think Ganduje can do that and my answer is that he has no choice. He is the national chairman of our party with the responsibility to create an enabling environment for the party to win the 2025 governorship election. The candidate we present will, to a reasonable extent, determine who wins the election. Don’t also forget that we have the incumbency factor to contend with. We must put our best foot forward.

    Then what is the prospect of the APC taking over Anambra in 2025?

    The prospects are very high. But it will only take a fool to ignore the power of incumbency. That is why the party must put its best foot forward by unifying the party’s stakeholders. They must create an enabling environment for the best person acceptable to the people to emerge. It will make the stakeholders rally around the candidate.

    Apart from the incumbent fighting to retain his position, other parties are fighting to remove the incumbent. It is not a two-party affair. Apart from the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), there are other parties like the Labour Party (LP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) among others. Who told you that there may not be a coalition of parties to present a strong candidate? Everybody will come with their inherent advantage.

    How feasible is Ganduje’s claim that the APC will soon take over the entire Southeast region?

    Well, that is his wish and I believe that it is possible. The APC is already in control of two of the five states in the region. But it boils down to planning and doing the right thing. It is about creating an enabling environment. There was a time when the PDP was in charge of the entire Southeast. But, as we speak and as presently constituted, the APC is in control of Imo and Ebonyi; the APGA presides over affairs in Anambra, while Enugu and Abia are under the control of the PDP and the LP. Taking over the states require us to work very hard and encourage our governors in the two APC states to work hard and become models that would influence people in the other states to support our party. Above all, if we are not united in fighting the common cause, our time will be wasted again.

    Do you then have confidence in the current APC leadership?

    Yes. There are some of my colleagues when I was the party’s national auditor are still there. I have confidence in the national chairman and the national secretary. I have confidence in the other leaders of the party too. So, I have no reason to doubt their confidence.

    What do you tell Nigerians accusing the APC government of inflicting hardship on the masses?

    I agree that things are not smooth but at the same time also I would rather say that the Tinubu administration is a victim of its speed. Because of its speed, some people are seeing this administration as if it is already one year old. But the administration is about six months old. It was quick in appointment of ministers; in making very strong decisions on the issue of fuel subsidies and the insecurity in the country. These are strong decisions that should be commended. But, unfortunately, the results have not started to manifest. So, I would rather appeal to our people, let us be a little more patient. Things are difficult, no doubt about it, but let us be a little more  patient and see to what extent we can keep supporting the government so that the actions it is taking can manifest and yield dividends.

    Let’s look at your days in NIWA, what do you think you could have done better as the managing director of the agency?

    I have no regrets about all the actions I took.  When I got the appointment, I gave myself a target, which was principally to change the narrative. Before I took over the agency, I did not know about NIWA. A lot of people did not know about NIWA too. If you recall, in my first interaction with you guys, I told you that NIWA was underreported and pleaded with you to help me to bring it to the forefront, which the media did and I must thank you for that. You guys brought NIWA out of obscurity. Today, the NIWA I left is not the NIWA I took over. So for me, that was quite remarkable and I am very grateful to God, my colleagues, my friends, and members of the media for the support I received.

    After these achievements, did it come to you as a surprise that they didn’t renew your tenure?

    Why would it come as a surprise?  The appointing authority is at liberty to do as it pleases. The authority appointed me to serve for four years with a proviso that it can be renewed; not will be renewed. So, renewal is a probability. So, if the appointing authority decides it wants to try somebody else, why not? It is not cast in iron. What of people who did not even finish their term? I finished my term; what you’re talking about is renewal.

    How is life after office?

    It depends on the attachment you place to the office. Life is about life; it is for the living. If you don’t allow the office to change who you are, then you will not notice the transition from being in office and being out of office. The only time you have a challenge is when you allow the office to control your being; to determine who you are; when you lose your friends, because you put yourself in a position and things like that, then that is when you have difficulty. But when you enter the office, believing that one day you will exit — maintain your friends, remain who you are and don’t allow the office to determine your person – you will not notice the difference by the time you leave the office.

  • APSS names Moghalu Board of Directors’ chair

    APSS names Moghalu Board of Directors’ chair

    The Africa Private Sector Summit (APSS) has appointment Prof. Kingsley Moghalu as the Chairman of its Board of Directors.

    He will double as the Chairman of the Advisory Board and the Executive Board of the APSS, a Pan-African, private sector-led non-profit organisation that promotes trade and investment in Africa and is headquartered in Accra, Ghana.

    Moghalu, one of Africa’s eminent political economists and development practitioners, served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2009 to 2014, and subsequently as Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, United States (U.S.).

    He is the CEO of Sogato Strategies LLC,a macroeconomic, investment and geopolitical risk consultancy and President, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), a public policy think-tank.

    Moghalu had a 17-year stint in the United Nations System for 17 years, rising to the rank of a director.

    He is the author of several books, including: “Emerging Africa: How the global economy’s last frontier can prosper and matter”.

    “The Africa Private Sector Summit is delighted to welcome Kingsley Moghalu as its new Board Chair”,  Judson Wendell Addy, Founder and outgoing Chairman of APSS, a Liberian-born citizen, a retired International Business Entrepreneur and Pan Africanist, said in a statement.

    The statement reads: “His international leadership experience, credibility, and networks will help advance the goals of APSS, as we proceed with the roll out of the draft Charter on Private Sector Development, Rights and Protection Environment in Africa (Private Sector Bill of Rights), across all of Africa’s five geographic regions plus diaspora.

    “The objective is to strengthen the private sector in African countries, attract increased business investment to the continent, and make strong contributions to enable the private sector actively drive implementation of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs] and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) protocols in collaboration with the Pan Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI), the Africa Business Council (AfBC) and other stakeholders”.

    Moghalu said of his appointment: “I am honored to have been invited to chair the Board of APSS. In collaboration with board colleagues and the executive leadership team, I will work hard with African companies, and other stakeholders including governments and international organisations to advance the critical role of the private sector in the structural transformation of African economies in the context of Africa’s economic integration and African Union’s Agenda 2063, our collective journey to the Africa we want”.

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    The APSS is leading the continent’s private sector and other stakeholders via an EcoSystem based approach, leveraging the African philosophy of Ubuntu, to develop a Private Sector Bill of Rights, for an enabling business environment in Africa.

    The APSS also collaborates closely with another organization, the African Education Trust Fund (AETF) headed by Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Education in Ghana. The APSS was instrumental to the establishment of the AETF. The goal of the AETF is to overhaul Africa’s education systems to produce the skill sets needed for the economic transformation of the continent in the 21st century.

    The APSS approved structure in the medium term, is to have a 13-member APSS Advisory Board and the a 17- member Executive Board, made up of distinguished personalities from Africa’s 5+1 regional blocks – East Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa, and the African Diaspora.

    To fill these positions, APSS recently announced its invitation of nominations of candidates into its Advisory and Executive Boards. Part of the restructuring arrangement for the new phase of APSS ahead of the roll out includes; [a] the co- founders of APSS have transitioned into the Advisory Board and Executive Boards as , members respectively, Addy, the Founder and outgoing Chair, becomes a member of the Advisory Board and Chair Emeritus. To strengthen its executive capacity, APSS also recently appointed a CEO, transitioned one of the co-founders into an Executive Director and created three Director positions.

  • Why surveying should be rebranded, by Moghalu

    The presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), in the 2019 election, Dr. Kingsley  Moghalu, has called on  the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) to reposition the institute by rebranding the profession to make it attractive to  the younger ones.

    Moghalu made the appeal recently while delivering a keynote address at the 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the NIS inAwka, the Anambra State capital.

    He said the institution needed to rebrand the profession from surveying to geo-spatial technologies to appeal to the younger generation who are digitally driven.

    “The surveyor has not much meaning to younger ones. Whenever it is rebranded to reflect the digital world, many youths will be attracted to the profession. Rebranding from surveying to geo spatial technologies will make more sense to them,” he said.

    He said the world is digital and surveying must move with the trend to attract younger brains.

    Moghalu described surveyors as a critical institution in the development of any country, because they provide necessary data for national planning and development.

    According to him, Nigeria cannot plan without data and data for monitoring of natural disasters are provided by surveyors.

    Earlier, the NIS President, Mr. Alabo Charles, advocated for surveyors to have offices at local government councils.

  • Moghalu’s faux lyrical

    Infant lust flaunts deceptive grandeur. It imbues many a man with false sense of self-worth. It goads the ‘worthy,’ leading him by the ego, through providence’s unforgiving labium, till he drowns in pridefulness’ treacherous fount.

    Infant lust has derisory simplicity. En route the last general elections, it corrupted the young aspirant’s rousing chorus.

    It tarnished, for instance, supposedly promising candidate, Kingsley Moghalu’s clarion call; pitching it, like Theodore Roethke’s ‘Elegy for Jane,’ where the bear-like poet, with petrifying, thunderous zest, approaches a delicate being in dangerous nearness.

    Picture Moghalu as the bard, and Nigeria as the ill-fated subject and object of his lust.

    Few weeks ago, Moghalu waxed poetic, faux lyrical if you like, bemoaning Nigeria’s blooming dystopia.

    “There is little to convince anyone that Nigeria values life. If it is not communal clashes, it is tankers and trailers. If it is not malaria, it is cholera…If it is not armed robbers, it is Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS),” he lamented to applause, at the TEDx forum in Maitama, Abuja.

    Fast forward to the end of the presidential elections, and the hitherto swashbuckling aspirant of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and former Deputy Governor (DG) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came 14th, polling a measly 21,886 votes against familiar contenders, Muhammadu Buhari’s 15.2 million and Atiku Abubakar’s 11.2 million votes.

    Moghalu is distraught. If he would fail, it shouldn’t be by such ridiculous margin. After all, he was elite-Nigeria’s chosen child, the face of a new, progressive Nigeria.

    Speaking with Arise News TV, recently, he said: “The biggest disappointment was with the youths. The youth vote was absent. They make a lot of noise, they rant and rail but you will not see them on the voting day. And when they vote, they don’t vote in line with their rhetoric.”

    Consequently, Moghalu announced his withdrawal from partisan politics, in order to commit to a movement called, To Build A Nation (TBAN), “a citizens’ movement that will campaign for electoral reform and engage in voter education. Those are the two things this democracy needs if it is to survive,” he said.

    His touted panacea hardly addresses Nigeria’s major afflictions. It smacks of common aspirants’ over-exploited lifeboat solutions.

    As Nigeria careens dangerously by policy failure, lax regulations, insecurity and inadequate investment in the comatose education and health sectors, Moghalu could only knock sweetened banality against the ruling party, APC and its arch rival, PDP’s washed-out bromides on national unity, a vibrant economy, privatisation of the NNPC and security.

    Throughout his campaign, he focused on the political and business elite, students, churchgoers, and supposedly evolved segments of the youth divide. Then his candidacy, presumably, received a remarkable fillip at his endorsement by Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka’s Citizens’ Forum.

    But endorsements alone, do not win elections, he would learn. Of course, like other candidates, he enjoys the inalienable right to vie for elective office, but he has no right of entitlement to any public office beyond that granted him by the privilege of popular votes.

    What did he expect? A YPP walkover? About 10-12 million watertight votes in the kitty?

    Like too many cub aspirants, and the PACT collective, Moghalu nursed a fantasy of disrupting the status quo but that was all it was, a futile dream.

    His weaponisation of dejection at his loss, however, manifests ominously; his attack on the youths reveals unheralded aspects of his character. The presidency isn’t a ripe carrot at the end of a stick, nor is it some reward to be earned at the end of a task. Moghalu lusted for the presidential seat but he didn’t earn it.

    His candidacy manifested as an emotive caress, on random youth segments. Even Nobel Laureate, Soyinka, was smitten by his swagger.

    Of course, his party and supporters knew he stood no chance against the devilry and spending power of the big parties, but they idealised his candidacy and romanticised the likelihood of his victory all the same.

    While canvassing for votes, he boasted that he would achieve a lot in four years “largely with the mechanism of four offices: the office of national strategy, the national office of risk management, the office of performance management and the office of human capital development…We’ll run Nigeria like a corporation. I’ll smash a lot of toes. If your toe is stopping progress in this country, I’m going to be your enemy,” he said.

    Yet Moghalu could not articulate, convincingly, what positive impact his ‘four offices’ would have on riverine poetry in the Delta, and the impoverished communities of Sankwala; he couldn’t assert what relief it would bring to terror-stricken, displaced, and orphaned children of Bama and Doron Baga, beyond lyricism and lip-service.

    Of course, he ‘made great sense’ to his elite patrons and endorsers but did he make as much sense to the cart-pusher, the commercial sex worker, peasant farmer, commercial bus conductor, unemployed youth, political hooligan and market woman of the sidewalk?

    He squandered a rare chance to connect across social strata. While the big parties engaged in familiar, cut-throat, monetised politics, Moghalu failed to seize his big opportunity, to establish his presence across Nigeria’s boondocks and suburbs, in order to get the votes that would count, come 2023 polls.

    Instead, he retreated into esoteric enclaves, bandying platitudinous chant to the applause of a fawning crowd.

    If he had won the election, he would have emerged as a pawn and associate of a corporate power structure that he had never been taught to question. He would have ascended as a president capable of looking down, with thinly veiled contempt, on sprawling segments of an illiterate populace irreconcilable to the ‘superior’ mechanisms of his ‘four’ special ‘offices.’

    Moghalu should quit blaming the youths for his abysmal failure at the polls. It’s about time he owned his flaws. Like Hedges’ delusive elites, he chanted a private dialect that manifested as noise to large segments of the youth divide.

    Next time out, he may ditch that cloistered dialect, to achieve a synergy of boondocks lingo and his elevated accent of the elites. An exclusive resort to the latter, would only earn him avertable defeat, come 2023, if he still has the stamina to compete.

    Moghalu should avoid the company and endorsements of corporate con artists and economists, who, having rigged our financial system and industry to serve their selfish interests, laboured to repel Buhari’s anti-corruption drive.

    Yea, Buharism isn’t perfect; the more reason why Nigeria needs the likes of Moghalu to march in virtual lock-step with him in policies and ideology, offering constructive criticisms, uncompromisingly, and with clinical depth.

    The organised dialect of the rostrum reinforces the elitism’s narrow education. It seeks to preserve the predatory nouveau riche raring to usurp power and privileges from Nigeria’s calcified, sit-tight oligarchs.

    It’s about time Moghalu and his ilk jumped into the trenches, to feel and see through electorate skin and eyes. So doing, they may unlearn elite bias, and attain reality’s higher learning.

     

  • Igbos did’t consider implications of not voting Buhari -Moghalu

    Chief George Moghalu is the National Auditor of the governing All Progresives Congress (APC). A seasoned politician and an administrator, he is one of the party leaders from the south east who fought day and night to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari gets an appreciable number of votes from the region. In this interview with Tony Akowe, he speaks on the outcome of the just concluded Presidential election and the need to streamline the large number of political parties in the country.

    THE APC again won the Presidential election without a significant contribution from the South East. What went wrong

    The truth about it is that we did not achieve our desired expectations. I would have wished that we did alot better than we did in this election even though anybody on the side line would say it is an improvement on the poor outing in 2015. Certainly, we should have done better than we did because the government has been quite responsive to the south east. The President has shown great love and has done so many great and strategic things for us in the south east that should warrant our doing better than we did. But politics is all about what it is and you can never predict. I feel personally disappointed and I am sure that some other leaders also feel disappointed. I really can not access whether it is because our people have not actually understood the political implication because we are trying to seize a platform that we can use to actualise our ambition vis a viz 2023. So, i thought that this election was an opportunity for us to take over the platform and move in aggressively and take over the platform. But probably it was because one of us was given the Vice Presidential ticket of the other party or whatever. I really cant explain what went wrong. But I think it was not a good political move for us. But I believe very strongly that with time, it will continue to improve. We, as leaders of the party from the south east have an added responsibility to work harder to get our people to understand.

    What do you think that the re-election of President Buhari mean for Nigerians?

    For me, it is a reaffirmation and an expression of confidence. It is like telling somebody, you have done well and it places greater challenge. If you listen to the speech of the President when he received his certificate of return, it will show you a man that understand the added responsibility this re-election has given to him, it show you a man who has really dedicated himself to doing better than he has done. He has done quite well especially when you look at all the promises we made when we were coming in in 2015 as a party coming into government. Even at that, he has done extremely well and he believe also that with this re-election, Nigerians have said thank you for what you have done, but we expect you to do more. It is about Nigeria and not about him. So, it is a very welcome development. Its a wonderful thing that has happened and I know since this has happened, our party and government will still do more to justify the confidence of the Nigerian people.

    There are those who believe that they worked for they worked for the party in 2015 and were not rewarded. Many of them have made more sacrifice, expecting thing to be better. What is your message to them?

    Let us all be patient. Mr. President has said that things will be better and we also have a national chairman we believe that there should be a way of appreciating those who work for you as a way of encouraging them. He believe that doing so will also encourage others to know that loyalty pays, hard work pays and commitment also pays. I am sure that these set of people will not be forgotten this time around.

    There is the believe that the position of the President on the leadership of the National Assembly was a tactical error that hunted the government so much. How will the party handle this issue this time around?

    I am sure that the party has a role to play. All these people coming for the first time and those who got re-elected contested on the party platform. So, there is a canopy under which everybody is sitting and that canopy is the party. I am sure that with the dynamic leadership we have now, headed by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the party will do what it is supposed to do. Once that is done, I am sure we will not have any problem. I am sure that all those elected believe in party supremacy and the fact tat the party has a role to play because it is the party that was elected. All the candidates are representatives of the party and i am sure they will subject themselves to the decisions of the party.

    The opposition PDP said this election was a sham and their Presidential candidate said he was challenging the outcome at the tribunal. What is your view.

    For me, every election must have only one winner and in this case, Buhari is the winner. Don’t forget that before Buhari was elected President, he lost election on three occasion and in all these three instances, he felt that a few things went wrong and he sought protection in the court. This is his right and he exercised it. If the PDP candidate has evidence of things he felt were not properly done, he has a right to either say this is the will of God, let us move on as a nation because Nigeria comes first before my ambition or I will go to court to prove my case. The two options are open to him. It is for him now to make his own choice. I am yet to see that election that would have been concluded and the loser comes out to say this is a wonderful election, except for our experience in 2015 when former President Jonathan conceded even before the final results were announced. For me, the election was not a sham, but a highly contested election and everybody knows that. Don’t forget that the President travelled to the 36 states of this country including the FCT. I don’t know whether the leadership of the other party did what we did by way of campaign. I understand how he felt. I have lost election before, so, I understand the feelings of the candidate of the PDP. My suggestion would have been, yes it has happened and the best thing to do is to congratulate the winner. If they don’t want to do that, they have a right to go to court to seek redress. As for the election, it was one of the freest and fairest in this country.

    Considering the massive crowd that we saw at the campaign rallies of both parties, would you say the voter turnout was impressive?

    The voter turn out was quite impressive because at the end of the day, we are looking at a voter turn out of about 28 million which i quite a huge number even though it did not meet up with our registered population. But you wont lose sight of the fact that we still need to continue voter education. Election is not a one off thing. Right now, notice has been given for the 2023 election because once you declare the result of a Presidential election, you have given notice of the next one. It require all of us, both the political players and the electoral umpires going back to the books to find out what we must do to encourage more voter turn out and what we must do to let our people know the importance of our PVC. As we get more people educated and politically aware, the volume will keep increasing. So, we need to sustain voter education. Like in our party, we are looking at doing things beyond the election, turning the party into an institution and not only just for election. We should have other roles to play and not only as a platform for contesting elections. We should go beyond that. Within this period that notice has been given, we need to keep up voter education and increase membership. If you look at the percentage of membership of the political parties, it is usually less than 20 percent of the population. Why cant we ensure that over 60 percent of registered voters in the country are members of our parties. So, we have alot of work to do. While we are doing that, INEC also have alot of work to do to perfect these card readers, perfect the voters register and other things that will help them so that we don’t start running from pillar to post one week to election trying to do things we would have done when we have time available to us. So, I think we need to sustain voter education and keep encouraging people to be part of the electoral process.

    How would you rate the performance of INEC and the security agents in this election.

    For me, there is quite an improvement from what happened in 2015 irrespective of the fact that INEC failed us when the postponed the election. But it was better for the election to be postponed than having something that is not worth the while. So, I think there is quite some level of improvement from what was done in 2015 which we all adjudged as reasonably ok compared to previous elections. So, what has happened now is that INEC did their best and we need to encourage them, we need to support them and build that electoral institution so that it wont be a one off thing. So, what we need to do is to support and encourage them and then address the areas of lapses critically. For example, the challenges of the card reader has continued to reoccur. We need to address that issue once and for all and get over with it. On the issue of the security, I think they did quite well despite the challenges. As we talk about voter education, you should understand that those who run he security agencies are also Nigerians and are entitled to good representation and good leadership. When people talk about security agencies, they speak as if they are come from the moon or as if they don’t buy from the same market. They also need to be part of what is happening and so, voter education and citizen responsibility, they should also be part of it because once you keep educating them, they become part of the system and then understand that there is a way you do policing during the election without military presence. Some people argued that we don’t need the Army to be involved and I said they should be involved to avoid threat to national security. They are not participating in the voting, but provide additional security. From what has been reported, when the Army arrest people, they hand them over to the police because it is the primary responsibility of the police. So, the Army is providing additional security because that is their primary responsibility. I think they did quite well and we need to support them.

    We have so may political parties on the ballot and there is this argument that there is the need to streamline the parties and make them stronger. Do you think we should reduce the number of parties?

    I think the number is becoming very unwealthy. In this last election, we had 73 political parties that contested the Presidency and some of them came out with very ridiculous scores in  country where we have over 80 million registered voters. That goes to show that some people have turned it into a joke. I think we must create the base. For me, if you don’t have representation in the National Assembly, you don’t have a reason to exist as a political party. So, i am of the school of thought that the number is unwealthy and we must create opportunities on how the number can be reasonably reduced. If you notice the trend now, it is going towards a two party system. It is all about APC, PDP while the others re there in number. Some people may be excited being called National Chairman. That may be the basis for their satisfaction and so, you allow that to massage their ego. Other wise I don’t think it is necessary have political parties that year after year, don’t win even a councillor and are still being called political parties. There are some names I saw n screen that I cant even remember if I have seen them before or what they stand for. I think the number is quite high and something need to be done in that regard.

  • 2019: Ezekwesili, Durotoye, Moghalu reel out economic plans

    Three presidential candidates on Saturday clashed on the economy in the televised debate held at the Trans-corp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that they include Oby Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) and Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).

    Asked how he intended to fix the economy, Moghalu said the country currently lacked an economic philosophy.

    He stated that the country must first decide whether it is practicing a capitalist or socialist ideology.

    “So, my approach to the Nigerian economy is first to focus on reforming the educational system; ensure that our young people have the skills that can make them competitive in the 21st century and the skills that can give them jobs or help them to set up their own jobs.

    “Then we will give them access to finance which my government will do through the creation of N1 trillion venture capital fund which will give equity capital, not loans that will have to be repaid.

    “This is because loans carry interests in Nigeria that is too high or we may not have the collateral to be able to access them.

    “So, we will invest in new businesses that will create millions of jobs within the first four years.

    “Therefore, the approach that we will have is skill, capital and literacy, that is what will fix the Nigerian economy and take it into industrialisation,’’ Moghalu said.

    On his plan for economic diversification especially through building the non-oil sector, Durotoye identified agriculture, housing and infrastructure as the most important sectors that should be focused on.

    He said his government would ensure that it fixed the power sector, roads and provide housing for Nigerians, adding that his plan is to provide 30 million jobs.

    He said the commodity sector needed to be strengthened so that farmers could have their produce promptly cleared.

    On her part, Ezekwesili said her plan is to lift at least 80 million Nigerians out of poverty through improvement in the productivity of majority of Nigerians who “earn less than N700 a day’’.

    To do this, she said her government would evolve policies and programmes targeting people engaged in the services sector which constitutes about 60 per cent of the country’s GDP.(NAN)

  • Why PDP can’t defeat APC, by Moghalu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Auditor Chief George Moghalu spoke with reporters in Abuja on the reconciliation in the ruling party and other partisan issues. Excerpts:

    What machinery has the party put in place to manage the fallout of the governorship and parliamentary primaries?

    Naturally, in any human organisation of which APC is one, interests are bound to clash. There must be disagreements after every major primaries because in every contest involving two or three persons, only one person will win.

    Having clearly established that fact, it is incumbent on us, who by the grace of God and the will of the people, assigned with the responsibility of managing the party to set us the machinery to reach out to every concerned person in the reconciliation process.

    It is not an individual’s specific responsibility and as you must have seen in the media that Mr President met with some of our aggrieved colleagues that did not get the party ticket and that are not happy with the process. These are all parts of the reconciliation.

    Committees will be set up to reach out to as many people as possible but the most important thing here is that we are a very large family. It is a viable platform and it is incumbent on us to ensure that we reached out to as many people as possible to assuage the aggrieved ones.

    How true is the speculation that there is strong division among members of the APC National Working Committee?

    Sincerely speaking, I am not aware of any such division and I am just hearing it from you.

    What is your reaction to the allegations of corruption against the party leadership from the Ogun, Imo and Zamfara governors after the primaries conducted in their states and the report that the party chairman was grilled by the DSS?

    I saw the grilling of the national chairman by the DSS in the media. I am not aware of his invitation and questioning. I think that the National Publicity Secretary has issued a statement regarding the issue.

    On the states you mentioned, you will understand that there are many court cases already and as such commenting on it will be subjudice. It is not wise, politically speaking, for me to comment on the issue in the court of competent jurisdiction.

    Is the recent report that the Federal Government wants to hire the services of US National Guard to tackle our security challenges an admittance of failure by the APC-led government?

    I may not agree with your view because if you want to talk about security, we should look at it from where we were before we got to the present state. You will agree with me that we were in a very difficult situation as a country.

    But I am surprised that some of us have forgotten that 14 local governments were under the total control of Boko Haram to the extent that their flags were in those seized territories. The then government lost absolute control of the situation.

    President Buhari anchored his campaign during the 2015 elections on three key areas, comprising the issue of insecurity, fighting corruption and addressing economic problems.

    Everybody knows that no inch of Nigerian soil is under the control of Boko Haram today. Insurgency has been dealt with sufficiently to the extent that they only operate by attacking flash points. Government is addressing that challenges.

    I agree that there are new security developments, like herdsmen attacks and the challenge we are having in Zamfara today. They are new developments that are being comprehensively addressed.

    The president has expressed dismay and has demonstrated commitments. Not too long ago, he deployed troops to Zamfara. He has equally summoned the Service Chiefs and issued them a commanding directive to address the issue completely.

    These security challenges were not there when we campaigned four years ago. But the good thing is that government is determined to fight that. You may say that it is not new, but the case of Jos then was previously an ethno-religious crisis. It quietened down when it was addressed.

    You and I should be honest enough to give credit where it deserves and criticise where and when necessary. In the case of involving the US National Guard, we should understand that security challenge today is not a peculiar Nigeria problem. It is everywhere in Africa and all over the world.

    So, when governments share information and interrelate with the intention of stopping a global security phenomenon, it is a welcome development.

    Security is a global challenge that requires global interaction. If for no other thing, the morale of the Nigeria Army is very high now unlike before.

    What manifesto will APC be selling to Nigerians?

    Government has done really well and I will be bold enough to say that we have done well even though we may not have achieved our own heart desire and we may not have arrived where we want to be as a nation. However, it is a work in progress.

    We should not forget that this government is only three and half years but we are comparing it with the monumental corruption that took place in the past 16 years. We are talking about the decay that almost approached two centuries. It is not something you can get up and conclude in one year.

    It is like we are forgetting too fast that when this government came into office, the highest oil was sold was less than $30p/b. We took over from government that sold oil at $140p/b. There was no saving for the rainy day. There was no infrastructural development.

    As we talk now, work is going on in the Southeast at the second Niger Bridge. The repairs of federal roads are currently going on. There is concentration on the development of our rail lines. Government is making serious commitment and investment in it.

    We are seeing the returns but these things have gestation period and not something you wish into functioning Monday or Tuesday. The major thing that should concern everyone is whether there is the will, commitment and determination to achieve that.

    I want to emphasise that we have not gotten to where we want to be but this government has done much in the various aspect of our economy. Today, we are no longer net importer of rice because we have practically reached to a point of sufficiency in terms of rice production. We are no longer talking about rice importation in the country.

    Do you think that the rate at which you are approaching the crisis will help the party in 2019?

    We must continue to talk because politics is collective. You cannot do it in isolation because it involves human beings and interests. It has gotten to the point we have to dialogue and address the issues. Any politician like me will not wish to lose any party member at all.

    We have to lean over backwards to accommodate our personal interests. The window for dialogue is still open and we must get to the point we all have to agree. The APC is one big family but if we must retain power, the fight is not in the party but outside the party.

    Do you share the feeling by many people that the combative attitude of the party’s national chairman is not helping in the resolution of these crises?

    You know that everybody has their own style. The way one will handle a situation may be entirely different from the way another will. Handling issues varies from person to person. The point is not how you arrive at 10 but the important thing is arriving at 10. It is not the vehicle you use in arriving at 10, the concern is the determination to solve the crises.

    It is not a one-man show or what many may call cabal. This thing about cabal has been over used. I grew up to hear about Kaduna mafia, Kano and or Anambra mafia. It is about two or three persons agreeing to do something. I agree with you that it could be about perception.

    Is it true that humongous amount exchanged hands to help aspirants during the primaries?

    I am not aware of that money exchanged hands to favour one aspirant or the other. I am not also aware that Mr President has directed a refund of any money collected to help any aspirant during the primaries. Anybody who collected money from any aspirant but failed to deliver should return it to him. However, as I said, I am not aware anybody collected money from any aspirant.

    Do you share the view that Oyegun would have managed the situation better than Oshiomhole?

    It boils down to the same speculation. We are trying to create an impossible situation. For me, God gives power at His own time. He determines who He wants to give it and at his own time. No leader emerges because he is good or bad.

    What are the chances of President Buhari in 2019, considering the formidable opponent contesting against him?

    His chances are very bright and I can take a bet. I am very confident because of his performances, report card and commitment. You will see an honest person in him. I don’t believe that his strongholds like Kano, Kaduna, Kwara are uncertain.

    Anybody who watched Buhari’s arrival at Kaduna unannounced and the crowd that received him will also know that the same thing will happen in Kwara and Kano. The commoners and average Nigerian feel the impact of what he is doing. You can see the man’s determination and commitment.

    He is willing to deliver and is making every effort, despite the challenges. We have to take into account where we were, where are today and the likelihood of where we will be in the next four years.

    Don’t you think that the body languages of the international communities seem not supportive of him?

    Do the international communities have a body? Let them conduct a poll in Nigeria and see what will happen. People are free to make assumptions but if there is any legacy Buhari wants to live, it will be a credible 2019 elections.

    Ordinarily, one would expect that he would direct that the states be delivered but APC lost in the 21 local governments during the Anambra state governorship election. We must give credit where there is need for it and criticise when there is need for it.

    Why there was issue with Osun is because APC won. Many would have celebrated Buhari if APC had lost Osun. But now that his party has won, we should give him credit.

    What are your fears for Buhari’s re-election in 2019?

    To be honest with you, I really don’t have any fear. However, what we need to do which is also good for our democracy is that we need to work hard as a party. We need to improve on our marketing and we need to consolidate on our area of advantage. We must continue to reach out to the people, doing what is expected of us considering the limited resources available to us.

    If there are healing process to take place internally to avoid any more cracks, we must concentrate on it until they are done with. We must ensure we tidied up our house first.

    Is it true that APC is jittery over Atiku’s emergence?

    Why should we be jittery over Atiku? He is the choice of the PDP and we have no role to play over who emerges. PDP may have weighed its options but you may be surprised that other aspirants would have being a more formidable force. You may not know what an average Nigerian is looking for in a candidate.

    Considering the protests that trailed the APC primaries, was there anything you would have done differently?

    We are human beings running a human organisation and if I tell you that everything was perfectly done during the primaries, I may not be telling myself the truth. It is not easy to find a perfect situation. I will say that what happened was what would have ordinarily happened.

  • Moghalu to deliver lecture on restructuring at UNN

    Dr Kingsley Moghalu, the Presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) is to unfold his “Constitutional Restructuring’’ agenda on October 29, in a lecture to be delivered at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN).

    The lecture entitled: “How to Restructure Nigeria: A Vision of the Shape of Things to Come”, is organised by the Nigerian Political Science Association to mark its sixth Annual Conference scheduled to hold at the Nsukka Campus of UNN tomorrow.

    Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday that he would use the opportunity to sketch a clear vision of why, how, what and when of his constitutional restructuring agenda for Nigeria.

    “Restructuring has become a popular buzzword for the 2019 elections but few politicians have spelt out in clear terms what they understand or mean by the term.

    “I did so in my most recent book “Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG): My Vision for Our Country”.

    “BIG, which has a foreword written by Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano and former Governor of the CBN, was launched in Lagos in February.

    “The book sets out my vision for leadership and governance, nation-building, economic transformation and foreign policy for Nigeria.

    “In the book, I argued strongly in favour of constitutional restructuring to restore Nigeria to true federalism,’’ Moghalu said.

    Moghalu previously served as a UN official for 17 years in nation-building, risk management and strategic planning roles in New York, Cambodia, Croatia, Tanzania and Switzerland.

    He was appointed deputy governor of the CBN from 2009 to 2014.

    He worked as a Professor of International Business and Economic Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, U.S. from 2015 to 2017.

  • My Presidency quest Nigerian, not Igbo, says Moghalu

    Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, the Presidential Candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) on Friday said that he was contesting for the office of the President as a Nigerian and not as an Igbo man.

    Moghalu, who was a former deputy governor of the CBN, said that Nigeria’s problem was not about tribes, but socio-economic problems that touched every part of the country.

    The candidate, in a statement he made available to the News Agency of Nigeria  in Lagos, said that any creative limiting his presidential ambition to any tribe was the handwork of mischief makers.

    “Almost a year since I started to engage Nigerians on my candidacy and vision for the country; I have held town hall meetings in nearly all the states in the country, with more still to be done.

    “Anyone who has listened or paid attention to our interactive session with various groups will realise what our single message has always been that Nigeria’s problems are not about tribes.

    Read Also: Buhari: Accounts must be given for all financial transactions

    “We all, as Nigerians, have the power to choose something new, something different that will redirect the country into an upward trend.

    “Our politics has always been plagued by the scourges of tribalism, nepotism, and corruption, a colonial tool that the political class has exploited in order to divide and control us,” Moghalu said.

    According to him, Nigerians cannot afford to keep thinking about whether a candidate is Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik, Ijaw or Ibibio.

    He said that Nigeria needed competent and trustworthy leaders which had been the focus of his talks about his aspiration.

    “It is time to put aside these differences and aim for something that unites us all, to deliver a country that works for every citizen,” he added.