Nigeria Decides 2023: Atiku, Obi, serious threat to Tinubu –Duru, APC NWC member

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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Former House of Representatives member and current Deputy National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nze Chidi Duru, could rightly be described as a silent political operator.

In this interview, he speaks on a wide range of issues, especially the chances of his party retaining the presidential seat after next year’s general election.

He admitted that the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu winning the election will not be a rollercoaster with the threats from other presidential candidates like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), respectively.

How ready is the APC for the 2023 election, especially the presidential poll?

We are very much ready. Of course, you already know that our schedule and programme of activities is already out there in the public domain. It is detailed and contains what we will do till the last day our campaign will terminate in Kano.

The candidate of our party is following the schedule religiously, including the meeting with the organised private sector held in Lagos to table before them his ideas and roadmap on how best to transform the country. From the feedback we receive and what we can read in the media, it appears that the engagement with the private sector was well received with the level of support generated.

We are looking forward to other interfaces with sectoral champions, including the rallies, starting with the flag-off in Jos that will shut down activities. Every other issue around constituting the relevant committees of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) had been done, grey areas have been sorted out.

The members of the party are energized and ready to walk for the party to deliver, not just the presidential candidate, but also other candidates of the parties from the House of Representatives, Senate and then governorship and members of the House of Assembly in the various states. So, the energy is there and warmth generated.

Can you say with certainty that APC has overcome the initial challenges affecting the party since the emergence of your presidential candidate?

I didn’t say that there were challenges. What I said is that usually in any party engagement, what is required is building consensus, which requires sacrificing in areas we need to sacrifice. The party has sacrificed in areas we should. All the elements in the party and all the stakeholders in the country are beginning to converge at the centre.

They will always be grey areas to continue to smoothen. But, what is important is that the party is now working with tunnel vision, basically on how to win the election in February next year, while other sectoral and stakeholder engagements continue.

What will be APC’s strongest hold for winning the presidential election next year?

Certainly, I don’t think it is the financial war chest and networking you referred to that will win the election. What wins the election is the buy-in of the electorate into the vision of the political party, its candidate and its plans. Our activities are out there in the public domain, we are receiving feedback from those that should know and from the electorate and it appears there is a convergence and acceptance of the walk plan and roadmap that were put before the electorate, under the headlines of renewed hope.

We are giving hope to Nigerians, telling them that given the opportunity and the chance to lead this country, we will restore the opportunities that Nigerians would like to find in their country. We will create a level playing field, encourage Nigerians to get out there and beat their chest in claiming that they are better Nigerians. But, it is the electorate that determine who wins the election.

I don’t know the kind of report you are getting from the field but how do you reconcile the fact that in the minds of Nigerians, the APC government has failed?

We can only seek the understanding of Nigerians. Yes, we cannot run away from the fact that there are missed opportunities. You cannot run away from the fact that there is hardship in the land. We cannot also deny the fact that we could have done better in many or some areas.

But, the reality is that we will bring in an efficient manager in 2023 and that efficient manager would only happen if Nigerians give the opportunity to our candidate next year. We are presenting before Nigerians a candidate that we believe can do some of the things that ought to have been done that have not been done in this current administration.

Of course, we also believe that it is not the first time our party is in power, but we are better when compared with the government of PDP. We are urging Nigerians to make informed decisions because the incoming government will be better than the historic past. We also think that our candidate has also been proven, tested and has discharged himself equitably by the work he did in Lagos.

He understands what needs to be done. He engages people and more importantly, he is at home with the organized private sector, the politicians and the public sector. And the convergence of all these will help in crystallizing Nigeria into the country of our dream, make Nigerians happy and proclaim him the president and government we would like to have.

Are you not afraid that Nigerians, uncomfortable with this government, may not vote for the APC?

I know that in the end, it is all about what the electorate want. We have presented our manifesto and our plan to the Nigerian public, the other political parties have also presented their manifesto and plan to the Nigerian public, but we will continue to urge Nigerians to consider all the manifestos and plans in the public domain and give us the opportunity by electing us next year.

They should know that we mean well for Nigeria and that this incoming government will work very hard from day one, as our candidate has promised, to enthrone those elements that they would like to see.

There is one wide problem across the world. If you watch carefully, you will find out that all countries are passing through one form of distress or the other. Nigeria is not isolated and insulated. Could we have managed that crisis better, yes, we could have.

But, the point is that opportunity still exists that can pull Nigeria from the brink and then begin to introduce the kind of governance that people in our country would like to have going forward.

What is the situation about aggrieved presidential aspirants and the burning issues of Afenifere endorsing your candidate and Peter Obi?

From all indications, all the political parties have their issues and APC is one of those parties but the beauty of APC is that we have an internal mechanism for resolving our issues. Consensus is one of the mantras of our party.

The party has gone to a great length. Our presidential candidate has also gone to great lengths. Our candidates at other levels have gone to great lengths to ensure that consensus is built and that the aspirants that contested against them are able to come together and work together towards the election.

Straight to your question, I am not aware that there are issues around other presidential aspirants. I am aware that our candidate, immediately after his emergence, went around to meet with the aspirants, sought and obtained their consent to work with him going forward.

If there are still issues around that, it is not to the knowledge of the party. If it comes to our knowledge, we will reach out to those aspirants who feel that there are still issues to resolve on the matter of endorsements.

As for the Vice President and Rotimi Amaechi avoiding the party, I am aware that Mr. President, for very good reasons, enjoined both the VP and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to stay back and ensure they continue to oil the wheels of governance because Mr. President will be very active to publicly campaigning for our candidates.

It is a good decision so that the entire organs of government will not be seen to be circumscribed because all of them are involved in the campaign. I am not aware there are still issues between the candidate and the aspirants after they met and resolved whatever issue they have.

The same thing goes for Amaechi. The DG of the PCC, Governor Simon Lalong was one of his supporters as a presidential aspirant. He was Amaechi’s die-hard supporter but today, he is the DG PCC and contributes his quota to the party along with a number of Amaechi campaign councils. They are working day and night with the current candidate to ensure that we retain power next year.

What are your fears for the APC in next year’s presidential election?

I don’t have any fear. I believe that the consensus will continue to happen. I also believe that the concerns that have been raised by the public around the Muslim-Muslim ticket will be addressed in a comprehensive manner. I also believe that the issues of the South East that feel legitimately denied the presidential ticket in both the APC and PDP are also being addressed.

I am happy that the APC candidate will be visiting Owerri anytime soon to meet with stakeholders and the business community in the South East to discuss, and dialogue with them. He will, of course, put before them his views and thoughts on how to accommodate the people of the South East in his administration to ensure that whatever their feelings might be, whatever areas that need to be deliberated, will be discussed, and agreed upon for the benefit of the people of the South East.

So, that gives one comfort that in the next few days from now and particularly before we turn into the new year, those areas would have been fully discussed and agreed on.

What is your perception about other candidates contesting against Tinubu?

Atiku and Obi are strong candidates, with very credible experiences in politics. Atiku has been the number two citizen of Nigeria. He has worked very hard. We believe that we will be having an issue-based campaign.

We also believe that Peter Obi is eminently qualified and a man of great standing. Putting all of these considerations together, we believe that APC presented to Nigeria an unassailable plan and manifesto that will convince them to elect APC next year.

We have 18 presidential candidates and they are all possible and potential threats. If they are not threats, we will not be campaigning, we will not be out there on the street to ask Nigerians to vote for us.

If they are not threats, we will not be putting arrangements, or action plans in place, planning, or thinking ahead, we will not be visiting one state or the other to meet critical stakeholders.

All the 18 presidential candidates present levels of threats but we believe that we will have much more robust engagement with the Nigerian people, hoping and expecting that they will vote for us.

Don’t you think that security is a serious issue for the election?

Security is not in the hands of the APC candidate or our party. Security is in the hands of the government, which, fortunately, is APC. We know that the party is doing everything within its power to engage the government who has given assurances that security will not affect the presidential election. Every assurance has been given to INEC that cover and security will be provided to ensure the safety of the election.

Are you comfortable with the campaign so far?

I believe that the candidates at the presidential level have conducted themselves very well. You can see the camaraderie when they meet; the exchange of banters and the jokes they share to confirm that they are friends that know themselves very well.

Yes, of course, there will be some offline and exceptions here and there, but I have not seen anything that would give a sense of worry other than to continue to encourage the candidates and their supporters. What Nigeria needs now is an issue-based campaign where we put before them what the candidates will be able to offer when elected into office.

We should ensure that the candidates commit to those plans so that when they are elected, the electorate will hold them to account. For the first time in the history of my political life, I think that there has been a reasonable engagement by the electorate in ensuring that the candidates are held to account.

The electorate want to hear what the candidates will offer. That is an encouragement that we need to continue to harp on. I believe that between now and less than three months from now, we will know which candidate can represent the country well.

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