How do you feel about this All Progressives Congress government since inception?
I belong to the APC without apologies and you know I am a product of the Action Congress of Nigeria which metamorphosed to APC before APC overran Peoples Democratic Party at the center. APC government is truly an agent of change and the change Nigeria needed.
What we are witnessing today is a change of trend, changing from corruption to accountability and the way things are done in an organised society. We all have seen the massive corruption and money recovered just in one year.
There are no doubt that corruption is an endemic infection that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation, particularly those in the last PDP government.
President Mohammadu Buhari is fighting corruption assiduously, but because our government came to power when the country was almost on the verge of collapse, President Buhari had since assumption of office been repairing and reconstructing all the broken segments of the Nigerian society.
When this government came into power exchange rate was N125 to a dollar and about N260 per barrel of oil. Today the Niger Delta Avengers have continued to blow up the pipelines to discredit our government simply because they feel that the wealth of this country comes from their place, but they had also forgotten that as far as we all remain in Nigeria as one unified country, we all will pay dearly for whatever act of brigandage this might had cost the nation.
Do you think Buhari can change Nigeria under this economic situation?
The present government of APC has a very beautiful programme that will propel Nigeria to take her rightful place in the committee of nations, but the task to do that must be done by all and sundry not APC alone or President Buhari.
It is true that there are civil disturbances virtually in every part of the country, occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgence, the IPOB, MASSOB and the Niger Delta militants, but no nation of the world had ever thrived in an atmosphere of anarchy, crisis and flagrant abuse of law and order.
Unemployment is one of the major threat to national security, peace and unity. Are you Aniebonam satisfied with the step the ruling party has taken so far?
Already, the APC government has created over 10 million jobs within its first four year, the first of its kind in the country.
The police, navy, paramilitary organisations are recruiting unemployed Nigerians, yet some arm chair critics are saying the APC government has failed.
Every Nigerian knows that the present economic hardship was as a result of the fallen price of oil in the international market, but we should not also forget that the 2016 budget was based on $38 per barrel, even as the militants and IPOB and other groups are causing confusion and destruction here and there.
That is why everybody should have a rethink because it may be highly impossible for the country to meet up if the situation continues unabated.
Most people have condemned Federal Government’s approach to the security situation in the country. What are your thoughts about it?
There must be a room for discussion. This is not a military thing and everybody knows that no militants or group of agitators can be greater than the Federal Government.
Our party has always sought ways to dialogue, knowing very well that this situation calls for sober reflection by all stakeholders. Otherwise if Niger Delta Avengers destroy Nigeria or Nigeria destroy Niger Delta Avengers or IPOB it is Nigerians that would suffer it. Nigerians should stop blaming Buhari for now.
He inherited a rotten economy, a government that was corrupt and has been all along trying to recover the loathed funds. The APC government doesn’t support any Fulani man carrying AK47 or other dangerous weapons.
Anybody caught should be arrested and made to face the full wrath of law, no matter how highly placed or connected he is. Nigeria is not in a war situation and no section of the law or constitution exempted anybody or group from carrying illegal arms.
President Buhari was allegedly quoted as saying that the National Conference report was a waste of time and resources. Do you agree with him?
The implementation of the National Conference report is not negotiable, but the President has powers to look at the reports and make his observations even though the confab report was done with good intention to fashion out the best organised way of doing things in Nigeria.
The reports tend to address the issue before Nigeria including the 13 per cent derivation of revenue to Niger Delta. The president should implement some of the reports that are good. The confab report was a product of the best brains in Nigeria who were assembled from all constituents of the country.
What is your perception about the political, future of this country in view of all these odds and challenges facing the Nigerian society today?
I am highly optimistic and I have confidence in the government of APC led by President Buhari. I will continue with the APC. PDP has packed up. The party is a pack of confusion.
I will remain in APC where we have a brighter hope and future for Nigeria. Of course, I won my House of Assembly election on the platform of the ACN. I am aware that the people of Anambra State and the South-East in general did not support APC in the last election, but the truth was that Buhari was not the kind of candidate they wanted.
They believed then that Buhari hates the Igbos, but it is not so because I had opportunity of meeting him one on one and my contact with him had convinced me beyond every reasonable doubt that the President is just an ordinary man.
We can see the President’s disposition and democratic principle in the allocation of projects in the 2016 budget. Projects like 2nd Niger Bridge, the Enugu/Onitsha Expressway and the new railway line that was extended to the South- East. He has not excluded any part of this country in his budget project proposals and programme.
I have the confidence that when the economy improves he would make sure that all these projects are executed to the later, because he is a no nonsense man and has zero tolerance for corruption. That will right the wrong and re-position the party and APC government in South-East and will also fast track the party’s political will to sweep the poll in the region in the next general elections.
AWhat do you think about APC particularly in the South-East where people complain about marginalisation?
What we are appealing to the President is to convince the people of the South-East that they are part of the government in power and that the PDP is not a party to save the country from its present situation.
They should be made to understand that PDP is already dead and APGA which has only one state cannot by any stretch of imagination defeat APC.
I strongly believe that with equitable appointment and sense of belonging the party will grow fast and I am sure that our party will capture the entire zone in the next political dispensation. You will see how it will happen.
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