Umeh: I’ll Speak for South East in the Senate

Former National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Senator Victor Umeh, in this interview with David-Chyddy Eleke speaks about his quest to return to the Senate under the platform of the Labour Party in 2023.

Why do you want to go back to the Senate?

Well, going back to the Senate is in line with my desire to continuously defend my people, fight for their rights in a Nigeria that has been very unjust to them over the years. Our people appear challenged in this country and nobody can pretend about it. Therefore, we need very strong characters to represent them in the National Assembly. National Assembly is the centre of all activities of government. You can see that it is in the National Assembly that all federal government plans are given approval, whether to be or not to be. Federal budgets are brought to the National Assembly for approval. Major appointments are brought to the Senate for confirmation, so the oversight function given to the Senate is a major one.

So, any group of people or constituency that yearns to have very strong representation in the affairs of Nigeria must send very strong people to the parliament. It is there that things are discussed, debated before approvals are given, so that presidential actions can always be reviewed to see if approval will be given or not.

The essence of having Senators with representative capacity is to ensure that you have someone who will sit in there and look at those programmes of the federal government of Nigeria and  dispassionately weigh them the way they affect your people. If they are not accommodating of your people, you stand up and say so, and through your representation, your people will always be accommodated.

I was at the eighth Senate for 17 months and before I even got there, I had become aware of the challenges our people face, so, when I got there, as soon as I settled down, I started moving motions, bringing the plight of our people to the centre stage and asking for those things they have done that did not include our people to be revisited.

I was there for 17 months and that 17 months, our people saw my outputs and interventions in critical areas. I viewed all government action in relation to how they affected my people. Anytime government did anything that excluded my people, I raised objections. I was able to achieve a lot, so Senate is a place where you talk, not a place you go to sit down and mop and say that you are doing underground work.

Summarily, my desire to go back to the Senate is to go and continue contributing in national debate on the things that will make governance in Nigeria very efficient, through the process of lawmaking. The National Assembly can make laws that can make governance good, because anything the parliament does not approve, the executive cannot implement. The President no matter what he wants to do and the National Assembly says no, he will not be able to do it, it is the National Assembly that will bring about checks and balances.

Nigeria as presently constituted needs a very strong and virile National Assembly that is very conscious of impact in the lives of the people, so when government is not living up to expectation, the parliament should intervene.

So, we need very strong representation from the South East, not just Anambra Central, that is why when I was in the parliament, my eyes were everywhere, looking at the activities of government, and how they impacted on the people of the South East, either through neglect or marginalization.

I know that the 10th National Assembly will be a very crucial one because you can see how the country is wobbling, and everything appears to be collapsing, both in the economy, national cohesion, practice of equity and fairness, there are all generally lacking. The next National Assembly is one that would be compelled by all these to look at how Nigeria can be rearranged to promote national coexistence and cohesion.

We have also seen that urgent actions are needed in the executive, and we have to work hard to complement the new executive that Nigeria will have and support with a robust National Assembly. A docile parliament will be against the people, and a vibrant parliament will be on the side of the people. The parliament will not keep mute when the country is being run aground.

I am going to be part of that discussion.

I am going to be  part of the making of a new Nigeria and that New Nigeria will not be possible with cowards, who are afraid of speaking truth to power. That parliament must be one that is very dispassionate and always view the actions of government on how they affect the people. That is what I intend to do, and at my age, I believe that I still have such time to engage in such process.

You lost in the last APGA senatorial primaries through what was said to be a conspiracy. Now you are in Labour Party, who are your supporters in your new party?

I will say, I am very well known in the state, my supporters go beyond party lines. For what I have stood for and represented over the years, people have come to identify me as someone who has a distinct character in pursuing the course of justice. It is not by coincidence that I go round and people acknowledge me everywhere. I have through my engagement over the years been identified as someone who stands very strongly for justice. On national issues, I have always been identified as someone who stands for equity and justice and maybe because of my experience, coming from the Igbo nation of Nigeria and I have always desired that the  ground should be level for everyone in Nigeria. I have been identified as a national voice in Nigeria, working against injustice. My supporters are not just in the party that I have operated for 20 years, that is APGA. People in PDP identify with me, people who are not even in politics have also identified with me. Anywhere I go to, even old women identify me and hail me. It shows that my supporters are not limited to just APGA. It is true that I led APGA for 10 years and did lot of battles for the party and through that Anambra turned around, and that cannot be discussed without my name.

I have been part of every new leadership in Anambra State, starting from Peter Obi, Obiano and the current government of Soludo, I have played major roles in bringing those governments, but on the platform of APGA. In 2011, I led the APGA to victory in Imo State and we produced Okorocha, all in my efforts to strengthen regional cohesion in the South East.

Coming out of a major contribution in wining victory for Prof Chukwuma Soludo, but you all heard it that there was a primary in APGA and I was said to have lost. It didn’t go down with many people, both the Igbo people in Nigeria and in the diaspora. People were embarrassed by that news, but it was a result of a well planned conspiracy to stop me. I leave it at that, and I have moved on. One thing that was important was that within 24 hours of the APGA senatorial primary, I got a call from my brother Peter Obi who felt it was unacceptable. When he called me, he expressed shock at the news of my loss. He is somebody that I have worked with over the years, and he knew what happened to me. He knew the forces against me and he said it was not good for our people that somebody like me could be treated that way. After that he told me to consider coming over to the Labour Party that he was going to be the presidential candidate the next day. He called me from Asaba where there were having their convention. I said okay, that if he emerged victorious in the convention, I will consider it, and in the evening he called me back and said he was now the candidate and that we can continue our discussion.

I told him that his emergence was partial fulfillment of my desire that the presidency should come to the South East at this time. It is an advocacy I have been leading in previous months and almost one year. I told him now that he had become the candidate, there was no way I could see anyone from the APC or PDP, that in my consideration, he was the only one worthy of our support and that we will support him and let’s see what can come through from it.

At that time, Labour Party was relatively unknown, no one gave it a chance. Then he told me I should also consider joining the party that senatorial primary was for 3rd of June, which was just few days away then. And he said if I was still interested in running for a seat in the Senate, I should consider it. I said it was okay, and that while I’m supporting him to be president, I can still be running for Senate, and that it can make it a stronger movement for us in Anambra State.

I considered his idea, I consulted my people, and even before then, my followers were calling me and asking me to go for Labour Party, but I didn’t tell them I was talking with Peter Obi.

So, on 3rd of June, I was surprised how people (journalists) knew, and you came and took the news by surprise, and I became the candidate. So, my support base is still intact. All the people that have identified with my activities, everybody rejoiced when they heard of my joining Labour Party.

Many of our people who regretted my not going back to the Senate in 2019 were very sad, thinking that the road had come to an end, and that through the APGA primary, that I had been shut out again, but when the Labour Party opening came, it revived their broken spirit.

I got calls from everywhere, both in United Kingdom, America, Europe and South Africa. I didn’t know my people were so appreciative of my contribution over the years. So, my support base is much stronger now than when I was in APGA. The truth is that the APGA people, some of them regretted what happened at the primary. They fought that conspiracy against me, that was why I was able to be edged out by just 11 votes. Remember that my opponent put people in hotels, shared dollars. I didn’t put anybody in any hotel, so the conspiracy nearly failed, but I see it as a design by God for me to leave the party.

We are going into the election next year, and I can tell you that my supporters are far more than when I was in APGA. People I stepped on their toes while fighting for APGA are from the opposite side, and I can tell you that they are now relieved that I am no longer there. They have started seeing me as friends and have become my supporters.

Your two main opponents in PDP and APGA are in the National Assembly, knowing how you were edged out of the primary election by forces that may still be against you in the main election, what are you doing to forestall such?

Every contest no matter how tough will produce a winner. I have never taken any of my opponents for granted, I see all of them as strong contenders, but the good thing about this election is that it is a general election, and the entire people of the senatorial zone will be voting, not a handful of people picked and given money to vote for someone.

Comparing me with my opponents in the election, without being immodest, I can say we are not comparable. Our people easily identify me as one who always fight for their rights. The fact that they were able to gang up against me in APGA through a small decision making process will not guarantee that there will be a repeat in the general election. The people of Anambra Central have demonstrated that they are not happy with the APGA primary, and they are gearing towards making a statement to correct that.

You cannot send someone who cannot speak to the Senate. I have just in the early part of this interview told you what a legislator should be doing. A legislator must speak, the 17 months I was in the Senate, people agreed that I was outstanding. If you are a Senator and your voice is not heard, what are you going to tell your people? When important bills are debated in your absence, what will you tell your people?

The qualities of a lawmaker are that you must be fearless, courageous and you must be bold.

You should be able to speak truth to power, and if you cannot, there is no point going to the National Assembly. Comparing my attribute to the other two contenders is not near at all. Ekwunife for example is not doing anything in the parliament. I have never seen her raise her hand to do anything, not for a motion or against anything done against the people of her zone. When she was campaigning, she said she was not going to the Senate to represent the Igbos. She recognized that I had the ability to speak for the Igbo, and she was trying to say she was going to represent Anambra Central not Igbos, but are the Anambra Central people not Igbos? That is a way to run away from responsibility.

I don’t see what Ekwunife is going to the Senate to do. She said she is building roads, but if you go to the constitution, you will see the specific responsibilities of a Senator. One is that the entire National Assembly is tied to making good laws for the governing of the country.

The Senate is also assigned the extra function of confirming or rejecting all appointments made by the president. You will not see anywhere where the Senate has the function of building roads. It is not in the constitution. It is something that is rather done for convenience to enable lawmakers to go to their constituents and tell them we are doing something.

In a year, the constituency fund allocated to each senatorial zone is between N260 to N266 million per anum. What can you use that to do? But through membership of committee, you may be able to attract other projects through the agencies that your committee oversights.

If you measure Ekwunife in the core functions of a Senator, she will score less than 10 percent, because she has not done anything on that. The time the Senate considered electronic voting system, she ran away because she didn’t want to oppose the authorities.

When I was in the Senate they were shopping for pro Buhari Senators, they came to me and I rejected. When they wanted Saraki removed, they tried to talk me into it, and I refused. They were sharing money and I declined.

The National Assembly knew me as one who was forthright and just, and if you are like that, you can not be in the good books of the authorities, but I didn’t care. All the things that I needed to do for my people, I did them all transparently. In terms of constituency projects, because I came late, I was still able to be put in eight committees. Others were in three four or five committees, but I was in eight. First year in the Senate, I attracted constituency project to the tune of N800million, instead of N266million, through those MDAs in the committee that I served. The good thing is that I didn’t execute any of them. I only ensured that I monitored the contractors to ensure execution and all those projects are standing. The second year, I spent five months in the Senate before we rounded off, but I was also able to attract N540million in constituency project. Some of them, Ekwunife ran to go and appropriate it, when she came in, on the guise that government is a continuity.

If people are looking for a Senator that will stand on the stage and speak for them, you cannot compare me with Ekwunife.

As for Dozie Nwankwo, that one is no issue because he has been in the House of Representatives for eight years and has not spoken. In fact, I will leave him to Ekwunife, because she is the one telling people that Dozie for eight years has not said anything in the lower chamber, but wants to move to a higher one.

So, now that things are becoming even more critical, you want to send a man who has not moved a motion in the lower chamber to go to the Senate.

When they were stopping me in the primary they thought they were doing a great job for themselves, but they were shooting themselves in the leg. People were asking who is that person they said defeated Umeh in the APGA primaries to go to the Senate? The Igbo people didn’t know such a name. They are hoping to bring out money again, but I can tell you that despite the executive interference in the process, they ran away by just 11 votes, despite giving him all the votes of Njikoka delegates, just to embarrass me.

Coming to the general elections, except our people do not want their problems solved, that is how they will vote for these people.

If it is about competence, general knowledge of Nigeria, forthrightness and ability to resist intimidation, among three of us, nobody comes close to me. I know the people will make the right choice.

For now that we are running to give support to Peter Obi, we need to be there to give him support. She (Ekwunife) has been telling everyone that she is running to be Senate President, but if you are running for Senate President, Peter Obi should be killed, and that Peter Obi must lose for her to get her ambition? Who will ever accept such a situation?

We have in Labour Party the best presidential candidate in Nigeria, a candidate which the entire Nigeria has accepted to be the best. Afenifere has endorsed him, the Middle Belt forum has endorsed him, PANDEF has endorsed him. Everywhere is for Peter Obi, and the people should know where to put their weight. People should support him, support the Labour Party.