•Says it will no longer be business as usual
•Laments insecurity has driven away youths from home
In this Interview, National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, tells the story of his journey into politics. He also talks about the crisis in the party and efforts being made to resolve it as well as his desire to take another shot at the Imo State Governorship seat among other national issues. Excerpts:
Can you throw some light on how you became PDP National Secretary?
God used good men and my friends like Governor Wike, Governor Ugwuanyi and all the South East Governors and some of the leaders in the South East to nominate me as the National Secretary which was zoned to the South East. How it came to me is that none of the governors in the South East wanted a principal position zoned to his state. Enugu State Governor refused because the immediate past National Youth Leader came from his state. Ikpeazu didn’t want to because the immediate past National Organizing Secretary was from his state.
Then, in Ebonyi State, we already had the National Vice Chairman. So, it was only Imo and Anambra left. For Imo, we needed to give the state a principal position because we have an APC governor there and we needed to get somebody who is strong to stand for the party, that was how it was zoned to Imo State. Of course, this was not without resistance from those who see me as a political enemy but God who is the author of our life and faith granted me the opportunity and today, I’m the National Secretary of the PDP.
You are close to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike. Looking at happenings within your party what do you think is his game plan?
First of all, I am not God to know what a man is thinking. Two, Wike is my very close friend and will remain my friend. That does not mean I control what he does, that does not mean I control his mindset or can predict what he will do next. He is not fighting the presidential candidate, he is not fighting the vice presidential candidate but he is asking for equity and justice, that is what he just said.
He is speaking his mind to Nigerians, so I wouldn’t know what next. I know Wike is not a pretender, that is what I can tell you, he is a man that shows strength, he doesn’t hide his feelings, if he is angry, he will show he is angry, if he is happy, you will know he is happy but to go and backbite or be inside PDP and destroy PDP, that can never be the Wike that I know.
With the benefit of hindsight and happenings in the political arena, what are your fears for the PDP looking ahead of the 2023 election?
To be honest with you, it is not going to be business as usual. In the past, when you get the PDP ticket you go home and sleep but now, a lot of interests are coming out, a lot of new political developments have evolved; all my prayer is for my party to win. We need to work hard, the party needs to be together, there should be understanding, there should be sacrifices.
That is the way I think if I sleep and wake up I can say PDP is heading somewhere. In an ordinary family, when a wife and her husband are quarrelling, no one will go into the kitchen to go and cook, the children will be hungry, there won’t be peace in that family until the children see their mother and their father holding hands cracking jokes. We need peace, and we need cohesion. I pray it happens and I believe it will happen soon.
There are obviously political camps within your party at home and at the national level, which camp do you belong to?
I’m the National Secretary of the PDP, I belong to no camp. Wike is my friend; Waziri Adamawa is our candidate and my friend too. We all knew each other even before I ran for governor the first time. My job is to play the role of a statesman to ensure that people come together. Wike is not in enmity with Atiku; Wike is not in enmity with the party, he has a message he is sending. So, it does not mean anyone who associates with him is an enemy of the party.
How true is the speculation that you are still interested in the Imo State Governorship race?
Since the governorship election in Imo is an off season election with Kogi and Bayelsa, when the window for the governorship race is open, like I have done before, I will try to do it again. It is not because I want power, or I’m not financially comfortable that is why I want my party to win the Presidential election. I feel that the most important thing in life is to assist Nigerians who are hungry and gnashing their teeth every day as some of us who have come out publicly are overwhelmed with requests from people who ordinarily when you read their text messages you can’t help but cry in your heart for the pains they were going through.
I believe in Imo State, my interest is to bring a new life where when you see somebody on the street, he is happy. But as we speak, when you go on the street in Imo today, nobody looks happy.
No rich man is happy, no poor man is happy. So much blood has been shed. There are villages where you don’t see young men of 40 years and under, all you see are old men of 80 something years, the young men have run away because of insecurity and this is a man-made thing that can be stopped.
How has your experience helped you to manage a crisis ridden party like the PDP?
I work very well under pressure so no matter the circumstance, I don’t lose my mind and I don’t lose focus because I know that in anything you do in life, there must be distraction. Even in your library, your daughter or your son can come to distract you with an important message.
I don’t talk too much because if you talk too much you make a lot of mistakes. That is my guiding principle, that’s why I’ve been able to manage the situation. When I was local government chairman, what I was known for was action and the impact I made in people’s lives. I made sure those who work around me are happy, they have no cause to think evil against me. But when they are not happy with you, you will be their target.
Considering the fact that the PDP will be coming from the disadvantaged position of an opposition party in Imo State, don’t you see internal wrangling scuttling the party’s chances in 2024?
I believe that before the primary things will get better. The truth of the matter is that ordinarily, Imo State is predominantly a PDP State, but Imo people are resisting a situation whereby an individual is constantly running for the same position when there are so many other people. What it means is that you are telling the world that PDP doesn’t have other qualified people. All we are asking is for the party to allow a level playing field so that somebody can emerge with the love of the people and go ahead to face the party in power. If this is done, obviously, the PDP will win.
I can never predict doom for the party I’m privileged to be part of at the helm of affairs, I am optimistic that we are going to win because there is no quarrel that cannot be reconciled. The process of reconciliation is ongoing and I believe that everybody will come together so that whoever gets the ticket of the party will enjoy the support of all of us and we will join hands together to ensure that PDP gets the victory. One thing is to get the ticket of the party, the other is to win the election.
Like I said before, if you got the ticket of the PDP, like the NPP in those days, you just go and sleep. It was just like in the last few years when APGA came on board in Imo. I knew a colleague of mine in the House of Assembly who APGA filled his name in their form for the assembly. He was in Port Harcourt when they called him to say that he had won elections, he didn’t campaign. The time for such is gone, people are more politically aware, they know what they want and are prepared to do what it takes to get them into office.
What is the state of the party’s peace process at the moment?
It is better for the process of reconciliation to be deep rooted than for it to be superficial. So, we are on the verge of getting out of it. Everybody needs peace in the party. I think we are getting there.
What is the nature of your relationship with Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a longtime member of your party’s BoT?
My late father was the political adviser to Chief Iwuanyanwu for 22 years until his death. I see him as my political godfather and I still respect and revere him. He didn’t make any financial contribution to my political life but I look up to him as a political leader.
When my father died, I didn’t want his name to die politically. I had lost interest in politics, what I did as a young boy was just one of those things, your dad is a local government chairman and you just want to help by galvanizing the youths to motivate them. At a time, I travelled to America and stayed there for some time. Then, when my father died on December 20th, 1999 and was buried on January 8th, 2020, I decided to return to politics.
When I joined politics, I had the capacity, the competence to run for the House of Representatives but I decided to start from the local government to test run if I had learnt anything from my dad. I came into the race three months before the primary but then Chief Iwuanyawu had already taken a position on who he wanted to be local government chairman. There were other segments that also had their candidates for the position of local government chairman. As a matter of fact, I had nobody with me; I was between 28 to 30 years old at the time. Iwuanyanwu told me not to run but I said I would run. Then, I told him, I don’t want you to support me, but if I win, don’t give it to another person. He didn’t believe I was going to win, he said Ok, you don’t need to waste your money, you know you are a young man, you have a future ahead of you.
I threw my hat in the ring, I won the primary they couldn’t believe it, they were amazed. But then, INEC and ISEC had issues with the primary what the party did was to appoint us as transition committee chairmen which lasted for one year before the election which I ran and won. When I won the election I became the rallying point for people who wanted to run for elections because at this point, I controlled the party structure and by now, Iwuanyawu saw that I had the capacity to take over.
After my tenure at the local government, I contested an election into the State House of Assembly which was like “carry go” as no one came to run against me. I then went for a second term. When APGA came on board they wanted me to join APGA but I refused.
When they formed APC, I had three of my friends in the House of Assembly; we were called the three musketeers. There was nothing Rochas (Okorocha) did not do to the extent that he brought money and even went to Iwuanyanwu to get me to join APC. I refused and told him that I am not a political prostitute, that when I’m in a political party, no matter how hard it is for me, I remain there because one day, things will turn around and I will be the leader of that party. Since I joined politics, in 2000 till now, I’ve been in PDP, I’ve not gone out and come back, I have remained constant.
How did your journey into politics start?
I come from a place called Obodoamimo in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State. I am the second son of the late Chief Sam Anyanwu; my father was a great politician. He was the pioneer Chairman of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party in what used to be Mbaitoli/Ikeduru, when Mbaitoli Ikeduru was a local government under the state chairmanship of RBK Okafor. My mother was the secretary of the women’s wing of the NPP then.
As young as I was, 18 years old at the time, I was the secretary of the Imo Youths Organisation under the supervision of the late Dr Ray Ofegbu, who was then the Commissioner for Information in Imo State; he was a lecturer then at Nsuka.
After playing local politics, I moved to Lagos to continue my life. I did my schooling in Aba, before I went to the University of Port-Harcourt where I studied Political Science and Public Administration. I started life working as a dispatch rider in DHL and then moved on to establish my poultry farm.
My parents were poultry farmers. I decided to go into big-time poultry farming. At the time I had one of the biggest poultry farms and the only person I was competing with then was the late P C Onuoha.
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