A former Managing Director of National Inland Waterways (NIWA), and the Governorship candidate of Labour Party in the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election, Chief George Moghalu in this interview with Adeniyi Adedeji says defeating the incumbent governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo is a herculean task but doable. Excerpts:
After traversing the entire landscape of Anambra ahead of the governorship election, what is your assessment of the situation, and what are your chances of winning the election?
To be very sincere with you, the feedback I have gotten so far is quite encouraging. There is that clamour, across board, for a change in the leadership in the state. For me, I am very much encouraged by the responses we are getting and we need to sustain it until the election is conducted.
The Bible advises that before you go for a war, you should take an assessment of the strength of your opponent. What are your fears concerning this election?
I don’t have fears for now because I know that power belongs to God. He gives to whom he pleases at His own time. What we are doing is to make ourselves available for the will of God to manifest. That is exactly what we are doing, but as for the decision on who will lead Anambra state, it is in the hands of the people. We are only marketing ourselves, presenting ourselves to the people to assess and take an informed decision as we get nearer to the D-day.
Is contesting against the incumbent not supposed to constitute fear to you?
Why should it constitute fear to me when incumbents have been defeated before in Nigeria and even in Anambra state particularly? Yes, it is going to be a herculean task, but it is something that is possible. It is doable, and we will do it again this time.
You have always said that this election is not a do or die, do you still hold on to that mantra?
That has always been my position in everything I do because I know that we must not remove the God factor in whatever we are doing. If I say that it is a do or die, supposing I die before the date, what will happen? Will it stop the process? The answer is no because life will continue to move on.
I am very sure that you won’t downplay the crisis in your party, LP, how has it affected or helped you?
I have no problem with the crisis in the party. The truth about the crisis is that it is about national issue. It has nothing to do with us in Anambra State. We are stable, we are united, we are formidable as LP in the state, and we are going about doing our campaign. I, being an experienced party administrator, have been fully involved in campaign processes. Everybody is involved. We are focused to achieve success.
What are those messages of hopes you are taking to the Anambra electorate to convince them to vote for you?
Yes, I have already assured and reassured our people that Anambra shall be well again. What it implies is that we are going to change the narrative and things will certainly be better again. We are bringing in programmes that will help our people to recalibrate, rejig the entire process, and then come out with something better that will make our state great again.
We have a programme and plan to address the issue of insecurity, which is of major concern today in my state. Our action plan is contained in our manifesto where we have made promises, the contract we will enter with the people, which we intend to judiciously follow. We are fully prepared, and will start from day one if it pleases God for the will of the people to prevail.
Looking at the journey so far, what will you consider the most teething challenges you have encountered so far, probably during the campaign or elsewhere?
It is certainly insecurity. It has always been the major problem, and it cuts across every facet of the state. For me, it remains the major problem. You see, a situation where you have to go with a retinue of armed men. It does not really sink well with me because of who I am as a man who prefers a very simple lifestyle. I prefer to be on the quiet side. I prefer people having unhindered access to me. But I cannot take that risk with the security situation now. So, we have to move about fortified, and move about fully prepared to be able to face the challenges as they come. For me, that is the major challenge. I hope and pray that the local security outfit the state government assembled, which all of us know is political, will not be deployed for elections because we will resist them.
One area often referenced in this Anambra election is the issue of claims of endorsement by President Tinubu, but why are you not talking about such endorsement, or could it be that your antecedent with the APC is hunting you?
No, no… I have a good relationship with President Tinubu. I made that point very clear, and I am sure that Mr President has nothing against me. The President is not a voter in Anambra State. He has no vote in the state. The best any of us can get from him is to wish us well. I am sure the President, being a democrat, will not want to be involved in this electioneering process. So why do I have to worry about his endorsement?
But, why are you not dropping his name like others?
Why should I have to drop his name? I should rather drop my name because I am a brand. I can also drop Peter Obi’s name because he comes from the state. He is a voter in Anambra state.
How has your relationship with Obi helped you so far in the build-up to this election?
It has been very positive, and he has contributed immensely. If we must be honest with ourselves, Peter Obi is a very big brand; particularly in Anambra State where I come from. So, you can only ignore him at your own peril. But the question is, why should I ignore him? Why?
What informed your choice of picking a female as your running mate?
I hinged my decision on gender balancing; coupled with the fact that she has the capacity. She is a very experienced teacher, a retired Principal, the President-General of Association of Anambra State Town Unions (ASATU) women wing.
She is also playing in the high league in the Anglican Communion and I am a Catholic. We needed to balance the ticket by getting the women involved. Let them be part of what we are doing. I have actually gotten what I was looking for in a running mate. She is an asset and she is contributing very positively. I told you her pedigree and I would not have asked for any other credential than what she has.
How much trust do you have in INEC in conducting this election?
For me, it is not about trust. I have said it time and time again that INEC has the opportunity to redeem its image. As we speak, the image is at very low ebb. Anambra state governorship election provides INEC with another opportunity for them to redeem itself.
The commission must do what is right, follow the rules it made. We didn’t make the rules for INEC. It made the rules for us to obey, it must follow the rules, play according to the rules it made so that it can win back the confidence of the people. I have said it, and let me repeat that an average Anambra man has lost confidence in the process. That is why we have over two million registered voters and we elected the governor with 112,000 votes. It goes to show the level of apathy. It goes to say, we don’t believe in this system. We don’t trust the commission.
It is incumbent on INEC to change this perception, whether it is real or not, they need to change it. They need to do things so that people will say; now INEC has changed, my vote will count, I must vote, and I must determine who will lead me. The moment we get to that stage, the electoral process will be smooth. For me, I pray for them, I beg them that whatever may be the inducement, ignore it for the sake of the greater good of the people. Whatever may be the inducement, whatever may be the promise, they must ignore it and deliver for the benefit of our people.
Still bordering on the trust, what about the secret agents, do you trust them?
It is the same thing with the electoral commission. Let the security agencies not compromise standards. Let them do what is right. They should not allow anybody to use them. They should not allow any politician to use them for pecuniary games. How much will they collect? How long is the money they will collect? How long is it going to last for them? And they must not montage the future of a generation for four years because of a pecuniary gain.