We must integrate principles, values to build parties that will last —Okey-Nwosu

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to use the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a Third Force to displace the bigger political parties. In this interview with KUNLE ODEREMI, Chief Ralph Okey-Nwosu, who has led the party for 16 years, sheds light on the leadership crisis in APC, its chances in the coming general election:

The court has ruled against you in the battle for the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who is now in charge?

I am sure you have read the judgment, the answer to your question is in the constitution of the Federal Republic. The process of justice continues in the Appeal court. But I hope you know that ADC has existed since 2006. We are certainly no trouble-makers. We have gone through four general election cycles; this is the fifth. In 2007, we fielded Professor Pat Utomi, 2011, Professor Nwangwu, 2015, Dr Mani Ahmad and in 2019 Dr Mailafia Obadiah. This election regime one Mr Dumebi Kachikwu, a maverick businessman contested in the compulsory presidential primary and defeated Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Dr Monye and others. Since then we have not known peace. To your question, the ruling was of the high court. Most of us were distracted by the tedious INEC documentation processes and uploading of all our candidates, busy campaign schedules and electioneering works and we did not pay much attention to the rebels. As disciplined organizational leaders the National Working Committee NWC members and critical stakeholders of the party including the candidates of the party, we have decided to approach the Appeal court. The party has a duty to protect over 1411 candidates contesting the election and protect its brand. The right of appeal is in Nigeria’s constitution. It will be irresponsible for us not to take steps to protect the party.

But frankly, I do not like the way you guys in the media are handling this matter. More troubling is the way some TV anchors seem on rampage on this matter as if they are on Dumebi’s payroll to bring down ADC. When someone who emerged as a Presidential candidate of ADC or any political party for that matter, instead of focusing on campaigning, becomes fixated on bringing down the founders and working executives of the party, you will expect knowledgeable persons to ask questions. I am upset with the media. You know ADC for many years as a peaceful and organised party. There should not have been any rumbles and court cases if not for the internal bickering and other influences than a few brought into the party.

We had planned the National Executive leadership convention to take place the same day as the presidential election on June 8, 2022. The process of the presidential candidate’s selection went on from 10am of June 8 till 3am of June 9 and it became impossible to conduct the election in any form. Should that really be an issue to tear the party apart since all the candidates for the election have been selected. Ordinarily, the candidates should have concentrated on running the elections they came to ADC to run. So, instead of doing, the masterminds of all the shenanigan, turned around to sponsor insurrection in the party and try to smear the national leadership. The truth remains that Dumebi and his cohorts came into the party with other intentions. Unfortunately, he has succeeded in one, blocking our presidential slot. He got the presidential ticket and has murdered our big dream of producing an ADC president this election year. As we speak, despite his boasts of high capacity, he has not paid for any campaign office; the same campaign offices that even our House of Assembly candidates have spread in all constituencies. He is from Delta State, since June 9, 2022, when he won the primary, he has never visited his home state, and never attended to any of the events that the party hosted in Delta.

Are you saying your executives are still in intact and place?

I do not want to comment on this matter. I have my absolute respect for the law of the land and as a leader, I respect institutions and judges. I will not want to be drawn into the matter that is before the courts. I just said that it will be irresponsible for my administration not to appeal. I cannot abandon the organization I founded and have funded to the best of my ability. I cannot abandon the 1411 candidates on the ballot, I have a duty to shepherd them through the election in any capacity. The law or the system is not meant to create chaos. The system in place will not allow ADC to be hijacked by moles, serpents and devourers and a few renegades. It is painful; for instance imagine that someone who left PDP when they did not allow the person to contest governorship position in 2019 and we gave the person the position on a platter of gold, turning around to connive with these people to pull ADC into PDP for whatever reason. Our objective has never been to be in power by any means, but to build a new party anchored on transformational leadership paradigm that will birth a new Nigeria. People who lack ADC DNA cannot go far in the party. Sooner or later, they will fish themselves out.

So, why all the hiccups?

I truly wished you could ask Dumebi and the few others he has, created this very question. Some democracies of the world operate without constitution and they are organized and orderly. For a fact ADC held its National convention in Osogbo, Osun state in 2018 that was soon after the original party fused with other groups including the Coalition for New Nigeria (CNM), an organisation sponsored by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president. The constitutional review that followed abridged the tenure to two terms of four years per term maximum for any elected executive member of the party. The constitution in place before then gave the founding members opportunities to re-contest for any number of terms. This change was put there in I think 2011, when it became apparent that it would take the founders more time than originally thought to transition the party into a self-sustaining organisation. Building an ideological political party as ADC aims to become, takes time and need endurance. So, we have adjusted the constitution from time to time because of the cultural challenges. The albatross with our democracy and politics is lack of ideological grounding in our approaches to political leadership and nation building. Look at the parties in power since 1999, they are amorphous, no guiding philosophy. That is why people act in strange ways because no guiding principles. As a matter of fact, politicians’ cocoon around corruption as the binding glue and this has infested the entire space.

Mr Dumebi says that you have been in charge for 16 years

He is talking nonsense; he has not built anything before, so he is least qualified to talk about organisation-building. A political party is not a racketeering studio as he is used to. He just joined the party about April 2022. Himself and persons who sent him must have taken notice of what we are creating in ADC, otherwise they will not be thinking of its hijack at all costs. The idea was to stop our top quality personalities from emerging and to stop the challenge that ADC portended. They know the game they are playing and think they can hoodwink the public to believing their cock and bull stories. The degree of corruption has become endemic; shamefully this has become the destructive prevailing cultural ecosystem we all live in, whether you are ADC, PDP, or APC or an elite in corporate or of professional fields; that is our reality. That is why leaders across the globe can refer to us as stupendously corrupt. This must stop or the country will continue its downward spiral to the abyss. I am not a doomsayer but the truth is not hidden. People are becoming more creative in political scams and that is worrisome. Now let me take you down another path, and I want you to conduct intensive studies on the subject of building sustainable organizations. If we want to build parties that will last, going from good to great and to evergreen Legacy, we must start integrating principles, values and coalesce around some ideals, philosophy or ideologies for our nation-building expedition to have strong anchor or holding force. The anchorage is what provides reassurance, tensile strength, resiliency and direction. It takes so much effort and time, trial and failure to get a people into believing in something, an idea or orthodoxy of some sort; and that is the onerous and thankless job some of us have undertaken to do and some neophytes think it’s a tea party. It took Thomas Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela years to weave character into what we know today as Democratic party USA, India National Congress INC and African National Congress ANC. So give us some credit, ADC of today will become the flagship party of the great Nigeria nation we all seek. It is not a quick fix. It is important to note that within the period, almost 120 parties have been deregistered by INEC or exited on their own, while the founders of ADC taken it to number three among the 18 remaining parties. ADC has evolved its distinct DNA, values and guiding principles. We may be struggling with populating the party with members who truly share these values but it is work in progress.

You were one of the persons championing a Third Force party?

As a matter of fact the Third-Force led by the citizens may still emerge. With the way Nigerians responded to the voter registration, if these new voters vote accordingly by joining forces with the emerging citizens party, it is game over and a new Nigeria is born. This is what I have champion throughout my involvement in politics. If the G5 governors and a few more governors are courageous enough to join the new movement, a solid African citizens party is consolidated. But I am concerned that tribalism and the systemic corruption, the bane of our politics do not overtake our reasoning. ADC, NRM, SDP and NNPP and 28 of the deregistered political parties and the civil society are the bedrock and pathfinder of this energing Nigerian people progressive movement.

What is the way forward for ADC; are you planning to support any other party’s candidate?

We are a very resilient organisation. We have moved past the young man and his wahala and the bigger plot of the parties that play god will fail. No matter how you see it, there is a new consciousness in the land. So for us in ADC, we do not want to waste time with the past. We have 1,411 candidates in this election. The work we have done for the last three years and our projections now give us confidence. I do not want to give you any figures but by the time this election cycle is over, we shall emerge as one of the strongest of the new political parties that Nigerian want. We may be missing out on the presidential ballot, but our performance in all the other ballots will compensate for the Dumebi debacle.