Those Who Accused Alex Egbona of Anti-Party Activities Are Jealous, Attention Seekers
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He also defended his support for Dr Alex Egbona against his kinsman for the Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency seat, even as he chastised those who accused the Rem member elect of anti-party activities during the March 18 election, even when he was able to help secure victory for all candidates of his party, after winning his own election a week earlier.
Excerpts:
How do you assess the last general elections, from INEC to the candidates to the electorate?
Fairly well. Recollect that our democracy is still at it embryonic stage. It is evolving and maturing. It is not yet Uhuru but we shall get there. Even established democracies such as the United States of America hardly conduct flawless and seamless elections. From my observation and based on experience it seems to me that our election management and conduct have vastly improved from what we used to have about 15 years ago. You know I have experience in election litigation from 1999 to 2015 as a lawyer that handled many election cases including the governorship election petition for late Etubom Bassey Ekpo Bassey against Donald Duke in 1999, Dr. Paul Ukpo and others against Liyel Imoke in 2007, Presidential election petitions in 2007 and 2011 and petitions for the house of representatives in 2007 and State assemblies in 2012; I can say what we saw in 2023 is a vast improvement.
15 years ago, politicians do not care for the electorate. They treated the electorate with contempt, scorn, and disdain because the votes of the people don’t count then. But in 2023, we saw politicians going to the people to sell themselves , wooing them and considering them because they know if they do that they will be punished. The era of politicians or candidates deploying armed thugs and miscreants to hijack ballot boxes and take them behind the scenes to multiple thumb prints and snuffed them and write results that favours what they have done is gone for good.
The general perception is that even in 2023, the votes did not count
I am happy you said perception. Perception is just a feeling that is personal and sometimes it is not factual. As an active political analyst and participant, I can say without fear of fear or contradiction that the election was fair and transparent but not without hitches and lapses. But these lapses are understandable because it is human beings that are conductors of the election and therefore room should be given for lapses attributable to human errors.Those people making allegations of rigging have not been able to come forward with tangible evidence to prove what they are alleging.
How do you rate INEC’s performances in the area of credibility, vis-a-vis the money they got for the elections?
I don’t know how much INEC was given for the election. However, I can say INEC performed creditably taking into account what I saw in Ugep where I voted in the five elections. Every candidate was given a level playing ground. No political party or its candidate was accorded any privilege or preferential treatment.
What areas were you disappointed during the five election?
Sometimes the staff doing accreditation are too shoddy for my liking and their shoddiness causes an undue delay which often led to tension and bickering. INEC should improve on election technology. We should be voting with our ATM cards or the voting card should be designed to be inserted into a machine that will record and save whoever you chose to vote for. When you come to the polling booth you should just insert your voter card into a machine that will record your vote. The present technology is too cumbersome.
During the campaign period, you spoke well and encouraged people to vote for Dr Alex Egbona who is from Abi, against your Yakurr brother. How did you feel when he was declared winner of the election?
I am very happy about his victory and that is the way to go. Alex Egbona is also a brother. I have told you before now that Abi and Yakurr people are genetically, anthropologically, culturally, and historically related. So when I campaigned for Alex Egbona I was equally campaigning for a brother and I feel no qualms. We told his opponent that campaigning on the altar of Ugep irredentism would take him nowhere. I am happy we have been proven right. Lessons have been learned and I believe next time those who want to use tribalism and other primordial sentiments to get into elective offices will think twice.
What picture of Egbona do you see as a politician who won his own election and also delivered all other members of his party in the other elections? Some people are even accusing him of anti-party activities.
I don’t think he is one to perpetrate anti-party activities as some detractors of his are suggesting. I raised the issue with him when my attention was drawn. He simply said let them wait to see if I will not deliver my polling unit and ward in the election of 18 March 2023 and he delivered even Abi local government area.
He is the most influential political leader of the progressive hue today. Since we won Abi’s local government area the credit should go to him. We also won the presidential, and national assembly elections so what are they talking about? It is a figment of the imagination of detractors.
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How would a man of his political stature in the state and country come that low when he knows that he is a ranking member of the House of Representatives from the South-South who is likely to become a principal officer in the House and shoot himself? This is the question detractors should answer.
Politics in Nigeria, because of the level of socio-economic development, is a sort of murky water and dirty. Some people who have nothing to offer in politics but are attracted to it because they wrongly believe it is an escape route from poverty and private quiet life can do anything to have the attention of the leadership. They indulge in gossip, swirling rumours, muddling, and carrying campaigns of calumny against those they perceived to be standing in their way.
