Prince Benjamin Benedict Apugo is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Board of Trustees (BoT). In this interview, he spoke on sundry matters. Excerpts…

The Edo APC crisis has led to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, being stopped by the court from parading himself as the APC chairman, despite that the Bisi Akande committee is looking into the matter in Edo. What do you think is the solution to the crisis in Edo APC?

It’s only President Muhammadu Buhari that can put an end to the crisis in Edo State. Because of the office he is occupying, he can easily solve the problem in the Edo chapter. Setting up committees to look into the matter may not bring the needed peace.

Before the 2019 election, APC leaders in Abia State boasted to win the election. What went wrong?

The truth remains that we had no candidate, the candidate that stood for us, Uche Ogah, was just a makeup. He did not contest election. In fact, before the election, he said it would be better to leave the governorship for Okezie Ikpeazu. It was from that time that I kept myself off him. It was not an accident, it was a clear game that Ikpeazu played with the seven APC governorship aspirants; he bought the forms for all of them. Well, that is by the way because we are not going to compare the past with what we are looking forward to get in the next election if God permits.

You are implying that the APC candidate betrayed the party. Isn’t he the same man that will fly the party’s flag in 2023?

There is nothing one can do. When the oil is spilled, you don’t do anything, but many have now known those they did not know before. We can’t talk about 2023 now; nobody knows who will live up to that time.

How true is the influx of people from APGA and other parties into the APC in Abia State. Is this a game plan ahead of 2023?

We are not talking about only APGA; we are talking about prominent Abians. As we speak, many prominent people in Abia State have decided to join the APC in order to rescue the state. If they had done that earlier, Abia wouldn’t have been in this mess.

I have been talking to a lot of prominent Abia sons and daughters to come to the rescue of Abia people. And the only way they can do that is to join APC en-masse so that we can take over the government of the state.

How can you surpass the PDP, a party had been in control for over 20 years?

As far as we are concerned, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State is dead, completely dead and buried. We have to mobilise the people of Abia State to have one single project that Abia can say for the past 20 years, this is a single project we have. I have been shouting and crying that Abia does not look like a state because we have nothing to show for it and today, all that I have said have come to pass.

It was the PDP that robbed Abia of its funds, the federal allocations. None of the money got to Abia, everybody has seen it now. Do I need to tell you about PDP again? APC has a manifesto, it has a programme and I know if that if an APC governor assumes power in Abia State, in less than 30 days, people will see changes, I mean positive changes. The era of workers being owed would be over. We know they are being owed, but since they are not complaining, some of us will continue to keep quite.

When you talk about allocations not coming to Abia, is it that the Federal Government denied the state of her statutory allocations or what?

I have been talking about looting of Abia funds, you have seen now, it has been written, it has been published, every money of Abia didn’t come to the state. Individuals took this money, it has been discovered. If all these money that were recently reported and are still being reported came into Abia, what is building of airport, roads and stadium? Abia would have turned to be like small London. The money was given and some people looted it, somebody fixed it for himself.

What’s your take on the Supreme Court judgment on the Bayelsa governorship election?

Well, I’m not a lawyer. Sometimes, the Supreme Court could be misled and this could be done through misrepresentation by counsel. APC won overwhelmingly in Bayelsa and we have found out that the running mate to the APC governorship candidate in the state did not forge his documents, but the Supreme Courts decision is final as they say. Forget about what is happening today whereby people go to ask the Supreme Court to review its decisions, but if I should go by what I believe in, the apex court should not be used as a toy. I know if the case should be reviewed, it will favour APC but the Supreme Court should not allow itself to be drawn into this issue of reviewing of its rulings fort and back.

How will you access the Buhari administration?

Buhari is doing well, but because we do not have APC government in Abia, we are not feeling the impact of what he is doing. I know that states where APC is in control are doing very well and that’s why I said that the Federal Government should use its power to find out if the allocations given to Abia are well utilised. I say this because the money given to Abia does not get to the state, it was hijacked somewhere; for the over 20 years PDP has been in power in the state, no single monument has been built in Abia.

What’s your take on the constituency allowance given to NASS members?

As far as I am concerned, that shouldn’t be, because the NASS members came from local government areas and states that should be in a better position to handle such projects. However, some of them particularly those from the North have done well with the money given them, but in case of Abia, it is a complete waste because there is no single project anybody has done.

Are you happy with the level of Federal Government presence in Abia State?

I have sent an SOS before, I have called on the Federal Government to come and take a look into Abia. I have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Presidential Liaison Officers in states where APC is not in control so that they can handle federal projects in those states. This will make the people know that the Federal Government is doing something to change their lives for good, but nobody is listening to that. The Federal Government will bring rice, bring money for the school feeding programme and give them even to non-APC state governors who are not interested in those programmes. Take the school-feeding programme for example, it’s going on everywhere, but none is happening in Abia because the governor will not do something that will promote the Federal Government since his party is not in power at the federal level. The president must look into some of these things, he got over 25 percent votes during the last election and it was human beings that voted for him and they supposed to benefit from the federal Government. (Saturday Telegraph)

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