PDP is serving its final term in Taraba – Afukonyo

Chief Ezekiel Irmiya Afukonyo is the governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Taraba State. In this interview, Afukonyo speaks on issues that will determine the April elections in Taraba, saying the PDP government has failed and is on its way out. Excerpts:

We understand you are the governorship candidate in Taraba, but initially someone else’s name was being flown, how did it happen?

You see, the election was inconclusive and there was no announcement of any result in Jalingo. However, my opponent went on air and declared himself as the winner. The election was not concluded there and then because of the fake result that was brought from Ardo Kola. So we went to the panel and the panel identified that result to be fake because INEC and the security personnel did not sign a copy of the result sheet. Therefore the result from Ardo Kola was annulled and that gave me an edge over him. That was how I was declared as winner and my name was submitted to INEC.

How was the Ardo Kola result faked?

Well, it was when I was already winning; when they saw that I was giving them a very big margin that the chairman of the party, in connivance with the other aspirants gave a fresh result slip to the aspirant to go and write figures that will place them ahead of me.

Are you saying there was over voting, sort of?

Yes, there was over voting and when we noticed it, we raised alarm. We told the chairman of the panel that came to conduct the election that there was a fraud and he saw that anomaly. So we all agreed that the result should be put aside; I insisted that he should sign it and he said okay. But before we knew what was happening, the result that we all agreed should be kept aside was announced. That was when the problem started.

The problem of the CPC is not only in Taraba State; there were similar problems in many states including Kano, Katsina and so on and many people believe that perhaps that is the beginning of the downfall of the party. In your case how are you reaching out to reconcile with the aggrieved party ahead of the polls?

I beg your pardon, in politics disagreements like this are bound to happen, but I can assure you in CPC we have a formidable team; that we have good national leaders who are doing their best to see that all cases presented before them are properly looked into. They are also putting machinery on ground to reach out to aggrieved parties. So I don’t think what we are experiencing now is new. Everyone agrees that such problems are found in all the political parties.

It is normal in democracy for the actors to agree and to disagree. At the end they evolve better strategies and ways of doing things. That is what makes democracy different and ahead of other systems of government where no one quarrels or disagrees with the leader. Definitely, after election there must be an aggrieved party, but there is always a way of reaching out to such people in order to resolve the issues.

On a personal level, have you reached out to your opponent?

You know when somebody is aggrieved; you need to give him some time before you talk to him. The situation is still fresh now and at this stage when you go to them, they may not even want to listen to you. But like I said earlier the party has set up machinery on how to reach out to such people and see how we can bring them so that we can work together to win the April election for the benefit of the party and the country.

The general characteristic of the Nigeria politician is that he leaves the party as soon as he loses primary election so that he can try his luck elsewhere. Don’t you fear that your opponents will also quit the CPC?

No I don’t think so. You see it is already too late because the submission, substitutions and all that have already been done. So it is not going to be easy for somebody to move to another party for the purpose of contesting election now. Just like we noted earlier, this is politics and definitely people will be aggrieved; people will feel bad but in a political set up there are so many offices; there is so much to do that one person cannot do alone. Of course I know that people are aggrieved but I know that before the election, they would have subsided so that we will move together believing that if CPC wins, it is a victory for all of us..

Many people believe that in Taraba State the contest for 2011 is between the PDP and the ACN. Can you dispute that in the light of the situation on ground?

Honestly I will dispute that because ACN is nowhere in Taraba. Anybody who tells you there is ACN in Taraba is a joker. They are only trying to build a structure which they don’t have. I took CPC to Taraba State and I know what I have done up to this moment.

You are saying ACN has no structure but they contested governorship election in 2007…?

I am telling you that they don’t have any solid structure; they are just making noise. As far as I know the ACN is new in Taraba. It is just Ahmed Yusuf after that there is nothing like structure.

They are just trying to build structure. If Ahmed Yusuf is claiming that he build structure for ACN, it would not have been easy for Joel Ikenya to just come into the party and within two, three months dislodge him to win the party’s governorship ticket. So what Joel is trying to do now is to build new structure and I think the time is too short for him to make any headway before the election. Therefore there is no doubt that the governorship battle in Taraba is between CPC and PDP. The CPC has been on ground for the past one year. I took the party to that state and I established structures in all the wards. Also, you know Buhari is a factor in Taraba State any day. Even when we were in ANPP, he was a strong factor and whether anybody likes it or not his factor will work any day, any time.

He (Buhari) is the man of God; he is a man of integrity and people in Taraba like him. In fact they love him. Therefore we are expecting him to come to Taraba and bless the structure that we already have on ground.

What gives you the confidence that you will upset the PDP which has ruled for 12 years now?

You see we are talking about achievement. If you have a government that has failed, what do you expect? The people are tired of PDP; the people are looking for the messiah. In fact since the creation of Taraba State we have been having problems of leadership. The PDP really put our people in a serious mess. In fact they thought that this present government would rescue the situation but to their dismay, things even became worse.  So the people are looking for change and that change is in the CPC.

I can bet you that people are now looking at the candidate and not the party. if you have a good candidate people will vote your party. The people in Taraba know me; they know my pedigree and they know I have a vision for the state. by God’s grace when we get into government in May, they will see that change that they are yearning for; they will begin to see the true dividends of democracy. I have told people that if I can’t make any difference, I have no business participating in  this race.

What difference will you make?

I will make a difference in the health sector by improving our health care delivery system. I will transform the education sector and embark on massive rural transformation. One very important thing in our agenda is youth and women empowerment. These issues have suffered neglect in the 12 years of the PDP government. There are so many youths roaming the streets of Jalingo without jobs and I tell you an idle mind could be the devil’s workshop. So we will create jobs for these youths and empower them to live better lives. In fact I intend to embark on Public Private Partnership (PPP). We will invite investors to come.

You know that in Taraba we are blessed with so many resources that we can harness in order to develop the state. So we will invite investors to develop the industries and jobs will be created.

Concerning the youths roaming the streets, we will organise them in such a way that those who want to learn some hand work will be given the opportunity to learn. Those that want to go to school will get sponsorship. We will definitely create jobs from the industries that are going to spring up from the PPP programme we will embark upon. The agric sector is also there. We will give small scale loans to those who are interested in farming.

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