A member representing Udi-Ezeagu Federal Constituency, Enugu State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Sunday Umeha, recently defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, from Labour Party. He speaks withAdedayoAkinwale, about what informed his decision. Excerpts:

Since the commencement of the current democratic dispensation, in 1999 and the advent of All Progressives Congress (APC) how will you assess the impact of the party, in the South East, especially under President Bola Tinubu, and what informed you dumping the Labour Party  (LP)?

Generally speaking, APC prior to 2023 might not be all that interesting to many. But since the assumption of office of President Bola Tinubu, there have been very far-reaching decisions and policies that this administration has brought in. And those things appear to be the cornerstone upon which many now troop into APC. So, the APC currently under the reign of President Tinubu has done very well by my assessment.  I said so because: One, you look at the boldness and courage of the President to have declared the removal of fuel subsidy the very first day he took over as President. Many people in the past concurred with the fact that fuel subsidy was a scam, but no government took any step to deal with it. Secondly, another remarkable achievement is the issue of tax reform. And he did that through the introduction of about four bills in the National Assembly. Those bills have been considered. And if you also look at the security aspect, the security architecture, if you had followed up the last APC National Summit, you would have seen the two years’ account of the performance of this current regime. And one of the key presentations there was made by the National Security Adviser to the President, MallamNuhuRibadu. You look at the security indices of Nigeria prior to 2023 and where we are post-2023. You will see that Nigeria has made a lot of impact in the security sector. I agree with you to some extent that yes, it might not be a bed of roses for us at the moment, but if there is no pain, there may not be any gain.

President Tinubu’s recent visits to South East states, which is considered not too much of a stronghold for him, especially going by the results of the 2023 elections, you will find out that he has visited three states and two of them are opposition states. What does this say about the President?

It goes ahead to reaffirm the personality of President Tinubu as a detribalised Nigerian, as a pan-Nigerian, as a Nigerian who believes in the unity of the country. For those who have followed him very well or have read about him, you know that this is not the first time he is showing this type of attitude of all-inclusiveness. When he was the governor of Lagos State, he inculcated in his administration people outside the South-west enclave. You have many south-easterners in his administration, some serving as SSAs and some serving in different capacities. You also have others from the northern part of the country. And that shows the unity in his posture, the unity in his administration. So, coming on board as the president, I’m not surprised seeing him trying to carry everybody along because there was a time in this country where a particular president described the southeast as a dot in a circle. But today, the South-east is now a home for this administration. You can see the president visiting Imo state, though that is an APC state, but he capped it off by his visit to Enugu, an opposition state. Now, recently the visit to Anambra State, that shows a sense of inclusion, a sense of understanding. It shows the disposition of Mr. President to carry the people along. And also it gives a special feeling to the people of the South-east, the Igbo, that truly APC government is their government.

Because if you look at the achievement of APC within these two years, particularly in the South-eastern region, you will marvel. For example, you look at the South East Development Commission, its establishment. This was a bill that was introduced about the 7th or 8th Assembly. It has never seen the light of day. But just within one to two years in the 10th Assembly, the president assented to it to tell you that actually he has a place in his heart for the people of southeastern Nigeria.

Look at the continuous developmental projects going on in the southeast: Enugu-Port-Harcourt Express road; Enugu-Anita Express road, Second Niger Bridge; the second access way to the Second Niger Bridge, the flyover or the interchange going on in Eke Obinagu, that’s along Enugu-Abakaliki Express Road, The Makurdi-Obollo-Afor-Opi- 9th Mile Road. So when you look at all these things, within two years, we are not talking about four years, we are not talking about eight years,  this is what he has done for the people of the South-east. Before now, we have been crying that Igbo are marginalised. But today, the APC government is showing Igbo that sense of belonging, showing them truly you are part and parcel of Nigeria and you own equal rights with other parts of Nigeria. 

Now let’s talk about you. You were elected on the platform of the Labour Party, but now you are in the APC. What informed your decision to move to the APC?

It’s not far-fetched. What I am telling you now was among the reasons, but principally, the leadership crisis in Labour Party was the major reason why I decided to look for another destination, another home. The Labour Party at the moment has not less than three factions or divisions in its national leadership rank: You have the ones led by Julius Abure, you have the other one led by Senator NenadiUsman, and you have the one led by LamidiApanpa. All three divisions claim to be the authentic national leaders of the Labour Party. Every effort was made collectively, individually, to see whether this thing can be cut so that we can coexist as a family, but it proved to be abortive.

You witnessed the mass defection from the party to other political parties. Some of us who are leaders in the party decided to wait to see if we could solve the problem, but the problem continued to exacerbate. But at a point, I said, well, the major reason I am here is to represent my people. Let me look for alternatives. So I had to go to them. We discussed as a family from the ward level to local government, then to the larger constituency. We sat for several months discussing this. And at the end of the day, they came up with a decision that we’re going to APC.

Are your constituents happy with your defection?

Yes, it’s obvious. I don’t think there has been any defection that has carried the level of support my defection elicited. This is because it was a consultative defection. This is because it was a defection owned by the people. It was the choice made by the people, not by me.

Though you have tried to list some of the things but in concrete terms what will your membership of the APC do for your people?

The major reason why I joined the APC is because my people need the intervention of the government in critical areas. These areas include, but not limited to the following: Infrastructure: We want intervention of the government at the centre in the area of roads construction. And at the moment, I can tell you that it’s already gaining the attention of the relevant authorities. I have already tabled it before them. So I can tell you with every sense of sincerity that that will be done. Employment: How many of my people are in the civil service? We want a situation where we have access to civil service jobs. When we talk about empowerment we talk about skill acquisition programs and training that at the end of the day they will have take-off grants to carry out these businesses without reliance on white collar jobs.

Another area of concern is the health sector. If you come to Ezeagu, you can’t point at any single good hospital in the entirety of Ezeagu local government. The same goes to Udi local government. So we are looking at using this platform — the APC government, to see how we can attract a standard hospital in our constituency.

We are also looking at how we can use this government to ensure that at least every community or every ward in this federal constituency has a functional solar powered borehole so that they have access to clean water.

No doubt APC has become a moving train, how attractive do you think the party is to the people of Enugu State?

If you look at the high level of defections going on in Enugu State and when I talk about these defections it is defections from Labour Party to APC, defections from ruling PDP at the state to APC and it’s not happening in just a particular zone. You go to Igbo-Eze South, go to Nsukka Local Government, go to Igbo-Etiti, go to Udenu, go to Uzouwani, go to Ezeagu, go to Udi, go to Oji River, Aniri, go to the Nkanus, you see Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Enugu North, Enugu East, Enugu South, on a daily basis APC is receiving who are coming in.

In the face of these ongoing realignments, how will you assess the gains and otherwise of your new party, the APC?

In this realignment, APC Enugu seems to be the most beneficial, not only in terms of number, not only in terms of quality of people entering into the party, not only in terms of the strategic positioning of the APC in Enugu State, but I also tell you in terms of infrastructure and in terms of inclusion in governance.