Labour Party’s candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Chief Victor Umeh, in this interview with David-Chyddy Eleke says he is seeking re-election to the Red Chamber to ensure justice for all Nigerians and to make good laws for the governance of Nigeria, among other issues.
Anambra State government recently removed your billboards when those of other candidates in the state are still standing. What problem do you have with the state government?
We have no problem with Anambra State government, what we are seeing is pure politics. You would have seen around Anambra State that they say Anambra is APGA land, and being APGA land, no other party should operate here.
We are surprised at the turn of events. The billboards which were brought down on Saturday had been there since December and we have no issues at all. The pedestrian bridge across Unizik Junction has a site that is managed by an advertising agency called SMIC Advertising International Limited, registered by Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
They have been managing that site, renting out to clients. The last people that were there were Interfact Brewery, makers of Hero Beer.
In December it became vacant and the CEO of the company called me and offered the site to me that it is available. We discussed and agreed and I paid him immediately and the flexes were produced and put there. It has been there until last Saturday when the posters and flexes were removed by Anambra State government.
We were shocked that the governor was able to do that. A week earlier, in a meeting of members of his (Governor’s) party at the Governor’s Lodge, he threatened that he would remove them, that they were too prominent, and that this state belonged to APGA, and only APGA should be there. Some people told him the place must be under contract and he said he didn’t care. He was also told money has been paid for it, and he said the money should be refunded. Immediately after the meeting, more than five people called and told me. I am surprised because this is a contract. I paid N1milion, N500,000 for either sides.
Hours after he removed it, he replaced my flexes with APGA billboard. Anambra is APGA land; that is the advertisement he put there. This confirmed what he said that APGA owned Anambra and no other person should do anything to upstage APGA.
First of all, the pedestrian bridge is a not property of the Anambra State government in any way. It belongs to the federal government. Peter Obi constructed it, and the state was refunded money for it. I was in the senate when that refund was made. Anambra was refunded N37billion for federal roads constructed by Obi, and that included the pedestrian bridge too.
So, that asset is not that of the Anambra State government. What he has done is very shocking, that someone of his status cannot respect a simple valid contract. The advertising agency is also helpless, but I have told them not to stop at that because this is a contract. When I was negotiating for the site, he told me to pay that much because he will pay signage fee to Anambra State government.
Will you go to court?
Of course, my right has been infringed upon, but you also have to consider a lot of things; the election is just six weeks away. He knew he was wrong, but he knows that if I go to court, he would say, “we will be in court for six years.” I have heard him say such things. So I will be wasting my time. I am waiting for the advert agency to get back to me, they are the ones dealing directly with the state government. I am only a third party in the business.
There had been an initial announcement about monies that politicians will pay to be able to campaign in Anambra. N10million, N7million, N5million, N2million for presidential, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates respectively? Did you pay or negotiate?
That is what they are relying on to deceive the public. I saw his commissioner for special duties, a lawyer, saying incoherent things in defence. He knows that they do not have the powers to make such laws. The governor is only being driven by desperation to make revenue.
Let me tell you, elections and issues relating to them are regulated by INEC, including campaigns. It is not within the purview of state governments to regulate campaigns of political parties and their candidates in any election.
If a party nominates a candidate and forwards the name to INEC, nobody is allowed to do anything to hinder the candidate from campaigning and to seek for votes. They campaign as they deem fit.
If they want to use outdoor advertising, there are agencies that can do it for you. The state government said you must pay campaign fees if you want to campaign in Anambra. I laughed at them. This place is a place where people do not play by the rules. It’s only in Anambra State that a state imposes humongous fees on candidates. What they are saying is that if you are a valid candidate and you do not have money to pay state government, you will not campaign. This is illegal. Once candidates are elected and their names forwarded, they should be allowed to campaign unhindered. Such thing is not in the electoral act. That is why to file a candidate to INEC is free.
Democracy encourages unhindered participation. If I have time to sue the state government, they will lose. He is just desperate to raise revenue. What the governor is trying to do is to regulate the democratic space in Anambra, and that is beyond his powers. It is illegal.
Are you discouraged by all these?
No, I cannot be. I have gone through persecutions a number of times. I knew that he was acting to put a setback in what I’m doing. Billboards don’t win elections. Today there is billboard war all over the place. People who have been in the National Assembly and have never said anything, today they are flooding everywhere with billboards. If they had been speaking in Abuja, people would have known them.
For me, people know me and the works I am associated with, so, billboards or not, they still know me.
What are your chances in the forthcoming election, do you think they are bright?
If my chances were not bright, do you think they will be desperate to the point of going to destroy my billboards? They are not finding it easy. They didn’t know the momentum would grow this high. When we started in June last year, the same Governor Soludo dismissed Labour Party, and said “don’t mind, very soon it will fizzle out”. But today, Labour Party has become the leading party in the presidential election in Nigeria. You saw Mr Obi at Chatham House in London. This is a candidate that has surpassed all predictions made by naysayers, and he has become the cornerstone, to the point that his opponents are now scampering for breathe.
So, Labour party and the Obidient Movement have gone so high that fever is catching a lot of people. Here in Anambra State, I left APGA and went to Labour Party, and they said I will not make it, but now go round and talk to people – It is Ohamadike for Senate, Victor Umeh for Senate, everywhere. They are not comfortable with them. Even on online opinion polls, I have been leading them with wide margins.
I have represented Anambra Central senatorial zone in the senate for 17 months, and for that period, the people were very happy with my representation. I stood up at every opportunity to speak for them, defend them on national issues. That was when they knew that a senator from this part of the country can speak so boldly in the Senate. That was why when I left in 2019 and certain things started happening, people always said if I was in the Senate these things won’t happen. Our people regretted that I was not there and they want someone who will give them robust representation, and they are not ready to let 2023 slip by. The people want someone who can give them strong, courageous and bold representation. You can’t find these qualities in my oponents, that is why anywhere I go, they tell me – no, we already know you. That is what is upsetting Anambra State government and they resorted to intimidation, but I can never be intimidated. I am above intimidation.
We hear your opponents talk about attracting constituency projects, what do you say to that?
You know, the problem is that many people have left the core functions of the national assembly, and they are deceiving people with two bedroom bungalows they built for widows.
Those are not part of the functions of the National Assembly. The constitution assigned very clear roles to the national assembly.
Number one is making laws for the good governance of the country, to make appropriation laws to help the executive to execute its job, then the oversight functions of looking into the activities of the government at the centre to ensure implementation of budget.
They are also given the powers to remove the president or vice president for gross misconduct if necessary. The Senate is saddled with greater responsibility of confirming appointments by the president into various agencies of governments.
What they call constituency project is an addendum to the work of the National Assembly. When the President submits his estimate for a year, there is nothing like constituency projects in them, but because of convenience, the National Assembly had bargained during the Obasanjo presidency to be allowed to have some projects they can do for the benefit of their constituents. There are core functions why people go to the National Assembly. Making laws for the good governance of Nigeria is a very important function. The head of government cannot act arbitrarily; he must be under checks to be able to function.
So, a National Assembly that is alive to its duties, would use legislation to cage executive lawlessness, and that is what is important in choosing a senator.
We are going to the Senate to fight for Nigerians. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this country, and we are going there to ask questions. Everybody in Nigeria today believes that the present arrangement of the country is not working, We need to restructure the country. There is also something that happened in this country which people have not asked questions about. The Initial Public Offers (IPOs), which many people advertised and used it to fleece Nigerians of their hard earned money. We will ask questions about them. Of course, we have attracted a lot of projects too within the short period I was in the Senate, but the main thing we are going to do is to add our voice, to ensure justice and equity for all in Nigeria.
