‘APP is now the veritable platform for people to fulfill their political ambitions in Rivers State’ 

With the internal crisis rocking the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State still persisting, as well as wrangling in major opposition parties in the state like the Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress (APC), there are insinuations that Governor Siminilayi Fubara and his followers are behind the sudden rise in the popularity of the Action People’s Party (APP) ahead of the October 5, 2024, local council elections in the state.  In this interview with ANN GODWIN, the state Chairman of the APP, Sunny Wokekoro, puts the facts clear.

There are speculations that Governor Siminilayi Fubara and some of his followers are behind the sudden popularity and growth of APP in Rivers State. How true is that?
Let me tell you something. If the APP is gaining momentum because of insinuations that Governor Fubara has a hand in it, that simply tells you that the governor is popular. That also indicates that the governor is being unjustly persecuted; that also tells you that Fubara is doing the job he ought to do and doing it well; hence, he is steadily gaining organic support from the people. But be that as it may, I can tell you authoritatively that Governor Fubara, even though our party is not antagonistic to him unlike other parties just as our party is also not antagonistic to President Bola Tinubu, he is not a member of our party.  But as a good party administrator, the work of a good party administrator is to go out there and shop for the best candidates for the party. So, from the accusations I’m getting, I am beginning to get convinced that I should go for Governor Fubara and convince him to run under my party during the 2027 elections and also convince other people who have been deprived of opportunities in their parties. So long as they have the right character, we will go for them to run under our party.  It is obvious that APP is now the veritable destination for anybody who is looking for any platform to fulfill his political career both in Rivers State and national level.

What is actually giving you this impetus? 
I have been in politics for over 35 years now. At the age of 22, I became the financial secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC). That was the party that produced the then governor of the state, Chief Rufus Ada George. From there, we proceeded to form the association that midwifed what we have today as the PDP and other political parties. Before that, I was the coordinator of G34 in Rivers State, the platform that brought other political groups together that produced PDP.

I became the chairman after we navigated through the water of politics and established the party. I was privileged to serve as a commissioner in the Dr. Peter Odili administration. We had a small break and I later came back to become an adviser to the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.  I was still in PDP but the events that have happened and appear to have no political solution necessitated my exit and I got into a movement to find a way to address the several injustices that are going on in the PDP where the leaders at the national level, even the state level, seem not to have the morals and strength of character to deal with the challenges. So, we thought that enough was enough. So, we took the path of honour by exiting PDP. We exited the party when we did the Simplified Rally in Port Harcourt where I accused the national chairman of PDP, the secretary and the legal adviser of ineptness and lack of party administrative dexterity.

There are assumptions that some members of the troubled big parties in Rivers are joining your party…
(Cuts in) The whole thing happening is because people trust us. They have seen the characters involved. That’s why you see people who are not satisfied with what is going on in APC, PDP, LP now coming to us because we are now forming a team, an unbreakable bond that will change the narrative of things in the state and at the national level.

APP is a movement that is championing the realisation of hope. APP is a party that is not just championing hope but the realisation of that hope. Nigerians have been chanting the hope slogan for several years. Successive governments will come and promise hope but it is amazing that the citizens still suffer under the yokes of poverty. So, our political party is not just preaching about hope but we intend to make that hope a reality.

You know when something begins to gather momentum; people try to give it different explanations. Some could be positive; some could be negative. But I must say that the fortunes of the party are changing tremendously and positively. It is born out of the fact that a new political dispensation has been birthed. Nigerians, Rivers people and several other political parties are tired because they have seen the pros and cons of the existing parties. People are dissatisfied following the norm where the government keeps promising hope upon hope year in year out yet they don’t see any change.

So, people are looking for someone who is genuine and passionate, who can deliver promises made to them during electioneering campaigns. Right now there is a lot of internal wrangling among the so-called major political parties whether it is PDP, APC, LP and all that. You don’t even understand what is generating all those kinds of controversies. So, among all these political parties, those who are not happy about what is happening are looking for a platform to express themselves. So, when we came, considering the characters of the people who are involved, people who their yes is their yes and who their no is their no; people who are not into the business of deceiving people because they want to get into office; people who have sympathy and passion on the plights of the people.  So, it is just natural that when they see you doing something exceptional, people will naturally gravitate towards you and align because they see trust, which is the key word here. APP has been registered with INEC since 2017.

When the hope is achieved, do you think it will birth a new Nigeria that Nigerians have been yearning for?
Our party believes that a new Nigeria is possible. A new Nigeria is where the numerous challenges of hunger and poverty will be addressed; where we have a sense of unity; where each person sees the next person as his neighbour; where crime will be reduced if not totally eliminated; where a poor man will go to the court and obtain justice because that is the last hope of the common man. A new Nigeria where security agencies will be professional in the discharge of their duties and not constitute themselves into a menace of the society or aid in criminality; a Nigeria where any person known to be a cultist cannot be allowed to hold public office because there’s no moral to do that; a Nigeria where the educational system will be functional and will churn out graduates who we can be proud of; where hospitals will be working; where medical tourism will be discouraged because the medical facilities are working effectively; where Nigerians will hold their heads high and not embarrassed abroad; where women will have equal rights to contest any elective positions; where our children will not be treated like slaves; where contractors will be held accountable when awarded contracts and where electricity will be available to attract investments.

Other political parties had made similar promises in the past but failed to fulfill them. What is the assurance that APP won’t join the ranks of those parties?
Members of our party are majorly people who have suffered one injustice or the other from their previous parties, people who have been unable to actualise their dreams because there is no godfather supporting them, people who have not gotten to the pinnacle of their political career because they do not belong to one club or the other.

So, if these people who have been treated unjustly are given responsibilities, you will agree with me that the narrative will change because in the first instance, it’s not your godfather that brought you to where you are; you got there through merit. And we also have people who have fear of God.

The major challenge with the Nigerian system is that we do not have people with fear of God in power. They got into office through various means; hence they behave anyhow. So, we will ensure that only those who merit it will be elected so that you don’t get into office and begin to focus on the bids of your godfather but on addressing the problems of society.

How prepared is your party to face other major political parties in the local council elections billed for October 5 in Rivers State?
You know it’s people that make any political party thick and the moment people are dissatisfied with how you are running the party and decide to leave, the party becomes powerless. I read recently where the chairman of a party in the state boasted that they wrote results in their parlour. If you are popular you can’t be writing results in an office or parlour; you go out there to convince the people to vote for you. Sadly, the same political party that said they wrote results is saying they will not participate in the upcoming local government elections. If they are popular why are they shying away from the local government elections?

The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission has said the election must be held. So, let me correct the impression; we are the popular party now in Rivers State and we are contesting the election and we are confident that with the support of the people and God by our side, we are going to clear the 319 councillorship positions and the 23 local government chairmanship positions in the state. That is the way to tell other parties that we will no longer be taking the nonsense they are giving to Nigerians.

How would your party tackle the issue of high nomination fees and do you have the structure to win the election?
I can assure you that our party’s nomination is affordable compared to other parties. I said earlier that what makes a party thick is the people. APP has the people; we have the structure to go in and conquer. We are prepared and ready because we have the people.

Political gladiators in the state have been accused of putting the state under political unrest. Do you have any words for them?
Rivers State has been of tremendous benefit and help to a lot of people. Some top politicians today are Rivers indigenes who have benefited so much from the state. But it is so discouraging that as they grow politically, they turn Rivers State to a war zone, using the benefits the state has given to them to fight the state. So, if their aim is to make Rivers become ungovernable because they have benefited, we will no longer allow them. As progressive people, let us at all times defend the collective interest of the state. When we have collectively defended the interest of the state, we can now sit down on a roundtable and negotiate our individual and community interest. At no time should our individual interests supersede the interest of the state. That is what is happening; where one person feels he has arrived and every other person must bow to him. But unfortunately, we are now in a dynamic system where things are evolving and we can no longer tolerate that style anymore.

Do you have any word for the youth who politicians often use to perpetrate mayhem?
Do not allow yourselves to be taken for granted any more. We have come of age. We know ourselves; we know who has good intentions towards the people and who does not have good intentions. Do not allow anybody to use you as an instrument to bring the state down. Do not be an instrument to destroy the state. Don’t allow politicians to use you to cause mayhem because they will surely dump you after elections. Don’t sell your future because of peanut; be responsible and avoid being used for thuggery.

Perhaps the politicians send their children abroad thinking they can now destroy the state; certainly one day, their children will feel the impact of the seeds they sowed.