Ichie (Hon) Ken Agbim is a former Minority Leader of the Imo State House of Assembly. In this interview with AljazirahNigeria’s Okwudi-Vital Jamike, Agbim assesses Nigeria’s political journey so far, the forthcoming 2027 elections, especially as they concern his political party, the Labour Party, as well as his political career. Excerpts:
What is the legality of what Gov Otti did in collaboration with Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party National leader, and other leaders of the party, which the national chairman Julius Abure kicked against?
First of all my name is Hon Ken Agbim, former minority leader, Imo State House of Assembly, as well as a stakeholder in Labour Party. Before I joined Labour Party, I was a member of the PDP. But immediately Peter Obi joined Labour Party, I joined the party because I believe in his ideology; I believe that Peter Obi was the candidate among all the presidential candidates in 2023 who had practical plan about how we can turn things around for Nigeria. He actually said he was not going to be a magician, but he had a plan. He wanted to first of all cut down the cost of governance which has caused a very huge gap, then he would save the same money by making sure that all those loopholes where government wastages are coming from were blocked. So, I joined Labour Party because of that, to support him, because I knew he was going to be a president that can help Nigeria to come out from the woods, from where we are now. And he warned us that if we don’t vote for him or someone like him, that we were going to find ourselves in a situation where everyone will suffer – Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa – we are not going to differentiate, all of us are going to find ourselves in the same planning situation, where all of us will buy bread at the same price, rice at the same price, common basic things. We would be in a situation where people cannot afford them and that’s what is happening now.
So talking about legality of what they had done, as at the time we joined Labour Party, it was a party that had never participated in any major election before. So it was a case of Obi joining Labour Party and so many people joined the party; it was not organisational arrangement. So now is the time for Labour Party to first of all have a proper structure, accommodate those people who came into the party and supported it because of Peter Obi, the Obidients; open door for them to come in and be part of the party. So right now, what we see was that the tenure of Abure has expired as at 9th of June. And if his tenure has expired there’s need to have a proper congress and normally, no matter the political party you are talking about, congress starts from the ward, which is the most primary structure. You do the ward congress, elect the executives, the executives of the ward will elect the local government executives and the local executives will elect the state, then the state will elect the National Working Committee..That is what is called congress and that has never happened. Abure and his executives went to Awka and organise what they called national convention without this process taking place. Who elected them? What they did was just to return everybody to protect their own interests, which is not the interest of Labour Party. So what happened was that the stakeholders, the owners of the party, which comprise the NLC, TUC, Peter Obi, his vice presidential candidate, Alex Otti who is the most senior elected member of the party as a governor, followed by senators and the House of Representatives members, all of them were there, these are the owners of the party. They came together and said ‘look, we are putting together a caretaker committee that will now organise convention that would start from the ward up to the national level, which is the right thing to do.
If Abure, for example, still wants to be the national chairman, what he should do is to go and buy form and then contest; if people in the party want him to continue, they will vote for him. But you see, another thing that is very sacrosanct and very important is the fact that Peter Obi is from the South-East, Abure is from South-South; Labour Party needs to be a national party which should accommodate the interest of every part of Nigeria. So the stakeholders are saying let the national chairman of the party come from the north, let the secretary come from South-West, let Obi now who is the presidential candidate of the party come from the East. Other positions will now come from the spread – South-South, North-Central, North-East and all that, so that everybody becomes a stakeholder in the party.
Now that the action has been taken and Abure has rejected it, don’t you see the breeding of factionalisation in the party, which may take a turn on the chance of the party?
That’s exactly what we are talking about. We’re asking Abure to look beyond himself and at the interest of Nigeria as a country. What is the best interest of Nigeria? Is it a situation where he wants to protect his interest or a situation where he needs to make a sacrifices to accommodate all the people who have come to join Labour Party? Because Labour Party is the party the people are looking onto to liberate them from the situation we are in now, and if care is not taken the enemies, the fifth columnists will seize this opportunity to destroy Labour Party. Abure should ask for something else apart from national chairman. Yes you were the chairman when Peter Obi came in, when Alex Otti came, and you gave them waiver and all that, Labour Party does not belong to you. Labour Party is a vehicle most Nigerians want to join to liberate Nigeria, and if you are a true lover of democracy, a true lover of Nigerians, a man who thinks that this country needs to be liberated, you need to make that sacrifice, even if it’s not legal, even if your tenure has not expired, but the stakeholders of the party came together and say ‘look, we don’t want you to continue’ why not accept it? There’s what they call vote of no confidence, if the people have come together and say look we don’t think you can do the job, based on one or two reasons, why not accept it? Why do you have to insist that if it’s not you, no, it can be other person? The Labour party does not belong to you as a person.
The way things are now, what is the way forward for your party; is there room for reconciliation between Abure and other segments of the party, so that the party will continue to be united?
There is what I advised or what I suggested. Abure should negotiate for some other positions. Nobody in Labour Party will deny the fact that Abure has done very well for the party with his team. He was there when nobody was even looking at Labour Party. But now Labour Party has become the beautiful bride. All they need to ask is for some kind of negotiation. Negotiation and relativity is very important in life.
In a situation where you insist that if it’s not you, there will be no any other person, you will destroy the party and there will be no more Labour Party. If for any reason Peter Obi and Alex Otti move to another party a lot of Nigerians will join them, and that’s the truth. Then Labour Party will become ordinary once again; then what’s the essence of destroying the house you built? That’s like the case of the two women in the Bible who were dragging over a child; the real mother of the child said leave the child and when he grows he will discover his true mother, but the other woman said ‘cut the child into two. So what is there is if Abure really loves Labour Party and Nigerians, and he is facing the same challenges all of us are facing he needs to compromise, he needs to come down and negotiate. And I am sure Peter Obi and Alex Otti will not be that unreasonable not to appreciate what he has done for the party. So I suggest and advise him, like every other well-meaning Nigerian and stakeholder in Labour Party are saying, negotiate for something else. You can be any other thing in the Labour Party. Structure without the national chairman, it must not be you.
Why I’m still talking about reconciliation is because Abure is still talking tough, talking about Peter Obi and Alex Otti no longer having that privilege of automatically ticket. So if he continues in that way and there is this conflict, what are the chances of Labour Party in 2027?
That is exactly what I’m saying. Aubre does not need to be that recalcitrant. In fact, the first time I heard him organised a press conference where he was saying he was going to set up a disciplinary committee to probably look into (Alex) Otti and others, I said it was a wrong move. He’s not supposed to come out openly to confront the only governor the party produced and also confront the essence. I call Peter Obi the essence and the spirit behind Labour Party. I believe that is not a wise decision. So I think that the worst that could happen is that if Abure refuses to see reasons, I see a situation where Peter Obi and other faithful of the Obedient movement move another party, and that will be very bad for Labour Party, because Labour Party is a party that even most people living outside Nigeria are looking forward to support so that they can liberate this country.
So I want to suggest, like I said, the best option for Abure is to negotiate; ask for BOT chairman; ask for senatorial ticket; ask for any other but not national chairman. Even if his tenure has not expired, the best and wisest thing for Labour Party to do is, allow the north to produce chairman; allow the South-West to produce the secretary, then the South-East will have the presidential candidate and the South-South where Abure comes from will produce the legal adviser, vice chairman. Labour Party today is positioned to be the best political party because it has provision for four vice chairmen and one must be a woman, three secretaries of which one must be a woman. So Abure can be vice chairman, he can be BOT chairman, he can senatorial ticket, which I know he can win, because the Edo State where he comes from is predominantly Labour Party. Under normal circumstances Labour Party has a stronghold in Edo State. So he can become a member of the Senate. Instead of destroying he should make compromise.
How wide is the olive branch spread by the different organs of the party to bring all together for proper reconciliation?
All I know is that Peter Obi is a man of peace, very reasonable man. In fact, this thing that happened recently in Umuahia should have taken place a long time ago, but Peter Obi was being careful. In short, that was why Kenneth Okonkwo seemed to be having issues with Peter Obi, because he was saying that Peter Obi was being too nice, but Peter Obi didn’t want a situation where the public would start thinking that he was having misunderstanding with Abure, because Abure should have left before the 2023 general elections. So what I’m saying is that, he’s a reasonable man, and Alex Otti himself as well is a reasonable man; so that wide gap between them has been closed in a phone call. I want to say that it’s Abure that needs to reach out, and I know that they must have approached him, but even if they have not approached him, the discussion is going on to get him to see reasons. Let’s agree or accept that his tenure has not expired, but if the leaders of the party that comprise the members of the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly, former governorship aspirants and everybody have come together and say “we don’t want you to continue,” why not stop? Because these are the people you’re supposed to be leading as chairman; but if they have come together and say stop, you don’t have to hold onto to it. Then if you hold onto, it means you don’t have the support of these people and the party. So the gap has been closed in a moment of reasonableness, a moment of understanding.
Before I go to the wider spectrum of 2027, let me come down to you. You were the minority leader of the Imo House of Assembly, how is your political career; how are you seeing 2027 for yourself?
And: Definitely, I still have ambition to run for political office, but what I’m going to run for will be determined by a lot of factors. One of them will be based on the position of the party, in terms of where the governorahip is going to, that is, zoning arrangement. But if course I know that the zoning arrangement favours me to even run for the House of Representatives or the Senate, but a lot of other factors have come into consideration. So basically, I have the ambition to run for election again, possibly in 202, but in doing that I have to put into consideration other factors playing out within the party and even within the general public. However, basically I’m still actively involved in politics. I took a little break from strong, active politics based on circumstances, because I was a member of the PDP when we lost power the APC through Supreme Court verdict and, of course, I don’t have the intention of joining the APC because i don’t believe in their ideology. So I decided to remain a little bit on the fence, ‘sit don de look’ kind of approach. Majority of Nigerians are hoping a saner atmosphere in our policy, from the state to the federal – House of Reps, Senate, governorship to even presidential. So if the situation looks good enough I’ll run for political office in 2027.
How is your reach out?
Ans: I’m doing the necessary things. Of course I’m a grassroots politician. I’m at home with my constituents. I spend time to make sure that I know what is going on, play my own little role to ensure that the people’s voices are heard. So I’m doing the basic things I need to do at this stage because 2027 is still very close. I’m doing all I could but you see, like Peter Obi would always say, I’m not saying if it’s not me it can’t be another person. All I want is good governance; I want food representation for my people, and that basically is what I’m going to do to make sure my people get the best.
But can you in a nutshell describe how staunch your optimism for Labour Party is in 2027?
Ans: In fact, if Labour Party can get their acts together, Labour Party is the number one opposition in Nigeria. Why I’m saying this is because PDP, as at today, is in disarray. So it’s obvious that the party as it stands today is not what it used to be. You can imagine a situation where a member of the PDP is a member of an opposition government and nothing has happened. They do not have that bite again. So people strongly believe in Labour Party; and I believe it’s Peter Obi. As the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, that is the force, anybody deserving that is running with on the same election day for the National Assembly has a chance to win. So Labour Party, if they get their acts together, I expect them to select the best candidate, a credible candidate, and you will see Nigeria’s will prove their yearnings for the Labour Party.
In this, do you consider the shenanigans of the Nigerian politicians? We were all here in 2023
Yes, I still believe in the country called Nigeria…
Do you believe that Peter Obi will one day become the president of Nigeria?
I strongly believe that, because we were in this country when we saw a Jonathan who was a sitting president lose election to an opposition candidate. What we need to do as opposition is to show more hunger. The APC as an opposition party showed a lot of hunger. There was nothing they did not throw into the fray. They were so organised, fighting tooth and nail, countering every move by the government. The current opposition as at today is actually not to give that kind of fight. If Labour Party wants to give that kind of opposition they need to first of all organise themselves, allow new members to come in and then have a proper structure.
Have the majority of Nigerians got that sensitisation?
Yes. The hunger in Nigeria as at today is doing the sensitisation. I don’t think any Nigerian today who is reasonable, who understands exactly what is going on, in his clear sense will vote for APC; I don’t want to believe that. So I believe that what we need to do is to get organised. Getting organised means that we need to first of all understand that we the power to vote and decide who rules over us and to protect the votes, because one of the reasons those things happen is that most people just come and vote and go home; they don’t follow through the process. Voting is the first thing, counting and announcing the results is the next step, and making sure that what is voted at the polling unit is what is announced. So, the hunger and absolute hopelessness in the country at the moment is enough to prove that this government in place, of course, cannot win the next election.
To bring it down, are we seeing your face in the next election?
By the grace of God.
