In an interview with Patrick Ochoga, Emperor Jarret Tenebe outlines the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s situation in Edo State and its plan to strengthen the party ahead of 2027, including the goal of delivering 3.5 million votes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

What are your plans for the upcoming party congress, and how do you respond to reports that your strained relationship with Senator  Adams Oshiomhole could impact your bid to remain APC chairman?

The leader of the party in the state is the Governor of the State, His Excellency Senator Monday Okpeholo. There are insinuations that Senator Adams Oshiomhole and I are not working together, but that is very far from the truth.

The only point where we did not work together was during the primaries, when I wanted the right thing to be done. When I pushed for it, I did not renege until the proper thing was done.

And we have all gone past that stage for now. Because after the primaries, we had the election, and we campaigned together to win, and after that, we have been working together; there are actually no cracks in the wall. I have been acting, and I also don’t think the party will change into a winning team because we started the fight to ensure we had a good person in government in the state, which we achieved.

The second thing is for us to support the government’s success, and as the party chairman, it is my responsibility to stand with the governor and defend him to ensure he delivers the dividends of democracy he promised the people. When you are doing an election, it is not an individual thing. Somebody will fly the party’s flag; that is the importance of the party, and that is why the party gets involved in governance.

Their policies and their manifesto, which are being sold to the people, made us win. The party would ensure that those things are carried out and that people enjoy those dividends. If being close to the governor and ensuring that those things are carried out would annoy anybody, then the people would continue to get annoyed forever. And there is actually no one who is not happy with what the governor is doing, which is why I said there are no cracks in the wall.

If anyone says I have issues with Oshiomhole, it is a lie from the pit of hell. Our congress is coming; we will hold it seamlessly, and immediately afterwards, there will be the national convention, and the APC will come out of it with flying colours.

If the Governor says today that the role I am playing as chairman should change and that I should play a different one, as a very loyal person, I would do exactly what he wants me to do. But right now, we are in the conclaves in various states. You know the election of a pope — when the smoke comes out, you know they have reached a decision, and as we speak, the white smoke has already come out as far as Edo State is concerned. If you noticed, I have not been prominent in the media, probably because smoke is coming out of various places. I can assure you that I have the endorsement to go ahead, and that is how organised the APC is. But I want to make it clear that my relationship with Oshiomhole is very cordial, and he is the leader of Edo State.

 

How are you responding to concerns from party members who contributed to the victory but feel sidelined in government, especially given that some former opponents are now being appointed?

Well, I don’t see anybody who has been shut out, and I also don’t see any reason why somebody campaigns against you, and the person has seen reasons and is now doing things that the person likes and decides to identify with you; I don’t think it is wise to throw away the person. The reason the party carefully looked at the governor and gave him the ticket is that we believe he is just coming; he has no enemies in the political landscape of  Edo State. He is not controversial, and we believe that if such a person becomes the governor, he will bring the entire state together because he does not know anybody. And you see, some people want to contest, and after they win and come in, they want to pay back. If you do that, it will slow down governance, which is why he is bringing the entire state together. So whatever it takes him to bring the whole state together, the Governor I know would do it.

I am sure you might be referring to one blogger, Eranomigo, who came recently; there was no kind of insult he didn’t insult me. It is politics; he was in the PDP and wanted his party to win, so he would say anything to ensure they did, just as I was saying anything to ensure we won. After the election, we put everything behind us for the purpose of the state. The picture the guy took with me, one other blogger, Albert Obazee, put on his blog and started saying all sorts of rubbish. I went to the place to comment that if Albert came as Eranomigo came, we would receive him because we are all Edo people. But I know that after they lost, he devised another means to get money from Godwin Obaseki; he can continue to do that.

For example, there is one of our rallies we did in Uromi; when we had the Governor at the podium, all manner of politicians both in the APC, PDP and Labour Party were there, and I likened it to a tourist site in Singapore where you see the cat and mouse eating from the same plate; that would tell you the mind of the people there. So the governor has been able to bring many people together because that is the only way he can develop the state. When you win an election, some people from your party would want to ignite a fight between the governor and the leaders of the party in the state, and the reason why they do that is that the only way they can make money is because there is division and camps. But the Governor, being a smart guy and focused, understands these things. All the Governor is after is that when we unite, the dividends of democracy he promised the people will be easier to deliver.

 

How realistic is the promise to secure 3.5 million votes for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 election?

By next week, we will receive all the LGA Labour Party chairmen into the APC. We have held meetings with 16 PDP LGA chairmen who are also joining the party, and if you look at it, you will see that the opposition has already collapsed. Secondly, we analysed voters in Edo State and found that there are 3 million voters in the state. Many of these voters are not living in Edo State, and as I speak to you, I have been going around the country visiting different states where we have Edo people who registered at home, talking to them to return home when it is election time. And before the election, we also have a strategy to bring them because many people would be wondering whether to spend all that kind of money to come and vote.

As I speak to you, we have finalised plans with donors who have agreed to provide logistics to bring people from all over the country to exercise their civic rights. And I also know that before that time, we would have Edo Airline, and we know some people would help us pay for flights to bring people down to Edo State, and I am very convinced that we are going to do it. If I bring in people registered in Edo from Kano and pay for their flights to come here four times, they would not come and vote against me, and you cannot also call that vote buying because I have been going around campaigning.

We are serious about the 3.5 million votes, know what we are talking about, and could even surpass it. For example, we did the Asiwaju caps, printed 7 million copies, and, as I speak, we have already given out 2.7 million caps. So before we get to the election, the votes are possible. The reason why politicians want to key into that is that in the last election, we didn’t get 25 per cent for the President, so now, if we turn out such votes, there is no way we won’t get two ministerial slots or choice appointments. It is only the APC that is talking to the people to come out now for registration, while the INEC registration is going side by side, and nothing will stop us from getting those votes out.

 

Are you worried that the collapse of other parties into the APC could weaken effective opposition and potentially threaten democratic balance?

 

It is not the duty of the ruling party to prevent opposition. It is the duty of the opposition to be formidable in order to prevent a one-party state. The constitution is very clear on the freedom of association, and if anybody wants to associate with you, we would accept the person or party. So I am not bothered if all political parties collapse into the APC. If all the journalists, including other associations, decided to join us, I would be happy.

 

Don’t you think there are some underhanded tactics, such as inducements or intimidation, that are driving other parties to join the APC?

 

No, that is not true. For instance, what is the Governor of Bayelsa State looking for? He is in his second term and will be ending it soon, but he joined the APC. What do you want to give the governor to make him join you? The point is that they are seeing what the president is doing, and it is becoming clear that he has a vision for the country.

 

Many people say they are experiencing hunger and argue that the APC-led government in Edo State has not significantly improved their welfare. Yet your party is talking about delivering 3.5 million votes to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. How does the APC plan to achieve this, given the current situation?

 

It depends on the type of hardship you are talking about, because the prices of foodstuffs are coming down. And there are a lot of things that are playing out, and you will know that the President has a direction and that he knows what he is doing. He brought hope. We understand what the country was like when he took office as President. We cannot rule out the fact that security is one of the key things that brought us to where we are today; people don’t go to the farm anymore, and that was the situation even before Bola Ahmed Tinubu became the President, but you cannot say he is not tackling it.

I would blame the cause of insecurity on former President Olusegun Obasanjo. When Abacha was Head of State, he had a strike force that was to protect the office of the Head of State. And every soldier is trained for combat. There is this motto of the Army that says, “travel the world, meet a lot of people and overcome them.” That is the mindset a soldier is trained with. So when a soldier is trained for six months, when he wants to retire, you have to take him to a rehab center to reorient him and let him learn a trade that would sustain him after the Army. But you had a strike force that was trained as soldiers and, now, as mercenaries, with the duty to protect the Head of State. When Obasanjo became the Head of State, he disbanded the strike force, and it fizzled out of existence. They did not have any other job than the one for which they had been trained.

 

When amnesty was granted in the Niger Delta, Boko Haram came up. When Muamar Gaddafi fell, his irregular forces moved into West Africa, and that triggered the Boko Haram crisis. So you can’t blame it on the President, but he is doing his best to ensure that security is tackled.