Johnchuks Onuanyim 
…says Obi’s major supporters organisers of #EndSARS protests
Chief Patrick Okomiso is the Senatorial Candidate of the Labour Party for the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State. At a media parley in Abuja recently, Okomiso spoke on a range of issues. He spoke on the chances of the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, his campaign and the place of youths in the forthcoming General Elections. JOHNCHUKS ONUANYIM was there. Excerpts:
What is your general assessment of the campaigns by the political parties so far? Campaigns have not started the way they should. One has to be very observant because of the situation. But you see this year, nobody is moving because of the security situation. Do you see campaign vehicles on the road? In the past you could see vehicles moving across villages and different parts of the country, and you could know that something was happening. Today you see presidential candidates go to state capitals for their campaign and go away from there.
They call it Town Hall meetings. Campaign is supposed to be from village to village. Campaigns have lost their flavour. The fun of campaigns is more there because of the security situation. But some people can attribute the situation to the state of the economy as well as the changes in technology. Today, a lot is achieved when campaigning online.
Don’t you also attribute the lull to the long campaign period, which is about five months?
I agree with you. We’re almost a nation of 300 million people. How many people know about social media? We have over 200 million people who don’t know anything about social media. The campaigns they know are those that come to their local government or villages. There is also the issue of insecurity in the country. You can’t travel from one corner of the country to the other. Do you know the number of policemen that have been killed by criminal elements in the country? That’s where we should question ourselves; the problem is that we don’t question ourselves. The fun of the campaign is no longer there because of insecurity. Nigeria is an insecure nation.
You took an aspect of the question. Could it also be the economy?
Let me answer that question in two ways. One, the world economy is bad .That should have given us the impetus to go from village to village. That is what should give us the opportunity to measure the propriety and acceptance of our parties. Look, right from 1999 up to 2014, presidential candidates were in the local government areas. The economy has never been good, even though it’s better than today. The economy managers don’t know anything about the economy. The economic management is poor, very poor.
Can you tell us why you think the economic management has been poor?
Let me give you one example, ee were buying fuel at N87, today we are buying fuel at how much? N200, 250 or 300 as the case may be. We had an exchange rate of N150 -170 to the dollar before the election in 2015 that brought APC to power and the winner started making some statements that drove away investors from the country. Let nobody lie to you. That’s where we started having problems. I don’t envy whoever is going to take over from the present government, I don’t. That’s why when I read manifestos of some political parties, I laugh.
Your Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi has been dismissed by some as not capable of winning the forthcoming election. Some say he’s a spoiler of some sorts to the PDP. What would be your own assessment of him and his chances?
Peter Obi has succeeded by giving leadership to those who never saw leadership before. Obi is actually supported by those Endsars protesters. Endsars is one of the best things that had happened in this country but l they (government officials) mismanaged it. The good thing is that now, they (the youths) have now realized that what they need to do is to get into the political mainstream of their country, which is good. I was in the media House recently and l saw a young girl who turned 18 before INEC stopped registration and she was so happy that she went to collect her voter card. So, when l came to her office, l saw that she was so happy and l said my sweetheart is it your birthday, she said now she went to INEC office and collected her PVC and she was so excited. You could see everything from her excitement about the election and she gave me her PVC and l looked at it and l hugged her, she said she took part in ENDSARS and that she is now at the age that she has her PVC, she said she would do everything on earth to make sure that she votes. I don’t know how many of them have picked their PVCs that are up to 18 but for the ones l have seen the excitement is so high and the reasons that they are happy is that they are voting and because they want to vote for Labour Party (LP). I asked some of them why LP and they would say in the next election they would be qualified to contest, they would start somewhere like the Councilorship. That is what Obi has ignited. That is why they say that the ENDSARS are following him. What the children needed was somebody to talk to them and they would have followed the person. Peter Obi didn’t know how the name “Obidient” came about. He don’t know nor Doyin Okupe nor Julius Abure. Yusuf Datti, don’t know how Obi-Datti came out. These are the creations of the kids. Let me use the word kids. They are tired, they are seeing what is happening and they are thinking of their tomorrow
Are you predicting the death of PDP and APC?
Oh! They are going to die; the children are going to form their parties very soon. Wait and see what will happen in 2027. You will be very surprised. They are already forming political parties. So, the children are in constant touch with the world. Did you ever believe that what is happening in Iran would have happened? So, what l see of the political parties that would come out in 2027, APC and PDP would have died.
You are a senatorial candidate in Cross River State and one would like to know why you chose to contest on the platform of the Labour Party? We also want to know what you think would be the chances of your Presidential candidate in the South South?
Well, let me tell you, the South South will play a very big role in the forthcoming elections and the Labour Party will play. One thing that bothers me about LP was that a lot of people didn’t think the Labour Party was going to be where it is today. But at the time people realized that Obi could drive it this far, it was too late, too close to submission of candidates named to INEC and so on.
So, many of the politicians would have preferred to come to the LP than where they are. I can tell you most people in PDP, the APC, APGA that didn’t know it was going to be like this because they wasted time. I told the DG of the Labour Party that if another person had taken up the same road that Obi took, these children would carve out a name for him. So, South South is going to vote for LP. The voting pattern has changed. The truth is that decency is going to begin to return to Nigeria in 2023.
What confidence would you have in INEC to conduct credible elections?
I believe so much in Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman. I believe so much in him and the reason why I believe so much in him is because l know him. He is not a man who sits down and sees his children fight to death. So, he would do the truth. You can quote me any day. He does not look at his children and lie to them as the greatest thing that kills us here is when a man looks at his children and he lies to them. He has planted those lies on them. Mahmood the INEC Chairman that l know would not do that. He is like the former INEC Resident Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Barr. Mike lgini.
Mike cannot look at the children’s faces and lie to them, he will tell them the way it is. It would hurt you but he would have passed his message. We will get the best from the INEC if they were not under pressure and if l were the President l will leave Yakubu Mahmood for many more years because the more you organize elections, the better the elections become.
