Chief Solomon Edojah is a chieftain of the APC, former commissioner and ex-member of the House of Reps from Delta State. In this interview, he speaks on the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president and explains why he should be removed from office. Excerpts

How do you feel being in the opposition party in Delta State, after the general elections?

We are not in the opposition; what has happened is a temporary setback. I actually came into the APC because when I watched the pendulum and the mood of the nation at that time shortly after our primaries, I found out that a lot of people were in favour of change and I didn’t like to go against my people because at the end of the day it is the people you are going to represent. If I were desperate to serve myself, I would have remained in the PDP which is a short cut to power here and there. But all the indicators on ground showed that the people of Delta State wanted change.

PDP has only 13 out of the 36 governors in the country. Don’t you think the party will form a stronger force to stop your case and ensure that the tribunal does not reduce their number to 12?

How can a thief say that this thing that I have stolen cannot be recovered by the legitimate owner?

That is not possible. It is a matter of time. The judiciary will make pronouncement, we are very hopeful and believe that they are going to do the needful. It is also better for the PDP to have a sound judicial system.

You know they have continued with this robbery thing and that is what is even driving some of their members in the National Assembly, otherwise, the APC has strong government and policies they want to drive, as well as members who will help drive those policies to make sure they deliver on the mandate of change. When a man decides to plug himself into that kind of agenda what does that indicate? Greed.

Some of the state governorship election petition tribunals have been relocated to Abuja. What is your take?
For me, it is fantastic; they should relocate them because in some of those states where the robbery took place, they want to hold on to them and use every means possible to hold on to them including intimidation, blackmail, frightening witnesses; a witness can not show up because the sitting government will do everything to terrify them.

The judges are even afraid of delivering judgment the way they want to deliver it so relocating them was another way of ensuring a fair judicial process, so I don’t have anything against it. The only thing I don’t know is what the law says concerning that? Because if the law permits it, why not but if the law does not and these cases are decided, then it becomes counter-productive.

As former member of the House of Representatives, how do you look at the crisis rocking the National Assembly?

I think the crisis in the National Assembly is borne out of people who want to reap where they did not sow. You have an APC government in place, but you have elements of the opposition who want to participate in that government by plugging themselves into that programme which they didn’t campaign for or worked for.

All our members were elected on the platform of the APC to go and work for the interest of the party because the party has a programme that they want to drive upon which they will be assessed.

So if the PDP wants to help drive the programme then it means there is no more opposition. You cannot be part of our government as a PDP man and turn around to say that we have not performed. So clearly what they have done now is to say that there is no opposition in the country so if the APC fails, PDP is responsible.

So you are not comfortable with the election of Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president?

I don’t even think that the people he represents will be comfortable because the people he represents can no longer say he is going there to ensure that there is vibrancy in the Senate; he is a disservice as far as I am concerned, to his people even.

If you begin to calculate or juxtapose it, Nigerians want services. How has his Senate deputy presidency bettered the life of the Igbo man?

He doesn’t need to be there again. The roads are bad, the Onitsha bridge remains in the computer, and all the policies and programmes that the PDP drove in the last 15 years under his deputy Senate presidency ended up in the computers; they didn’t see the light of the day.

He has not been serving in the interest of an Igbo man; he has been self-serving so when you see elements like that, you have to be critical about them. No Igbo man can say we have not been represented in the APC government because we have full representation. The South East has been represented so we have more or less a unity government.

What do you think should be done to resolve the issues in the National Assembly?
The solution is imminent. It is good that the crisis is happening now, so we will have enough time to deal with them.