Honourable Peter Akpatason, is a re-elected House of Representatives member, representing Akoko-Edo Constituency in Edo State. In this interview with PATRICK OCHOGA, the former president of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG), discloses that the commitment of the people of the South-south to the All Progressives Congress, (APC) is unwavering. He also gave insights on the intense lobby for leadership positions at the National Assembly.

What will you say about the crisis of sharing positions in the National Assembly as it affects the APC?

I don’t think that what is happening can be described as a crisis; it is a normal occurrence in a party. There is this saying that the battle to win elections sometimes may not be as strong as the battle to share positions after victory. The reason is that in politics, everybody has an interest, groups have their interests, regions have their interests and in an attempt to balance these interests, you have to be extra careful in allocating positions and this case, it is particularly very critical because the party is just metamorphosing from the position of an opposition to the leading party at the national level. We have not in times past had the opportunity to produce the speaker of the House of Representatives, to produce the majority leader of the, chief whip and similarly, APC has not had the opportunity to produce the senate president, the deputy senate president or the other majority positions. It is the first time this is happening, so, it is huge responsibility that has fallen on the shoulders of the leaders of the APC. A lot of people have indicated interest, but up till now, there is no in-fighting anywhere; that is why I believe that there is no crisis yet; it is scheming which is normal in politics for people to represent their constituencies very well.

For instance, we in the South-south believe that we made serious contributions to the emergence of APC. We may not have produced the numbers that other regions were able to bring together, but the people need to realise that the outgone president is from the South-south. The implication of that is that the pressure in this region was much higher than the pressure in any other geo-political zones because the outgone president wanted to get the whole of his own zone in block, so they did everything possible to get that from Akwa-Ibom, down to Edo State. They wanted everything. They did everything humanly possible to get that. The amount of money that entered the South-south during that election was unprecedented in the history of elections in this geo-political zone. The physical presence of very powerful members of the PDP, the power brokers of PDP as well as professionals like media house owners and some other people, who had enough power and resources were deployed to make sure they deliver the region, yet in the face of those daunting challenges, we were still able to produce some reasonable results. Like in Edo State, ordinarily , it would have been difficult if not for the exceptional contributions of the Comrade Governor and the APC members in this state for us to get even 25 per cent for President Buhari, yet we did more than that so, we expect that our colleagues in the House, Senate as well the leaders of our party should consider the peculiar situation of Edo people and people of South-south during that election. That we managed to produce what we have produced so far is an indication that we are seriously committed and we have made inputs into the growth of APC that eventually led to where we are today as the leading party in this country.

The same way, the North-eastern people will say they have been badly marginalised under the leadership of the outgone president because of their commitment to opposition right from time and they equally want to be represented when it comes to sharing of the national offices. Even in the South- east, where you have only one member, they equally want to be considered. It is the whole of these activities that many think is crisis; it is not a crisis at all;

What are you expecting from the new National Assembly?

We expect a national assembly that has the character of APC as the dominant party, because if you look at the outgone dispensation, you will see that the states where we had APC governments, the level of development is higher than many other states. You can see what is happening in Edo, Imo, Rivers, Lagos and several other states under the APC. You will discover that despite the fact that some of these states don’t have as much revenue as some other states, they are still able to bring about serious infrastructure development, very remarkable human capital development. For me that is an indication that there are more progressives in APC than any other party and now that APC has the opportunity to replicate what they have done at state level in the federal level, Nigeria stands a better chance. So when it comes to National Assembly, we are looking at a more transparent dispensation, we are looking at law-making that places the ordinary Nigerians interest as the central focus, we are looking at a more inclusive approach to law-making and we are looking at coming out with legislations that directly address the challenges of our people, legislations that are relevant to national development.

There is so much mess in the oil industry. What is your suggestion on the way forward?

Over the years, efforts have been made to sanitise the oil industry. What my personal experience has shown is that sanitising the oil and gas industry will require strong commitment of the number one citizen of this country. When you say there is mess in the oil industry, it is not just NNPC GMD, or the MD of one subsidiary or another, it is political mess, the mess is in Aso Rock, the thieves are actually in Aso Rock because NNPC management cannot steal and divert money unnoticed. Some people give them cover; so until we have a government that is ready to free NNPC to operate and ready to sanction anybody in NNPC that misbehaves, it will be difficult for us to clean the oil and gas industry. But the first major step that we can take as a group is the passage of the PIB Bill that we are already working on, that is why you see that there so much politics about the PIB. I asked this question sometimes ago, who actually wants PIB? It is the ordinary Nigerians; the government has not demonstrated much interest in PIB. You start PIB and along the line, you get frustration from left, right and centre because a whole lot of leakages will be blocked. When you have an oil and gas industry like we have in a lot of advanced countries, where the industry is completely de-politicised, where there is an NOC (National Oil Company) that is professionally run, whose role in the industry is almost the same as a multi-national or a local company or privately run company that cannot superintend over other companies in such a way that they will have undue economic advantage over others; where we have an NOC that cannot transfer its money for political purposes, an NOC that must account for every naira that they spend, that is the only time that we can have sanity in the oil and gas industry. What we have currently is complete confusion. A situation where you have an NOC that is both a competitor and a regulator in the industry. You cannot regulate an industry where you are a competitor and you are not supposed to compete in an industry where you are a regulator, that is the confusion, and then politics comes when decisions cannot be taken by the NNPC without going to the federal executive council.

What is your take on current defections from the PDP to APC, do you think it is good for our democracy?

It is not completely new, neither is it strange that people are cross

carpeting. It happens, but not in this manner and magnitude we are seeing and not for the reason that they are moving. What is happening in Nigeria today is that politicians believe in their personal interest and the moment your interest is no longer being comprehensively protected, you move or when you sense that you are a contractor at the national level and the party has lost at the national level, you want to quickly dash to the new platform where you can protect your business. For me, that is selfishness, that is myopic. I don’t think that it is the best. I want urge my people that we should equally watch these people who are coming because some of them believe that they must be at the top all the time.

Lies We don't wait apc Anyone dat supports apc from south south is a traitor

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Lies
We don't wait apc
Anyone dat supports apc from south south is a traitor

I hope you realize that APC actually won an house of assembly seat in Bayelsa right?

Mynd44:

I hope you realize that APC actually won an house of assembly seat in Bayelsa right?

Don't mind the fool. He is just frustrated. I can imagine the pains he is going through now.

Our people says '' Its better to look someone who is 'poo-ing' than to look someone who is splitting firewood''

Apatason na only you d support the useless buhari. Speak for yourself

Akpata yarning okpata!
Hey! He has a tiger scratch on his face. No wonder!

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Lies
We don't wait apc
Anyone dat supports apc from south south is a traitor

Ah swear you are just a waste of sperm and bed energy

abduljabbar4:
Ah swear you are just a waste of sperm and bed energy

Story

Nice one!

abduljabbar4:

Ah swear you are just a waste of sperm and bed energy

are u saying his father was not good in bed?
SmS!

Mttcheeeeew

Nansense

Caseless:
Nice one!

Really nice, you try.

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Lies
We don't wait apc
Anyone dat supports apc from south south is a traitor

Please speak for yourself. APC have tap root in the SS and if PDP does not strategise APC are likely to take over Rivers state.

Mynd44:

I hope you realize that APC actually won an house of assembly seat in Bayelsa right?

an house

Hehehehehehe

abduljabbar4:

Ah swear you are just a waste of sperm and bed energy

Otu nne i

Caseless:
Nice one!

f

my boy what's up

you don chop ni?

oyin17:


Really nice, you try.

sweetheart!

shakaZuIlu:
f
my boy what's up
you don chop ni?

opiaoku, how far?

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Lies
We don't wait apc
Anyone dat supports apc from south south is a traitor

Any reason to support your claim? No you don't have

Caseless:
sweetheart!

You know say I dey vex for you abi? big bros no fit settle this matter. You know what to do, don't quote me cos I really dey vex.

Hon Akpatason, kpatasiwa...... ima ele ji e' chu nchu

oyin17:




You know say I dey vex for you abi? big bros no fit settle this matter. You know what to do, don't quote me cos I really dey vex.

where is my guy lagunna when you need him?

Caseless:
where is my guy lagunna when you need him?

Laguna1 won't save u in this, honestly you didn't do well, it was really hot today. Let's talk in private.

What is this son of Akpako saying? Can't he just talk for himself and leave South south out of it?