Prince Tony Momoh, a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC ) and former Minister of Information in this interview with TEMIDAYO AKINSUYI speaks on the gale of defections among political parties and his party’s chances in the 2019 general elections. Excerpts:

As a national leader of the APC, what do you make of the statement by Senate President, Bukola Saraki that he is considering running against President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019?

He has a right to exercise his freedom of expression. He is grown up enough, he has been governor twice, he is the Senate president and even if he is very young, he will be covered by the Not-Too-Young- To- Run law. So, he is old enough to contest and I can only say congratulations to him.

Everybody knew that one of the reasons why he left APC was because he wants to contest. If he remains in APC and said he wants to run for presidency, it means he will have to contest against Buhari in the party primaries, just as we had many people contesting in 2014 before the 2015 elections. There has to be only one candidate. Now we have 91 political parties so he can contest in any of these parties except APC because he is no longer a member of our party.
So, he is not the only one who will contest against Buhari and it is not news if anybody wants to contest against Buhari. There are about 11 aspirants in PDP who want to be the candidate of the party and only one can emerge. So, if Saraki wants to contest against Buhari, he will first of all need to win the ticket of PDP where he is now or move out of PDP and go to any other party that can give him the ticket to contest. So, he is not only going to contest against Buhari but against every candidate of the 91 registered political parties who is qualified to contest. So, it is not a big news or something to dramatise that Saraki is going to contest against Buhari. I think the news is that Saraki is going to contest. I think the good news is that Saraki knew that the only candidate everybody wants to contest against is Buhari, so we are very happy that all of them recognise the fact that the man to beat is Buhari. It is only when we get to the field that we will know who will win. From the look of things now, we don’t see any serious challenge, so he is welcome.

What do you think are Buhari’s chances in the coming election and what do you make of the emerging third force ahead of 2019?
Everybody has a chance but the fact is that you should not forget that the APC is not an alliance of parties. It was a political association that applied for registration and got registered. We had a lot of people that had structures that came into the APC. So, if you want to know how these people would perform, look at what they are taking to the SDP. If they have nothing they are bringing to the SDP, then they would not go anywhere. But do not forget that they just started. We can assess them on the basis of what they are bringing to the party. But it is very difficult for anybody who does not have a structure to win elections in Nigeria. You may have name but you must also have structures. So, those who are going into the SDP now, are they governors, are they former governors, are they Senators or former Senators, have they been involved in any election and they won and do they have structures? So these are the things people consider. Many can move anywhere but I can assure you that the two major parties are the APC and the PDP. And if the SDP comes, they would be there for the PDP because the PDP with due respect has been reduced to a regional party. I cannot see any party that is ready and on ground to defeat the APC. And I cannot see President Buhari losing the 2019 election.
But the general impression out there is that President Buhari is no longer popular as he was in 2019. What is your perspective on this?

Buhari will have more vote than any other presidential candidate since 1999. People today are assessing votes through social media but social media doesn’t vote. Social media has the credit of shouting and yelling but shouting and yelling can’t win votes. My advice to Nigerians is ‘Go and register, get your PVC and vote’. I can assure you that Buhari has done more than what PDP has done in 16 years in just three years and those things will speak for him 2019. Look at what happened in the just concluded bye elections. Some people went to Daura and they thought they can defeat Buhari in his constituency. But at the end of the day in his polling unit, PDP had just one vote while APC got 206 votes.

What impact do you think these gale of defections will have on the chances of the president?

I do not think the defection would stop the President from winning in the next election. I will not say that it will not affect the votes of the president; votes are about people, and now that some people have left, it will have some impact.

But I do not think that the impact will be such that it would stop the president from winning.
Come to think, the president got more votes more than the defectors in their senatorial zones and states mostly in the North in 2015. Overall he got 15million votes in the election. Now that he is president who has performed well, he will get more votes mostly in the South-South and South-East.He has delivered great projects in these two regions which did not really vote for him in 2018. The votes the president will get in these regions will make up much more for the very few votes he might lose to defections in the North.

What do you make of the allegations by the Ekiti state government that APC won the last governorship election through federal might?

I have always told you that people have a right to freedom of expression. And somebody who is expressing his opinion is doing it as an individual. Take for example the last governorship election in Ekiti. Almost 500,000 people were listed to vote, they voted and we all saw what Fayemi got which is 197,459 votes and we saw what the PDP candidate, Olusola Eleka got, which is 178,121. You have a gap of over 20,000 votes .So, whatever it is, everybody is expressing their opinion and it is people who were registered to vote that went to vote and their votes were counted and the winner was declared which is Fayemi. In spite of what Fayose did, including turning himself to prayer warrior, all those didn’t work because the only prayer that counts in an election is that those who are registered to vote exercise their civic responsibility by voting. We mix a lot of things with God. We think that God will come and give us pounded yam when in nature, we have been taught how to grow yam, cook it and eat it. Manna does not fall from heaven now. So, all these things about Buhari will not win in 2019 or Buhari will win are just mere opinions. At the end of the day, it is the quality of mobilization and support you have that will win you the election. Angels will never come down from heaven and vote. It is people that will vote. I believe that when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.


Read more https://independent.ng/no-party-can-defeat-apc-in-2019-tony-momoh/

Is alright let us watch and see

Tony mommoh you talk too much to the extent that you don't make sense again

I totally agree with TONY MOMOH 100 %