Dan Iwuanyanwu, Chairman of the Labour Party, states the party's preparation for next year's elections and his ideas about Nigerian politics. Excerpts:

EFCC's power to disqualify candidates

EFCC cannot do it. They don't have the capacity. The law is also not on their side. Don't forget the last Supreme Court judgment, Atiku vs. Obasanjo and INEC, the Supreme Court was very unequivocal that it is only the court of law that can stop any candidate from running or contesting a position in the land.

We knew elections will come up in 2011; all the cases investigated by Nuhu Ribadu, about 32 of the former governors, more than 80 per cent of them are not even in court. It has been frustrated. Look at the systematic way that the war against corruption was truncated.

Immediately Yar'Adua came in, he appointed an attorney general who didn't believe in the fight against corruption so he decided to dismantle all the monuments set up by Ribadu. If we had continued with them, by now we won't be talking about stopping corrupt politicians. I'm not saying Ribadu was indispensable, but we had somebody who got the job done. We refused to do things that right way and today we are crying wolf.

Special court for corruption cases

Even without the EFCC, our laws are strong. But the point is that we must have anti-corruption courts that will not tolerate unnecessary adjournments. Corruption is an exceptional circumstance and should be fought through exceptional means. Once a prima facia case has been established against an accused, that accused must remain in detention until after trial. That was how they fought corruption across the globe. In Japan and Korea, they don't want to be dragged to court. They look for the tallest building and take a jump in order not to disgrace their family name. But here, we have lost shame. The same people will come back and they want to be president.

But one thing I am happy about is that time does not run against crime. You can still charge the same people to court 20 years to come. They are only postponing the evil day. A time shall come in this country when one man will come as president and bring all these people to book. From that day, put on your socket, and you will see light. Turn on your tap, and you will see water; you get to the road, you wouldn't know when you have done 20 kilometres. All these are things that will come to pass when you have good leadership.

Does the Labour Party have such candidates?

We have not reached there yet. The problem with Nigeria is that anything that happens, we will begin to call PDP. You will see surprises; the candidate that will win the election, you have not seen them. Let them exhaust themselves. Labour Party will present a presidential candidate in this election. We hand him over to Nigerians. Nigerian people, if you are happy with what you have seen in the past years, don't vote for him. But if you want a change, vote for him. In case you don't vote for him, then keep your mouths shut and don't you ever complain of anything till thy kingdom come because you would have given out your rights. You see, that vote will be important this time around. Enough is enough.

Up till now, we have four solid candidates. All of them will go into one room and give us one person. We don't know where he comes from. We will hand him over to Nigerians and say this man will work for you. We are not interested in zoning; that's a PDP affair. Forget about this tribal thing. I agree we must not lose sight of it in trying to unite the country, but that is when it comes to appointments.

You can no longer push Nigerians to a point where all we will be talking about is tribe.

The party's criterion for selecting a candidate

Even if you go through the constitution of our party, our party is a growing one; we don't have limitations except the guidelines that will be set up by the National executive Council. They will meet on Tuesday and approve the guidelines both for the congresses and for the primaries. What is important and paramount to us is to have a presidential candidate that can stand the test of time and understands Nigeria and that is ready to work. We don't want a situation where we have a candidate who does not understand Nigeria but, because he is from one part of the country, he is voted into office.

The relevance of the CNN to emergence of candidates

We agreed in the CNN (Coalition for New Nigeria) that this 23 + 3 political parties will have one presidential candidate under one political party. We are serious because there is no way we can continue with this number of indigent parties that we have. These parties are not working hard to get even a councillor seat, but are working hard to endorse the presidential candidate of PDP. Today, they are all sleeping and meeting in Trancorp Hilton. Who is paying the bills? Tax payers' money, just to meet and endorse the candidate of PDP. There are also parties that are working hard and they will work had till the end because they are not there to give endorsements.

The ideology of the Labour Party

The motto of our party is equal opportunity. Our party is hinged on the ideals of equal social opportunity and social democracy. We want the poor to leave poverty. We are not interested in whether the rich is getting richer or poorer, so that we will not be seen as a party that is against the rich because we are poor. No. The rich can get richer if they so desire. But the poor must leave poverty. No child will go to bed without food in his stomach. That is why we have problem with the ruling party. They don't care about what happens to you.

In Labour Party, we are committed to change and we are not talking rhetoric. We have the blueprint that will be launched immediately a Labour Party president emerges. We have a blueprint that will turn around this country. On a daily basis, you would see changes.

Membership of Donald Duke in the party

As of yesterday, I don't think Donald Duke has joined our party. But he has the right to be a member of our party. I am aware he resigned from the PDP but he is not yet a member of our party. Donald Duke is my friend. I know he intends to play a major role in 2011, but I don't know under which platform. In our party, we don't force people. Labour Party is a brand name. We can only talk to you, without being immodest, that you are in the wrong place; why not come and run under our platform? Some have moved, but we don't pressurize people because if you pressurize them, they may jump out when things get worse.

What about Nuhu Ribadu?

He has also not joined our party.





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