“ALL PROGRESSIVES GRAND ALLIANCE -APGA IS A POLITICAL PARTY IMO PEOPLE ALWAYS VOTE FOR” – IMO EAST SENATORIAL CANDIDATE BARR. CHYMA ANTHONY REVEALS
The Imo East (Owerri) Senatorial District candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance-APGA Barrister Chyma Anthony is a man who is in a high wire challenge to bring development to his people of Imo East senatorial District. The United Kingdom Trained Lawyer and successful international businessman who is a legal practitioner both in United Kingdom and in Nigeria, is an accomplished International Mediator and Chartered Arbitrator and a Philanthropist who has much positive contributions made up of immense wealth of experiences, is coming home to the 10th National Assemble should he win the February 25th, 2023 National Assembly election-NASS. The necessary vehicle he needs most to travel to the zenith of his call to national grass root service is to have the mandate from his people of Imo East Senatorial District via All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA a political party he described as being the delight of Imo state people especially those of his Owerri Zone,
The handsome tall and intelligent light complexioned politician is a man whose thoroughness and sense of accomplishments in various human endeavours has made him to fervently desire to give his good people of Imo East Senatorial District strong and credible representation that will induce and attract Federal Projects to the nine Local Government Areas that are in Imo East Senatorial District Constituency.
While in the electioneering campaign trail across the nine Local Government Areas, he has pledged to disburse 50 % of his total allowance across all the nine LGAs for the first Nine Months that he will be in the Red Chamber of National Assembly.
On Monday 2nd of January 2023 he granted audience to THE EAR WITNESS Publisher/Editor-In-Chief, Emeka Amaefula(+234(0)8111813069) as he espoused measures and reasons Imo state citizens are in love with APGA having voted into office several candidates of APGA in the previous elections held in Imo state. READ ON
May I meet you Sir?
My name is Barrister Chyma Anthony. I am from Iho-Dimeze in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo state. I am a Lawyer by profession and I am a businessman too.
What have been your antecedents in public service?
I am in the private sector as a lawyer. I am a businessman. But I have been doing community work, assisting people in several ways not just people from my Local Government Area or people from my community but wherever I meet a needy person I assist the person. Aside from that, I have been able as a lawyer to do pro bono matters for people by taking up cases that we don’t charge money for. I have been involved in giving scholarships to people and other training for a lot of people.
Why do you want to go into politics having been doing your personal businesses all this while?
This is a big question and this is the aspect I want to dwell on for a little time. Let me take Nigeria as our country. I am a Nigerian. So, going into politics for me is like a humanitarian job for me. For one, I had a meeting with some people from my immediate village and I said to them that I need their support. I need their support not because I want to go into politics to make money or to earn a living. I need their support for us to go in there because it is for them, the people that will benefit most. Politics or no politics, I have a profession. I will always live my life. I won’t beg and God has been so faithful. So, for me, it is going to try to right some of the wrong. As I don’t see governance in any way in Nigeria. I trained in England as a lawyer and I have my children in England. For example, my wife has never paid money to go to the hospital for treatment. In fact, my children were born in the best hospitals and we did not pay a Kobo of money. My children receive money from the government every week . So, when I look at my own country, look at the difference now. I brought my children back to Nigeria in 2018 . My last child was three months old. She swallowed a needle and when this happened, I was in the office and my wife ran out of the house without slippers and without a Kobo. She went to the hospital and on getting to the hospital she called a Nurse and I went to the hospital an hour later my child was dropped on the table bleeding and dying. When I asked why? They said to me that they needed a deposit of N5,000. And I said five thousand Naira and without payment of the five thousand naira my child will not be treated. Now, look back to where we came from. First, my wife wouldn’t have gone to the hospital. The Medics will come to the House as I call the Ambulance and fix whatever they want to do in the house and if they are not able to do it then they will take them to the hospital and bring us back to the house. But this one happened.
Then I gave them the money and I gave them more than they required. I went upstairs and came back and they told me that my child was not treated because they don’t have the equipment to treat him. We rushed to the National hospital Abuja. And when we got to the National hospital, I was asked to deposit N60, 000 as deposit before treatment. After I deposited N60, 000 I had to go buy everything that they needed that has to do with whatever they need to do. Now think about it, I have the money and I have more to give. Then think about that old woman in the village, that man, that is in the house, that man that is a gate man or that Policeman that may not have the money, the child would have died. So, with this situation we need to correct all these. The Government has a duty to give the way they treat citizens. The government should be able to take care of its citizens with at least medical treatment. When I look at all these, this is very important for us. And I said that when I get to the National Assembly the first Bill I am going to present to the Senate is to criminalize traveling abroad for Medical treatment, because if we do that they too will be forced to fix our hospitals in this country. And if we can’t fix it let us all die here. I have said that and I am going to do it as this will correct some of those ills in society.
Then look at our educational sector, there’s nothing happening there. You will see graduates crying. We don’t have quality education in this country as the Lecturers are not good and the Government is not doing anything because these people are not paid well. So, we need to do so much for this country. This is what led some of us and this is one of the main reasons that we chose to go into politics to see whether we can help this country achieve a certain balance so that that child out there will have a good shot at life and will be able to manage. That man out there will have the sense of belonging saying after all I am in a country where I am protected and my children are protected. We are going into politics to protect the people and their rights and their property.
Can you give a run down of your academic background?
I started school from my village in Iho-Dimeze being Community Primary school Iho. Maybe I was opportune that my sister got married to a man who lived in the township in Owerri as they changed my school to a Primary school here at Owerri. But later I went back to my village to continue my Primary School. I finished and started secondary school in my Community secondary school being Iho Comprehensive Secondary School where I did my Senior School Certificate Examination-WAEC. And I got more credits. The Nigerian situation we are talking about here I will go back to that a little bit after going through this. I wanted to study Law and I wrote the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination/JAMB and I chose the University of Ife. They gave me Philosophy and I refused to study at the University of Ife. I came back to the East and went through Federal Polytechnic Oko where I studied Mass Communication. After that I came out and started my own business. After that I travelled out of the country and I studied Law, which is one Course I had always wanted to study. Now I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Law LLB from University of Buckingham. Masters degree in law LL.M from University of Buckingham with International Criminal and Commercial Law as my area of specialization at Master’s Level. And currently I am writing my Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. Degree in Law Thesis on Security and Strategic studies. I have done a lot of Courses on Public Management and these are short term Courses from some of the best universities in the World. I am a Negotiator. I am a Mediator. I have also done some Security Courses with the United Nations where I have certifications on Corruption and Anti-Corruption and all that. I am a Member of Nigerian Bar Association-NBA and a Member of Nigerian Chartered Institute of Administrators. I have a Barrister-At Law B.L certificate as I have been to Nigerian Law School.
What is your agenda for your people as a Lawmaker if you are elected, and going through Social welfare examples you earlier cited about your child’s plight and how they treated you?
Our people misunderstand law-making and Executive arms of Government and the major thing that a Lawmaker has is to make laws. And Making Laws is so, including Budgeting by Government which in that case we have a say in whatever the executive will bring. Whatever projects they will bring, whatever Budget they will bring we have a say as we must be able to ratify it. In that case that’s where we can help our people solve our infrastructure because when the Ministry, they bring whatever they will bring the national assembly will be able to scrutinize it. From that angle of Law-making we should be able to help our people get infrastructure. This is because when the executive ones bring in their Bills I mean their Budgets we look at it and the ones that will favour our people we will also lobby. And make sure that they put something for our people. And outside that our duty is to make good laws that will benefit the people. Good Laws that will make it possible for the child to go to school whether you have money or you don’t have and to go to hospital whether you have money or you don’t have money.
I told you about writing UTME/JAMB where I went to have a body that Coordinates admission into universities. What you need to do is to pass your Ordinary Level or Advanced Level General School Certificate GCE, then you write to that body. The body now asks for your results and places you right to the Universities and they will give you admissions as you choose five to six Universities that you want to attend. You don’t need to write JAMB and you don’t need to write any entrance examination. When you go into the university, they will do an interview to see whether you are qualified or not, you see that now makes life easy for the citizens. And that will cut down on a lot of corruption. Now talking about corruption, it is endemic here now and that is what is killing this country. I am looking at a situation where first of all to tackle this corruption, we have to look at our immunity clause. Our immunity clause is a blanket immunity clause and it is very wrong. In the United states of America, they don’t have a blanket immunity clause. In the Constitution.
Here in Nigeria it is constitutional. Isn’t it?
That is what I am saying that here it is constitutional but we will amend it to remove it and cut down on corruption, because a man that is a Governor, a man that is President steals money, commits a lot of crime for 4-years. And once that Governor or President is sworn in nobody tries him in any law court for 4-years. So, they say justice delayed is justice denied. If we do this, it is going to really affect us. So, what we need to do is to make sure that we don’t have blanket immunity any more. If you commit a certain crime, they will try you before the court of law. Bill Clinton was tried while he was President of the United States of America. President Donald Trump was tried while he was in office. If we do all this here and that will help us. So, if this man steals your money you try him immediately and take him out and the others will learn their lessons. But if you leave him for 7 to 8 years, he uses your money to bribe everybody and at the end of the day the crime is still on.
We need to make laws that will strengthen the structures of this country. We don’t have any system here and that is what is killing the country.
Under what political platform are you using to be voted into the Nigerian Senate in the next election by next month February?
It is All Progressives Grand Alliance-APGA.
Why your choice of the political party?
I have checked all the parties, is it APC that has plunged Nigeria into this abyss today? As it is today, there is no happy Nigerian as it is today, nobody is happy to become poor in our country. We have become downtrodden. We have become Internally Displaced Persons-IDPs we don’t have homes any longer to live in here. We cannot move around as security is poor. That is the weakness of the government of All Progressives Congress-APC. Then, is it the Peoples Democratic Party-PDP that started the wraths and these people concluded it for them? So, in that case I have looked at APGA, APGA is a party with a good manifesto. The Peter Obi people are shouting today, is a product of APGA. He was an 8-years Governor of Anambra state under APGA. And he ruled according to the principles and manifesto of APGA. APGA is a party to belong to. They say it is 3rd Force. Yes, I believe it has handled too many states but in all over Nigeria we have APGA candidates. And we have seen people win elections with APGA in the North and in the South even in the South-South and not just South East.
Owerri senatorial District when it comes to your Local Government Area Ikeduru LGA has produced Senators in the person of senator Samuel Anyanwu popularly addressed as Sam Daddy, how do intend to win when your fellow citizen from your LGA had gone there to the Senate will other sections of Imo East Senatorial District vote for you at this coming General Election?
For correction the incumbent senator is not from my Local Government Area Ikeduru, so, we have four political blocs in Owerri Zone being Mbaike Bloc, Owerri Federal Constituency, Ngor Okpuala and Mbaise bloc. Now the Senatorial thing has gone around all the 4-political blocs. And now it is an open thing for anybody to get. Ikeduru has gone. Mbaitoli has gone, Owerri too has gone. Mbaise had gone severally and all that. So, it is open for us. It is like we are rotating it among ourselves for that matter even though it has reached every political bloc. And the person that is on it now is from Owerri Federal Constituency. Which means it can go to Ikeduru, it can go to Mbaise. But somehow the opportunity and luck we have is that no Mbaise person is running for Senate. So, it means it should shift to Ikeduru now.
Do you know that the Mbaise bloc has a large population of voters?
No, they don’t have a larger electoral population than Mbaitoli/Ikeduru. Our votes cancel their votes. You remember that Mbaitoli has the highest Votes in Imo state and one of the highest in Nigeria. So, Mbaise does not have more population than us.
APGA has a Presidential candidate, but in terms of national spread does APGA have national structure? How many members does it have in the National Assembly? Then how many does it have in the States House of Assembly? And the number of political office holders, that’s the structure a political party can have?
Currently we have Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in the Senate.
But he just defected from PDP to APGA?
He is an APGA senator. A lot of people defected from one party to the other. And when you talk about APGA, you talk about 3rd Force in Nigerian politics. The Labour party we are talking about today doesn’t have a single Councillor in any state but APGA controls one full state in the South East of Nigeria. Apart from the 5 states in the South East we have APGA candidates represented everywhere in the North. We have APGA up in Nasarawa state, in Benue state, in Abuja, in Kaduna state and in faraway Taraba state. So, APGA has a very good structure. And in Imo State, Imo state is APGA. APGA candidates have been winning elections in Imo state from day one. No other party has won elections in Imo state apart from PDP here but the problem we used to have then and not anymore is because I have studied it from the years in APGA is that if we win election the problem we have is that we don’t use it to protect the votes. But right now, we are going to protect it. I can tell you that APGA is going to sweep this election both from the Senate down to the House of Assembly. And when the Governorship will come APGA will win. So, it is all APGA. In the past we have had Imo Governor from APGA in the person of Owelle Rochas Okorocha he won election under the platform of APGA.
Which year was that?
That was in 2011. Mrs. Chris Anyanwu became a Senator through APGA and only going there that they all defected. When PDP didn’t give her Senatorial Ticket, she came to APGA and won the Imo East senatorial election against Dr. Kema Chikwe, former Aviation Minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo administration. So are a lot of them. The current Imo East Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi started from APGA in the Federal House of Representatives. He won the first attempt through APGA. He won another and then the next he defected and won in PDP. Even the PDP candidate the first time he went to the House of representatives it was through APGA it was in 2003. I mean Barrister Uche Onyeagocha. So, APGA is Imo, especially the Owerri Senatorial Zone. In Okigwe area in the past they had seven to eight APGA seats and in Owerri Zone it is the same too. Orlu Zone is still having an APGA House of Assembly candidate in the Imo state House of Assembly.
Are you confident that you are going to win the election based on the analysis you have just given out now?
Well I have won this election. We have won the election. Now, let me tell you another secret which is that I am the only candidate running for Senatorial election that is from Mbaike bloc. I have strong hope that my votes are intact from Mbaitoli/Ikeduru. My other opponents the 4-of them are from Owerri bloc they all have an axe to grind and divide their votes. They will divide it and all of us will go to fish in Mbaise. So, whatever I get there I will add it to mine and I have won the election.
What are your plans for women empowerment should you win the Imo East Senatorial election come 25th of February 2023?
I said there’s no project in any Ministry that will not go through the National Assembly, especially the Senate. We approve the Budget in the Senate. So, in that case for women, we have the Ministry of Women Affairs. We have a lot of Small soft Loans coming out from the Central Bank and all that…When these loans come, we will make sure that we let them put something down for our women and that’s APGA. And then, there should be at least free Medical for Women, even if the free Medical care is not for everybody let it be for pregnant women and the aged people in my Senatorial zone. There are a lot of ways we can do this. Around the country we should look at our problems. These are problems and we will tackle them squarely.
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