George Moghalu says Igbos Didn’t think of the result Of Not Voting Buhari

Chief George Moghalu is the National Auditor of the governing All Progresives Congress (APC). A seasoned politician and an administrator, he is one of the party leaders from the south east who fought day and night to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari gets an appreciable number of votes from the region.

In this interview with Tony Akowe, he speaks on the outcome of the just concluded Presidential election and the need to streamline the large number of political parties in the country.

THE APC again won the Presidential election without a significant contribution from the South East. What went wrong

The truth about it is that we did not achieve our desired expectations. I would have wished that we did alot better than we did in this election even though anybody on the side line would say it is an improvement on the poor outing in 2015. Certainly, we should have done better than we did because the government has been quite responsive to the south east. The President has shown great love and has done so many great and strategic things for us in the south east that should warrant our doing better than we did. But politics is all about what it is and you can never predict. I feel personally disappointed and I am sure that some other leaders also feel disappointed. I really can not access whether it is because our people have not actually understood the political implication because we are trying to seize a platform that we can use to actualise our ambition vis a viz 2023.

For me, it is a reaffirmation and an expression of confidence. It is like telling somebody, you have done well and it places greater challenge. If you listen to the speech of the President when he received his certificate of return, it will show you a man that understand the added responsibility this re-election has given to him, it show you a man who has really dedicated himself to doing better than he has done. He has done quite well especially when you look at all the promises we made when we were coming in in 2015 as a party coming into government. Even at that, he has done extremely well and he believe also that with this re-election, Nigerians have said thank you for what you have done, but we expect you to do more. It is about Nigeria and not about him. So, it is a very welcome development. Its a wonderful thing that has happened and I know since this has happened, our party and government will still do more to justify the confidence of the Nigerian people.

There are those who believe that they worked for they worked for the party in 2015 and were not rewarded. Many of them have made more sacrifice, expecting thing to be better. What is your message to them?

Let us all be patient. Mr. President has said that things will be better and we also have a national chairman we believe that there should be a way of appreciating those who work for you as a way of encouraging them. He believe that doing so will also encourage others to know that loyalty pays, hard work pays and commitment also pays. I am sure that these set of people will not be forgotten this time around.

There is the believe that the position of the President on the leadership of the National Assembly was a tactical error that hunted the government so much. How will the party handle this issue this time around?

I am sure that the party has a role to play. All these people coming for the first time and those who got re-elected contested on the party platform. So, there is a canopy under which everybody is sitting and that canopy is the party. I am sure that with the dynamic leadership we have now, headed by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the party will do what it is supposed to do. Once that is done, I am sure we will not have any problem. I am sure that all those elected believe in party supremacy and the fact tat the party has a role to play because it is the party that was elected. All the candidates are representatives of the party and i am sure they will subject themselves to the decisions of the party.