Canada-based chartered accountant and management Consultant, Behavioural Scientist and chieftain of the Diaspora Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Goddy Francis Okoyo, was recently been appointed to lead the Diaspora Campaign Committee of the APC 2024 Edo Governorship Campaign Council. He spoke with IDAHOSA MOSES on the President Bola Tinubu administration, remittances from the Diaspora by Nigerians, chances of the candidates contesting next month’s governorship election in Edo State. EXCERPTS:
Congratulations on your appointment as Director to organise the entire Edo APC in Diaspora for the election of Senator Okpebholo and his running mate, Honourable Monday Idahosa in the September governorship election. What contributions have you made to the Diaspora section of the APC vis-a-vis the party back home in Nigeria, to deserve this appointment?
One would say that it may be immodest to be the one to say what he has contributed to the growth of his society. But in a nutshell, as a valuable member of the Nigerians in the Diaspora, and from the Canada country of the North American continent, I have been actively involved in our Diaspora affairs, just as I cherish the commitments of Abike Dabiri, the great Nigerian woman, who had for long been in charge of the country’s Diaspora affairs. I visit Nigeria often to monitor meaningful development and support APC, my great party, from my ward, local government area to state and to its national levels. Also, as a community leader, my philanthropic activities and politics are geared towards the upliftment of my people, particularly the defenseless youths, women, children and the elderly.
Nigerians living abroad don’t have the right to vote in the county’s elections. Why do we have Diaspora sub-committees for Nigeria elections?
Indeed, plans have not been made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the relevant institutions for registered Nigerian voters to vote from the various countries they reside. This is something that tops the agenda of Nigerians living overseas, that our voting rights should come to be, as many other countries of the world do practice. Nevertheless, there are numerous Nigerians out there, like I do, who are registered voters back home. They go home to participate in party activities and voting. But, that is a very expensive thing to do. I see a future where diasporians can vote from their bases outside Nigeria.
Why is it important to have a Diaspora committee in elections where they scantily vote, like your committee?
Notwithstanding that political participation is limited to physical presence of the person, which is tedious, and there is no remote participation like external voting, our people in the Diaspora duly influence political participation and electoral victories. Yes, Nigerians abroad are always concerned about the wellbeing of the country and her people. Hence, they invest tangibly into it. Usually, they hugely influence their dependents and local communities back home, especially with their philanthropic activities, funded by their huge remittances. If not for our huge remittance inflows to the country, particularly Edo State, our people back home wouldn’t be able to cope with the economic hardship that currently plagues the world, Nigeria and Edo State inclusive. In Edo State, for instance, Diaspora remittances are known to be more responsible for the fast development of Edo, particularly Benin City, the state capital. Intriguing, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki usually credited this to themselves.
Why the usual rush to overseas countries by political parties and their candidates in elections, to institutions like the Chatham House, London, democratic institutions and Diaspora organisations, whereas those who vote them are in Nigeria?
Apart from the reasons I earlier gave to emphasize the uses, it had become a norm for the world to monitor or even influence elections happening in other countries. Mind you that there are also some global and country’s institutions, who are funders of our democratic activities. Why will a presidential election holding in faraway America be an issue in Nigeria, if not for the strong presence of the US population of African Americans, who are mostly dominated and influenced by Nigerians in that country?
There are strident calls by Nigerians at home and abroad that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should rejig and empower Nigeria’s diplomatic protocol for Nigerians to be better respected.
We are very happy that President Tinubu is doing very well in redeeming the country. Very soon, that will also play out in the diplomatic business.
But, there are many of those who still criticize President Tinubu as having not done well?
The critics are our political opponents, who would see nothing good in the phenomenal changes President Tinubu is bringing to Nigeria, which will make us all happy. If it takes long for something to go bad, it will also take some time for it to get better. By the way, if an addictive critic in Peter Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), could give a pass mark to President Tinubu as having done well in his ‘100 Days In Office,’ who are those armchair critics holding the Tinubu APC as having not done well?
Let’s come back to next month’s election in Edo. There are those who say that Senator Okpebholo is naive and too reticent to win the election as compared to the PDP’s Asue Ighodalo and LP’s Olumide Akpata, who they say are better exposed and extroverted.
I have known Distinguished Senator Monday Okpebholo for years. He may be seen as reserved and naive by the opponents. And for that, his critics will need to be schooled that the man is, after all, very plain, selfless, and more focused than the two you mentioned. He is not a noisemaker but a go-getter and people-oriented personality, who is very down to the earth. Senator Okpebholo and Honourable Idahosa are a Siamese candidate, who will rescue Edo State from the stranglehold of the PDP and the Obaseki-led government once they are elected.
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