Senator-elect for Anambra South Senatorial District, Ifeanyi Ubah has said that his vision was to make the Young Progressives Party, YPP, a formidable political platform in Nigeria before the next general elections.
Ubah, the Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd, made the assertion while fielding questions from newsmen in Nnewi.
He described YPP as a party for the youth, noting that he would roll out programmes that would galvanise young people across the country to make the party one of the strongest with the widest grassroots reach.
“Politically, I am the highest ranking elected member of the YPP, the onus is on me to reform YPP and make it a strong national party.
“It is my wish that within the next two or three years, YPP will be able to build a very strong grassroots network of youths, we shall create a lot of programmes that will galvanise every Nigerian youth into the YPP.
“I have done it before using TAN to sensitise the people of Nigeria, I am about the only Nigerian that has done that, to send messages that touched every politically conscious Nigerian.
“I can re-enact that plan for YPP, as part of our strategic plan for advancement,” he said.
Ubah said it was a herculean task to emerge from a relatively unknown party, however, he urged other candidates who ran on YPP platform but failed not to lose hope.
He said that YPP would not only become majority in the state Houses of Assembly but also occupy Government House as a ruling party.
“It was our first outing as a party and indeed first outing of some of our candidates; for me, I have been in the trenches of this political journey since six years having contested governorship in 2013 and other offices using different platforms.
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“So, I am more entrenched, I am closer to the people than most of our candidates for Anambra House of Assembly.
“Again, considering that House of Assembly election was what the governor saw as a battleground for his own political survival, it was expected that he will do anything humanly possible not to allow opposition into the House, so we gave it to him.
“These candidates will vie again and at that time, the political conditions will not be the same, YPP will not only win seats, our members will dominate the Houses of Assembly and that is when YPP must have taken over some Government Houses,” he said.
The Senator-elect dismissed the rumours that he had joined the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He said he was a lone senator on the platform of his party and could not be an Island onto himself, hence his decision to be in “caucus” with the APC senators who are the majority in the Senate.
He said “caucusing, horse trading and lobbying” were normal in legislative practice seeing that he had the approval of his party to do so.
“As for APC, no, I did not join APC, I was only caucusing with them and caucusing is normal in politics all over the world.
“In America, Joe Lieberman is an Independent candidate that caucuses with the Democrats; Benny Sanders is another test case in America.
“So, there is nothing that says I should go to Senate and stand alone and wait for people to come and give me food because I went there on the ticket of YPP.
“I need to mingle with people I can share ideas with and see how I can be of value to my constituency, that is why I am caucusing with the APC and I have the backing of my party,” he said.
