I think what the Federal Government has been trying to do is to blackmail the governors. And that emanates from what we know: we know the Federal Government is not practising true federalism.
"We have quarrelled with them. You gentlemen of the press should tell the Federal Government that it is not practising federalism. There is what is called 'fiscal federalism'. The Federal Government has no right whatsoever to determine what should be shared from the Federation Account."
The governor pointed out that Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution was very clear on the matter. "The only body that has a right to regulate what should be shared is the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). What they have been doing is to blackmail the governors so that everybody will see the governors as being frivolous."
On the alleged stashing of money abroad and asset declaration, Udenwa said: "So to talk about my money being changed and sent abroad, of course, if you want to know, I had two accounts abroad before I became Governor. I did not become governor from nowhere. I have closed the two accounts as required by the constitution. I have none now. I have no assets abroad. I am proud to say that. So if you want me to declare my assets publicly, I will always do so."
Speaking on the new revenue allocation formula, the governor asserted that the Federal Government had been playing games with it for five years even though the 10-year-old current formula was a product of the military.
He said: "We have been pursuing the Federal Gov-`ernment to make sure a new revenue allocation formula is put in place. The present one we have been using was put in place by the Army since 1992 or 1993. And the constitution says every five years the revenue allocation formula should be reviewed. For about 10 years we have not reviewed the allocation formula. Each time the RMAFC do their job, the Presidency refuses to submit it. They submitted it initially, but when it was about being passed, the Federal Government withdrew it again and said there are too many versions. And the chairman of the commission came out to say there were no two versions. If you doubt it bring it and let's authenticate it. But uptill now, five years on, we have not been able to do anything. They do not want to do anything because they are enjoying what the Army put there."
On the excess crude fund, the governor stated that the Federal Government was arm-twisting and procrastinating on sharing the money that belongs to the federation.
"This is where the federal tyranny comes in. We are all responsible citizens. If we have this level of excess crude today, yes it is right as a nation to save something. But let us also agree that the Federal Government is not managing the economy alone. Let us also agree that this excess crude belongs to all Nigerians and belongs to the three tiers of government.
"That being so, I think we should have a dialogue and say all of this money, let us put this and this aside for the rainy day and we use this for on-going projects. That would have been a more peaceful way of doing it. But for the federal government to sit back and say this money cannot be shared, it has no right. It is part of the blackmail I am talking about. Quote me, there is no part of the constitution that gives the Federal Government the right to say this money can never be shared. It does not belong to the Federal Government," he insisted.
The governor also said that the North lacked the moral right to lay claim to the Presidency having been in power for more than 35 years, the West 12 years and the East six months under the late Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi.
He repudiated a recent publication in some papers to the effect that the North had been promised the 2007 slot since 1999, saying that the record being quoted was dubious.
Udenwa described a recent publication attributed to the Speakers Conference in Owerri, the Imo State capital, that he had been adopted as a presidential candidate for the East as a manipulation and abuse of process as he was not aware of its adoption.
Returning to the homefront, Udenwa said that the Igbo would not accept anybody outside the five states to claim citizenship of Igboland because of 2007 presidential race.
He stated that such aspirants would only be accepted if they had been identifying themselves as Igbo in Diaspora.
There are speculations that two prominent politicians with Igbo root in the South-South geo-political zone may be thrown up as compromise candidates, acceptable to both the South-East and South-South. He described them as Ikwerre people in Rivers State.
He noted that there are Igbo in most of the South-South states of Rivers, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa, insisting that "anybody who will just jump up from nowhere to that I am Igbo in 2007 because the presidency has been zoned to the region will not be accepted. Anybody that will be accepted must have been identifying himself as an Igbo for a very long time.
