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Ngige, Umeh, not willing to hold
December 18 election —Dim
Mr. Ifeanyi Berth Dim is one of the embattled
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship candidates for Onitsha South local
government area of Anambra State. In this interview with IHEANACHO NWOSU, he
speaks on the uncertainties surrounding the council polls in the state. He also
spoke on the crisis in the state. Excerpts:
GIVING the continued crisis in
the state, do you still have confidence that the councils poll planned for
December 18 will hold?
As a matter of fact, I have never
actually believed that the election will hold. I have never had faith in the
election. This is because the governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, the chairman of Anambra
State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), Mr. Cornel Umeh have been
making utterances which tell everybody that they are not committed to the
election.
As far as I know, they never had
intention of holding any election. Before that date, there could have been other
excuses, on the back of which, they will stand to postpone the election.
Why would the governor not want
the election held?
I think for many personal
reasons. I tell you that he is not committed to holding the election.
What do you think are the
reasons?
He knows best. Any other person
that knows why is God. And I am not God. But at least I know that the governor
would not want to share the LG monthly subventions that come from Abuja with
anybody. He prefers a situation were he will have everything, and use it as he
likes, not minding whether the purpose for which the funds are released is
achieved or not.
The funds are for the development
and actualisation of people’s aspirations. People voted the governor because
they feel that he will be an agent of development in the state.
So what you are saying is that
central to why the governor is allegedly hesistant to holding the election is
because of the LG funds. Are you saying that he is afraid that you people might
not allow him access to the funds?
That is exactly the issue. There
are other reasons like his hold onto power. He has no faith in anybody. He is
afraid of being uprooted. He is afraid that anybody that gets in there may begin
to work against him. But it is not true.
But the widely held view is that
he does not want you people because of your romance with Chief Uba, are you
saying that such view is incorrect?
Let me say something. "If
you keep your hands and heart clean, you will not have anything to fear. As long
as you are doing the right thing, you will be as bold as a lion because you are
saying the truth. That is the way I see it.
But when you know yourself, that
you are not even honest to yourself, you’ll be afraid of even your own shadow.
So I am saying this is some of the things he considers but they are no good
excuses.
How do you react to allegation in
some quarters that you people have been remotely causing the Anambra crisis,
that it was the day you people were to hold your rally that the mayhem broke out
in the state?
It is wrong for anybody who wants
to represent the people to wake up and be destroying public properties. Look at
it very well, do you in honesty think that anybody with conscience who is
seeking to go into government can do that.
I tell you the candidates and the
officials of the state chapter of the party set out for a rally and nothing more
than that. If the government decides, to use the occasion to cause mayhem in the
state, so as to demonise us, I cannot fathom the reason.
If the government had been
sincere, in the first place, there would not be all these things that the state
is experiencing. Whichever way you look at it, you will trace everything back to
government. It is just like somebody that is beating a child and wants to cry
louder than the child, just to give impression that it is the child who is
beating him, that he is the victim instead of the oppressor he is. That is
exactly what is happening in the state.
Would you accept to go for a
repeat primaries as the governor is demanding?
I can assure you that there will
be no such repeat primaries. Our primaries were held even before the governor
dreamt of vying for senatorial seat and later went in for the governorship. We
had become candidates before he became a candidate. And I tell you I spent a lot
of my own money, mobilising people and canvassing for support for the governor.
He was not known, he was a bad product because he was not a politician. We know
how much we suffered to get him there.
For him to get there and start
challenging my own mandate because he feels he is already there is unacceptable.
He is making a big mistake. He has no moral right to do that. So no matter, how
long it takes, justice certainly will prevail. There will be no repeat primary.
But how can the political impasse
in the state be resolved without the two camps feeling injured?
Very candidly, I tell you there
is only one solution. And that is that the governor should honourably bow out
since he is not ready to honour agreement.
What is remaining for this
dispensation to elapse is about two years. We need peace so that the people can
enjoy democracy like other people elsewhere. The governor does not want to
change, and it is not really good for any peace agreement.
He told people last year July
that he was dealing with 419 people, you can imagine that kind of language.
People are losing faith in the government. The bible has said it that when the
righteous are on the throne, people rejoice. What we need in Anambra is a
change. All these evil men, ungodly people that have hijacked government cannot
continue. We need a change.
All these evil and corrupt
politicians in the state need to be swept out. There should be a total cleansing
of the land. It is only that we can restore order and discipline in the state.
This will help people to restrace their steps. When the leadership is corrupt,
people are often affected. When people that have the fear of God and interest of
people at heart are installed, there will be the goodness and progress that
people are expecting.
Do you have faith in the Egwu-led
Presidential committee?
I believe the president did the
correct thing. But my fear is that even if any peace deal is brokered by the
committee, the governor might not honour it. He has shown that he has no respect
for agreement, no matter the quarter it is coming from. My fear is that it might
be another time wasting.
So far he has demonstrated it
because many things he agreed to do at the beginning of the sitting of the
committee, he has reneged on them. What surprises me is how people who claim to
be standing on high moral ground are directly or indirectly lending support to
this injustice being perpetrated by the administration.
Why do you feel that you are the
right person to be the chairman of your LG?
My mission is simply to give to the people what I
believe they are yearning for. I am not going there to line my pocket. I am only
going there to make people see that good governance is possible. People have
lost faith in government, they think it is impossible to have a committed
leader. That is what I want to prove. I am going there to change things and to
make people see that it is possible to have a clean government.
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