New Councils Constitutional -Ebonyi Speaker
The trailing the creation of new councils assumed a new twist with the federal government's recent decision to stop allocation to states that created them. Speaker Omo Isu of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, in this interview, tells Joseph Ushigiale that the creation of new local government councils observed due constitutional processes
How has it been as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, considering the fact that you are from Ebonyi South geo-political zone and there was this opinion that your immediate predecessor imposed you on the other members?
Well, let me start with the position, I don't think I was imposed on the House. Just like I earlier said, it was by God's grace and design. I personally believe if not God I wouldn't have gotten the position because in the House, we have some lawyers, engineers and others who were personally interested in the position. It was by God's special grace and intervention that the right person was chosen. I know that God will always use human beings for certain things to be achieved, God used the governor, God used the party and some other people who know me as an obedient and dedicated servant. So, for anybody to talk of imposition I don't think the person is being fair. Then in the whole arrangement, I want to thank God that all the honourable members are so happy that I am the Speaker. Why they are happy is that I am approachable, democratic and very simple. If anything comes to the House, I will be the last person to hide it. Any information, they would want to know, I oblige them. I have nothing to hide and infact that is the truth about the House. Any person, or even staff of the House that wants to get what he is supposed to get, I don't have to hide it. I trust every person and discuss with every person. That's it. So, since we came on board and they discovered my style of service, all the members are happy not minding that people may at times have differences, all of us are in the House, if you do not carry along the honourable members, you cannot succeed because we are there to make laws for the good governance of the state, laws that will touch the generality of the citizens and if you must do it alone, you cannot succeed. Everybody has to be carried along.
You will even start to succeed when you understand that we are all equal or even some of you are better than me. Being the Speaker of the House as far as I know means service and that means you must bring yourself down to serve your people. So, I will tell you that I am not the Speaker that does it alone. I usually work with everybody to achieve the group goal. I do not have any problem with the House afterall, I can be Speaker today and an Honourable member of the House the next day.
Recently, your state was among other states that conducted the council polls into newly created councils, you were in the House when the new local governments were created, in your view do you think the new councils should stay or be scrapped?
Yes, in Ebonyi State, it is my thinking that the new local governments have come to stay and never be scrapped because the constitution empowers the State House of Assembly to create new local governments and if you follow the constitution religiously, without deviating from it, you will not have problems. In what we did, unlike what happened in other states, we started early enough and followed the constitution step by step, religiously, at the end of the whole exercise, we did what the constitution says the House of Assembly should do. We made our returns to the National Assembly. Once we had made our returns to the National Assembly, it means that all the local governments created in Ebonyi State are constitutional.
They are part and parcel of the constitution. So, whether they are scheduled or not, it is left for the National Assembly, since we had made our returns to schedule them but whether they are scheduled or not, it will not stop us the state from doing what we want to do even conducting elections into them because we know we have done what the constitution says we should do without deviating, so, we did what we were expected to do.
During the last PDP Local Government primaries, you were alleged to have imposed your candidate on your people, was the crisis that erupted in the place as a result of your action?
I sincerely believe that crisis sometimes is part of life. You cannot exist without crisis in anyway. Let me say what is happening in my local government, Amoha local government is part of politics, that is democracy. You allow people to air their views but at the end, the truth will surface. I know if all of us should come together, and we look at what is happening, you will know that only a small fraction of Amasiri is making this noise and when you look at that fraction, it is only Dr. Gabby Idam, Sylvester Omeri and their groups that are behind all these.
You remember that in Amasiri, they have, Ezeke, Ndukwe, Inyin and many other autonomous communities. If you go to Ezeke, you will see that only part of Ezeke and part of Ndukwe are involved in the crisis, the rest are strongly behind the candidate of the party and when they say I imposed somebody on them, it is not true.
By our existing local government arrangement, Amata should produce the candidate. Amata is in Akpoha. But along the line, it was agreed that we should concede to Amasari, we all did that in good faith believing that we should be our brothers' keepers. Somebody from Amasiri emerged, just because Dr. Gabby feels he cannot benefit from that person, just because he is nursing a grudge that the person attacked him during his own election instead of supporting him, that is why he is causing trouble.
Omeri as a person is also opposing the candidate because he believes, he is the only person who is supposed to be the local government chairman, just like people of his own group because they were given some period, you know committee chairmen, Omeri was one of them. Unfortunately, because of his poor performance in the local government, people objected even from his area. People from his village vehemently rejected Omeri. So on that account and because of that arrangement, we decided that the best thing is to give it to somebody who will perform, you will see that the majority are in support of 'Uche Ejali' as the candidate and chairman-elect for the council. So that we have some opposition, I think it is part of democracy because you cannot have 100% support. But I assure you if you get down to Amoha, you will see that we have 98% support from the people. So since the other fraction is very minute, I don't look at them as a very strong opposition, so what they are doing is part of democracy.
What is the origin of this opposition?
Well, Omeri was supposed to be the candidate, but because of his poor performance, the entire Amoha met, first at the Deputy Governor's place and lastly at Akpoha, where we agreed to start zoning. The position was zoned to Amata where Matthew Enyanwocha emerged. Then along the line when 'His Excellency' intervened and the party looked at it and said since the Speaker of the State House of Assembly is from Akpoha, let the chairman come from Amasiri and we went to Amasiri and picked somebody, so this opposition as I am saying is only from some selfish individuals. It is not the entire Amasiri. So, I'm saying that what we are having is part of democracy. So they should be allowed to continue with their opposition because we cannot have 100% supporters. I am saying that we have 98% already.
Before now you had a very good rapport with Dr. Gabby Idam now?
Well, Dr. Gabby, I still say is my godfather. I remember back in 1993 when we started, I was in the council when I came to know him. I can remember vividly that when we created Amoha, I personally submitted his name to be first Local Government Chairman of Amoha but his people who knew him very well objected to that. Infact his name was the name on the list but his people who knew him more than myself, they wrote petitions against him that was why he was dropped. Still in the same spirit, the state government, decided to consider him for commissionership position and eventually he got through with that position. As at the time he was the commissioner, every person from that local government including myself not minding that I was an honourable member, I just took him as my superior and we all respected him. But today, the same person, because he is no longer accommodated in the present Local Government Executive, he is fighting every person, he has told me openly that his son will never be greater than him. It is not a good prayer.
I believe, with the local government elections over, he will still come back to me for us to reconcile and there is no problem, we will reconcile. We still remain, godfather and godson, I will still serve him but it has to be on record that what he is doing is not done anywhere for somebody to believe that his children will never be greater than him.
What will you consider as achievement since you came on board?
If you are comparing us with the previous tenure, well I may simply say that we are starting. In the first tenure, any achievement made, since I was a member then, I will continue to say was a collective responsibility. Then this time around we started from where our predecessors stopped, we are not up to a year in office, then when you come to the House, you will see that we have covered some grounds as far as law making is concerned. As legislators, if you want to boast, you say these are the laws I have been able to pass, or we have been able to pass and so on. You don't talk of infrastructure because you are not part of the executive. It is only the governor, who will say I have executed this and that.
So, we simply get to the chamber, do the laws and I personally believe since the House came into being, we have been able to make good laws; laws that touch the lives of the same Ebonyi people. Why I'm saying it is the same is that in the first dispensation, the relationship was cordial and today we still maintain the cordial relationship. If you go to the governor and ask him, he will still tell you that the House has never had anything against the executive. Not that we are being teleguided by any person, but we carry out our duties the way we want and by the special grace of God, the thing tallies with exactly what the executive wants. So to me, the PDP government, has actually performed. They are moving forward and by the special grace of God will end in the same way.
How many laws has the House made since the inception of the present leadership?
Yes, I know we have made some good laws that if you look at it, you will see that they are affecting the lives of the people. For instance, the UBE law, Universal Basic Education, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, passed the law and without any delay, His Excellency assented to it. Then you get to EBADEP, it is when the state is talking of Agriculture, then we feel, it is important it has a legal backing. So we passed that law on EBADEP, this secret cult activities in universities and other things. We passed it to make sure that people in their homes sleep well and re-orientate even students who should now go to school only to read and not to terrorize people and since then, you can see that there has been relative peace in Ebonyi State.
We have two blocs in the state, Abakaliki and Afikpo blocs, we have a Governor from Abakaliki bloc for second term, now 2007 though far, as a party leader, do you envisage that the governorship of this state should move to another zone?
When you talk of two blocs, you have two blocs because the other group is Abakaliki bloc and the other Afikpo bloc. But as far as I am concerned, we are all Ebonyians and we have equal opportunities. I am from Afikpo, I schooled here in Izzi High School. Long before I never knew we will be in the same state and so many of our people schooled at Abakaliki High School (Presco), and people from this place, most of them schooled in Government College, Afikpo. So for any person to feel that this bloc or the other bloc will divide us, as far as God has brought us together in the same state, I don't think he is right.
The issue of governorship in 2007, it is only God who will decide who goes there. What if we decide and say let it go to Afikpo bloc and God says no, it cannot go there, who are you to challenge God? Or if somebody says it must remain in central or Abakaliki and God says it must not go, who is that person to challenge God? So I personally want all of us to agree that we should allow God in his infinite wisdom to decide, who becomes the governor of the state.
Let people not cause distraction over it because no matter the amount of shout, if God says it cannot be you, you can never on earth get to that position.
So, let us not look at the blocs, let us see ourselves as members of the same family, I am saying all of us should be given equal opportunity, equal rights, no matter where you belong. That is my personal thinking, I don't know what the other person has in mind. But what I am saying right now is my own personal thinking because I don't believe in such things as this person is this and the other person is that. Let us have equal opportunities as people in the same state.
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