He was the founding state chairman of the Peoples democratic party, PDP, in Anambra State. For Chief Joseph Okonkwo, who was deputy chairman of the Nigeria Peoples Party, NPP, in the old Anambra State during the Second Republic, he can be described as a politician who has been around for quite a while.
Therefore, at the height of the abduction saga of Governor Chris Ngige, it was to Okonkwo that Ngige turned, a role which saw him representing Ngige in the peace committee set up by Senate President Adolphus Wabara.
Today, however, Okonkwo says that Ngige has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt why he should be removed from office as governor. In this encounter, he provides reasons which he says are proof-positive why Ngige should be removed.
Excerpts:
How‘s the PDP in Anambra State today?
The PDP in Anambra State is in disarray due to the bad leadership of Governor Chris Ngige .They have dissolved the executive committee of the party at the state level, the party is in disarray because of the bad leadership of the Governor Chris Ngige.
When you say the party is in disarray and that they‘ve dissolved the executives, that suggests that there‘s a problem.....
(Cuts in) Yes there‘s a problem.
But the disarray, what nature is the disarray, is it that the party is not working in tandem with the government of the day? Or that the exco members can not agree on decisions between one another?
Yes the caretaker committee setup by the national body to oversee the affairs of the party in the state has been dissolved and as at this moment, there‘s nobody now mandated with the powers of the executive committee for the party at the state level to see to the smooth running of the affairs of the party.
This dissolution, was it by the state governor?
No, it‘s done by the national body.
What led to that?
All these crisis, because the governor sent out to the Chairman of the interim management committee, Chief Dan Ulasi and when the governor decided to change the chairman, the chairman refused and they kept abusing each other and that led to the dissolution of the exco by the national body of the party
Now there‘s so much talk about yourself and Governor Chris Ngige as people that formed the party. At the inception of the crisis, at its early stage, you were seen as one of those working with Governor Ngige, especially during the scheme which enabled him survive the abduction saga?
Exactly. Immediately he was abducted on the 10th of July, they sent words across to me that I should come and rescue him from the abductors. So we ran into Anambra state and since then, all efforts, all hands had been on deck to see that he re-emerges as the governor as well as being somebody who would summon the confidence to rule the state.
Where were you when the abduction was carried out before being called upon by the governor?
I was in Enugu
Which means that you were not in Anambra State when it happened?
I came into Anambra on the evening of the 10th of July, met him in the hotel and from there on, we now took over to ensure that he was installed back.
Which means that you were there when the Bode George team came?
Yes I was there when all the groups came.
It looks as if you seem to have fallen off with the governor and the governor has fallen off with the party?
Exactly, things have fallen apart.
The governor, after we got him stabilised, decided to run a one party state.
At which point did all these problems start?
After we had stabilised him to the extent that after the withdrawal of his police outfit, the case still remains so and he‘s still able to run the affairs of the government and that of the state, he now runs the affairs of the state like that of the poor people. If you recall, there was this styory then that Chris Uba had some documents which he was parading as proof-positive of the fact that he had an agreement with Ngige but we did not want to listen to him then because our concern then was that how can some people go and abduct the governor of a state. Chris Uba had some documents he was carrying about that there was an understanding between him and the governor, and that there were some papers signed and all these things, but nobody gave him audience up to this stage, after about nine months, we‘ve not heard from Chris Uba.
I now said to all those who were with us because of the problems we, too, were beginning to confront with Governor Ngige, especially the issue of his style which most people in the state now see for what it really is, and I told them that let us hear the other side. We told Uba that we wanted to see the documents ‘you`ve been parading.’ When these documents were brought and I read them; after going through all these documents, I shook my head. In fact, we began to feel very funny because we did not believe in our wildest imagination that things were this really bad. Although politics is a game and politicians engage in so many funny things but you only need to have access to the Uba papers and then you’ll begin to feel sorry for politicians in Nigeria, the polity, but most of all, you’ll then judge on your own whether Governor Ngige should be removed or not.
At some point, there was this gang of four.
There must have been a sequence of events that led to your parting of ways. Who were those who made up this gang of four.....
(Cuts in..). It is Chief Chris Atuegbu, who is a Commissioner in Ngige‘s government; Mrs Bene Nwachuckwu (nee Ngige), she is Ngige‘s elder sister - the same father and mother; Ngige himself and Mr. E. C. J Nwosu, an uncle of Ngige. These are the gang of four that run the affairs of Anambra state.
When we got to power, we agreed that we were going to tackle some major road projects, even though those major roads where federal roads, but because they hab been neglected for a long time, we needed to do those roads to give our people the best of governance.
But up till now, I personally went to negotiate for those contracts with the contractors, RCC, and that they should come and start work because we wanted to demonstrate to our people, especially my person, because of my integrity and the fact that the people of Anambra State have had enough, that they should start work on time so we can begin to deliver the dividends. But you wouldn’t believe what happened. At the end of the day, most of those jobs have been abandoned, no serious work is going on with most of those roads.
Look at the issue of local governments for instance.
I kept asking him. Right now, Anambra State is the only state in Nigeria where we have not held local government elections; almost all the states in Nigeria have held their local government elections, we don‘t even have State INEC. Most of the money that are supposed to accrue to local governments every month runs up to N1.2bn, the governor keeps them to the state while the local governments continue to be denied.
For instance, I want to make my own local government as an example, my local government is supposed to be entitled to N48m every month, but what he allegedly gives is N6.5m and another N300,000 for capital projects and another N300,000 to the chairman caretaker committee for miscellaneous and contingencies. That is all they get totaling about N7.1m and the rest N40m is held at the state level and it happens in other parts of the state and this has been happening for the past one year. And there were some arrears that were owed during the Mbadinuju era and when he came to power after this abduction, we insisted that all these arrears should be paid off, he agreed. He paid one month to show good faith and after then, he has refused to pay the rest despite consistent reminder and I was the one who pleaded with the leader of labour in the state, led by Comrade Charles Onyeagba, he refused to pay. If we generate almost N750m monthly, from our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) which is coming from Onitsha market, Nnewi market and major markets in the state, I wonder whether they are been used properly, even pensioners are not being properly taken care of.
The Uba documents, can we have them?
I am a very strict party man and I would not want to be seen as going against the party as regards those documents because the party has made a pronouncement on those documents.
So when I received these documents from Chris Uba, I just took them straight to Chris Ngige, we looked at it and Ngige admitted that he signed the documents and even in the inaugural speech he made with Uba, he wouldn‘t have been governor, all these things are in the document which would be released by the party at the appropriate time or as the party decides based on its wisdom.
I now said that if he now signed all these documents, why not now call this man and find a way to chart out a way of modus vivendi with him. So, he now says he was destabilized, you see, the man who feels he can use everybody and dump everybody at the same time. He does not believe in shareholders, he does not believe in stakeholders, he believes he can run a one-man affair using his gang of four. Even the traditional rulers, he dissolved the house of chiefs , he is running a one man business.
What is your relationship with Chief Chris Uba?
I have no relationship with Chris Uba, I had my first love with Chris Ngige when I thought he was a person with whom we could salvage Anambra State but in the light of what traspired between myself and him, especially concerning the roads we were supposed to construct, I have my reservations.
Have you since gone back to meet Uba?
No, not yet.
So, what is the...?
(Cuts in) And mind you, I am an elder of the party. In fact, the peace meeting which the Senate leadership in conjunction with the party set up, I was nominated as part of the four representatives requested and I represented Ngige. I was on that panel as an Ngige representative and the senate president wrote to me care Ngige which shows my loyalty but I must confess, there are more tan meets the eyes. That committee was set up in January and Senate President Adolphus Wabara appointed me a member of the pre-mediation committee coming from the Ngige camp. Governor Chris Ngige was asked to nominate four people and Uba to nominate four people, Governor Ngige nominated me to come from his own side. While we thought we were fighting for the cause of democracy by protecting Ngige, I was working and walking as a blind man
Now, you said you‘ve been in the dark before...........
(Cuts in)...I was in the dark before because I never availed Chris Uba with the opportunity of hearing his own side, I did not hear from him, I just did not like the manner the governor was abducted and it was uncalled for to physically abduct the governor using force of arms. It was a pity. If Uba had used a more civilised way, nobody would have bothered, but right now, we have issued a political fatwa on Ngige that he‘s going and nothing will stop him from going.
Honestly, I think you run the risk of being seen as somebody who has been settled by the Uba group hence the new position you are adopting. But is there no possibility of people trying to see from a point that reconciliation.
It is a possibility, but as far as I‘m concerned, we don not want Ngige to continue as the governor of Anambra state no matter what some close to him might say. That is Nigerian for you. Anybody can say whatever they want to say. If the fact I know about Ngige now, if I had known those facts before, I would not have given all my support.
If you looked back in retrospect, having played a major role in the political evolution of the PDP in that state, some people are saying that PDP is just coming with its problems and disrupting and disturbing the peace of the state. How do these come across to you?
Well, we want to give our people the dividends of democracy, and we can never give them the dividends of democracy with people like Ngige here and that is why we want him out and put somebody that is focused who can give our people the dividends of democracy and salvage them from the ruins that has met them.
When Mbadinuju was there, you were said to be one those who fought against him.
Yes. I fought against Mbadinuju and Emeka Offor.
Some people are now saying that even while Mbadinuju was governor, it was Chris Uba who was working with him and that was why Mbadinuju could not deliver the dividends of democracy?
I had never been in Chris Uba‘s group. Uba has never been in my group. Uba was always into business, he was a business man and a financier. He was never politician ,he was never part of us.
