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Credible Igbo presidential aspirants will soon
emerge -Gov. Udenwa
Gov Achike Udenwa of Imo State, who hosted last Wednesday’s
Igbo Day celebrations in Imo State, after the highly successful event, granted
audience to some journalists. He spoke extensively on Ndigbo’s goal of producing
the country’s president in 2007. Political Editor, SIMON IBE, was at the
session. Excerpts:
Presidential
aspirants from other parts of the country are already moving and making impact.
Where are the Igbo aspirants? Who is the Igbo candidate? Again, I observed that
there were no South-East ministers at this celebration. Are they pursuing a
different agenda?
I think part of your question is trying to
portray that the Igbos are not united. On the issue of who is the candidate,
quite frankly, I don’t think the issue of the candidate has become too crucial.
That’s my own thinking. We know the history of this country, and we know the
history of democracy. It is because we want to ensure that we don’t make silly
mistakes of the past. So we are taking our time. Contrary to what you see, in
1999 the foremost presidential candidate for PDP was Dr. Alex Ekwueme and in the
APP then as it was, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu was the foremost. It was
circumstances that made them not to get the tickets. So if in the real sense we
are talking of trying to correct the mistakes of the past, I think we are on the
right track. People have been referring to 2003. Then, it was a completely
different issue. I never believed that an Igbo man could be president in 2003.
Though at that time people were clamouring for it, I knew it was not going to be
possible. You had an incumbent and for you to beat an incumbent, he must have
performed so badly, secondly, our people sort of rushed into the project without
enough home work. Enough foundation was not laid. You could remember when
Ekwueme came out. People said there was a sell-out, but there was nothing like
that. He came out too late, many mistakes were made along the line in his coming
out. This was applicable to the others. You don’t come out few months to the
general election in a country like Nigeria and believe you will win. There is a
question of timing in the whole issue. I believe you don’t need to come out so
early and you don’t come out so late.
So I think we are still very much on
course. The way we are consulting more and talking to ourselves and outsiders, I
am sure, will help us to make the right choice and present the right choice at
the right time. I expect that party primaries will come around December 2006 or
January 2007. And we are talking of two years plus, so I don’t think that
somebody must run around for two years before he can make it. I still believe
that a year or a year and half to an election is good enough to make the
necessary impact and achieve result. And to help matters, if somebody comes out,
say, 12 or 15 months to the primaries, and a lot of homework had already been
done before his coming out, it places him in a better position. When you come
out too early, there are some disadvantages. You can burn out yourself too early
or people can put you in unnecessary risky situations. So I don’t believe that
the Igbo are late; not at all. Take it from me, before we get into 2006, you
will see the number of presidential candidates that would have declared their
interest. And you will see that some of them will make more impact than those
who are already there.
I don’t believe that it is the people who
are moving around the country and making all the noise that will be the people
to win. When did Alhaji Shehu Shagari come out, if you could remember? When you
look at the democratic experiments we have had, you will find that in 1979,
people like Olusola Saraki, Maitama Sule were there and they all came out before
Shagari. As a matter of fact, Shagari wanted to go to the Senate. It was at last
that the Northern caucus met and said no, go for the presidency. The same
happened in 1999. Before Obasanjo came out, people like Ekwueme had been on the
scene. I want to dwell on this point because, it has been consistently made. Be
rest assured that the Igbo are doing quite a lot of homework, and I pray that it
works out well. If it works out well and we present a candidate 12 months to the
primaries, we will have a chance, we can win. That is our goal.
Then the second thing you are talking
about is unity. This unity has been talked about so much. The Igbo are not the
worse off when it comes to disunity. The only problem probably we have is that
we have not been able to close ranks at the appropriate time; but not because we
are not united. Like the governors you are seeing, I know there might be one or
two hitches, I am an insider, it is not as you take it. We are not that
disunited. Like, you saw that three governors attended the celebration. I know
quite well why the Abia State governor was not there. He had to travel, and I
know why he travelled; that is why he sent his SSG. The Enugu State governor
could not come, he also told us that he would not be able to make it, and he
sent his Deputy. So when we have a meeting and all the governors are not there,
it doesn’t show disunity. There may be some little problem, but when the
Northern governors meet, not all of them attend, for one reason or the other. So
this sort of disunity you are thinking of is not there. If there are some little
problems, we are solving them.
It is important to stress the need for
aspirants to indicate their intention, especially given the way the aspirants,
especially those from the North, have been moving across the country. Are they
going to come out six months to the primaries or the polls proper? Or is all the
noise about positioning for the vice presidential position as it is being
speculated in some quarters?
Honestly, six months may not be enough to
tour aound the country and at the same time, I don’t believe we need three years
to do it. There is a bracket within which somebody can campaign and campaign
successfully. Look at it this way. Only the far North has come out with people
who are saying they are going to contest. But if you have been listening very
closely, you would have heard the South South saying they want the presidency.
The Middle Belt has said they are also interested in the presidency. Who in all
these places have come out to say I am running? It is all conjecture — it could
be this man or that man. So I still believe that having some good tactics is a
positive step towards winning the ticket. So instead of everybody jumping out,
the way we are going about it, I believe, is a lot better, so far for us. I
don’t think it is people jumping up and saying I want to be president that will
solve the problem. If those other people move in the day, who told you we don’t
move in the night? Who told you?
I still believe there is a lot of
groundwork that needs to be done, but you don’t even know whether some people
have indicated to us that they want to run. We are still looking at them and
making contacts to see who is sellable. I don’t want you to be so frightened
that because we have not come out now that we are not serious. No, there is the
right time for coming out. It is necessary for proper planning behind the scenes
to be done before jumping out. They say once beaten twice shy. We had our
problems in the past. Maybe lack of tact, or adequate contacts. This thing is
not as easy as you take it. At least you must approach the others and seek their
support for the project. By so doing you’ve bee able to extract some reasonable
degree of support from the different areas. These behind the scenes moves need
to be made I don’t believe we are late. It is better we come out at the
appropriate time after doing some groundwork, than allow everybody to jump into
the scene to want to be presidential candidates. At the appropriate time we will
pick a competent candidate. You raised the question of our gunning for the vice
presidency. Please, I want to disabuse your mind on that; because it is the
press that is giving people that impression. Each time the press will say the
South East is gunning for the vice presidency. You don’t contest the position of
vice president. Once the presidential candidate is picked, the candidate will go
out and pick his running mate. Check your history. When Shagari became the
presidential candidate of the NPN, the equation in Igboland changed. The
foremost contenders for the position of the vice presidency were K. O. Mbadiwe
and J. O. J. Okezie. Ekwueme was nowhere then. Ekwueme had lost the governorship
primaries to Chief C. C. Onoh. But Shagari went and picked him when many people
did not even know that Ekwueme was a politician. Look, it is just like marriage.
If you know the relationship between a president and his vice or governor and
his deputy, it is just like marriage. You can go and pick one small girl you can
control and live with. This is the truth. Nobody is gunning for vice president.
If anybody is gunning for that position, such a person is a fool, because as
soon as the man emerges as presidential candidate, he can pick anybody. Anybody
gunning for the position of a vice president does not understand politics at
all.
There is this impression that President
Obasanjo does not like Ndigbo. Do you think he will like to hand over to an Igbo
President? Is there any consultations going on with the powers that be?
I think it will be unfair to say that Mr.
President does not like Ndigbo and will not like to hand over to them. We
will be unfair to him if we say that. I believe if the right man comes out from
Igbo land, Mr. President will hand over to him. Remember, he is even our in-law.
Whenever I see him, he calls me Ogom (in-law). If he is our
in-law, I don’t see how he does not like us. I do not believe that he does not
like Ndigbo. But you see, whatever happens, Mr. President must have a say
at least in who becomes his successor. It is very natural, you cannot wish it
away in democratic process. Of course, at the appropriate time, we will talk,
perhaps when PDP is taking a decision on who will be its candidate. And we will
tell him the benefits of handing over to an Igbo man; that it will help for
stability. So I don’t fear that aspect; I don’t believe he will not be willing
to hand over to an Igbo man.
If my record is correct, some people
recently endorsed your candidature as president for 2007. Have you given it a
thought?
I was surprised when my zone said so. I
was happy for one thing, it shows the level of confidence they have in me. But I
told them I have not made up my mind on whether to aspire or not. And that is
with all sincerity. It is not playing politics. Presidency is a serious
business, it is not something you just wake up one day and say you want to
contest. It is something you must consider very well. Are you schooled enough to
accept that responsibility? So as at now I have not made up my mind. I thanked
my people for endorsing me. At least that shows that they have confidence in me;
but that does not automatically mean that I have agreed to aspire. I am
qualified by all means but I have to check my own personal circumstances; if I
am given the position, will I put enough time, enough seriousness into it? Would
I apply myself completely to the demands of the office, bearing in mind that
Nigeria is a complex society? I am governing Imo State that is a monolithic
environment yet I know what it takes. Before you make one law, you must adjust
and readjust, to ensure that different interests are protected, and by the time
you finish, the law would have been so watered down that it is no longer a good
law. So how much more Nigeria. In as much as I didn’t say I will not contest,
because you may soon quote me, as saying so; all I am saying is yes, I got that
endorsement, so to speak from my people and if at the right time I am well
disposed to it, I will accept the challenge. I can tell you one thing, all
those big men we talk about in Nigeria everyday, there are thousands of
people who can match them very well intellectually and who can match them in all
aspects, maybe not money. But we keep playing down our potentials; behaving as
if we do not have people. I wouldn’t believe that any of them there is better
than me. We have many people who can compete with them, people who are better
than them. So just take it from me that I have heard my people and I thank them,
but I have not made up my mind on that issue.
You raised the issue of perception?
The press has more role to play in
creating perception than the ordinary person, because it is from you we hear
that this man is so good and it is from you we hear that that man is not good.
It is you. That perception is created more by you. Quite frankly, politically,
we are not well organised. Remember in 1999, we were coming back after a long
military rule. And Ekwueme did not say he lost because we did not rally round
him, he said there was a conspiracy. 2003, to me, was a no contest. Now do we
want to make the same mistake for 2007?. Do we want to fall victim of another
high stake conspiracy by asking everybody to come? I still believe that what
Igbos are doing is not wrong. As you are leaving, go with let us come out with a
consensus candidate overnight but some credible Igbo presidential aspirants will
emerge. They will come out and by the time they do, we will study them for some
six months and then say out of these six, let’s narrow it down to one or two or
three. No matter the formula that we apply, but you must believe that they will
win. That is why I am praying and begging the press, we can’t do this alone. By
the time these people emerge, we should be able to tell Nigerians that these are
people of substance. And it is just like when your product has NAFDAC number we
want to make sure, we put our stamp of approval on one, two or three of them so
that people will know that Ndigbo have endorsed them. It does not mean
that the others will not come out. And again you must also take into
consideration that in 1999, people came out, lost money and everything and at
the last minute, something happened, we did not get it. The same day it was
happening in Jos, the same conspiracy was being visited on the Igbos in Kaduna.
So people have to be very careful. In 2003, the same thing happened when many of
our people came out and lost their money. Nothing came out of it. So now people
are being careful, nobody wants to gamble carelessly again. The presidential
candidacy is not for gambling, you must be serious about it because it needs
resources. So do not have any fears. We want you to continue to have confidence
that what we are doing at the appropriate time will produce results.
From the consultations so far, how
predisposed is your party towards favouring an Igbo presidential candidate for
the 2007 election?
Every politician who wants to contest an
election tries as much as possible to link up with a political party since our
constitution today does not recognise an independent candidate. The five South
East states are all controlled by the PDP, so to us, it is very crucial that we
know what is happening in the party. I am happy that since we started the Igbo
presidency project, the truth is coming out. Initially, people told us "ah! it
has been concluded before that it will go to the North." But at least, Mr.
President has said that every geo-political zone except his own South West is
eligible to contest the presidential election. So as far as we are concerned, we
must be talking with the party. And again, when it comes to this zoning issue,
people have been talking of North-South. I hope we know the history of this
country. North-South is more or less geographical. There is a geopgraphical
North and a geographical South. But politically, there is no political North and
South. I think we must make the distinction. The North-South divide ended in
1914 during the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates. For
those of you who know history, the amalgamation was done by Lord Lugard. When it
came to the time of independence, it was the regions — East, West and North,
that surrendered their autonomy and agreed to enter into a federation. That is
why when some of us are talking of true federalism today, people look at us as
confronting the federal government. People do not understand what the
constitution is all about. Historically, these three regions surrendered their
autonomy to some extent to the federal government to form a federation. Now go
back to the 1999 constitution and show me anywhere that is talking of North and
South. Only geo-political zones are mentioned. So if a zone comes to say they
want the presidency, we can listen to them. The South East has said so, the
South South has said so, and I just think it is a healthy development. So we are
beginning now to look at the constitution the way it should be looked at. I
don’t know whether we are naive or mischievous to talk of North-South. There is
nothing like that in the 1999 constitution. So we believe the South-East as a
zone wants it the presidency. If any other zone wants, it is their legitimate
right to aspire to it. We are not going to fight over it. At the end of the day,
we are going to sit down and agree. I want us to see from which side it is being
followed. It should be followed from the head, not the heart; not too much
sentiment, when people will come and tell you it was agreed in 1999 that after
the South, it will go to the North. I don’t know where the agreement was
reached. They have started quoting again the PDP caucus meeting we had in 2002.
I was there; it was an expanded PDP caucus meeting. It was suggested by
somebody. We were just having a discussion and somebody said that the presidency
should go to the North after the South. God so kind, I got up and said, does it
mean if I want to be a president of this country, I have to wait till 2015?
somebody else said eyes, and I said "no, it is not acceptable to my people." Can
that translate to a decision of the caucus meeting? No, it was not a decision.
So we have to be very careful about what we say.
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