2007: 'Why Igbo Presidency's an Illusion'
The Abia State Chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been bedevilled, in recent times, with crises culminating in the removal from office, of its chairman, Chief Uzodinma Okpara. In this interview with Christopher Isiguzo, the pioneer chairman of the party in the state, Chief Tony Ukasanya speaks on the genesis of the crisis rocking the party, Igbo and 2007 presidency, among other issues
You were formerly the Chairman of the PDP in Abia State, how would you access the party's status and performance so far? I was the foundation chairman of the party, and who built the party and it's followership in the state, until that crisis that heralded my removal, for another chairman to come on board and since then, the party has remained in a state of malfunction State. Rather than hear about the party, what we hear is the "Reality Organization" which is an organ owned by the state governor, that's it; the party is virtually dead in the state.
The crisis that caused your removal seems to be coming back to the party. Recently your successor was removed. what is actually the state of things on the party right now?
The crises is returning because we are not seeing what we are expecting after two years of waiting patiently. It's not surprising that the crisis is returning. People are wondering what maybe happening in the state. Party members are asking for the party where everybody will participate and not just a party closed to one person or the mother, that's why the crisis is coming back.
What efforts are you and other staunch supporters of the party are making to possibly restore the image and integrity of the party?
That's why we are accusing the state chairman of negligence, of not being able to stand before the governor and call a 'spade a spade' especially how the party is supposed to be run. We are aggrieved. This is why people have seen the removed chairman as not being competent.
What were your expectations from the party?
We expected that the executives should be harmonized and that has not been done. The party in the state is not working to ensure followership or working to accommodate people as we see in other states.
According to the governor, the crises still persist because he has refused to part with the state funds to some people in the state. How true is this?
Nobody has ever discussed money with him because money is not everything, we are talking about building the party and not sharing money. The governor is seeing the state as a personal estate and we are telling him that it's wrong. Government should be for the people and not for him, it is wrong for him to be running the state with the mother, we voted him into government therefore we should ask questions, without us he would not have been there.
How do you look at the decision of the state executive council to zone the Governorship of the state to the Ukwa/Ngwa axis of the state contrary to the decision of the party to have it for Abia central zone by 2007?
I've not heard about that, we are only aware that it was zoned to Abia central by the party. At that time, the governor even opposed it,saying everybody should be allowed to run for the position. He said there is nothing like zoning, he said politics was a survival of the fittest and not something that should be given to anybody like that. But if the government says it has been zoned to Ukwa/Ngwa let's watch. People should not take the governor serious because he says different things at different times. The decision of zoning is for the party and not for him to take while he is at Government House.
How do you see the Igbo Presidency agitation for 2007. Do you think it is realizable?
Well, we are in democracy, the party has said there is no zoning that people are free to contest. It therefore means that Ndigbo are also free to contest. If we want the Presidency for 2007, we have to work for it, but the way I see the Igbo political class, looks as if they are not serious for it, they are just talking for the sake of talking. They are not doing any work for it. Those who are serious for it are working and we are seeing them, no Igbo man has said he wants to contest it, we are only reading on the pages of newspapers that the presidency should be given to the Ndigbo. No position is given to anybody in politics, you have to struggle for any position you want in politics, so Ndigbo should be serious if indeed they want the seat by 2007 and no to say it for the sake of saying it or for some personal gains.
By 2007, the Presidency would have stayed in the South for eight years. Is it right for the South to also contest for it?
In 1998, when I was a member of the PDP NEC, the party said the presidency will be in the south for eight years and thereafter, move to the the North. That was during the period of Chief Solomon Lar as the National Chairman, but when he left all that changed, because people like Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Chief Bernabas Gemade refused and contested for the election. Later on the party came up with the policy of not zoning again. The position of the party now is no zoning. Everybody is free to contest, except the south-west that is currently in the saddle.
Some 34 years after the civil war, the issue of Biafra is coming up again, this time the MASSOB is championing it, how do you reconcile it with the Igbo Presidency agitation?
I don't know those who are behind MASSOB, we have one Nigeria, after the civil war, all of us decided to maintain one Nigeria, and since then, we've been working together as one indivisible entity. We are no longer talking about Biafra, we had it in the past but after the civil war we resolved to be in Nigeria, we are no-longer talking about secession, we don't support it. Everybody is free to vie for the Presidency, we don't discuss Biafra anymore.
Let's look at the on-going reform programme of the Federal Government, it seems to be biting hard on the masses, how do you see it?
I think the reform is needed, we are in a situation, where we have a country that has no focus at all, politically, socially and economically, so, for us to move forward as a country, the reform has become necessary and fundamental. The reform is for Nigerians, it's for us to restructure our system, and when that structure is built, economically, socially, the people would begin to reap the dividends. There's no time you have a reform without the people suffering, there must be sacrifices. Reformation means changing from what you have to better, at the end of the day, we are going to have stability in the system, we're going to have a better economic system that would benefit everybody. Now everything in this country, is so informal, we don't have a stable economy, to take care of this we have to restructure the system.
Federal Government has indeed banned a lot of things in the country, let's look at the Chinese example, while they were reforming, they concentrated on the production of capital goods, but for us there's nothing on ground and government is busy banning?
I don't know about the reform in China but I know that the Asians have their own system that as productive as we may think but the situation in Nigeira is different. We de-emphasize creatively, in Taiwan everybody is producing something, while government regulates, but here we allow government to do everything for us, that's not the best.
What's your view on the persistent call for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) by prominent Nigerians?
I think the idea for a national conference is not bad. I don't think it is right because we have a government and the National Assembly also. These people might come together to dissolve the government, it's not wrong for people to come together to discuss the future of the country, if we can have it, it's not completely bad, I support a national conference.
Do you think the people have at the National Assembly are really representing us, considering the system that brought them to power?
Yes, they are doing well, we are happy with them. They are there to regulate the government, make laws for the people. Why some people think they are not performing is because their relationship with the executive arm is so cordial, they are not doing badly
How do you look at the continued ban on Slok Airlines by the Federal Government, don't you think it's a continuation of the marginalisation of the government against the Ndigbo?
Let's put record straight, is it right for a serving governor to own businesses here and there. The constitution is clear on that, if you are a governor, you don't have to be part of one business or the other. But, in the case of Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, he has businesses he is operating, airlines, ships and newspaper company, even bank, yet government is not doing anything. What's ICPC and EFCC doing, government should begin to regulate some of these things, governors should not own businesses until after their tenure in the office.
What's your advise for politicians jostling for one political position or the other for 2007?
My advise is that it's too early for us to begin to talk of 2007, we should allow those we've elected to do their job, allow them to deliver democracy dividends to the people, it's unfortunate that things are not regulated in this country, but that should not make us to continue doing the wrong thing at all times.
|
