September 05, (THEWILL) – The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria and member of the Anambra Governorship Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, speaks on the forthcoming Anambra State Governorship Election and other issues as they affect the country, in this interview withAYO ESAN. Excerpts:
Do you believe in zoning of the presidency, come 2023?
I sincerely subscribe to zoning or rotation convention in Nigeria, especially at the stage where we are as a nation. For us to engender national unity, loyalty, equity, and natural justice, zoning becomes imperative. Zoning is a convention in liberal democracy. There is the law with legal teeth mostly written in black and white and the convention most times unwritten, but carries moral weight. Secondly, zoning convention, more than any other factor, contributed more to consolidation of our 4th Republic as the longest in the annals of our democratic trajectory. Whereas, I cannot dismiss the cogent argument of those who canvass that we should look for the best; however, I doff my heart to the continuation of zoning until we stabilise our democracy and our dear country. We mustn’t forget that every geopolitical zone has eminently qualified ladies and gentlemen to preside over Nigeria.
Many are of the opinion that for the Igbo to get the presidency in 2023, they must play the politics of inclusiveness. What is your take on that?
Permit me to start by congratulating those patriots who initiated the zoning convention at the eve of our exit from military dictatorship between 1998 and 1999. They are true patriots that placed the unity and collective interest of our dear country above selfish political interest by stating that the President should rotate between the North and South, starting from the South-West, a group which was injured via the cruel and unjust annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by business mogul, Chief M.K.O. Abiola of blessed memory.
One remembers with nostalgia how eminent politicians from the North like Alhajis Abubakar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma and Dr Sola Saraki were prevailed upon to subsume their ambitions and allow a southern candidate in the interest of justice and peace of the country. Furthermore, South-East politicians like former Vice President Alex Ekwueme of blessed memory and Dr Ogboniya Onu, current Minister of Science and Digital Technology, were persuaded to step down for the duo of Chiefs Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, who flew the tickets of the PDP and APP/AD alliance in 1999. That’s was the origin of our zoning convention.
Coming back to my question, what is your take on the argument that the Igbo must play the politics of inclusiveness to get the presidency in 2023?
My over 40 years in politics has taught me that if you want to deny a child his packet of sweets, you fly the bogey that his shirt is dirty. That he will only have the sweets after washing his shirt. That’s a bogey to deny him his sweet. It is a kind of give a dog a bad name to hang him. Otherwise, which group was inclusive before they won the prime minister or the president in our political history? Were the Hausa/Fulani or the Yoruba inclusive before Shagari or Obasanjo was elected? The truth is that, going by the rotation of president between the North and South, it is the turn of the South-East, as our brothers in the South-West and South-South geopolitical zones have presided over the country since the 4th Republic. Ndigbo are the only major ethnic group from the southern belt that has not presided over our dear country.
You are a member of the Anambra APC Governorship Campaign Council. What are the chances of your party winning the governorship election?
Our chances are very bright, based on many factors. One, we were second in the last governorsship election in Anambra State, where our then candidate, Dr Tony Nwoye, nearly defeated the incumbent Willie Obiano. We have carefully taken note of why we lost and how we beat the PDP then. To be exact, it is not strategic for one to expose our game changing strategy here. Suffice to say that even APGA and PDP top notchers and members are gradually defecting to APC. For example, when you count on two amazons and distinguished Senators Stella Oduah and Joy Emordi, be rest assured that we have made inroads into Anambra North Senatorial District. Andy Uba is from the Anambra South Senatorial District, so the battle is in Anambra Central Senatorial District. We are the party to beat, as the incumbent is not in the race and Uba has the capacity to attract Foreign Direct Investment to industrialise the state. He has enormous international and local networks to transform the state industrially. This is the game changer for Anambra.
With the performances of the APGA and PDP do you think APC is making a strong inroad into the South-East?
Democracy is not a revolution. All one knows is that the gains made in liberal democracy throughout history have been incremental. I thank the Almighty God today that eminent persons like Senator Ken Nnamani, who called us unprintable names when Rt. Hon Chuba Okadigbo of blessed memory led us into Buhari’s camp, are now converts, pushing, shoving and indeed, trying to edge us out. It means we are covering more electoral mileage. For instance, in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, we didn’t score 25 per cent in any southeastern state, but in 2019, we had 25 per cent in three out of five states. To me it is huge incremental electoral gain. Therefore, with Anambra in November, we will be christened APC geopolitical zone.
How would you assess President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in the last six years?
Without being immodest, I would score President Muhammadu Buhari 70 per cent and dub him Mr Infrastructure and the man who achieved more with little. He initiated the Buhari Agrarian Revolution (#BUGREV) and the Standard Gauge Railway. One hopes his successor will continue where he stopped.
A lot of people easily forget that he continued all the federal roads abandoned by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, even the Apapa-Ota-Abeokuta Road, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded to Julius Berger, one of the best construction companies in Nigeria, in 2001. This road traverses Obasanjo’s farm and his hometown, yet it was budgeted for year in year out like the others and there is no accountability. President Buhari didn’t revoke the contracts, but gradually started paying with the little he had when the price of crude oil was below $40 per barrel, in contrast to the preceding years when the price was at an average of $100 per barrel, yet our infrastructure decayed.
What of insecurity, one of the planks of Buhari’s manifesto?
One can only say that nobody is happy with our sordid security challenges. The President is very pained and is doing everything to stem the tide, which dampens his strides in other sectors, such as agriculture. However, we must also not forget that the material conditions which fueled our insecurity can be traced to over three decades.
There is a court pronouncement that sacked Mai Buni as chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the APC. What is your reaction to this?
I think we better allow the courts to thrash out the cacophony of cases across the length of the country. Any comment may be subjudice and one don’t want to be culpable.
Some people are predicting that the APC will implode very soon. Are you concerned about such prediction?
This is no news. As far back as February 4, 2013, when we commenced the sitting of the merger committee that gave birth to the APC at Chief Tom Ikimi’s House in the Maitama area of Abuja, some pundits or doomsayers have been saying that APC will not be. Yes, we have passed through challenging phases and tough times, but my belief is that if APC can survive the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s scatter-diagram phase, it will survive any other turbulent phase.
APC will not implode. We will reconcile the rough edges arising from the Ward Congress where some eminent persons mangled the concept of consensus as envisaged by Article 20(I) of the party’s Constitution.
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and his Ebonyi counterpart recently dumped PDP to join APC. What does this portend for your party in future elections, especially in those two states?
More electoral vote harvests, especially in a political clime like ours where governors ape emperors. To be more serious, the two governors have acquitted Governor David Umahi pioneered cement-paved roads and kind of formed a ring-road in the state. It is historic. Ayade has also industrialised Cross River State. These are major additions in our electoral menu.
Your name is being touted as one of the people that may succeed President Buhari in 2023. Given your close relationship with the President, is it true that you are being positioned to succeed him?
I don’t know as Mr President has not mentioned his successor to me. All one is preoccupied with is how to elevate the Voice of Nigeria’s status in the competitive global broadcasting industry and enhance the welfare of my staff.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
