•Nwaji
Chief Sylvanus Nwaji, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia chapter, has stated that for the Abia State governor, Alex Otti to succeed, he needs to distance himself from praise singers, who according to him, destroyed the administrations of his predecessors – Chief TA Orji and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, during their tenures as governor.
In this interview with Saturday Sun, the former Chairman of Action People’s Party (APP) in the state advocated the abrogation of State Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and handing the conduct of Council polls to INEC.
How would you rate the administration of Abia State governor, Alex Otti?G
Governance is not easy. I am not a member of his party (Labour Party), but I see many of his members singing his praises. Like I said, governance is not easy. All things being said, including the coming of the firm of Julius Berger, I see them as rumours. Yes, there are certain roads he has embarked on completing that were started by his predecessors in office and others he has initiated himself. I still have not seen very solid work on ground, just like the oil cluster project he came to flag off in Owaza, in Ukwa West, my council area. Our people are saying, it is just an issue of land grabbing, because after the initial flagging off, no positive action is going on at the site. So, personally, I wouldn’t want to criticise him but I am saying it as it is, presently. I am not a sycophant. I have not seen real action and you come to local government administration; since he came, people are claiming that workers have not been paid their salaries though rumours going round say otherwise. Even one of my late brother’s wives said that some of them were not being paid and that those that get paid received half salaries. We don’t know who is saying the truth, the said workers or the governor’s praise singers. I see a lot of praise singing now in the government.
If you were in the administration, working with Otti, what advice would you give to him. What would you tell him on this?
We have worked together in the past, in 2015, when I served as his political campaign manager for Ukwa West. I had discovered that the problem he has is that of not trusting anyone. I can tell you that he believes in gossips, people engaging in backbiting, castigating others to gain his attention. For me, I will tell him to look out for mature individuals that he will be consulting on issues of governance. He should avoid those persons telling him that all his predecessors in office were failures. Such claims do not hold water. There were areas the former governors excelled. There’s no way to believe that the three, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, Chief Theodore Orji and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, have not contributed positively towards Abia’s development. They tried their best. He should acknowledge them and then get people from outside his appointed officials that he will be consulting on issues of moving the state forward. His appointed officials are new in government and indeed, politics. When I was in government, I used to do memos to the then governors, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu and Chief TA Orji, to inform them about how I feel that things should be done for the overall benefit of the state and its people. Gov TA Orji failed because he relied so much on sycophants and his son, Chinedu Orji. Otti should avoid such people for him to succeed. For Gov Okezie Ikpeazu, to a certain extent, his failure was from the same source. I have to say it. I made memos to him, while I was with them, but some of his brothers, who planned and aided his downfall, were the ones advising him. So, Dr Alex Otti should use wider consultations, instead of relying on his appointees, most of who are new in government and are still studying the processes. As his workers, they must surely sing his praises to win his trust, even when things start getting bad.
What about the Abia State Oil Producing Communities Development Commission (ASOPADEC) which you wanted reorganised? Are you happy now that the commission has been reorganised? Is it now working?
With all modesty, the governor appointed a clergyman from Ukwa, who is like a Sole Administrator that takes directives from his master. The man does not operate independently and I have not seen any developmental projects being initiated since his appointment. This may be due to the size of funds he receives, which are released to him with guidelines on how they will be spent. I believe that is why there’s nothing to show presently, that we have ASOPADEC, in Abia for now.
What is the extent of work at the site of Owaza oil and gas industrial cluster project? And are your people now feeling accommodated in the state’s development programmes?
My people are likening what is going on in Owaza today to the land grabbing politics of Obuaku city projects, where government agents used issues of development to deprive the communities of their sacred lands without implementation of projects they were meant for. The government of the day will make lots of noise, come to Asa (Ukwa West) and grab the people’s land and go, because they feel that we have no prominent men to fight our cause or challenge them. Since the flagging off of the Owaza project, nothing else has been done there, no action. People were in very high spirits during the flag-off, but are now saying what happened was another land grabbing ploy by the authorities.
What exactly do they want the government to do?
The government should match words with action. You know during the flagging off, youths in our area were promised jobs when the projects take off, but we’re yet to see any action on the part of the sponsors. We are yet to see very positive action in government, though it is still too early. Well, the months he has stayed in office are not enough to begin assessing what he has done so far. It is not enough to judge him. Rather I believe my speaking with you will ginger him to go into more action. Let people advise him properly, using those with vast knowledge on issues of development. Such individuals like those he appointed as Local Government Councils Transition committee chairmen, Chief David Ogba Onuoha; Chairman Bourdex Communications, and Ide John Udeagbala, immediate past National President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), who he appointed to manage Ohafia and Aba North Councils, could serve as his advisers/consultants, instead. In their present positions, with the status they have attained in life, who would be bold enough to advise them when things tend to go bad? I was a local government council chairman as a starter in politics. As it stands now, I will not accept any appointment at that level anymore, with my own little standard.
Wouldn’t it have been better for the governor to conduct council elections and legitimately get good hands to govern at the grassroots?
You see, even in what you called local government elections, people are selected, those that are loyal to the governors. It has been happening since after our own set between 1999 and 2001. State electoral commissions, otherwise called SIEC, should be disbanded in the country. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be allowed to conduct local government polls, so that there’ll be stiff contests. Every political party competing for elective office would bring in their best to campaign and the results would show a true selection of representatives of the people by merit. What is currently happening in all the states is the same as appointment of transition committee chairmen and members, by governors and their ruling parties. When SIECs schedule elections, written lists of candidates of the ruling party are handed in with imagined results. Even as people troop out to vote on purported election days, real voting materials are not brought to the centres. The next one hears is that the governor’s party has won in all the 17 council areas in Abia, while in Imo, it becomes 27 over 27, with all councillorship positions cleared. Let the right thing be done. Let the National Assembly revisit the constitution, in order to remove and amend the enabling provisions that gave power to establish state electoral commissions (SIECs) and hand over that responsibility to INEC. I know that INEC, on its part, is very corrupt, but opposition political parties in the states will have confidence in contesting a non-partisan conducted election. Those that will vie for positions will come believing to sincerely sell themselves through their integrity, with selfless endeavours and not as party stooges of the governor on seat. The current system is a continuation of the transition committee system. That is why we don’t have development at the rural communities, the grassroots.
The general elections have ended with your party, the APC, having poor showing in Abia. Are there moves to reconcile the factions?
As far as I am concerned, there’s no cohesion in Abia APC. There’s leadership tussle, therefore, no unity of purpose to come together as it were, assess our performances and reposition for the future. Until there’s an arrangement of calling everybody, all stakeholders and party faithful, together with the intention of marrying all structures into one body, a single platform, we will not have peace in Abia APC. As it stands now, we don’t have an authentic leadership. We don’t know which one to follow. My brother, Golden Nwagbara from Ukwa East is parading himself as the State Chairman of the Dr Uche Ogah (former minister of state for solid minerals development) faction. Then, Chief Emmanuel Ononogbo is regarded as Chairman by the Chief Ikechi Emenike (governorship candidate in the March 18th election) faction. The irony is that within the party, the main stakeholders in Abuja do not recognise any of the factions in Abia. They don’t have any dealings with anyone of the two factions. They see their leaderships as factional. So, until the National Chairman, Alhaji Ganduje, calls everybody to order, unite the party, we can’t do anything. It will be difficult to be talking about challenging the ruling party in Abia for now, in view of the present situation on ground. There should be unity first. The members should come together, advised to forget the past and how some persons were cheated, then have broad minds to work with one another. Without that, I don’t think we can do better than where we are at present.
What roles should the citizenry play in rebuilding Abia?
Abians and people who love the state should pray for the governor continually, because it is not easy to govern human beings even if they are of the same parents. There might be things that he is doing believing them to be right, though they may not. The spontaneous reaction that welcomed his victory at the polls should be sustained with prayers. Then, on his part, he ought to be challenged towards rebuilding the state positively, in correspondence with the love being shown him by the people and even the criticisms from the opposition. Let him use it as a working material to reprove his opposers. Let it be service to Abia and its people. Let him begin to do things differently, improving infrastructure – roads, that are very important to the people, creation of employment for the youths, provision of basic healthcare, facilities improvement.
What other things should be done by Gov Otti to remain stable in leading Abia towards greater heights?
The Aba General Hospital, in particular, should be pulled down, if necessary, to put up a people-oriented establishment that will take care of their healthcare needs. The one in Okeikpe, Ukwa West Council Area headquarters, which had been inactive and currently abandoned, should be rehabilitated and converted into either a teaching hospital or joined with the present council headquarters to form a campus of a tertiary institution. I have repeatedly called for moving the Local Government headquarters in Okeikpe to a more suitable, central location in Obehie, which had been our district council headquarters from the colonial days. Okeikpe, though an arid location, had served as a joint central land to serve as headquarters of the then Ukwa Local Government, which is now split into two, Ukwa East and Ukwa West Areas. Since the creation of the two councils, and movement of Ndoki clans (Ukwa East) to Akwette, as their headquarters, Okeikpe has remained a ghost location, with structures, including government establishments, lying waste owing to shortfall in activities of those needing one public service or the other. Presently, Ukwa West communities live far away from the area, using Obehie, their central old council/commercial headquarters, which incidentally had developed naturally, over the years with the passage of the all-important Enugu/Port Harcourt Expressway, as a major gateway. This is why we are calling on the authorities to officially declare Obehie, as Ukwa West Council Area headquarters, instead, for the overall benefit of the people and the state in general. It will engender rapid development and increase the population of those wanting to move into semi/low level urban areas. Individuals and businesses that are urban inclined but don’t want to live in crowded societies like Aba, will take advantage of returning Obehie as Council headquarters, to set up offices in the land, thereby helping to boost local economies, in doing so.
