Ndigbo have a lot to do to achieve president of Igbo extraction in 2023 –Okwuosa

Sir Azuka Okwuosa is a political juggernaut in Anambra State. He was an APC aspirant in the just concluded November 6 Anambra governorship election. He has also been a former Council Chairman of old Nnewi Council Area, former Commissioner in the state, among others. Sir Okwuosa, who said that he was mentored by the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in this interview talked about Anambra politics, a president of Igbo extraction, infrastructural decay in Southeast, among other things. Excerpts:

After the governorship election on November 6 in Anambra State which you would have participated, there has not been any comment from you since then, why?

Well, I have not actually been quiet as you have said.  I believe that what happened at the primary election in my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is an internal problem which cannot be discussed on the pages of newspapers.  I have always made that point clear.  But if you talk of the external aspect of it, I believe that the election has come and gone and the result has been out.  And I’m also aware that in every election the victor is supposed to be applauded and the vanquished is supposed to agitate.  And it is the right and privileges as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that anybody who feels aggrieved can go and ventilate and explore all legitimate and legal options at his disposal for redress. So, why I didn’t want to talk is that I don’t want to be seen to have usurped or jeopardized a process that is still ongoing.  With my experience in politics, I believe that the most important thing is that the election is a process.  After the election, there is an election petition tribunal.  After that is exhausted, the next thing is inauguration of a candidate who is validly elected.  Somebody would have been elected validly when all the hurdles have been eliminated. I’m not saying that the election was not free and fair or that the election was not credible.  All I’m saying is that it is for the court to determine.  I don’t want to usurp the legal process as it is. Naturally, when there is an election the first thing that is always done is to congratulate the winner and at the same time when I go back to the drawing board if I feel aggrieved I can still contest it.  In 2019, when I ran for Senate, you know I went to court because I was not convinced that my opponent won the election and I fought it to a logical conclusion. But in this case the interest of Anambra State is more paramount than our own personal interest.  I’m looking forward to a state that is supposed to be a role model in terms of leadership and everything you can imagine  and the only way you can do it is for us leaders to come together, at times we can disagree to agree.  The most important thing is progress at the end of the day. So, it is not just about talking for talking sake.  It is about doing the needful.  At times I advised those that are supposed to be advised.  I use the experience I have to do that.  You know it must not be in the pages of newspapers.  The ultimate aim is for us to have good governance in Anambra State and the state to still occupy the enviable position for which it has been noted.

When you decided to contest the election, did you anticipate what happened to you at the primary level?

You know I’m being forced to be drawn into what I see as an internal affair of our party.  It is a process.  The process is just very clear.  After the botched primaries the party had a programme, an appeal panel.  And after appeal panel there was a reconciliation committee with the membership of about four governors including the governors of Kogi, Jigawa, Plataeu.  Senator Ken Nnamani was there and other personalities.  The outcome is the internal affair of the party which I would not want to discuss in the media. Having said that, we explored everything.  But like I always say, I’m a party man, who believes in the supremacy of the party.  At times you may not get things the way you want them.  If at the end of the day the party decided this is the way it wants it to be, as a loyal party man I will listen to that.  I will not go for anti-party activities.  No.  I will never do that.  Internal issues of the party are being discussed internally.  And I prefer to make my grief known through the internal process of the party.  But if it is something about the generality of political parties in Anambra State outside the APC, I can discuss that.

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Well, I think the question is a little bit unnecessary because we had an election and we have a winner of that election and the person has not even been inaugurated as a governor and he has not served out his four years, you are talking about the next four years.  Let us pray that we have life and then let’s see how things work out.  Events will determine our own next line of action. My emergence into the democratic process for governorship in Anambra was borne out of necessity because of the level of problems we have in Anambra State which you can witness. Look at the state of our roads, look at infrastructural decay and inability to sustain the legacies of Chris Ngige and Peter Obi as governors.  I have these things as a burden in my heart.  I believe that God has blessed me and what do I bequeath to my generation other to offer myself for service. If there is a credible leadership, I have no business to run for the election.  But in the absence of credible leadership, people are supposed to take responsibility to liberate their people and I will never shy away for that.

What do you think about 2023 and Nigeria president of Igbo extraction?

Definitely, by all parameters of judgment, it is right to be done, to allow the Igbo to produce the next president of this country, if you look at equity naturally; Southeast has been most marginalized in terms of representation at the highest level of leadership in this country, at the presidential level.  We have never been privileged to have a Nigerian president of Southeast extraction.  Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe at his own time was a ceremonial president when we have parliamentary system of government in Nigeria.  The Prime Minister was in charge.  So, we have never really occupied any executive position in the real sense of it. Subsequently, after the First Republic due to military intervention, democracy was interrupted.  Then during the Second Republic, the North produced a president in the person of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, after Shagari  we had another spate of military intervention.  Thereafter, we had the Southwest taking a shot under President Olusegun Obasanjo.  And after that the South-south had a shot under President Goodluck Jonathan.  It is only the Southeast that has not been privileged to taste that position.

Remember that the Southeast is almost like, based on 1953 and 1963 census, placed on one quarter of Nigerian population. By the same 1953 and 1963 census figure, respectively the whole of Hausa/Fulani was one quarter and the Southwest was approximately one quarter.  And the entire minority both North and South put together constituted one quarter.  So, it’s only a quarter of Nigeria that has not been privileged to be president. People of Southeast need to come together and assess ourselves.  What is it that we have not been doing rightly; we should begin to do that the right way. Getting a president needs to interface with other zones.  Interface with the South-south, Southwest, the Northeast, Northwest and North-central before we can achieve it. In the First Republic even for Tafawa Belewa to become the Prime Minister, there was an alliance between the NPC and NCNC.  That was what made him a Prime Minister and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe a ceremonial President. For the Second Republic to produce Shagari as President there was an accord between NPN and NPP.  Even the one that produced Obasanjo there was also the same arrangement as well as President Goodluck Jonathan.  So we need to do the needful, reach out to other zones, restore confidence and acceptability, we will achieve it.  It is natural to say it is our right, but we need to do the needful.  I believe that Southeast deserves to be given an opportunity.  Our destiny, of course, lies in our own hands.  The time between now and 2023 is very short, but the job to be done is very enormous. I believe that the labourers are there.  So, if we put our acts together then we see how far we can go and I believe it is achievable.

As the Southeast strives to see the next Nigeria president emerges from the zone, there are aspirants now in the North and other zones preparing for the same presidency, what does that portend for the Igbo?It is democratic liberty.  I have nothing against it.  For Tafawa Belewa to emerge as a Prime Minister,  Zik and Awolowo contested too and the rest of other candidates. Aminu Kano of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) from the North also contested. In the Second Republic there were five major presidential candidates, Awolowo contested from Southwest and Zik also contested from Southeast.  You had Waziri  Ibrahim, Shagari and I think Aminu Kano. One person won it because of reaching out.  The one Abiola won in 1993, he contested against Tofa.  Abiola won because he was able to reach out.  Southeast zone alone cannot produce a president of Igbo extraction

Don’t you think the current agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra can jeopardize the quest for Nigeria president of Igbo extraction?

People see it from diverse perspectives.  But I believe that the unity is there.  The agitation is also part of a process.  I know it has merit and demerit.  But the most important thing is that you cannot have a state of perfection in every system.  The most important thing is that you should play the right politics. Remember there was militancy in the South-south when Jonathan emerged as president.  With the emergence of Jonathan that subsided.  When Obasanjo became president of Nigeria, the OPC was still wreaking a lot of havoc in Southwest.  So, you can never have a very state of or absolute peaceful situation unless you are talking of peace of the graveyard.  People ventilate their anger,  but equity can also help to douse the anger which I believe that the emergence of Nigeria president of Igbo extraction will go a long way towards quelling most of these agitations we are having today.

What is your view of think-home philosophy in Igbo?  Is it not the best bet for the well-to-do in Igbo land to help develop the zone?

You see, it is not easy to say let people come home and invest.  Who said so?  Is it the governor that can say so? Definitely, there has been a clarion call for people to come back home to invest.  But there are certain basic indices that are supposed to be in place before people can invest.  Basically, the biggest problem we have in the Southeast which includes Anambra State is infrastructural decay.  Without infrastructural development, you cannot have a meaningful investment in any aspect in any part of Southeast state. For example, the South Eastern Nigeria was able to blossom under Michael Okpara, the then Premier of the Eastern Region because he was able to tackle the infrastructural problem.  What are the major infrastructural problems?  The Igbo can build their houses.  The Igbo can build their factories, they can build their estates ones you provide the basic infrastructure. Michael Okpara in the First Republic provided good roads, provided electricity, provided water, water was almost available in all the towns and communities, there were public taps.  But today, what we see are the relics of those things. And before the war, industries sprang up in Eastern Nigeria.  We had the iron and steel industry in Emene, we had Ceramic industry in Umuahia and a whole lot of other industries and they blossomed.  Even in the area of agriculture, there were farm settlements set up at some places in the Southeast because those basic infrastructural needs were available. Okpara built the Oji Power Plant, coal was being mined in Enugu, there was a functional railway system and everything was working fine. The late Governor Onunaka Mbakwe in the 80s established the Amaraku Power Station.  That was 40 years ago.  He provided electricity in Imo State. Most of those infrastructure were systematically destroyed.  You see industries folding up.  In the 70s a lot of industries sprang up like Tempo Mills, Premier Breweries, J. Nwankwu Industries and every other thing.  A lot of industries but today, where are they? Where is the  Nigercem, where is Emene Cement Factory and all those industries set up under Okpara regime. So, the absence of power generation has made it difficult for industries to thrive in the Southeast zone.  They cannot continue to exist.  In the absence of power how can those industries survive?  That is the origin of collapse of industries. So, for people to embrace the think-home philosophy, you must provide those basic infrastructural needs.

Source: The Sun

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