Eagle_Eye_Reports

Some big names in Anambra are lightweights, says Ngige

You cannot help but notice him. Not because of his diminutive stature; not because of his goatee that is almost grey; and definitely not because of his six fingers adorned with designer rings: he simply captures your attention. Dr. Chris Ngige, erstwhile governor of Anambra State for two years and now standard-bearer of the Action Congress (AC) in Anambra's February 6, 2010 governorship election spoke to some journalists in Abuja, including Assistant Political Editor, ALIFA DANIEL for The Guardian. Excerpts

WHEN you were in office, you had people ready to battle you, one of them in the Andy Uba family. They could be waiting in the wings for you again this time, to teach you a lasting lesson in politics. How prepared are you?

Of course they cannot kidnap me. The kidnapping that time failed with the 200 policemen that did it. So, how can they now kidnap me when they will not have 200 policemen at their beck and call? Empires rise and fall and it is only people who have a sense of history that know that if you are reigning in an empire and it falls, it is just like the sun setting. There is nothing you can do about it. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. There is time for everything. Their own time is gone. And I do not like discussing the Uba anyway because I have forgiven all those that wronged me, especially now that I have a new spirit to take the state to a new level.

Are you not scared of the two hurdles before you - the federal might of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the incumbency of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA)?

I do not know why you want me to be scared or be frightened. We are going for an electoral contest and all power belong to the people. I have the people behind me and that is why I am throwing my hat into the ring. You said that PDP has federal power. Yes they can have federal power; I do not even understand what you mean by that connotation and nomenclature. But I know that you probably are talking about the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police, the Army and what have you. All these belong to the Nigerian people. The police belong to the Nigerian people and the people of Anambra. It is the same with INEC, which is supposed to be an umpire or a referee in a football match. So, I do not see any reason I should be scared. Do not forget that I was a member of the PDP. They know me, I know them and they know that there are certain things Ngige will not take.

There is an African proverb, which says, I was a rich man before does not mean that I am still rich. How far can past goodwill carry you?

This is a very big question. If I start cataloguing what I am going to do, we might not leave here. I have given you a summary and the English people have a saying that the test of the pudding is in the eating. What I have done before, which I categorised as 25 per cent are there for anyone to see. No propaganda can wash it away. In the field of security of lives and property, the statistics are there in the Nigerian Police and the State Security Services. They do what is called situation report every morning and send it to the Chief Executive of the state and also to their headquarters in Abuja. Besides, the people themselves, you will see it on their faces that they are happy. Road construction is there. You can measure them if you want. The Anambra people who used them also made confessions. They are confessing that since they came into this place called Anambra, they never dreamt that the things they are seeing there in Ngige's regime were possible. So, if I go into roads now, will I tell you that I will build more roads? Of course you know that if in 33 months, despite the distractions I had from the Federal Government then, I did only 25 per cent and this 25 per cent translates to these 72 roads, and if I do the other 75 per cent, you multiply what I have on ground by three, if I am able to finish it.

When I wanted to fight crime, I had my own method of fighting it. I know what I did. This time around, I have a new idea. I do know that prevention is better than cure. I will prevent the committal of crime. It's done abroad. People who don't have jobs are given social security. Some are given shelter and some are given free food. I will know what my finances can take and I will do it for the people. I can assure you that in three months of my coming to Anambra, you will see what I will do with crime prevention. The jobs will be there. How I will create it, I don't want to enunciate here. I don't even want to tell you I will create 300,000 like some people say. Neither am I going to say, as my successor said, that I would be creating 5,000 jobs every month. He has not created any. I know what to do. I know how to put up the enabling environment and the jobs will come out.

You were at INEC to submit your form and we got to know that you had a brief meeting with the Chairman of INEC. With the few minutes you spent with him, are you convinced that he is going to conduct a free and fair election in Anambra come February 6, 2010?

I only spent few minutes with the chairman and he gave me a very warm reception, even though my courtesy call was impromptu. But being a former governor, I know what protocol means. If you come into somebody's domain, you just go and look for the Chief Executive to announce your presence. That's what I went to do. He was at a press briefing when I came. So, I had to spend some time to wait for the press briefing. I didn't stay unusually long and he welcomed me in with my delegation, comprising party officers and my running mate. We spent close to an hour discussing the problems of election in a developing country. We looked at the problems, vis--vis INEC officials and the politicians. We raised one or two things about voter registration in Anambra, voter education and the oncoming display of voters register. For example, I made a special request that they should do more on voters' education in terms of using the electronic media because most of the people in the villages are not too literate. They don't read newspapers. If you use the electronic media and television, you can tell them what they are supposed to do, how they how they are supposed to check their names, those who have lost their cards, what they can do to get new cards and to make sure that can also trace fake names and get the members of the Commission will clean them up. He did assure us that he will conduct credible elections in Anambra and I have no need to doubt him. Nigeria has an onerous task and that is to convince the comity of nations of the world that we are in the same queue with them in development of democracy. We cannot practice democracy in bits or in half. It is either we practice it wholly or we are not practicing it, in which case the world will continue to regard us as they regarding us today because election cause have turned down a lot of the results and that put question marks on our democracy, both on the side of the politicians and the side of the umpire. Therefore, the Anambra situation presents a litmus test. It's supposed to be used to develop a thumbprint, which will now be used for the 2011 elections. I do not believe that we cannot conduct a credible election with the present Electoral Act with which we had the 2006 election. But above all, I can tell you that Anambra people are very sensitised. They are very agitated waiting for this election because this is the election that was denied them in 2007 when a lot of water passed under the bridge. We are not apportioning blames now because at that time, it was a different time and a different king was at the helm of affairs. You can also say that unnatural times beget unnatural happenings. What happened in those elections that time were unnatural happenings.

Senator Emma Anosike was one of the pillars behind you. Now, with his return to the PDP, how do you hope to re-strategise?

Senator Emma Anosike, from what I read in the papers is the running mate of the PDP running with Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. When the kidnapping in Anambra took place in 2003, the PDP in Anambra was factionalised and he belonged to my own faction of the PDP, the people who supported the truth and we worked together. Thereafter, he was removed from the Senate by the court, after one year or so. He kept on keeping faith and we all moved to AC together when we were chased out of the PDP. When I came back, I flew the AC flag for that election. He is from the northern part of the state and he is my friend, just as Soludo is also a friend. Both they are my younger in age and the things of life. But they remain my friends. If Anosike leaves AC and goes to PDP, there is a maxim that says soldier goes, soldier comes, but barrack remains. The political process in the North will be there, including the players in the area. We also know the foot soldiers Anosike uses and I can tell you today whom most of those foot soldiers are still with. So, there is nothing to be alarmed about. If it were some people, they would say we dey kampe here.

Can you match Soludo of the PDP?

Is he really candidate? Because I was looking at the dailies today and I see all the protests that the nomination has generated and those who are threatening to go to the court. Anyway, as I said, Soludo is my friend and we had a good relationship when I was governor. It was under my tenure that I got back the land meant for the CBN office in Awka and passed on to him. I reclaimed it from those who had trespassed on it. I know that he has good academic credentials. I don't know about his political credentials, but he has come into the terrain of partisan politics and even came into the ring fully. I don't know what they say, but I don't know that honestly, those people agitating in the PDP, they have some points in their agitation. I was a national officer of PDP and we know that our NEC passed every nomination. The National Working Committee can exercise some powers on behalf of NEC. But because of the volatility of the Anambra situation, I would have thought that an emergency NEC of the party would have been summoned for the purposes of dealing with that matter. Section 17 of that Constitution, because we were the authors of that constitution, says that the NWC can exercise the powers of NEC in an emergency and get it back to NEC for confirmation. I don't see what precluded them from convening an emergency NEC before exercising the powers of NEC. But he's already in the ring and if he's ratified by the party and by INEC, the contest would be there for all of us. We will throw punches inside the ring to capture the votes of the people and when you are throwing punches for votes, it will be straight punches. As far as I'm concerned, we can weigh ourselves. If a lightweight comes to fight a heavyweight in a boxing arena, the result can almost be decided before the fight.

Who is the lightweight?

I don't know, it's left for you to determine.

What about the PDP propaganda against you?

You ask PDP people what are your chances in Anambra, more so when you are running against a formidable opponent like Ngige. Their immediate answer will be that Ngige is very popular with the people. But his popularity does not translate to votes. You ask them why. They say because his party is not popular. As far as I'm concerned, that is the prelude of a step of somebody who believes in rigging elections because popularity that is political always translates to votes. You cannot say that the popularity of Barrack Obama will not translate to votes or that the popularity of Bill Clinton will not translate to votes. If you talk about the popularity of Michael Jackson not translating to votes, one can listen to you because that is a pop icon for those who are lovers of pop. But when the people see a politician, especially one that has served in any capacity before, whether as senator or as a member of the House of Representatives, governor or first time president and the people are ready to die for him, why do you say it's not votes? So, I want to disabuse the mind of people about such sayings. My party, the AC has the greatest number of well-established offices in 326 wards in Anambra. We have 320 ward offices fully manned. We have motorcycles in them. We have tables in them. We have office girls in them. We also have offices in 21 councils, all of them fully manned with a bus, a paid secretary and party officials. But it is the reverse with PDP. Because of factions, you don't see their offices when you go there. So that propaganda is a mischievous and devilish propaganda. I want to use this medium to say that such situation doesn't exist. Anambra people today, if one is to be truthful to him or herself, are not talking about parties. They are talking about individuals. If you ask them, they will tell you that Ngige was ready to give his life for them and that they are ready to give their lives for him in any circumstance. Therefore, I want that aspect of the propaganda to be removed.

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