Chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) and member, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Honourable (Chief) Modestus Umenzekwe (Onwa Achina) in this interview with CYRIACUS NNAJI, speaks on Tinubu Presidential ambition, the controversial Moslem/Moslem ticket by the All Progressives Congress (APC), and then called for inclusive governance in Nigeria. Excerpts:
The political heat is on, it is no longer news that your flag-bearer is His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, what are his chances in the 2023 Presidential Election? What are those things working for him?
Thank you so much. APC as a political party is a party to beat in the forthcoming election. It is a well-structured party that has put her footprints on the ground in every aspect of governance. If you watched what played out at the national convention that produced the flag-bearer, you would agree with me that we are already marching on to the seat of power, because that particular convention was very free, fair and credible. The way other candidates stepped down for the flag-bearer, His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would tell you that the man is destined to govern Nigeria, having paid his dues as a politician, a giant one for that matter. His doggedness and political sagacity was brought to bear in the whole process. So I am convinced that by the special grace of God come 29th May, 2023, Nigerians will gather at Eagle Square to swear in Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the new president.
This is time for agenda setting for Asiwaju, as a chieftain of APC, I think advice from you will go a long way, rather than when such advice is coming from the opposition.
Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu is a political guru, he is an administrative guru, and an accountant for that matter. He should treat all geopolitical zones very well, you see what Fashola did in Buhari’s Administration, and that is why some of us are eulogizing him, he was working simultaneously in all the six geopolitical zones. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I am proposing he steps up on that, government of inclusion, even the opposition; let him include them, it doesn’t matter, what we need is good governance. Then above all, tackle insecurity, the much he can as a human being, because it involves all of us, it is all over the world, but let him attend to all the political zones, no segregation, the way Lagos is handling people, let him adopt it, he established it, let him attend to all the religions, no special treatment. He has said it, his approach to all religion will be equal.
Do you have something to say about Peter Obi or other candidates…
If you want to go into Peter Obi, that will be for another day. But Peter Obi, he is my in-law, he has ruled Anambra State, and nobody should rubbish him; that is what I can say for now, in as much as we are not in the same political party. It is his right to contest the election, so I don’t have problem with that. I am in APC, it is not what I started today; I started with AD, AC, ACN and now APC. You must be somewhere to talk about your country.
Again last time, Southeast was variously described as a dot in a circle and 5%, so with this kind of scenario, and the issue of Moslem/Moslem ticket, juxtaposing it against presidency of Igbo extraction, how do you convince your Igbo brothers to vote APC?
Southeastern Nigeria is a great area that must be respected by everybody, from the president to the last person, they must not be rubbished by any standard, but then I am appealing to them, let them at all times play politics with maturity, but to rubbish them, is not acceptable, and I don’t think anybody will do that.
I want you to speak also on the issue of Moslem/Moslem ticket of your party, because a lot of criticisms have trailed that action.
First of all let me congratulate the All Progressives Congress as a party for making sure that the ticket went to the south. It is a welcome development. You must not get everything perfect because you are human being; but come to think of it, among all the things created by God, it is only human beings that challenged God by their character and conducts, Moslems and Christians alike. Look at the trees that are standing where they were asked to stand by God, the birds are flying as created, but human beings create problems for themselves. We are born to be free but we decided to be in chains by one permutation or the other. For me as a person, I am not speaking for Christians, I am not speaking for Moslems, God created all these religions, including those in traditional religion, and all our prayers go to God, it is left for him to answer, it is left for Him to judge.
Certain things that are supposed to be personal, we are bringing into the public domain. Yes politics is about interest, whatever we are doing is about interest. As a Christian, I would be glad if a Christian was taken, and if you are a Moslem, you would be glad, but then, we must be able to differentiate between winning election, governance and religion. In my village, there are Moslems living there and up North there are Christians living there, but human beings bring in these permutations to create problem. Strictly speaking, for me as a person, I don’t know your feeling, I don’t know the feeling of any other person, Christian/Christian ticket is okay for me, Moslem/Moslem ticket is okay for me. The most important thing is, are you going to deliver, are you going to pull Nigeria from the woods, are you going to give us good governance, what are you putting on the table for Nigerians? Look at the system, is there anywhere we are getting it wrong, how are you going to correct it? Those are issues we should be talking about. But you see, human beings deviated from the spiritual injunction and went outside the spiritual realm, thereby creating problem to ourselves. When I was in school, Moslems and Christians, we were living in the same room, at an appointed time the Moslems would go to Mosque, we would go to our Church. Okay, even within the Moslem community, you see sections, sections, sections not agreeing. When you come to the Christian community you see sections, sections not agreeing. I believe that even with this ticket now, when you get into Moslem group you would see some people that would be saying why is it this sect that was selected? If it is Christians, the same thing would happen. We have had Christian/Christian ticket in this country in the olden days, and heaven did not fall. But this time around certain things started coming up. It is unfortunate that we are going this way.
What is the way forward?
Mine is to appeal to everybody, in as much as I tell you to vote your conscience, but I would prefer that you vote Bola Ahmed Tinubu; let us see what he is going to do, taking into consideration his track record in politics. I believe sincerely that he is going to do a lot. You see, we had a Christian before, but the Second Niger Bridge was not done, I am talking now as somebody from the Southeast; Nnamdi Azikiwe’s compound remained untouched, Onitsha/Enugu Expressway remained untouched, Port-Harcourt/Enugu Expressway remained untouched and a whole lot. Now it is Government led by Buhari, a Moslem and a detribalized Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) that did it and by December that 2nd Niger Bridge will be commissioned. I have gone there, I have walked on it and it gives me joy anytime I go there. Azikiwe’s compound was like a tick forest, and it pained me, this is a man that brought us independence but today, go there and see how that compound is, and a lot of other things I have mentioned before.
So I don’t think that our problem is religion, yes I would have preferred a Christian, but the party has calculated that this is where it should be, because the cardinal thing is to win election and provide good governance. Therefore I think we should look beyond religion and give this election what it takes so that our flag-bearer will go there and do that thing he did in Lagos. This is a man that fought the military to a standstill using all his resources, risking his life and was forced into exile. He came back, contested, won and governed Lagos for eight years. The running battle he had with the federal government then, it is not everybody that could have such running battle and sustained it, but he was able to sustain that. Then from Lagos alone he captured the whole of southwest and all those states are performing very well, from there he went into merger to have APC and captured the Federal government. He is a human builder, he has made a lot of people from the records available, the ones I know and the ones I have read. If such a man is able to build human being, because whatever we are doing human evangelization is very important.
Indeed what we need is education, I don’t see Ashiwaju doing anything strange with Moslem/Moslem ticket; I see this thing as good political calculation. From what I have read about Shettima, I think he will do well. I learnt that he adopted an Igbo boy even before he became a governor, I think he trained him up to Master level or thereabout, that is what I heard, I am not sure. So I don’t think this thing should create problem for us. My own is to appeal to everybody to play down on this, let us go into this election, let him go there, if things are going wrong then we will start asking questions, as I am talking now, I will equally talk.
There are also some complaints about his age and health, Nigeria is large, and difficult to govern and therefore needs a president that is healthy, energetic, and full of vitality, they claim Tinubu failed in these indices.
Is he insane? I am asking you…answer me…Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, is he insane? Is he a lunatic? What are we talking about? Okay let me ask you, who is healthy? No, I am asking you, you have to answer me. Who is healthy?
Nobody knows what will happen the next minute
How old is Joe Biden, 79, so what are we talking about or is it because Tinubu is not an American? That was what they were saying when Buhari entered that he would die in four years, nobody is God. You see young boys below the age of 30 years suffering diabetes, you see young girls bellow 40 years suffering one ailment or the other, I don’t want to attack anybody even my enemy based on his or her health. The only thing that can stop somebody from aspiring to the position is if you are a lunatic. Let me also ask you, who is young, answer me?
Nigerians are looking at someone between the age of 40 and 60 years. Actually the people appear to be saying that they need a man that is young, that can move around and have firsthand information and be able to take decisions rather than depending solely on advice and reports from subordinates?
Well governance is not a one-man show, there is no way you can govern even your family without leaning on somebody. You either lean on your wife, your children, and others otherwise you would be challenging God. You must seek advice. You see when we were in the university, one of our lecturers would set exam for you and say, go to anywhere you like and get me a correct answer if you want to pass. So, that someone is leaning on somebody to get advice to govern a nation, is it a crime? And you know that Tinubu is a goal getter. You can see the level of support; people are beginning to understand that this man is the right man for the job. I think you are hearing comments, even some church leaders are talking, so what are we talking about?
But is Tinubu chances not threatened by what I may call quest for generational change by the youths. The youths appear to be saying, away with old politicians? Is your party not threatened?
No, every party has various strata of human beings, we have the young; we have the middle age; we have the old, the very old. No one can exist without the other, no government can exist without them, even if it is a boy of 30 years that is there, he cannot do the work without those that have the experiences. If he is a man of 80 years he cannot do it without the support of others. So youths cannot be everywhere and old people cannot be everywhere. There must be a coming together of both the old and young. APC also has the youth wing, therefore APC has what it takes to do the job.
A lot is happenings, from bad economy, inflation, security, strikes, it is increasingly becoming difficult to market APC, many have suggested, what is your take?
Is APC the cause of economic problem? The economic problem is all over the world, you saw what Covid-19 did to the world and is still doing and we have not recovered from it, so APC is not the problem of the economy. There is crisis everywhere, is APC Russia or Ukraine? Is APC Britain, Syria, all these places you have serious problems, is APC there? Each country with their own problems. The whole world must come together to address this issue; Africa and various continents must come together, that is not to say that APC is 100% perfect, they are human beings, there are mistakes here and there. As human beings there are some short comings, but you can’t use it to generalize to say that they are the cause of the economic problem. We suffered Ebola in this country, they contained it, Covid-19, the EndSARS; they contained them. I commend the government of Lagos State, they contained some of these things, and Asiwaju was very much available throughout the periods, so what he did in Lagos was to establish Governance Advisory Council, he is going to do same at Abuja. I think we are good to go, I think we are very comfortable, the road is rough, the road to the highest echelon of governance is always rough everywhere in the whole world but with understanding we are going to get there.
Besides, with the multiple developmental initiatives coming on board in Nigeria in 2023, Tinubu will succeed. See what APC is bringing on board: Zungeru Power plant (New) built to generate 700mw which will start work in 2023; Lekki Deep Sea Port, the modern and deepest seaport in Subsahara is almost completed. It will start operation in 2023; Ikorodu Rice Mill, the largest in WA with 200k MTA/day annually starts operation in 2023; Senate just passed the Electricity bill which removes it from the concurrent list and this empowers states and individuals to supply power; Dangote refinery, the largest chain refinery in the world starts operation in 2023. NNPC is fully commercialized, with zero government management which gives room for efficiency and effectiveness; Lagos’s new international airport terminal which would attract bigger aircraft is fully completed and ready for operations; Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the busiest road in WA, completes in 2022 for easy movement of goods and services; 2nd Niger Bridge becomes operational end of 2022.
