Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is the Executive Governor of Abia State as well as the 2023 Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia South Senatorial District. In this interview, he speaks of the expectations in the 2023 general, his senatorial ambition, insecurity in the South-East and issues surrounding violent agitations and he equally provides some solutions he thinks will help end the unfortunate situation in the South-East.
As we approach the 2023 presidential election, how do you rate the chances of the candidates?
I wouldn’t want to make any predictions now, but for me, I still believe that the PDP presidential candidate still needs to do one or two things just like I think Obi still has to do one or two things going forward. As for Tinubu, I don’t envy him because the facade there is that some of his party people are fighting him. But he’s a very experienced politician and a very good strategist. If he is in his element, he’s going to be very formidable at the end of the day because they never gave him a chance to emerge at the primaries but he emerged somehow. So, that same thing could play out. If I’m in this race, I’ll not ignore Tinubu. I will not also ignore any of the candidates. But we’re already broken as a country and we don’t need to put another hot knife through our butter.
What should Nigerians go for while choosing their next president?
Sincerely speaking, at times I like to see myself not as a leader or politician, but just as ‘citizen Okezie’ who is just a Nigerian. I think we the political class have succeeded in confusing the people of Nigeria so much. We’re now afraid of change because of the calamity that fell upon us as a result of the change we embraced in 2015. So looking at that, I think Tinubu’s greatest burden is the record of his party since 2015.
But there’s this notion that he’s not campaigning with the records of his party?
How far can a human being separate himself from his buttocks? It’s a big problem for him because it’s difficult to detach himself from his party. If you put me in his shoes, I’ll own my party and campaign with whatever is left of the party because he was part of the force that brought the party. So, if he denies that party now, it means he may have become a fair-weather person. Just like what President Olusegun Obasanjo said a few years ago when he was campaigning against President Goodluck Jonathan that it’s a different thing to give a person a job but you cannot do the job for the person. I don’t think it’s a good thing to do that. The hallmark of leadership is the ability to also choose. So, when you stand surety and said to Nigerians, vote for Mr A I should be able to say you are with Mr A. If he turns out good fine, but if it doesn’t turn out quite good, you should be able to say you’re sorry you did it, but let’s move forward. So, it gives us an idea of where you are coming from that you’re sincere and that’s you. If nobody wants to take responsibility and nobody wants to be part of it because it’s not looking as expected now, then it means also that there’s something we need to adjust about our leadership paradigm.
Have you considered angry citizens going out to vote in a few days?
There are two possibilities for the impact of this on the citizens. The first one will be to demonstrate their anger on the ballot. That’s to vote in anger against a system that they don’t like. The second one is apathy. In some places, the distance between where you registered and where you reside, is a huge one. If people are expected to vote then it must be made easy for them to perform their civic responsibility. For example, most of the traders at the Ariaria International Market reside around the Ngwa Road axis. They always because of the proximity to their business areas, register in Ariaria and not around Ngwa Road axis where they reside and the distance is like five miles or seven miles. Ngwa Road is in Aba South Local Government Area while Ariaria is in Aba North Local Government Area. Normally when it’s time to vote, they just stroll, board a taxi or a bus and go, but today because they don’t have cash or there’s no POS to give them money, they’ll stay back in their houses. So, this will create voter apathy and angry voters we will likely see and the overall impact will be against the government of the day so it’ll affect their fortune. Nobody is happy and I don’t know why they think they should do this now.
How much of a setback is the death of Prof. Ikonne to Abia PDP as governorship election draws closer?
I must say that it’s quite regrettable. That gentleman, Prof Uche Ikonne who was our candidate then was a visionary gentleman who in our calculation at that time we believed will do a good job by taking Abia to the next level, given the fact that some foundational things have been done and needed somebody that understands the vision that will explode with it. But we lost him and he’s no more. That was a setback to be sincere because his vision, energy and vigour are no more. But quite curiously, our party is perhaps stronger now than we were even before he died. The reason is that his emergence just like is seen everywhere when primaries are conducted created some resentment among people who ran in the primary election and felt that they were more qualified than the professor but could not clinch the ticket. So, what the party did this time with limited 14 days which we already lost three days in some important procedures was to hold a caucus meeting with both those who agree and those who don’t agree. We sat and said let’s move to the same Local Government Area where Prof Uche Ikonne hailed from to look for a new candidate.
That decision was like 60 per cent of the job done for us. After the caucus meeting, we decided to speak to other sessions of the state. For instance, Abia North with five Local Government Areas was laying claims to having the right to run for the primary election. What we did was to get the Isiala-Ngwa North people where the caucus has graciously allowed the new candidate should come to sit in a meeting with the leadership of the party to make it clear that after their turn, the Old Aba Division must have completed their 16 years tenure and that power will return to the Old Bende that has already completed their own 16 years from 1999 to 2015 when Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu and Senator Theodore Orji were governors. If power gets back to Old Bende and they want to do 16 years again, they’re free and will always return to the Old Aba Division when they’re done.
Do you see any threat from APC and LP to PDP in Abia?
APC is not in Abia state. Yes, the senator of Abia North is an APC member, but there is so much disagreement among them from the House of Representatives Members and the Senator and that’s very good for the PDP. When you come to their governorship candidate, he doesn’t have the blessings of some strong political office holders. You saw all these signs in their recent rally when a certain federal legislator spent 60 to 70 per cent of the time given to her to address the people lampooning a sitting Senator, a former governor of the state which we think wasn’t fair enough because that Senator is an Elder Statesman and that particular federal legislator was just a commissioner under his administration. So, that legislator cannot even put down any history of his without mentioning the former governor. But be that as it may, that’s what it is. Coming to the public to do such a thing was a very strong indication that all was not well with that party in Abia.
What about the Labour Party (LP), you see no threat?
Labour Party on its own is also a dysfunctional party because its governorship candidate and his deputy are from the same Federal Constituency. While the governorship candidate is from Arochukwu Local Government Area, his deputy is from Ohafia local government area. So, what are you telling the rest of Abia? If someone lacks a fair sense of equity, it doesn’t matter what the person is saying. The person can say he’s looking for the most qualified, who told him that it resides in him to determine who’s qualified or not? Why does such a person arrogate such power to himself? So, for someone not to know that he needs to spread a little bit means that either he lacks a proper understanding of the political topography of Abia State or the person just doesn’t care about equity and spread. I know that his dilemma is that he wants to be in two places at a time. He wants to be in Arochukwu and as well be somewhere in Isiala-Ngwa, him alone.
So, whenever it’s convenient, he chooses where to be. Fraudulent people don’t thrive in politics for a long time. You’re dealing with human beings. You can cheat somebody today, but you can’t guarantee you’ll cheat the person every day. The best way to deal with people in politics is to be as open and transparent as possible all the time. If you make a mistake, you apologise as a son, but if you continue to postulate and you’re not steady and nobody knows what you want to do it’ll not help. He also has issues with his political constituency. In how many years, he has been with PDP, APC, APGA and Labour Party in fact all the major political parties. It’s either he’s desperate or he is just looking for a platform. There’s no philosophy, there’s no background.
What’s your pitch to Abia South electorate in your senatorial race against an experienced senator like Enyinnaya Abaribe?
Luckily for me, I’m running this election on my track record and I challenge all those who are running the same election to show their scorecards. Former Governor Orji Uzor-Kalu has had 25 bills and motions in the Senate in four and half years, former Governor Theodore Orji has had 12 to his name in seven and half years, and the man you’re talking about has had only two since 2007 that’s for 16 years. You can research and see it. In the first place, if a person has the people’s mandate, his intervention, his service, and his stewardship should be obtained from the mandate you were given. The person should not change the mandate. The person should not go to the Nigerian senate and arrogate himself the Public Relations Officer of Ignored people or whatever he calls himself. He was sent there to develop bills, support bills, move motions, and create laws that’ll benefit the ordinary person from Abia South because we’re traders. We’re champions in SMEs.
I give it to him, he has promoted made in Aba in his own way because at times he organizes Trade Fair and all that, but that’s not also why he was sent there. He was sent there to craft laws that’ll give an enabling environment for the traders and the SMEs to thrive. We expect him to speak to the Federal Government to the point where they’ll provide funds, and machinery and also provide a window for SMEs and trading to flourish. He took the job of Igbo PRO when he discovered that he has failed in the other parameters and needed to adjust.
All I need is to push issues to the fore. Judge me with what I’ve done. If anybody has done better than me in any way, vote for that person. But if not, trust me. Everything I said I’ll do as Governor, I may have not been able to do 100 per cent of them, but at least I achieved 80 per cent. These things are clear. In Aba, I’ve reduced the travelling time between Osisioma Junction and the City centre. Before, it may take about one hour, but now it’s less than five minutes to do that on the account of that flyover there. Ariaria is becoming a true International Market now with CCTV everywhere.
As we speak now, more works are ongoing on different roads like Faulks Road. Somebody said that a Governor for four years is bigger than a Senator for 20 years and I say that’s the worst exhibition of ignorance. These are two different positions with two different roles. Okay, where are the laws that are protecting the interest of Aba traders, where is the advocacy that’ll make sure the customs will not do what they’re doing in Aba? Is it the Governor that’ll make these Federal laws? So, this is my way of saying that we cannot justify failure nor are we going to change the goalpost in the middle of the game.
We’re not going to ask anybody to set his questions in an examination and still answer them. We sent someone for an assignment and we’ve seen nothing. I can’t even name one completed project by NDDC in Abia South. With due respect, he has been Deputy Governor and whatever credit that is accrueable to his service years as a public servant, I leave it with him, but going forward, we need somebody that’s a little bit more innovative that understands the problems of our people and can address such problems. What if the people say enough of this Igbo advocacy, let’s talk about what concerns us. You need to be an Aba man, an Abia South man and an Abia man before you become an Igbo man. There’s no Igbo man that doesn’t have a state of origin.
