Barrister (Mrs.) Biobele Odesola, Nee Dodiyi, a lawyer and an estate manager who also runs the City of Refuge orphanages is one of the aspirants for the Rivers State Government House on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She spoke IYALLA ADAYE in Port Harcourt on why she wants to take over Amaechi’s seat in 2015
We were not aware of your aspiration but you are among the first to pick the governorship form?
I am surprised that you know. Yes, I was among the first to pick the form, I think the first lady to actually pick the form last week. Some people are still saying I have not come out fully to the batllefront. But picking the form for the contest shows you have already come out.They probably expect me to be making a lot of noise like the typical Nigerian politician or aspirant. As far as I am concerned aspiration for governorship is a very serious matter, which goes beyond making noise. For me, it is a time of reflection, a time of sobriety. Before anyone goes out to fight a battle, you count the cost. It is not time for funfare or jamboree, or mounting the campaign drum yet. This is especially so, when you know the many, strong people you are coming against; more so when you know the sensitivity and tension in the state. That is why I have been silent, strategizing on the next step to take after picking the form. I like playing politics with calculations, I don’t want avoidable mistake; so noise-making itself has its appropriate time. For now I am in the race for Rivers Government House. Period.
Don’t you think you are coming rather late because some aspirants have been on ground, preparing for years now?
Well, I don’t know whether some people have been preparing. The people that have been preparing when did they come out? One or two people I know have been preparing for a very long time but it doesn’t matter whether you have been preparing or not. Whether you are preparing early or preparing late. How do you know that I have not been preparing? Like I told you I don’t make noise. You can see that even while picking my nomination form I didn’t make noise. So, it is incorrect to judge whether I have been preparing or not before buying the expression of interest forms.
How ready are you for the battle ahead; or do we just count you as one of those who also ran?
If I am counted as one who also ran, thank God. As the first woman and the only woman to run, that gives me a good name. I have tried, among these men. If that is what you think, thank God. Secondly, like I told you it is not just about coming out to run, I have bought my nomination form; if you didn’t come to me for this interview you would not even have heard anything before now, because it is not my style to be continuously making noise. Action speaks louder than voice. I am just sitting down, watching the terrain, because Rivers State is full of crisis. There are incidences of violence, trouble here and there. Even right now there is crisis, look at the agitation going on in the air between Nyesom Wike and Amaechi . It is like other people are not running, others do not exist, and you don’t know whether others are running. You don’t know any other person that is running in APC; you don’t know any other person running in PDP. When you see two elephants fighting, it is the grass that suffers. As a woman I want to sit down and analyse what is happening; just get myself further prepared and see the terrain for what it is. That is wisdom. I was married to a military man who is gone to be with the lord now, but the military believes that before you come out to war count your cost first. It is no less different from political contest. I am still counting my cost. First thing is to take the form which I have done, and expressed my interest, which I have also done. The next thing is to wait till the bell rings. If the bell tolls, indicating that the ground is free, everybody comes out, then I will. But if there fighting, as it is now going on, you need to properly strategise. I am aware that the power play in Rivers today is not limited to the APC. Even within our party, the P.D.P, you can see that we the aspirants are many too. With this kind of fight going on, we should all put our heads together and agree on one candidate, so that we can fight APC. But if we are numbering say 50 or 100 like we are at the moment, I don’t see how we are going to beat the APC .
Why do you want to be the first female governor of Rivers State?
I will give you three reasons. One, I am a Nigerian citizen. I am born in Rivers State and of the Kalabari extraction. Two, I am a woman and I think we are in the third millennium, the time for women to come to the front burner; the time for the woman to gather her chicks, like a hen and take them the right way. Three, I believe this is a platform to express myself to my people. I believe what we have seen politically, what we have talked about, encouraged. I believe there were unpleasant situations that we have discouraged; dishonest people that we have castigated. And then there are people we have commended for things they have done. Now, it is a time for me to come out too, and contribute my own quota.
What is it that you are not satisfied with in Rivers state that you think you can bring about a change?
When people talk about change, they also mean transformation. There are issues that worry me but there is just one important thing: Many people have come and governed us and have gone. We cannot say that they didn’t do anything. There is no governor that did not do something. Each of them had laudable programmes and projects. Some did not finish, maybe because of time, some finished and the legacies were abandoned by their predecessors. There were those did it but maybe the people were not impressed. In this nation, I have seen that the people that cry Hosanna! Hosanna! are the same people that say crucify! Crucify! What I am coming to do is the kind of change that is rare. If we talk about change, the change must start from the way we think; the God factor must come in. what I do not like in this state is godlessness and that has nothing to do with the governors, and that has nothing to do with the leaders. Yes, it must start from the top to the end. There is so much godlessness in our state. The day we find God, the day we embrace God, things will be better for us. Let us stop blaming one governor after the other.
Another thing I do not like is lack of continuity. Somebody has a big programme, finishes it and go; may be eight years is not enough, sometimes four years is not enough; maybe six months is not enough. Another governor comes and all he does is cancel that project and start off his own, and you see that money is being wasted and then they say this governor has not done anything, this one has not done this. Everyone has done something but there is no continuity . If one comes in and sees that there is a programme or project already on the ground he should continue and finish it. Thereafter start your own, if you are not able to finish, then another person comes, he will continue and then finish it. That would make us spend less money; we then save more money for other priorities in the state. That will make us have less abandoned projects and programmes in the state. So, these are the two things I do not like: godlessness and lack of continuity, and then castigating leaders.
Some see you as politician who would always be trying to mix politics and church; don’t you think the two should be separated?
We cannot separate politics from the church. When we talk about church we are not talking about the building, the church is you and I. This is a Christian state, I would say, we have norms, we have regulations. We have principles, precepts that have been laid down for us. One is by our families, immediate nuclear family when we were growing up – the Christian way of living. Two, the school. Three, and most and most importantly, the church, where we all go to and learn these principles of good and bad. The idea is that when we get into the wider society we would express what we have imbibed from the church, from the family, and from the school. But it is like we have dropped everything, nothing like that is happening; without the fear of God no nation can make it. But you as a governor may say I have these programmes, I have these projects that I want to implement but the people working with you are godless. You will struggle, struggle, and struggle yet nothing will move. We cannot separate the church, per se, from politics, if we are separating the church from politics then there should be no rule of law; the rule of law where did it come from, it came from both the Bible and the Quran. This is how we are supposed to move; this is how we are supposed to work. This is how we are supposed to behave. Every society has its behavioural pattern that goes along with them in the Bible and Quran.
What do you have to offer the people of Rivers State, if elected governor next year?
I would not come up with or tell you that I have 10, seven point agenda , when I get there .By the grace of God, I will form a committee and I will ask the committee to look into the past , from the time of Chief Diete Spiff and then let us know where the crack came from . If the crack is foundational, then the building will be brought down, then we start afresh. We know what to do, but if the crack is not foundational, if the crack is such that it would be easy to repair the mistakes of the past and then the good of the past could be carried on, that is what I will do as a woman. I don’t have my own personal agenda. I have a broad agenda: the interest of the people in my heart as a mother.
Rivers State, nay Nigeria, politics is violence-prone, like you earlier said. Do you have what it takes to confront political violence?
We talk about violence because of the mind. You see, I am looking for or looking up to a Nigeria or a system where somebody wins election; let’s say 30 people contested and then one person wins. I am looking for a time when the other 29 will doff their caps, embrace one another and make up their minds to follow the winner instead of taking him or taking her to court. The day we begin to accept defeat; in the fashion of no victor no vanquished our democratic goal would have been achieved. It is all about one purpose, one plan, one hope, it is about one agenda. The vices in the society will then be minimal.
If I come out and I do not win, I will gladly doff my cap and join whoever wins the election. Our personal interests should be the last: first is the country, second is the state. Third is the party. I join forces with whoever wins the nomination ticket and make sure that the PDP wins the elections, the governor’s seat here in Rivers State. There shouldn’t be any fighting. There shouldn’t be killings. It is not a do or die affair, for me personally. We are many in the contest out, I am about the only woman in the race. I don’t think it is a do or die matter, God knows who is going to win. The Bible says you cast your lots but God is one that chooses the king. I want to even tell the other opponents, any one that contests and wins, we should support him. I will say this is PDP take it easy, come together, join forces with the person for the sake of our children and ourselves.
How would you handle the problem of women working against the political interests of fellow women?
Like I told you it is a platform to express myself. It is a platform to tell the society, tell Rivers people where we have missed it, where we got it right. If the people believe in me as a woman and I’m voted, thank God. If they don’t, thank God too. I will join forces with whoever wins to win this election for PDP. It shouldn’t have anything to do with woman or man. Talking about women, the truth is that the First Lady of the federation has openly encouraged women to come out ; you can see that the few women that have been put in positions have done very well. Women should not stay back and hide their God-given talents. And we are all encouraged but sometimes it is the same women who will castigate you. Why we are like that, I don’t know. Take Sarah Jubril for instance, no woman voted for her. Why? I do not know, because the same women who shouted we want for women, we want for women did not vote for her. But you are not going to blame them, just because I am a woman in the contest does not mean I should be voted for. Even the women have their own preferences. If they believe a man is going to do better than this woman, why vote for the woman? Just because I am a woman they must vote for me, if I have nothing to offer? If I don’t have what it takes to be a governor, why should they vote for me? If they are convinced that I have what it takes to be a governor then they can vote for me. But like I said, it should not be a do or die matter, for our own interests and the interests of our children and even those yet unborn.
What would you say are the challenges facing women politicians in Nigeria?
The challenge facing female politicians in Nigeria is money, that is one. Until we stop money politics, it will be very difficult for women to get to the top. Two, male chauvinism. They still believe he is everything, he is all and all. Then, three, until such a time we are transformed by the renewal of our minds, just like the Bible says in Romans 12. The God factor is there and once the God factor is there everything will move on fine.
Why do you think women tend to work against fellow women politicians?
Women don’t like themselves, the first person I told I would join the governorship contest was a woman, along with even my female relations, but they couldn’t take it. I mean, even my sisters, they castigated me, you would think it was a fight. Maybe they still have the Eve problem. Firstly, women don’t like women. I don’t know maybe God made it that way or the devil is still talking to woman right from the Garden of Eden and has captured her mind; because when I was coming out the first people to shout were women. There was no man that I told that did not encourage me but every woman I told , including my own relations, shouted and castigated me. It was like a fight, “why do you want to come out?”, “what do you have to offer?” I was taken aback, to know that women took it very personal except one woman, somebody who has been like a mother before. She hails from this state. I went to her and discussed with her, she encouraged me and just advised me. The kind of advice she gave me has been helpful to the extent that I have been playing my politics with care and caution. She was excited, she was elated. What she said was that I should just watch the terrain, that there was a lot of fighting, bitterness, rancour going on. But the other women were ready to fight me and it is incredible, I can’t believe it, no wonder nobody voted for Sarah Jubril.
Do you have other convincing reasons why a woman should be elected a governor in any state in Nigeria?
Why not? Don’t you see what our women have done in their ministries? See what Dieziani Alison Madueke has done by bringing sanity into the petroleum sector, she has held it under control. The Petroleum Industry Bill will soon be passed because of her efforts. Who has done that before? See Ngozi Okonjo Iweala what she has done right from Obasanjo’s time. Through her our debts were cancelled, that is why Jonathan brought her back. She left the juicy World Bank, came here and see what she is doing. See what late Dora Akinyuli did at NAFDAC. She is an icon when it comes to womanhood. She has transformed NAFDAC , totally and she played a critical role in the emergence of Jonathan as Acting President; the woman must always say the truth, the woman is always on the side of the truth. Is it Oby Okwesili? That one is called Madam Due Process. No stealing, no manipulation, no corruption, she is actually known for that even in her Church, let alone her workplace or the larger society. Stella Oduah, as far as I am concerned, has done tremendously well in reforming the aviation industry.
Are you running for governorship because you are from Kalabari and there is an agitation for a riverine governor?
I am running because I am a woman and I feel I have something to offer . I don’t know if it is time for the Kalabaris or time for the Upland or Riverine but there is agitation going on. I am running because I am a woman and I have been encouraged to run as a woman. I am not running because I am a Kalabari woman. There are a lot of Kalabari men there. I am running because I am a woman.
What is your position on zoning?
I have always said I like everything to be done on merit. If somebody is good and he wants to stay for 20 years, why not, if the people want him? But if there was any agreement, or arrangement for zoning then the gentleman agreement should be respected. That is what I think.
Some would say you were married away from Rivers State, why are you coming home to contest and not in your husband place?
That is a good question. My marriage to my late husband did not take away the fact that I am a Rivers woman. That is one. Two, when you go to your husband’s place to run, they will tell you go to your father’s house to run. So where do we stand, we married women? Of course, I am a widow but where do we stand? You go to your husband place; they say no, go to your father’s place. If you come to your father’s place, they say go to your husband place. This is the problem the women have. This is what we are saying these are what women face as problems and these problems are caused by you men.
What do you think can be done to enhance more women participation in politics?
The first thing to do is this: I like what the President Goodluck Jonathan is doing right now, thank God for his life. He has encouraged a lot of women. In his time a lone you can see how many women have come out to hold positions. We are already encouraged by the nomination form, we don’t pay for it. For instance, I didn’t pay for nomination fee; I only paid for Expression of Interest. That is to encourage us. The PDP has, actually, made it easy for us and then the battle on the field has been very fierce and tough; not many women are able to make it to elective positions. So what the President is doing is quite commendable by giving them appointments in the ministries and other places.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) is claiming Rivers State to be its stronghold; do you think PDP can win the 2015 elections in the state?
I don’t know if Rivers State is an APC state, just because governor left PDP and has gone to APC does not mean it is an APC state. He was our governor, we did not leave, we didn’t follow him to APC. That the governor has left for APC that does not mean it is an APC state. What we are saying is that Nigerians must start changing their way of thinking. The state does not belong to the governor , the state belongs to us. If the governor decides to go to APC, we are still PDP. We are the ones that will vote. It is still a PDP state as far as I am concerned. Yes, a lot of things have stopped: the courts are no longer functioning. The assembly is not functioning. But Rivers is still a PDP state and I know PDP will win.