Barr. Uche Onyeagocha, Special Adviser to the Imo State Gvernor on Policy and Strategy, represented Owerri Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007. He later became the defunct Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate during the 2007 election in Imo State. In 2011, he became the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) senatorial candidate for Owerri zone and thereafter national welfare officer of the party in 2012 until the dissolution of the party in 2013.
In this interview with CHIDIEBERE IWUOHA, the lawyer speaks on his senatorial aspiration(Owerri zone) in 2015 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the politics of Imo state and finally heaps the blame of the current security challenge on the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)
What informed your ambition for the Owerri senatorial zone seat?
I feel that Owerri zone is a dynamic zone that needs a credible representative as the senate. And I feel I can offer it. I believe that 2015 is going to be a particularly trying period for Nigerians. Consequently, it will need tried and tested hands like myself to represent Owerri senatorial zone at this very critical time in history. My zone has been denied so much for years for which I believe that only a credible representative can bring back those lost things.
How would you assess the current senator representing your zone?
I would not like to assess her because she was my opponent in the last election (2011). Let my constituency assess her instead.
How would you rate your performance between 2003 and 2007, when you represented Owerri Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives?
I performed excellently in my last representation. I have also been told by many in the constituency that I have performed creditably. I have also received awards to show I performed creditably which leads me to the conclusion that I discharged my responsibilities as a member representing Owerri Federal constituency. I have listened to comparisons between me and those who came after me. I created jobs and secured jobs. We were the people who made the Freedom of Information Act possible. It was passed, but President Obasanjo refused to sign it. He said he did not like the word “Freedom.” I was one of those that stabilized democracy by stopping Obasanjo’s third term bid. We fought for the dualisation of Owerri-Onitisha road. We felt Julius Berger would do a better job, so we asked for their engagement to do the Imo half of the road when we discovered that the former contractor was not doing a good job. We also raised during our term the agitation for the improvement of Imo Airport.
Agenda for Owerri zone
I will collaborate with other senators to fight for the creation of more jobs and ensure that our entitlements from the Federal Government come to us. I am not satisfied with the rate of FG’s presence in the state. President Jonathan has not done anything in that regard. Owerri zone is sitting on oil and gas but these have not been explored. We have massive gas presence and we demand that FG should start tapping it or grant licence to those that will tap it. Recall that the first place in Nigeria that Shell carried out its oil exploration was not Oloibiri like people believe, it is Iho, a town in Ikeduru LGA of Imo state. This happened as far back as 1926. It is on record. We demand that Iho be given its appropriate place in history as the first place Shell carried out its oil exploration in Nigeria.
Do you consider APC a veritable platform with which to win your senatorial election in 2015?
I am certain that APC will win the 2015 Presidential, National Assembly, Governorship, House of Assembly etc baring rigging by PDP. APC is a political movement. And the wind of change it is coming with, I believe, will help us capture power in 2015. The reason is that people have tasted PDP and found it incompetent after 12 years in some states and ten years in others. People are yearning for change in every state PDP is governing. In Imo State for example, what the APC government has achieved in less than 3 years is much more than what PDP has achieved in its 12 years of misgovernance. The issue is no longer whether PDP will be defeated in 2015, but how many years would they have to be kept out of power for their misrule.
It appears APC is not accepted by the people irrespective of the achievements of the Okorocha-led government in the state and the party is regarded as a foreign one among the people.
I don’t agree with you. It is a figment of your imagination. Imo people were involved in the formation of the party from the beginning. Anybody who says APC is a foreign party in Imo State is a mischief maker. The name given to the party was suggested by Governor Rochas Okorocha. And if you may cast your mind back, you will note that the first two words were borrowed from All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) where Okorocha and other Imo people came from. It shows that Imo people or Igbo people were involved in the formation from the beginning. Secondly, the present design of the party’s flag was made by Okorocha. It was suggested by him.
But it appears he is the only heavy weight from this geo-political zone as others have left.
It is another mischief to suggest that he is the only heavy weight from the South East geo-political zone. What happens to Senator Chris Ngige? What happens to Chief Ogbonnaya Onu? What happens to Senator Uche, Engr. Ezekiel Izuogu, etc So what other names do they want to hear? Is it Ojukwu?
But other heavyweights like Achike Udenwa left because Okorocha wanted to be in control.
He (Okorocha) is not in any position to determine who joins the party. The party is open to those who are interested. He was not instrumental to the exit of Udenwa. Udenwa left because he was not principled enough to stand by his words. When he left PDP and joined us in ACN, he told us that nothing would take him back to PDP and that he would never be caught associating in the same party with Ex-Governor Ohakim, Senator Ararume, Chief Hope Uzodinma, Chief Nzeribe, Dr. (Mrs.) Kema Chikwe and their likes. Not long after he took this decision, he swallowed his vomit and joined the same crowd. If he were somewhat principled, he would not do it. It has nothing to do with Okorocha.
On your recent allegation that Ohakim burnt his Owerri residence himself:
I said Ohakim used the burning of his house to attract his political interest. I am sure that he knows the cause of the burning, but has chosen to make a politics out of it. If he wants to run for governorship, he is welcome but not to attract sympathy to himself using the case of his burnt house. It is on record that when he was governor, Government House was burnt, till date we have not been told the cause. In this particular incident, George Eguh alleged that this type of politically induced violence is not known in Imo State. So much politically induced violence was the hallmark of PDP as many people were assassinated in their 12 years of misrule. I was a victim of Ohakim and his political agents led by Eguh. Eguh tried to stifle life out of me by emptying a full teargas canister in my car and when I was suffocating, the same Eguh held me down very tight and prevented me from coming out from suffocation. I would have been dead by now if I had asthma. Ohakim, Eguh and PDP in Imo State are therefore not in a position to talk about politically motivated crimes because it was their stock in trade. Ohakim should at least understand that the people of Imo State have decided his fate by the votes they cast against him in 2011. I dare him to contest even House of Assembly in 2015, he will fail. He needs to be reminded that he did not win the governorship election in 2007, but was merely declared winner by the concoction of results by 35 persons who wrote his results at the Bestway Hotels Owerri, led by a specialist in INEC result forgery.
On national confab:
I have held the belief that nothing will come out of the confab. I will be proved right at the end of the day. The confab is another jamboree. It is my position as an individual. I have always advocated for a Sovereign National Conference rather than a talk shop. Nothing that they deliberated on will see the light of the day after report has been submitted.
Insurgency
We must go back to the root cause of insurgency. Boko Haram is a creation of PDP through their misrule and blind greed for material acquisition and political power. President Jonathan did admit that Boko Haram has infiltrated his cabinet. I am sure there are no APC members in his cabinet. They are all PDP. I reckon that because PDP is Boko Haram and that Boko Haram is PDP that is why they are incapable of solving the riddle.
On the intervention of foreign powers, it is a slap on our sovereignty and once again confirms that the Nigerian state under PDP is a failed state. Now they are inviting other countries to solve their problems. In a civilized society, once the government accepts that it cannot solve a problem, the reasonable thing is to resign. I don’t think the FG has put in enough effort to fight Boko Haram. I see Boko Haram insurgency as a ploy to rig 2015 elections, so that if they impose a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe (all these are APC states) and they are threatening to do more, they will easily rig it.
Advice to the people of Owerri zone
To be on the alert, so that nobody attempts to rig the election as was the case some years back.