Ogochukwu Agabus Umunnakwe Onyema, aka, OAU Onyema, is the aspirant to the seat of Enugu West Senatorial zone. In this interview with CHUKS NWEZE in Enugu, he says his ambition to go to the National Assembly is still burning, despite being frustrated severally by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) first, to the House of Reps and later, to the Senate
Before now, you were nursing ambition for Senate, are you still going ahead?
Well, it is said that there is no act of a man’s construction in the face. Ambition is ambition. And true ambition is inherent. It is inside and from inside to outside. The ambition has not burnt off, having contested primary elections for Senate three times for Enugu West Senatorial Zone in 2010, 2019 and 2022 under PDP. You should know that it is an ambition and that real ambition does not die. That’s my answer.
Still talking about ambition, 2027 is almost around the corner, do you still nurse the ambition?
Well, I have discovered that it is not ambition that gives position but the decision of the people. More often in Nigeria, the decision of the leaders that have the opportunity to decide the fate of others. Most often such leaders have indeces and parameters with which they chose whom they will support and give the party nomination. It is because of such things, it is because of not securing the patronage of PDP for close to 30 years that I played politics with them that I jettisoned them. I remember a year or two ago, I jettisoned PDP and joined Labour Party. I am no longer a member of the PDP. I rejected them because they rejected me. And I rejected them because I decided that they are not sincere in chosing candidates for elections. They have no aspiration of making the nation great or making things flow well for the country. A lot of other issues that are frivolous bias the minds of the leaders that select candidates for PDP because it is selection that they do in PDP. It is never on merit. And these factors that bias their minds are not genuine factors. So, going by their modus operandi, the country will never be well and I decided to dissociate myself from PDP, having contested House of Representatives three times for Udi/Ezeagu federal constituency in Enugu state and Senate three times in Enugu West senatorial zone under PDP and the sentiment and the reasoning did not touch the hearts of those making the selection to give me nomination to see the me that is in me that makes me the me. I decided to jettison them and moved on to the Labour Party. We are LP but there are multiple developments in LP and we are aware that Peter Obi is in LP. I am now an Obidient and where Peter Obi flows is where I am going to flow to. A lot of things are happening in LP to frustrate, denigrate, scatter it, make it valueless but I know that a party like SDP is emerging strongly and I know that SDP once produced the president of the country that was never declared, so the country is owing SDP. May be our eyes are there.
You were making impact in PDP and one would have thought that you would have made a greater impact in LP if you had contested?
You said that I said that I am still in Labour Party. I moved from PDP to LP where I am now. Where I shall be in future will soon be unveiled. We are watching what is happening in our LP. I moved from PDP to LP and from LP, we are watching SDP, watching it keenly and we are getting so much interest in SDP because we are seeing meritocracy emerging in SDP. We are seeing SDP as an emerging party that is coming up to salvage the country. My interest is there, my interest is in SDP and we watch our Obidient leader, Peter Obi and we hope that within a short time, you will see Peter Obi in SDP so that we can see how we turn things around in the country.
What is your take on the mass defection of lawmakers from LP to PDP in Enugu state?
That is very unfortunate, disgusting and disappointing phenomenon, to say the least. I’m disappointed that those who merit and responsibility threw up are now out of glutton trying to associate with failure. Those people migrating from LP to PDP, can they even get nomination in PDP? Did PDP accept them ab initio? It is because of peanuts. I was in PDP when we won the election that produced Peter Mbah and I said that I’m leaving PDP. I said they should not give me appointment, let me chart my course. As an ambitious man, I want to be like others. I want to give my own take in the country so that everybody will see. Can you see how the incumbent governor came in to Enugu and he is surprising everybody including myself. That is the advantage of change. When you keep changing and bringing in new blood, you will see dynamics. So, I say I cannot get that dynamics within this particular fold because I have seen their pattern. I am charting my course so that we will chart it through there and see our level of acceptability. So I am grossly disappointed with those guys that are migrating and carpet-crossing from LP to PDP simply because of carrot. The masses threw you up to come and give them representation but out of their ‘long-throat’, they are looking at a person that rejected them, promising them heaven and earth. They are rejecting the platform with which they ascended to move to PDP. Woe unto them, shame unto them because they will not get what they are expecting because they will be rejected at the fullness of time.
What is your brief assessment of Gov. Peter Mbah within this two years?
If you tell me to talk about His Excellency Ndubisi Mbah, I say to you that whoever does the way I do, I’ll call my good friend. That will be the song. I admire his leadership style and each time I see his choice of projects, I smile within myself. I say this is a proactive man. This is a man with strategic thinking. This is a man that is futuristic. Can you see how he came in? I have been telling people that this International Conference Centre is not a problem, that if I ascend to the seat of government, I’ll handle it. When Mbah came and I saw the strategic move he is making, I started smiling. Reason being that all these his projects are fantastic. They have multiplier effect in the system. What he is doing in Enugu state, it is not him that will reap the benefit. The person that will reap the fruit is subsequent governors of Enugu state. He is cultivating for them but we know that whoever is blowing the trumpet, our people say that he will clean his mouth. I admire his leadership style and the way he engaged in projects that touch the people. Look at our roads being asphalted. Initially, just few years ago, you cannot even know whether the shock absorber of your car is at fault or whether a mechanic has done something to your car because the roads are bumpy. The man is a great man. He is doing well. I am not praising him for him to do anything for me but when I am doing well, I expect others to praise me, too. If we get governors, three or four that will do like him, Enugu state will become a heaven.
Eight years ago, Enugu state became darkness everywhere. Even street lights that were powered by generators in line with Sullivan policy and strategy, all of them were vandalized, no single street lights in Enugu. Darkness came everywhere. Eight years were like eight years backwards until Mbah came. Hotel Presidential is there, Smart Schools are there, the transport system, and at a point, the previous administration did not buy a single car for a single councillor, for a single traditional ruler, for a single Commissioner, to a single Adviser but during Sullivan regime he bought cars for Commissioners, House of Assembly members, advisers, etc. He even bought taxi and buses on hire purchase but for eight years, we saw nothing like that. When Mbah came in, he started to replicate what ought to be. We thank him.
You speak glowingly of Mbah, why don’t you go back to PDP?
Is the governor PDP? Politics is about interest. The governor came on board with his own ideology, with his own formation and I have seen the character of PDP and I have my own ambition and I have what I want to drop within the system to show people what is in me that is me. That Mbah is in PDP and he is performing is not my business. He is a good man. Did you ask me about other governors or other legislators? You can ask me to describe them and I’ll tell you that they failed. So I don’t queue. I don’t join the bandwagon. I had been in the bandwagon and it does not pay.
Earlier, you blasted the LP legislators who defected to PDP citing Mbah’s performance as their reason for their moves….
…(Cuts in) That was myopic. How can someone’s success be the reason you are joining him? We are talking about you, who you are. How many bills did you initiate? Tell us how many bills you passed before you cross-carpeted? You are telling us because the governor is building International Conference Centre and asphalting the roads, he is doing well, that is why you are joining PDP? You are joining PDP because of the carrot. If not, tell us what you have achieved to be able to pacify those that elected you under the platform they elected you before cross-carpeting? You have not achieved anything. No single bill. Did you hear the voice of any of them? They know that they are not worth it. The wave threw them up and they feel, maybe, they have been promised something but they will be disappointed. I know the character of PDP. Some of them have intention to see if they can convert it, but the masses are there. The masses are galvanised except election upturns and they are not conducted the way it should.
Whether in SDP or LP, what do we expect of OAU Onyema come 2027?
You know that the train has a rail and the rail of a train has a common destination and if you enter the rail, if a train going to Kaduna and once you enter you will get there. Where had I been – 2015 Senate, 2019 Senate, 2022 Senate to the extent that I even sued the National Assembly to vacate the seat of our Senator, our brother when we knew that he was not coming back so that it will not be wasted but some people saw it as wickedness. It wasn’t wickedness but sensibility but they thought it must not be me. It must not be me and they allowed it burnt off. So, my brother, I am going where I am going and let’s see the extent to which people will accept or reject OAU.