Judging by his performance at the 2015 Presidential election when he contested against President Muhammadu Buhari, and the then sitting President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Sam Eke, national chairman of Citizen Popular Party (CPP), and national secretary of Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC) is unquestionably president of Igbo nation. The trained accountant, astute politician and pioneer national publicity secretary of IPAC, spoke with JOHN NWOKOCHA on some topical political issues.
What is your assessment of political developments in the country since May29, we have seen nullification of elections, we have seen reactions to election tribunal verdicts going by your background as a politician and trained accountant give us your objective valuation.
First and foremost you must admit that governance and government is a continuum and since is a continuum you have to also realize that the man in power now the Muhammadu Buhari administration is not up to six months and if you have been in a system for 16 years and more or less you have been stagnant it will take not six months to repair the damage that administration did in 16 years. If you are to speak politically about this administration you will give to him that there is sanity in the system now, all we lacked seriously was a leader that had audacity, political will to deliver. Is a different thing to be a good man, if you are a good man and you don’t have the audacity you cannot lead this country to anywhere.
So we wanted a man that has audacity a man that can look anybody to his face and tell the person this is the proper thing to be done. And we have it in the person of President Buhari. All I tell the people of this country since he is now in power let us give him some time, there is no problem for anybody to use opposition platform to create. Opposition must be played with a human face believing very well that you don’t expect a leader to perform magic. There are parameters to access government and those parameters have to come with time.
But my greatest joy of the moment is that I can drive my car to any filling station and I will buy fuel at N87 per litre. Last time I went to the South east I bought Fuel at N87 per litre. In fact the filling station was begging me to buy so there is sanity. Everybody has sat up. We should also look at the issue of corruption in this country we have gone through many roads trying to stop corruption which we have failed in solving it. And there is no way you can prove to the people that you are serious about solving corruption without you showing that you are not corrupt.
The first step is for any president of Nigeria to declare his assets.
We want to know your entry point and exit point. This government has started on a good note people should give the government a chance. After all the budget he is running is not his budget this is a budget that was prepared and passed by the out gone administration. If that is the case in the next one year and with the coming on board of ministers the economy will start opening up gradually and by then we will have what we call economic development not just economic growth.
What is your take on the key appointments so far by President Buhari, trimming of ministries and sacking of permanent secretaries recently?
Is a right step in the right direction. You see the bulk stops on the table of the leader. You are not making appointments just to satisfy federal character. In terms of satisfying federal character the constitution spells it out very well. Coming to the kitchen cabinet of the president, every man guides himself when he comes to power. President Buhari is even more afraid to fail than any Nigerian leader because he has fought for the presidency of this country many times before he got it and at the same time a lot of confidence is reposed on him.
If it means him going to Daura to pack all his villagers and kinsmen to be in his kitchen cabinet and there is food on the table of the common man, the roads in the south east is repaired and there is employment, corruption is brought to a standstill, the government is moving in the direction, the poor man in the streets don’t give a damn.
The people who are criticizing the government now are politicians that feel that they are no longer benefiting and looting the treasury as they were doing in the past dispensations. As we speak now I am the Igbo president in this dispensation until 2019 when another general election will be conducted, because in the last election I happened to be the Igbo man with the highest number of votes in the Presidential election, so any discussion on Igbo race without figuring me in is inconsequential. So Buhari in making appointments has not breached any constitutional provisions. Some of my Igbo brothers have called me to ask if I am seeing what they are seeing in this government. Who he appoints into his kitchen cabinet like Chief of Staff, personal aides is at his whims and caprices.
Have you resolved the leadership crisis if no what is the way forward?
The way forward is for anybody that lost an election to accept that he has lost an election. Because as at now the chairman of IPAC and the executive have been sworn in and they have been working. We have gone round the 36 states of the federation ensuring that every state chapter of IPAC there is peace and harmony.
In Abia for example, the state PPA chairman is the chairman of IPAC. You don’t pull down the house because you didn’t get into power. Power comes from God at any point in time God says it is your turn He give it to you. In IPAC as far as we are concerned we are moving forward, in anybody thinks the contrary should come and see what we are doing.
As I speak with you the positions of secretary and deputy secretary has been declared vacant because they refused to come for the swearing in. on Thursday (November19) there will be a Bye election into these offices.
The purpose of IPAC is to promote unity among political parties among other objectives. How far has this aim been realized with respect to the current crisis in the body?
Thank you very much we are doing our best to resolve the crisis. The problem is created by those people who feel they must be the leader always. But you will agree with me in life you don’t always win. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. We shall overcome the crisis soon. And don’t forget that a stolen crown is an ordinary cap on the head of the thief. In a democratic setting you cannot lead a people without their consent. So in IPAC, those who are doing everything to foist themselves on us should be told that they won’t have their way. Because they are minority but they can have their say. And we the majority will have our way.
In respect to the roles of opposition what we are seeing since May29 is like the PDP is the only opposition party. Where are the other parties? What is your assessment of the role of opposition?
Before you become an opposition first and foremost you should have an alternative to what somebody is doing. I do not believe in opposition by singing like a broken record. The way opposition is being played presently by the PDP is full of acrimony the PDP is also playing opposition with ignominy. PDP is an opposition party in a hurry.
PDP is playing opposition negatively so they are not doing it objectively, but subjective and it is not in the best interest of this country. It is not everything an opposition party should respond to. There are ways to draw the attention of the government in power to issues in a polite way. Somebody who has been in power for 16 years cannot suddenly become an opposition with the same spirit with somebody who has been in opposition all these years. Therefore what we are saying is that if you must play opposition you must play it with the spirit of unity, with the spirit of national interest. But opposition based on personal ego, party’s narrow interest and vendetta then it is not opposition. It becomes an attack.
The other part of the question is why are the rest of the parties aside PDP not talking on the activities of the government as citizens are complaining or are there no issues to address?
Political party is not majorly about opposition. Opposition is just a fragmental part of what they do, is just a small aspect of their functions, it is not totally about opposition. What is all about is that at the end of the day the Nigerian people are better off than the way you met them.
As a Christian I believe that I am under a commander to pray for my leader. I did not insult President Jonathan for one day even though I contested against him and President Buhari. So if I have one or two contributions to make to the development of my country I have access to every leader, today I can beat my chest to tell you that I have gotten to a level that before anybody can become the governor of my state I should be able to know the person. I should not know the person in such a way as the Godfather but I should know the person in such a way that some way or the other there is interactions and I make my suggestions.
Like I told Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia Governor) fix Aba, once you fix Aba 90% of Abians problems will be solved. Fix Aba in terms of infrastructure, in terms of internally generated revenue from Aba will be used to develop other parts of the state. Once you develop Aba Abians will never complain again. I am just giving you the way and manner to do opposition and not by go to pages of newspapers and start insulting ourselves or washing our dirty linen before they will know that we are doing our job. No that is wrong.
How would you respond to the allegation that some of you are not talking because you are fringe politicians or portfolio politicians who come up when there is money to share especially during elections and after that you vanish because you have nothing to offer again?
If that is the case I do not think the party will be flagging candidates in Bayelsa and Kogi states. People are entitled to their own opinions. As I speak with you I am the most acceptable leader of my people because the process that gave me that position was the same process that produced President Buhari. There is no state of the federation that I did not score a vote. So how can somebody that came forth out of 14 candidates in the presidential race be said to be unpopular and called a fringe politician. CPP is the best political party right from the day of independence I stand to be corrected.
