Despite the good things and positions the President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has given to Igbo, some of the people are still not satisfied, but one man and a leader in the region, Chief Modestus Umenzekwe, thinks otherwise. But he still believes that there are other certain things Mr President should look into too. He also, talks about the insecurity in Anambra state, the death of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who represented Anambra South, the 2025 governorship and the planned Local government elections as announced by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, among others. He spoke with THE RAZOR
EXCERPTS…
Insecurity in Anambra is Massive, what is really going on in your State?
I’m not in government, neither am I one of the security agents. But from my own point of view, I hope my brother, because we are from the same local government, i don’t know how much he collects on security vote from the federal government. But no matter the amount, let him rejig his strategy and invest heavily on security. Anambra used to be a very peaceful place and home for all, but today, it is no longer business as usual because Anambra people are relocating to supposedly safer states. And that is seriously deleting the economy of the state. Yes, I believe the Governor is trying his best, but his best is not yet enough to give us whatever we want and reduce the insecurity to the barest minimum. When you build roads and flyovers here and there, they are excellent jobs and commendable, but it is only when you are alive to move freely that you can enjoy those facilities;otherwise, it would amount to efforts in futility, and the problem of insecurity has impeded all other economic indices of the state. Fortunately for us, our Governor is a professor of Economics and a member of the presidential economic team of the renewed hope agenda for which i commend him for acknowledging that the renewed hope economic policies of the President are good ones that would have long time good effects on our people. And that is why he appealed to us (Nigerians) to be patient with President. I totally agree with him on that, but the gains of being patient can not be consummated if we are leaving in fear on account of security lapses.
But members of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA) are equally, not happy with him, why?
I’m not a member of APGA and cannot go into their internal wranglings. So,its left for the party to solve themselves out. The way you see things is not the way I see them, In as much as I’ve not taken time to access the totality of Governor Soludo’s achievements or failure, because I know he said he should be given 24 months for anyone to access him, therefore, I have not gone into that. I’m not speaking for my party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, but I’m speaking as a true son of Anambra State; who is a committed member of APC and I know that Mr President, Bola Tinubu, whose party in Anambra State is on opposition, has given an unfettered hands to the Governors Anambra State inclusive, to stamp out security issues in their states and that is the angle where I’m coming from.
Talking about your party, the APC, recently you lost one of the movers of the party in Anambra State, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who was gunning for the governorship seat also, how did his death hit you and APC?
In my statement when the news spread, I said it’s one death too many,which we have received the news with rude shock. His exit has created a lot of confusion because we have currently two of them that are in the race, qualified ones for that matter, himself and Chief Paul Chukwuma(Onyechinazo). I said confusion because, for now, we don’t know what to do,even Paul Chukwumais confused too. And that is why he shut down his political activities for 30 days to mourn his friend and fellow political giant. You see, we were thinking about how to bring two of them together as a family because our party is a very big united family for two of them to do the primary among the two of them and come out with to tell us it is Ubah or Chukwuma we should follow. So, we’re still chewing the situation and keeping quiet until we finish the funeral rites of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah. Two of them are close to me and represented themselves in person and proxy on 19th July, when I buried my Very Reverend Father uncle. So, the only thing I can tell you is that APC in Anambra state and Nigeria is still mourning. And when we come out from it,we will be able to make a statement
About making a statement by your party,do you think the people of the state are ready to embrace APC?
The answer is yes. This is because, everyday, even in my locality, you will see people defecting to APC and the renewed hope agenda of Mr President has given us hope that the entire Southeast zone is part and parcel of this country. Mr president in his magnanimity, appointed our son Senator Dave Umahi, as a Minister of works, the first of its kind since 1960s and gave him unfettered hands to fix all the roads in his region and make himself proud. At least, it is going to improve on what our political role model, Dr Babatunde Fashola, SAN, in his own time as Minister because, he did a lot of roads in the Southeast, but time did not allow him to finish some and he did those things as a lawyer. But today, an expert in the field, who is our son is handling the jobs, therefore, the onus is on us, Anambrarians and the Southeast to give him a backing by embracing APC in totality.
Some southeast people, especially, the opposition believe that Asiwaju Tinubu, has not performed as expected within the one year he has been in office, what’s your take on this?
I don’t agree Nigerians as a people including myself, are impatient. This president, came from the background of activism. An activist is not known to segregate but to enact a whole and encompassing policies that will benefit everybody. Some of the policies he has brought out are at the foundation stage which will result into a nice building all of us will occupy. Yes, it is a fact that we did not give him much votes, (but those people that made him to win). The same thing applies to his own area (the west) where some of those people are still going about in different media houses calling him all sorts of names, making nasty statements about him. Are you telling me he would starve them in that zone or even in the North, of the dividends of democracy? The answer to me, is No. I sum it up to say, the patient dog eats the fattest bone, therefore we should give him some chance.
But in your opinion as APC chieftain in the southeast, do you think Mr President has performed within the short time, going by the appointments?
There is one thing I always believe in, Mr A or B must not be in government to do the work of nation building, it must be one person. And also, he is a man that gave us one of the service chiefs, he gave works Minister and two or three appointments he did in few weeks, the people of southeast are there. To some of us it is not yet enough, but I believe he is taking his time and our expectations will be met because there are many appointments yet to be made.
Your answer has taken care of the agitations of Igbo on appointments from Mr president, what do you think the people really want?
I think that they want to be embraced totally in every sector. Because of what we suffered during the war, we were devastated and since then, we have been crying for total rehablita tion in the policy making of this country, that is why we are very glad that the President, using the instrumentality of the National Assembly, has signed into law, Southeast Development Commission SEDC as reintroduced by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Benjamin Kalu which Senator Uche Ekwunife introduced during her time. So, by signing it into law, we believe that the three Rs of Gowon, Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation has come into effect. Another thing we want is giving us additional state in the Southeast as recommended by Chief Arthur Mbanefo to Committee on State creation and Boundary Adjutant Committee 1996 as well as National Constitutional Conference of 2014. There will be an addition to recognising and given our sons and daughter more federal appointments. Going forward, I’m appealing to Mr President, to apply human wisdom which he is known for and political solution to release our brother, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. This singular act, if he gives it positive attention, will bring to an end the sit-at-home exercise and insecurity bedeviling the southeast region for some years.
Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission,ANSIEC, has fixed a date for Council polls and it is generating a lot of controversy in the state, how do you react to it?
Credible Democratic principle is what we have been yearning for in Anambra and entire country. The announcement is a welcome development, but the snag there is the time frame, which I do not know if it complies with the extant electoral laws. I had expected ANSIEC to give adequate notice, at least three months, this will give every political party every opportunity to prepare and conduct primaries in order to select various candidates for various election positions.
As you can see, many political parties are threatening court actions, for how long are we going to continue like that?. The situate is not healthy. And I appeal to ANISEC to look into the agitations of political parties and do the needful, so that no political party should feel shortchanged.
And if they don’t ?
There may be several court actions which will not be good for Anambra State.
