Deputy Chief of Staff to the immediate past Deputy Governor of Abia State and one-time Chairman of Umuahia North Local Government Area, Charles Ogbonna, in this interview with Special Correspondent, ANAYO ONYEAHARA, speaks on the task before the new administration in the state.
Advice to winners and losers of Abia election
What the law provides is that those who are not satisfied with the results of the election can go to the tribunal. It is important to point out here that Abia has been known over the years for peace. Abia is now referred to as the most peaceful state in the country, and we will not like anybody to do anything that would affect the peace that is existing in the state. So, no matter the hype, anybody who is going to the tribunal should conduct himself properly; we must be law-abiding. It is the responsibility of anybody that feels shortchanged to go to the tribunal to express themselves and the law will also take its course.
Abia under Ikpeazu
I am a very optimistic person. Some people are saying that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor, is not the messiah. Well, let us agree that he is not the messiah; but he may be near to the messiah that Abia is expecting. I don’t see any reason Ikpeazu will not succeed as governor. So I see a different shift from what people are thinking. I see a greater Abia emerging; I see a greater transformation of every nook and cranny of Abia. I see people clapping their hands. The last administration laid a very solid foundation for Abia and as he (Ikpeazu) continues to build on that foundation, Abia will become better and better.
Advice to INEC as election tribunals kick off
I hope you know that some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff were caught falsifying results for some politicians. I believe that INEC realises the importance of keeping its house clean, and not getting involved in the falsification of results for anybody, no matter how highly-placed that politician may be. Anybody that has won the election has won it as long as that person was declared winner by INEC. Let the results of the elections be presented to the tribunal the way they are.
Assessing Abia governorship election
The governorship election in Abia State was between the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) and the PDP. If you take the census of what happened during the election, you will see that it was the PDP versus the PDP. Of course you and I know that APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance) was not on the ground; it is a fact that its candidate was nowhere. There is no way somebody can just leave a sector and in one moment connect to another sector and begin to create impression. So what happened was that the PDP was contesting with the PDP, and this gave rise to what happened during the governorship election. It was not only the governorship election but also the House of Assembly. You discover that most of the areas where the PDP lost, it was as a result of the infighting. We must realise that there is no other political party in Abia outside of the PDP. PDP had been dominant from the beginning. That was why in 2011 no other party won any seat in Abia. But because of selfish motives of some politicians, because of imposition of candidates without listening to the wishes of the people, there was a revolt and people were no longer voting individuals. What happened was that PDP started voting against PDP and the other political party took the advantage. I went round the state and discovered that PDP people were openly campaigning against their party. It was that bad. But thank God that at the governorship level, things did not go that bad.
If you look at the pattern of the voting, you will discover that people were voting according to the position coming from them. Take a look at Obingwa and Osisioma, you will see that because the governorship candidate is from there, they voted massively for the candidate. It was not so much as for the party but for the candidate. And this same thing happened in all the states of the federation where the PDP felt that they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it. Now the electorate have shown them that it is no longer business-as-usual. But my joy in all these is that Ikpeazu won the governorship election because he is the only man that has the capacity and the background to take Abia to the next level. Once God wants to do something, He does not consult people. God went to the refuse bin and took Okezie and lifted him.
Many see Okezie Ikpeazu as a stooge
That is the figment of their imagination. How do you expect a man who earned a doctorate degree at a very tender age to be a stooge to anybody? How would you expect a man who has lectured in some of the best universities in the country to stoop so low and allow his image to be tarnished? The truth is that those who are saying this are afraid of the giant strides that he is going to take and which would further rubbish the evil they have planned for the state. Abia is God’s Own State and no devil is going to be allowed to come near again. We have seen what they are capable of doing and we are going to prepare all the way for them. There will be no sleep for the wicked in Abia again; they should go to another state and do whatever they like. Ikpeazu will take the state to greater heights than it is now. Everybody knows it. It is only those who have nothing for the state that are speaking otherwise. But we are confident that the truth will soon begin to unfold.