Second Republic Senator, Dr. EDWIN ONWUDIWE, easily comes to mind as one that defeated the late Biafran leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in the controversial 1983 senatorial election in the old Anambra State. Currently contributing to the improvement of Nigeria’s politics on the platform of Orient Peoples Association – a South East/South South alliance, he speaks with Special Correspondent, OKEY MADUFORO, on President Goodluck Jonathan’s political ambition and issues of security, among others.
Evaluating Second Republic politics with current trend
Dr. Edwin Onwudiwe
As of now, politics is only more of people making business; it has nothing to do with making Nigeria better and putting it on good pedestal. It is all about you chop and I chop. That is the present politics.
Floating an organisation supporting President Goodluck Jonathan
I thought we should, in all circumstances, go out to support Nigeria to do what is right for Nigeria. I thought that at my age, I do not need to start launching a political party. We had launched the political parties that we launched in our days, and one of them sent me to the Senate after being commissioner in the old Anambra State – the present Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states. As far as I am concerned, I did not want to go back to start a political party, which is a rallying point for people trying to put their project up. So I said let me start with a programme, which I learnt in my contest for the Senate. That is to mobilise people who will actually make sure that on the voting day people come out and vote for President Goodluck Jonathan; not that if you have 700 people registered in a ward and on the voting day only 45 people vote. We don’t want that to happen with Jonathan. I want a situation in which if 700 people registered in any ward, 690 will vote on the voting day, and out of the 690, 685 will vote for Jonathan. That is my ambition.
Disenfranchisement in the last voter registration exercise
We are already fighting those problems because we are also in the business of pushing people to register. That is the job of Orient Peoples Association (OPA). We are making people to register and we want Nigerians to vote in the election. That is our mission.
South East, South South alliance during and after Civil War
I can understand where you are coming from. But the fact is if we keep remembering yesterday, and refuse to know today and think of tomorrow, we shall get nowhere. I know that in the past, the South East and South South had not gotten on properly; but as a matter of fact, if you think of it, you realise that those who created states in Nigeria created those states mostly when the war was going on. So they created very terrible impressions about the South East. In fact, you can see the way they did it. Each of the six regions in Nigeria has six states; but the South East has five. Why would they want to do that? Because if you give them the opportunity, they may not even create any state in the South East, we know all that.
But we have learnt a lot. We have discussed with the South South people and we know that before us and before we came into politics, the Eyo Itas of this world and the leaders of other areas in the South South were working together. We know the poisoned chalice that has been served the South South and South East. We know that the people of the two regions share similar feelings and the same neglect in this country. How many South South people have been presidents of this country, apart from Jonathan? How many from South West have been? How many from North East? It is a number. How many from North West. It is a number. How many from South East?
Actualising the sixth state for South East in Jonathan’s second term
I know that there is a region that has seven states. That seventh state was taken from the South East and was given to another zone. I know that Jonathan will make it six for the South East, if given the opportunity. But he is not a dictator; he is not a military man. So, for goodness sake, he will do that for us and that is why we in the South East are behind him.
South East producing president after Jonathan
Who says it is not possible? All parts of the North have produced the President of Nigeria. We have also had president from the South West that spent eight years. Now President Jonathan is going for his eight years. It is only the South East that is left. So it is morally right that the next president after Jonathan should come from the South East, and that is what we call equity and fairness. This would, to a large extent, carry every geo-political zone along in the interest of fairness and also checkmate all pockets of grievances.
Six geo-political zones not enshrined in the constitution to give South East the legal framework
The fact that it is not there does not mean that it cannot be done. It takes the internal decision to create a favourable condition and say, South East must have presidency. I wanted to be president of Nigeria as far back as 1995, but it did not happen.
Blaming failed presidential ambition on the military
Do I have to blame any other person? The trouble in Nigeria was created by the military and that is the bane of Nigeria’s socio-political growth, period! Had it been that Nigerians were allowed, from inception, to make their own mistakes and correct them without military coming into the governance of the country, by now things would have been a lot better and our democracy would have done better. But with the transition from 1999 to date, our democracy is beginning to take shape for the better. As we continue to progress, there shall always be improvement in our democratic and political life as a country.
Boko Haram as menace to Nigeria
All those things are manifestations of some people who feel short-changed that these things that they had always benefited against the run of play are no more coming to them. They do not want power to go into other people’s hands; hence they choose to cause trouble and create problems. But President Jonathan, being aware of all these plans, chooses to handle them democratically, instead of using force like the military. So far, the war against Boko Haram is being won, and gradually Boko Haram will be history in Nigeria. All we need do is to give our president the support, and by the next tenure you all will see the difference in our country.
