Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, captures the random thoughts of former governorship aspirant and lawyer Emeka Etiaba concerning the 2015 election.
Some results of the tension-soaked 2015 general election are still generating great disagreement. Aside three states (Abia, Imo and Taraba) that were declared inconclusive and their re-run held yesterday, other states’ results have been declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A lot of political commentators, politicians, public affairs observers, among other Nigerians, have been expressing their views on the exercise. Like many others, scion of the Etiaba family in Anambra State, Emeka Etiaba, has remained vocal in situating political issues.
The former governorship aspirant in Anambra had in an encounter with TheNiche bared his mind on some of his random thoughts on the election. He observed that despite some election hiccups, the poll was quite laudable on a global level.
However, the maritime consultant expressed worry over what he said has become a tradition in his state, where “electing representatives is determined by the size of your purse, while the most qualified with weak financial muscle and without a godfather has no stake winning the polls”.
Asked to throw more light on the issue, the legal practitioner said: “I will prefer to do the assessment in two overviews – the global one that is Nigeria as a whole and the other one, my own constituency, Nnewi in Anambra State. The global, I give us a pass mark. I think we have done very well because we have been able to move from one elected government to another and we have been able to, at least on our own, effect a change of leadership in Nigeria without the barrel of the gun. So, to that effect, I say we did well. We did well because, especially, the president (Goodluck Jonathan) conceded defeat. And having conceded defeat, anybody who says he is fighting on his behalf would have been wasting his time, so everybody conformed.
“But with regard to my own constituency, Nnewi, I can tell you that we are far from it. We are far from it because I only hear people talk about usage of the card-reader, but in my constituency, it was not even used; nobody made pretences that it was to be used. Second and sadly too, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have the best candidates win election, especially in my own constituency, also because it’s all about the amount of money that you share.”
Etiaba lamented that, in Nnewi, it is your ability to buy votes that matter not whether you are the best candidate that would deliver the democracy dividend.
On whether the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has learnt any lesson from its loss at the centre, he said the message has been quite instructive, as any political party now knows that it is only hard work and ability to implement your manifesto that would determine the hold on power.
“The lesson is that everybody now knows that if you are at the helm of affairs, you really have to work hard to make sure that after four years you are not disgraced out by the people. The loss of power by the PDP also gives hope to Nigerians that we can really effect change,” he noted.
Etiaba, whose mother, Dame Virgy Etiaba, was a former governor of the state, averred that PDP lost at the federal level due to some answered questions and not due to non-performance.
According to him, “One may ask, why did the PDP lose? The answer is very simple. It wasn’t much of non-delivery of dividends of democracy. No; it was because certain questions were unanswered: they were majorly issues of security, issues of corruption, and APC was smart enough to narrow its campaign issues to corruption and insecurity. If they didn’t do that, maybe President Jonathan wouldn’t have lost because, based on infrastructural development, the government has not done badly.”
He is of the view that although the PDP would not be able to play active opposition for now, but that the nation’s political nature has been such that would always throw up the opposition camp when situation demands.
Said Etiaba: “PDP may not, but God will always bring up people that will do that. Remember that the people that played active role in the APC, over 70 per cent are from the PDP. As the game goes on with Buhari and his government, you will still see one or two or more disenchanted people moving out again to be on the other side. PDP at the onset may not be able to do it, but as time goes on, it will gather moss and will be able to offer the opposition that we need.”
The legal practitioner said Buhari has the stamina to fight corruption, if he chooses to, given his past anti-corruption records.
“If there is anybody among the political gladiators who has created the impression that he can fight corruption, it’s Buhari. Everybody knows that he is not given to so much opulence and greed. Nigerians know his antecedents under the military and I don’t think he has changed,” he noted.
On where the present political configuration would leave Ndigbo, he said it may not leave the Igbo comfortable, but that nobody should blame Ndigbo for casting their majority vote for Jonathan.
His words: “The present political configuration may not leave Ndigbo in a comfortable place, but also remember that the out-going government at the national level also did not leave the Yoruba in a comfortable place, and the Yoruba fought hard and with the collaboration they formed with the North, that is where power resides today.
“Definitely, the Igbo will not be able to occupy the position of President, Vice President, Senate President or House of Representatives Speaker because they don’t even have elected officers on the APC platform.
But when people blame Ndigbo for political naivety, I laugh because it is not quite like that. Though Ndigbo are republicans, masters of our own opinion, the truth about it is that the Igbo man had a reason to support the South South presidential bid of Jonathan because of our antecedents.
“Igbo man needed to play the fool because before now, before Jonathan, the saying was that the Igbo man was the one that let the South South man down years past when they had political collaboration; so we needed to now play the fool and that fool we have played.
“As time goes on, even if the Igbo man is not favoured in this government, which I do not believe will be the case, we will still need to fight another day because no group can joke with Ndigbo in this country. If you do, you will be disappointed because they are a great people by every standard,” Etiaba said.
On the assumption in most political quarters that Boko Haram is a political weapon used by the North to stampede Jonathan out of power, Etiaba said “only time would tell”.
“If that is the case, we will soon find out whether Boko Haram will continue after Jonathan,” he added.