The battle for the soul of Imo State, the Eastern Heartland, has gotten to the boiling point and the gladiators are baring all their fangs. In this interview with ACHILLEUS-CHUD UCHEGBU, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Ifeanyi Ararume, delivers a hard punch: Governor Okorocha has Destroyed Imo but I’ll Fix It.
You have just won the gubernatorial primary of APGA in Imo State. What are your next steps?
We have had our primaries. The parties have submitted names and like in every contest, you have winners and losers. But the most important thing is to unite the party by talking to all those who contested the primary with you at all levels. We talk to them that APGA is one big formidable family. All of us must work together. The size of government is very large and everyone has to find some accommodation somehow. People will work from the local government level up to the national level. We have the local government that will take some people; others will be interested to do business with the government. There is a lot to be done. But what is most important is to unite everybody and make APGA a formidable machine to win the election in 2019. That is what we are doing. We have been doing things at our own level. The party, at the national level, has also set up a national reconciliation committee headed by our Vice-Presidential candidate, Jerry Chukwueke. Besides, we are doing a lot at our own level. I have had talks with all those who contested with me and we are still talking. Our talks are yielding results.
How are you handling the reconciliation of aggrieved members of the party after the primaries?
My running mate also aspired to be governor. He is from Owerri zone and now my running mate. That shows you the level of reconciliation we have done. Everyone is working hard on this. APGA members and, even non-APGA members are involved with this. They are all doing this because they know that APGA is a party that parades what it takes to deal with post-Rochas Imo and to manage the state. One thing is obvious; you would need to bring our people together. The government has divided our people. We have a lot of polarisation in Imo. Everyone is divided and there is a need to bring the people together. Therefore, we need to do a lot to prepare our people for the task ahead.
Do you intend to fuse the campaign structure used for the primary with that of the party or create something new?
We had our structure before the primary. That was a campaign structure put together specifically for the primary. That is done with now. The primaries are over and we have to get together as a party. The party will drive the campaign henceforth. We are bringing everyone into the campaign. All our candidates, from the state to the national levels are all involved. We are one big APGA family and the campaign will reflect that. The campaign will carry everybody along.
Some aspirants are talking about consensus candidacy. What is your take on that?
You don’t appoint a consensus candidate after a primary election. What will be the platform? The party guidelines on the conduct of primary elections are there and they are clear. Even before the primary election, if you meet and appoint someone, the person still has to go through the process of election as set out by the party. The person still has to stand for a yes or no vote. The electoral panel will still come to observe and ratify it and then send the report to the party. So, what they did was outside party guideline. To my mind, what they did is outside the law and it is a nullity. It has no foundation in law and the party guideline.
But a former governor and guber aspirant in your party said the APGA ticket was for the highest bidder?
I don’t like to join issues with Ikedi Ohakim. In any case, I am not the national chairman of APGA. However, if the ticket was for the highest bidder, he would have bided higher. He was a former governor and nobody would have bided higher than him. He was governor in Imo for four years and is still in a position to outbid others if the ticket was for sale. Unfortunately, the APGA ticket was not for sale. Those who voted had seen all of us. Ohakim was given the opportunity to lead Imo state for four years and the people saw him perform. The delegates to APGA primary election were all adults when Ohakim was governor. They saw him as governor. In any case, this is not the first primary he has gone through since he left Government House. The question is: How did he fare in previous primary elections he contested? Did he win those ones? So, this is not to join issues with Ohakim, but I want to say that he had the opportunity to govern Imo state. There are others who have not had the opportunity. I am sure the delegates in their wisdom, decided to try some other person. I think he ought to be kind enough to support the outcome of the primaries.
Do you have issues with Mr. Ohakim?
Ohakim is my brother. I love him as my brother and will continue to love him as a brother. I think the best he should do is to support a brother who is now the candidate. He should support this cause. I have spoken with him. I think that with time, things will fall in shape. We all should work together and make sure that APGA is successful in the 2019 election in Imo state.
What is the most challenging governance issue in Imo State?
The most challenging aspect of our governance is to get our people back. There is high distrust among the people and against the government. Our people are like a conquered people. The task is to bring them back to the level they were before and restore their confidence. It will take some time but I am sure that our victory will begin to address that. In the issue of governance, the starting point is to create policies that will give the people hope. So, there is an urgent need to recover Imo and bring it back. Imo is derailed. To bring Imo back is a task that must be done and to do that, you need a formidable team. Luckily, we have a very vibrant crop of young people who are ready to work. All you need to do is to bring them together, engage them and they will do the work. Imo used one of the best states in terms of education, sanitation, hospitability- the state used to be number one. But it has gone down. These are challenges that we will tackle as soon as we take over.
How do you intend to address the decay in the state’s educational sector?
If you look at the education sector in the state, for instance, you find that nothing works. The education sector has collapsed. From the primary education level up to the tertiary level, our education has collapsed. We need to get back and rebuild confidence. We need to train and retrain the teachers, boost their morale and pay them. What is happening now is that our teachers have become traders. They go to school carrying buckets containing confectioneries and soft drinks for sale. Some trade in second-hand clothes. Also, the dilapidation of infrastructure is an issue. Even the schools where these kids learn are not even good for learning. We need to tackle these and address them immediately.
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What about the healthcare sector?
In Imo state today, every local government area has a general hospital, long before Governor Rochas came. But what makes a hospital? It is the equipment, consumables and qualified medical personnel. But in the last eight years, it is debatable if the state has recruited medical doctors, not to talk of nurses. It is not about buildings that you can no longer complete but in equipping the existing hospitals, renovate and refurbish them and make them functional. We have existing general hospitals that all you need do is to renovate, refurbish and equip. Not to build new ones. Unfortunately, most of the general hospitals do not even have consumable like syringes, drugs, hand gloves etc. Even the only tertiary medical institution that was built by Achike Udenwa in Orlu is no longer functional. So, for me, instead of building 27 hospitals in the 27 local government areas that you are unable to complete, you can have only three well-equipped and functional referral hospitals in the three senatorial zones and then upgrade the general hospitals also by equipping them and employ appropriate personnel for them. There are a lot of Nigerian doctors working outside who would be willing to come back here and work if the conditions are right. Once you do that, they will come.
What are your thoughts about the local government administration in the state?
Our local government system is dead. As I speak to you, no local government in Imo State gets its allocation, none. So, you need to work on that, reassure the people and rebuild their confidence. Make sure each local government gets what is due to it and also work with it. I will ensure each local government chairman resides within their respective local government areas. It boosts the confidence of the people. What obtains today is that no one sees a local government chairman because he is never in his office. They come around once or twice a month and then disappear. Some don’t even go to the office. So, how does the local government area develop when the chief executive does not even live in the area despite having an official residence?
How do you intend to rebuild the traditional institution in the state and restore the confidence of the people in the system?
If you look at the traditional institution in Imo State, you will find it has been destroyed and reduced to nothing. By the last count, we have more than 600 autonomous communities and our “ezes” are reduced to nothing. They are made to come to the stadium for march pass like students when a dignitary visits the state. That is not done anywhere in the world. So, we have to restore the dignity of the traditional institution and bring back the respect they used to have.
Poor infrastructure is a major problem in the state in spite of billions spent by the present administration. How do you intend to tackle it if elected governor?
The Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha may have meant well in trying to open up some roads in the state. But it is one thing to open up roads; it is another to make it meaningful. To open up a road, one important thing is to have a quality study by experts on the implications and the endpoints. If you open up a road, what would you achieve? That is a very critical question. You don’t do a four-lane road that empties into a single lane. It is like moving the Atlantic Ocean into River Niger. That will be chaotic. The best you can do is to have a study and know why you must open a road. You must have a reason for it and also know what the development will lead to. Will it open up a new layout and create new residential places for the people? There must be an end in sight before opening up roads. He has done quite some few like the Inland roads. But you don’t do such projects by employing people who use head-pans and shovels to build roads without designs; and as they are being built, they are going bad. The roads go bad in such a manner that the governor who built them is himself so surprised that he even said the rains in Imo are acidic. There are no acidic rains. It is simply the quality of construction.
I believe Imo deserves first-class construction companies to develop its infrastructure. There are many reputable and qualified construction companies one could bring to build infrastructure here. If you also look at the costs of the roads he is building, they go even higher than when done by reputable and capable construction firms. Moreover, when you do such construction, you should get less involved. Reputable construction firms do not only construct roads, but they also do construction management. They know how and when to divert traffic, so people don’t suffer. That is not the case in Imo.
A lot of people say you are hard to control. Is that true, Sir?
There are things that people say and they become your strength. There are also things they say and they become the weakness. I know people always support someone they believe they can always control. But it has never worked. I believe that you support someone you can partner with; not control. I don’t expect any person will control me. I rather expect we partner and develop the state. That is the problem they think I have. But the beauty of it is they started thinking this way since 2007. Since then, they have had Ohakim and Rochas. And I don’t see how their control has worked. I don’t see the outcome in terms of real development. Again, if you look at all the states where there has been this control you talked about, you would wonder what the outcome has been. It did not work in Zamfara. It has not worked in Kano. It has not worked in Akwa Ibom. Control has not worked anywhere. It is impossible to make someone a governor and think you will control him from the outside. What I have seen work is, you see a man and you look at his pedigree, review his background and assess his progress, his strengths and his visions. That makes better sense. For me, it is not an issue of control but of partnership for the good of Imo State.
We have seen governors run their states like personal properties and hire members of their family and friends. What is your take on it?
As Imo State governor, nothing will make me compromise quality, no matter who you are. I won’t toy with that. There is nothing wrong if you work with people who are knowledgeable in areas you are not and you learn in the process. I don’t believe you need to work only with people who are from your area and your friends. It won’t work that way with me. I believe that I am going to leave Imo the best. Everyone who needs a job and is competent and qualified to handle the job will get it. It is not going to be friends of governor or people who knew him or his family members. As governor, I won’t make appointments based on people who come to my house to greet me. No way. I will look at people who are qualified. I will engage you if you have something to offer; something which will collectively make Imo a better place. That will be the basis of appointments. Not familiarity.
Do you think your party has what it takes to capture the Government House come February 2019?
APGA in the Southeast has a very wonderful reference and that is Anambra State. It is a state where APGA has been in power progressively more than 10 years. Now, compare developments in Anambra on every front – education, agriculture, security, infrastructure, governance, the relationship between Church and society etc., and you see it stands out. There is no other state in the Southeast that equates Anambra in all development indicators. That is a reference for APGA. You can’t say that about the PDP and APC in the Southeast. Therefore, the party, on its own, stands out. If you stick to party manifesto, Imo will be a better place. There is no doubt about that.
You know Hope Uzodinma and Emeka Ihedioha are strong contenders to the same office. Do you think you can upstage them easily?
Those who argue there are no differences between the APC candidate and the incumbent, may, in a way, be right because both of them are from Orlu senatorial district that produced Udenwa for eight years. That district has held the governorship for 16 years and the APC candidate is also coming from there. Many people in Imo State feel it is not fair on the sensibility of people from other zones. To that extent, there is no difference. But again, in terms of the issues of governance, every Imo person knows the three of us.
Do you see this as a three-horse race or something more?
I am the candidate of APGA. Emeka Ihedioha is the candidate of PDP and Hope Uzodimma is the candidate of APC. We are not new to Imo. The people know us all and they know our pedigree. Imo people knew me before I became senator in 1999. They have seen me since I left the Senate. They know the business that I do and some of them even visit my businesses. They know my family and they know my village. The people know the schools I went to. Imo people know I went to Dick Tiger Memorial Secondary School Amaigbo. They know I schooled at Liberty University in Pittsburg, Virginia, USA. They knew me as a student at the University of Benin. I have classmates. Those who lectured me are still there. The principal of my college at Amaigbo, was Chief Hillary Iwueke, who passed on three years ago. His wife is still there. So, in terms of academics, the people know me very well. They can also talk about the academic records of Emeka and those of Hope. They can also talk about the schools they attended. We have all filled INEC forms and they are now public documents. You can go have a look at them and ask any questions you want to ask. The people should know these details so they can make informed decisions. Emeka is an Anglican. I am a Catholic. Hope is a Catholic too. So, we are also known among the clergy. For me, these are things that are in the marketplace. They are not hidden. You can even write to INEC to make the documents available to you.
What should Imo people expect if you become the governor come 2019?
The big question to ask every Imo person – the trader, the small and medium scale entrepreneur, the big businessman, the clergy etc., is who, among the three of us can manage the state well after Rochas? Who can give our people the leadership confidence they seek? Who can look at situations dispassionately and take action; who can act in the interest of the state and not of friends and cronies? Imo people should ask themselves who among the three of us can lead Imo without looking at what benefits their family?
What does it take to be a governor?
Being a governor is not an easy assignment. If you are empty, the office will further expose you. If you have nothing to offer, the office will expose you. Don’t forget, a governor is one who sits over life and death. What it means is that a man who sits in that office must have his head properly examined. As a legislator, you may miss sitting all year and you won’t be noticed. Sometimes, your input may not be needed for a bill to pass. But you can’t hide as a governor. To manage a state, you need a lot of skills, sometimes, unusual skills. It takes just more than your qualifications. There are usually unusual happenings and it means in the post-Rochas Imo, you would need to do a lot to manage the issues. So, I think experiences of the past have made Imo people wiser.
Would you want to square up with other candidates in a debate?
Of course, there will be debates and people will state their knowledge of the economy and governance. Issues will be raised and addressed. At the end of the day, the voters will look at the candidates, their pedigree and background and then, look at the parties and what they represent and make their choice. And I believe they will choose Ifeanyi Ararume.