Honourable Oliver Enwenerem was a member of the Imo State House of Assembly, where he represented Ezinihitte Mbaise State Constituency for two terms. He is a foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State and a former Special Adviser (SA) to a former governor of the state. In this interview by JOHNKENEDY UZOMA, Enwenerem speaks on the happenings in the PDP, insecurity in the country, among other issues.
Insecurity is a major challenge in Nigeria today. What is your take on this?
Many people have said so much about insecurity in the country but one thing you will find out if you carry out a thorough study is that it is the youths that are causing the whole trouble. But then you ask yourself, why are they doing this? You will find out that the major reason they are doing it is unemployment.
Insecurity is a problem because of unemployment. Today, our country has the highest unemployment rate, even in the whole world. This cankerworm called insecurity has affected the youths of this nation. They are supposed to look for something to do but because they don’t find any, they divert their energy to negative things.
If the employment rate in this country swells up, insecurity will be drastically reduced. Idle hand is the devil’s tool. Youths should ordinarily use their brains and hands to add value to their country but policy makers do not care about things like this. There are lots of resources that are not yet developed. Recently, the president’s son had a wedding and people were counting the number of private jets that were there. What were the jets doing there? The youths are seeing these things. They are aware that the so-called elites have amassed wealth but they want them to be going about without anything and nobody cares. They say when people find themselves at the top, the next thing they do is to change. In the end, they do so many things outside of what they told you. It is very unfortunate that the people who suffer insecurity the most are the poor and the middle class in the society.
Would you say that President Muhammadu Buhari has lived up to expectation in addressing youth matters?
President Buhari came to power for personal interest and everybody has seen it. He pretended that he was coming to solve problems but you can see how he has been living big, even bigger than all other Heads of State the country has ever had. Look through the former Heads of State and see what I am saying. As corrupt as former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was, he was not going outside the country and paying heavy amounts of money to treat himself. This is a president that came to power pretentiously. He is just there for his personal welfare, yet he will tell you that he is not corrupt. Of course, what they do is to redefine corruption. How much has he spent so far parking the presidential jet outside the country, in faraway Britain? Has there been any Nigerian leader that has ever done that? In Britain, and of course, every white man’s country, there is no free launch. The Nigerian aircraft they park outside the country costs a lot of money and that is our resources. He obtains the best medical treatment yet he does not care what happens to others. Mr President does not think about anybody, rather, he thinks about his personal welfare. If there is anything the president can do to live forever at the expense of the average Nigerian, he will do it. He has already demonstrated that and even the blind can see it. This man spends public funds to enjoy life. He does not care.
What do you think the ongoing struggles for self-determination portend for Nigeria?
It is not only in the South-East or South-West that we have people agitating for self-determination. The issue is even more pronounced in the North. What is Boko Haram doing? They are conquering Nigerian territory and hoisting their flags. They are the ones conquering the country and nobody is talking about that. They are the ones that have taken over some states and local government areas and put up their flags. They even try to convert those places to sovereign nations. So, the issue of self-determination is across this country and more in the North. You wanted to know what this portends. It goes to the root of youth unemployment. When you talk of insecurity, at my age, can I do what they are doing? Youths, at their ages, ought to be meaningfully engaged, contributing to the development of their country. Youths should have hope but, unfortunately, that has been taken away. If this matter is not addressed by the so-called elites that have amassed the common wealth, all of them will run away from this country.
The PDP at the national level is in crisis. What does this mean to you?
It is unfortunate that every four years, when our party is getting close to electing new national executive members, it gets thrown into crisis. Regrettably, this has become the culture. Most of the leaders don’t learn from history. What is going on in the party is very unfortunate. If a particular person has been elected to serve the party and they have three months to serve, why not allow them to conclude their tenure? Some of the resources deployed to fight members of the National Working Committee can as well be used to vote them out during election if their services are no more needed, rather than use such resources to cause disaffection in the party. It is obvious that somebody is using huge resources to disorganise the party and it is unfortunate that this problem is coming from Rivers State. The last one happened in that state and it was also a problem for the party.
Do you think the party is capable of making impact in future elections?
There is a problem in the party and that problem was created by Chief Tony Anenih, the late former BOT chairman. He tried to create the impression that PDP is owned by elected governors. That has been a major problem because some of the elected governors think that they own the party and so they would dictate what happens in the party. But that should not be because PDP is a mass movement. They should recognise the need to go back to the policy that birthed PDP and look at the original membership of the party which I have served since 1998 as the national officer. I was a member of the organising committee of the very first meeting of the party held at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. Dr Alex Ekwueme, of blessed memory, put the party together with Chief Solomon Lar, Sunday Awoniyi, Profesor Jerry Gana, among others. The party was put together and it is a mass movement and nothing will happen to it. will remain strong.
A court sacked the party’s national chairman. Don’t you see this as a problem?
Of course, it is a problem but let us address the issue. It is also unfortunate that Nigerian courts have decided to allow themselves to be used. I believe that there will come a time in this country when there will be a movement to end this rascality and irresponsibility, especially of the courts. That is what is going on. Some of them (the judges) are rascals from the beginning to the end, and at the end of the day, they think they are serving the public. What I am saying is that the courts are creating a lot of problems. You see what is happening in Anambra State. I want to use this opportunity to call on the Nigerian state to rise up and address the rascality of the courts. We must fight it. If you want to be a judge, you must not be an irresponsible judge. If you look at what happened in Imo State on January 14, 2020, up to today, they have not been able to balance their mathematics. So, the thing is still hanging and other smaller courts would be looking at them. That is not good for everyone, not even for President Buhari. They may benefit from it today but tomorrow, it must change. Let the courts change because they are the most corrupt institution in Nigeria.
Some governors, National Assembly members and other recently left the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Does this not worry the party?
No the party cannot be worried. As a matter of fact, it is necessary to shed weight because when you do that, the chaffs are the first group of people that give way. I have watched all those people. Even in Imo State here, I called the party chairman when he was getting worried to look at those people and in the course of our studies, we found that these people never won elections in their units. They are the noisemakers. And when, tomorrow, you become governor, they will be the first to come and welcome you. So, these are the people creating problems for the party. How can you be elected into office as governor, deputy governor, for eight years or four years and after serving out your tenure, you turn around and say that the party is corrupt? PDP is a mass movement and there are those that when they leave the party, there would be problems and those people do not leave the party. If Dr Alex Ekwueme were to be alive, he would not leave the party. Former President Obasanjo could leave the party because he was not part of the formation of the party. How about those that left the party? When former Vice President Atiku Abubakar left, didn’t he come back? If he had remained in the party and supported former President Goodluck Jonathan, he would have been the next president of this country. But he left and President Buhari and his caucus team used him to make up their numbers to win the election. He quickly ran back to the PDP. This is their problem because when they leave the party, the other party will use them to decorate their table because they are not part of the system.
Come 2023, what do you think will be the lot of the PDP?
The point is that the PDP has to go back to the people and ask them what they want. If they say they want good governance, they have to choose the candidate who will give it to them. But if they want what is happening in Imo to continue, they will have it. The state is highly insecure because, whether you like it or not, there is no elected person in charge. Even the governor and those working with him did not come out during the observance of IPOB’s sit-at-home order. They could not come out. But then what is the essence of governance and why did you ask people to give you votes if not first and foremost to protect their lives and property? So, as we approach 2023, it is still the people that will decide. If they are satisfied with what is happening, fine. And if they are not, they should look for the PDP who will always promise and deliver on quality leadership. Nobody owns the PDP but the people.
As a party in the opposition in the state, how has it been?
The PDP won election here in Imo State. The people came out en masse and gave the PDP their votes and that is one thing that has been keeping up the spirit of the party. The PDP won overwhelming votes. We are in the opposition today because our mandate was stolen. But we are in high spirit and that has continued to sustain the party.
How would you assess the administration of Governor Hope Uzodima?
You cannot rate the present administration in the state because the governor did not win his election into that office and he did not make any promises to Imo people. Of course, when you want to rate somebody, you must look at what he said to the people. So, if the governor had got his ‘victory’ the way he did, how do you rate him? The governor can never be assessed. The problem we have in the state is that church leaders think they can sit down and assess the governor. Are they assessing him because they voted for him or what? I want to ask you, how would you have assessed all the military administrators sent here? Nobody would have done that because they were sent here on military postings. Senator Hope Uzodimma is here on Fulani posting and so we cannot assess him. Nobody would do that and he knows it. Nobody would complain because he was never given any vote and he does not have the mandate of the people.
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