Mr. James Iniama, an aspirant in the recent governorship primary in Akwa Ibom State in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), speaks on why the South failed in the bid to secure presidential ticket of the party for the 2023 election. UDEME UTIP brings some excerpts:
Some observers claim your party is pro North. The national chairman is from the North, the presidential candidate is from the North, other key office holders in the party are from the North. Does it bother you?
I studied a little bit of Law in the university and one of the things I learnt is that equity helps the agile, not the indolent. Those of us from the South will need to begin to learn the art of negotiation. We lined up for the PDP convention where the national chairman emerged. Yes, I’m a stakeholder but I follow leadership. When the presidential candidate is from the North, we will ask the national chairman to step down; It is not as easy as that. You are a political party led by a constitution. The first thing is your constitution. The constitution talks about rotation. You overlooked that provision. You made the concession and you agreed to get a national chairman from the Middle Belt. If by any reason, the chairman or the presidential candidate emerges and is from the North, then the national chairman will step down. You didn’t avert your mind at the point of concession that that will become a constitutional issue. You will need to amend the constitution. If we want the national chairman to step down today, we must go to a convention to vote for another national chairman. If we want the deputy chairman to act on his behalf, the deputy comes from the North. So, in PDP, we’ve found ourselves in that position but it is my position. I have heard people talk recently and I must say I am disappointed. Sule Lamido, a former governor, talks about the party and about Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. I would expect someone like Sule Lamido to talk like a leader, to talk with a reconciliatory posture. To de-emphasise the North-South issue because I heard him threaten and said, ‘Whatever Nyesom Wike is doing, the North is watching?’ Don’t intimidate anybody; don’t intimidate us or attempt to do so. He owes this nation a duty to speak in a reconciliatory tone. You know, when banditry started, the impression that many of us had was that it was a Middle Belt business and they are the ones that are going to be affected. But what are we having today? Even Katsina State is affected. So, if we are going to have another Nigeria, we should be thinking in PDP of making decisions; not just so that we will win the presidency but so that PDP will be able to take Nigeria out of where we are today. We have failed. So, it is not whether it is pro North or pro South, but there must be geopolitical balancing, equity and fairness. We have to be all inclusive. So, that is what it is. I expect those who sit in leadership in Nigeria today to be a little more thoughtful before they make their comments. A former governor of Niger State cannot talk the way he is talking because I can also challenge him. What do you have to show Nigerians for the eight years you were a governor in Niger State? Nothing! So, don’t get on our path the way you are doing.
You said something about geopolitical balancing. There is this impression that after President Muhammadu Buhari, the next president would come from the southern part of the country. Coming here to Akwa Ibom, people from your federal constituency laid claim on the governorship position and since it’s the turn of Uyo senatorial district, the political balancing within the senatorial districts is supposed to be your turn. In these two cases, what is your take?
I have been a private business man since I left school and I have grown to learn a principle in negotiation. You will not get what you do not ask for. When you sit on the negotiation table, you have to be prepared for whatever you want to go home with, But again, I have learnt not to sound critical of leadership. You recall that the governors of the southern part of this country came together and there was an understanding that they will be of one voice and insist that the next president of Nigeria will come from the South. Everybody is thinking of 2023 but people are not thinking of what they will offer. So, when you make an analysis of that, you can see that these guys are thinking only of themselves and not about us. In that case, who would you blame? The same leader who sat with people and said we must have the presidency from our zone, the same guy who backed out of it, so what will you do? When we started this conversation, I said the time has come in Nigeria when the electorate will get people we have entrusted with the leadership to understand that power belongs to the people. They can’t dictate to you anymore for God’s sake. If you take Akwa Ibom State, I hope the population figure is correct, eight million people; I assume we have about four million registered voters but if we all come out and say; enough is enough, that we will choose our own leader, I believe it will teach leadership a lesson. We are going to begin to hold leadership to learn accountability. You talked about my constituency; Itu/Ibiono Ibom, I will tell you my own attitude towards it. I schooled in the University of Nigeria. Many times when I talked with my Igbo friends, they will refer to us as Minorities. I always tell them that we are not mMinorities; I only come from Cross River State. I can compete with anybody, everybody here and everywhere. As far as I am concerned, we practiced democracy. That is where the difference is. Just allowing the votes to count, allowing a free and healthy democratic environment. For God’s sake, I don’t need to ask for zoning. In 2007, the governorship of the Action Congress (AC) was not zoned but you are still my witness that we came as a small political party and we made our impact in this state. So I don’t belong to the minority, zoning and all of that. I Love competition but let it be healthy. So for me I believe in the national issue. Yes, I’m a southerner. The Presidency should have come to the south. That is why I support Nyesom Wike in what he’s doing. I support what he is doing. But when we do at the PDP level, discussions are going on and I believe the issues will be resolved.
What’s your reaction to the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike?
It is very unfortunate. The problem I have is, for example, if you are my friend, my real friend, and we have a disagreement, most likely the two of us will not be telling people the actual reason we disagreed. So, for the dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government, I don’t think we have not heard the truth yet on the issue but whatever, it is irrelevant. And for me, the Federal Government is insensitive. Whatever ASUU has done that is right or wrong, as far as I’m concerned, I hold the Federal Government responsible for where our sons and daughters are today; sitting at home, this is the seventh month. It is just not acceptable. I was reading on the social media that the Federal Government donated to a research institution in Malaysia, N610 million. For God’s sake, are we jokers? It is very unfair. The Federal Government must find it absolutely urgent. They must see it as a duty to our sons and daughters to resolve with ASUU and let our children go back to school. That is where I stand. We owe them a duty to get them educated. Imagine, they call off the strike today; you take them through a few lectures and get them to write exams. We are just unfair to ourselves. That is my position. It is very annoying and disappointing.
What is your expectation for the 2023 general elections in the country?
Nigeria is in a position where I think we need to be thinking beyond just elections. We are at that stage. I lost my sleep last night. I was reading stories on social media and in a Nigerian state, a community leader steps out and tells the world that bandits now dictate to farmers how they should farm. Farmers cultivate their crops and at the time of harvest, they turn over 50 percent of the harvest to bandits. In some situations, bandits share accommodation with the owners of houses in the community and the other sorry side of it is that bandits now send instructions to men and fathers demanding their wives and their daughters. We will not limit our interest to Akwa Ibom State. We need to be interested in what is happening in Nigeria. How does it affect us, N710 to a dollar affects everything we do in Nigeria. I think of 2023 beyond elections. I love this Scripture; Psalms 24. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell in it for he founded it upon the seas and established Who shall ascend to the hills of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? Only they that have clean hands and pure hearts”. We should be praying that God will give us such a man with clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. We should be looking at 2023 beyond just having a man who makes public speeches. We should be thinking of a man who sees everybody in Akwa Ibom State as part of Akwa Ibom State. A principal stakeholder, a shareholder in the Akwa Ibom dream. We should conceive a dream. I am no more into all that fanfare. It doesn’t excite me. September is here, back to school. What is in it for the children? Your pregnant wife may have to deliver in a public hospital or even a private hospital, what are we offering them? What is the hope for the businessman? This government cannot employ everyone, the government cannot provide for all of us but, it should be able to provide an enabling environment. That is what we should be looking at in 2003. Does this government even desire how we will feed? Can we continue to live in penury in spite of the abundance? There are things to agitate for. That is why I challenge the electorate more than anything else. It baffles me every day when I see a multitude run after a politician. What are you Looking for? What has he told you? What is he putting on the table? The challenge for me lies by far with the electorate. Let’s sit down and interrogate every aspirant: Who are you? We come from homes, so where is your wife? How married are you to your wife? Where are your sons and daughters? You have a business, how do you relate with the staff in your business place? Your staff will probably know you better than your wife at home, because you go back home pretending to be nice. For me, those are the things that should lie before us more than the 2023 elections that come up on the 11th of March or so. It is more important than that. Who are the people standing before us? We want to create another Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria where we will find every young man come around with a begging bowl? I don’t want to talk about the young girls who litter this Maitama at night. Those are my daughters, I am not proud of it. So let’s get serious. We should be thinking of a redemptive engagement in 2023. This is not the past. It is not the kind of thing we should be doing anymore. So, 2023, that is what it is.
Recently, you were invited by the PDP reconciliation committee set up by the state chairman, Aniekan Akpan. What was your experience and what can you say about the committee?
I had expected that the reconciliation committee would be the beginning process of re-engineering the structure of the PDP in the state. I had thought so. The reason I speak in the past tense is that we are drawing closer to the general elections and I haven’t seen our party engage in an activity that will reassure the people of Akwa Ibom State that they do not need to fret or worry in spite of what the other political parties are doing. But so far, I haven’t seen us take advantage of that reconciliatory initiative. Yes, the reconciliation committee is made up of eminent Akwa Ibom persons. We had that meeting. But I want to talk, not as a politician, but as a Christian politician I would say that we haven’t yet been reconciled. My attitude is that I do not live with grudges. Before I get into a fight, I will instruct myself that I can either win or lose but I don’t always win, so the primaries have come and gone and I am back to life. I’m praying that my party will get organised, deal with issues that are confronting us, to guarantee, for the nearly two hundred million Nigerians, a country that will give us hope for the future. That’s what I will say about the reconciliation committee.
You said that you have not been reconciled. Could you shed light on it?
I speak like an elder; an elder in my community; an elder in the Church. When you set up a reconciliation committee, it means that you accepted that there were warring parties. There were feuding parties, so you bring the parties together. You have the parties talk to the people who came to hear them, now referred to as the reconciliation committee. The two parties will talk, you will take the issues and you will try to resolve the issues before them. But on that day, the committee listened to only the aspirants and nothing more happened. That is why I say we are not yet reconciled because we didn’t leave with anything definite. So that’s what it is?
If there was no reconciliation, wouldn’t that affect the fortunes of your party because many people were aggrieved, especially the stakeholders?
No, it will not. And I do not expect it to, neither do I hope it does. Here is the way I live my life; for everything I engage in, It is beyond me. I do not live anymore for myself, I live for my community. I live for my society, I live for the people of Akwa Ibom State. Eight million people, majority of them, needy. I live for them. So, when I aspired for the governorship seat of the PDP of this state, and for whatever reason, I didn’t get it, I’m fine. All I’m doing now is, I’m back. And I’m still saying to myself; “what do I contribute to society? What would God have me do?” It was Saul of Tarsus who had an encounter with Jesus Christ on the way to Damascus. When he came out of that spiritual stupor, he just asked a question, “Lord, what will you have me do?”. That is where I sit today. What next for Akwa Ibom people? You see, I do not expect that to affect the fortunes of my party. I have not been presumptuous; I’m not being disrespectful to anybody. But 1 am just viewing the PDP as the only party that will offer Akwa Ibom State people what would move us forward. Again, it depends on who we entrust leadership responsibility to. That is what it is.
Your party’s standard-bearer, Pastor Umo Eno, is having issues with his secondary school certificate. Seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria are defending him on that. What is your take on this?
Okay. Let me tell you why I’m not worried. I did not vote on May 25, when we went to the Akwa Ibom State International Stadium. I went there as an aspirant. I wasn’t given the privilege to vote for myself, nor was I given the privilege to be voted for. I cannot complain or comment on a matter I do not have business with.
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