Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took time out to field questions from journalists in Abuja on some issues in the polity. LEON USIGBE brings the excerpts of the interview.
Will you support the idea of a consensus candidate if your party brings it up?
No one can go far in life without discipline. If you don’t have discipline, you should know what to expect. If you don’t respect certain structures and systems, then you are gone. I am one of those who believe that party is supreme. So, whatsoever the party says, I am going to abide by it because I am a party member. If I don’t want it, then I can go to another party. As far as the PDP is concerned, whatever the party comes up with, I must abide by it. If my party agree on consensus, it is going to be Udom Emmanuel because of all these things that I have told you.
Throwing the ticket open, to both the North and South does not eliminate the qualities I am bringing to rescue Nigeria. If the PDP really wants to rescue Nigeria and restore the lost glory, they know it is only one man that can do it for now, who has thrown his hat into the ring. There are other people but they have not shown up. For the man who has the strength, the energy, capacity and any other things it would take, is me. Nigeria doesn’t need an 80-year-old man.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said he had invested so much in the PDP hence he deserves the party’s ticket. What do you say?
So, what’s wrong in that? There is nothing wrong in that. Everybody is an aspirant. Go and check the meaning of that word -aspiring, aspiration. It doesn’t take anything away from him. He has the right, he is a citizen of Nigeria. He can request for it. It is like, at times, I don’t understand why some people misinterpret some things. For instance, someone once asked me why Wike and I are in the race despite being brothers. And I asked the fellow, why should being brothers stop any of us from running? It means that we are trying to let the world know that if we are looking for human capacity, we have it in excess in the PDP. If we don’t have excess, it means only one of us that would have shown up. That is why we are now giving Nigerians the options to choose who they want. Even if 10 aspirants came out from the same region, there is no love lost. We were first brothers before we became aspirants. It doesn’t affect our friendship and love for one another. What we are telling Nigerians is that, you (people) said ‘you’re looking for a good leader, we are now saying that we have more than enough from our own region, just pick one.’
Are you not scared that the current security situation in the country could frustrate plans to achieve free, fair and credible elections next year?
I can bet it with you that the day those youths hear that I am the candidate of the PDP and I am stepping out as the next president, they will down tools. This is because they are looking forward to somebody like me to take over. It has once happened in my state. There were three local government areas where youths were in the bush, causing a lot of havoc but when I emerged governor in my first term, they said I was the type of governor they were looking for and they voluntarily came out and surrendered their arms. The video of the incident is in the public domain. Today, we are all working together. Those people perpetrating insecurity are waiting for someone like me to emerge so that they could lay down their arms because I carry hope. What makes people go into these criminality is because there is no hope. Youths of this country are traveling to live and work abroad because they could not see hope here. Once they see hope, they would not leave. They won’t go anywhere once they see that someone is coming to improve on the GDP and not to bring it down by 22.3 per cent, they would stay. The agitations are going on because they could see total loss of hope. How can we wake up in a country and the leaders are not providing any direction to follow? The factories put in place by our past leaders are no longer functioning again. So, the youths are not engaged, they are idle. They saw that the country is sinking but they need someone who would come in, speak to those problems and proffer solutions.
Here is a man, who knows what to do and how to do it. You will see, the youths would embrace my emergence and would offer to lay down their arms and work with me. We would start the process of engagement with them, and their communities the moment I emerge as the presidential candidate of the PDP. We will surely listen to their agitations and offer solutions to the problems confronting them. They actually need a listening president. If we ignore them, the problems would linger. So, we would find a way to interact and interface with them. That however, does not mean that we would tolerate illegality because we have to separate agitations from illegality. Genuine agitations are there while illegality and criminality are also there. The concept of behaviour is individual and environment. If we create an environment that would not make such behavior to thrive, they won’t go into it and rather embrace what the environment offers.
The general expectation is that the PDP will zone its ticket to the South but this did not happen. Are you not disappointed that the contest was thrown open?
My leadership book says all things work together for good for those who are called. Some of us who are the called would not fear any situation, sudden development or challenges. It is a challenge so that when I emerge, it won’t be, had it been they left it open, he could not have emerged. At times you emerge in a grand style that would make such victory beautiful and sweet. I’m very happy that the contest is left open so that when I emerge, the whole country would know that I actually deserve to win. That alone is a bridge builder. Although by right, based on our party’s constitution, that is what could have been done but the party is supreme. Where ever they say we would go is where we would go. In 2015, no southerner bought the form; we believed, at that time, that the current president did four years, and another four more years was left for the North to complete it. When it comes to the issue of zoning and what the party constitution holds, a party is just a platform. So, it doesn’t actually matter. What they look at is the two big regions – North and South. If the party decides to create an open contest. I can’t complain. I can only be in the race. Even if they choose consensus, I am of the firm belief that they will look at what we have done at the sub-national; what everyone has done for everybody to see, private, public and international levels, the people want to see whether your signature is recognised at the International level because that also is very key. It is when people see what you have achieved at the private sector that they will trust you with handling their affairs at the public sector. They are looking for someone who would live above board despite being a politically exposed person.
How far have you gone in building bridges at the sub national level in Akwa Ibom? What have you done to build bridges across party lines which you would need to emerge at the national level?
I launched a moral rebirth the moment I became the governor of Akwa Ibom State. It was inculcated in everybody that what you have is what you need to get to where you want to get to. We also believe that once the passion is right, nothing is impossible. The third pillar is that we must rise above biases whether gender, religion or ethnicity. We used the moral rebirth to build bridges. We have removed all forms of sentiments completely from our polity. If we call a stakeholder meeting in Akwa Ibom State, all known names would be in attendance because we are all moving in the same direction. We don’t also discriminate in terms of development. There is no single local government area that we have not put at least a project. We have touched all the 31 LGAs. We are also paying serious attention to the riverine areas which were completely neglected in the past. This has also helped in building bridges so that the people would have a sense of belonging. We shared the three major positions among the main clans. The Governor is Ibibio, deputy is Anaang and Secretary to the State Government (SSG) is Oron. We would carry the whole six geopolitical zones in the country along. We won’t concentrate appointments in only one section of the country and ignoring the others.
In case former President Goodluck Jonathan emerges as the candidate of the APC and you are the PDP standard-bearer, how will it be convenient for you to campaign against him?
Try and check people’s pedigree and align it with their behavioral pattern. We’re not used to discussing individuals. If you check all my campaigns, from 2014 to date, I have never mounted a podium and then discuss a person or another political party. Once I’m on the podium, I tell the people what I can do and what I have done so far. I have a belief that if I start mentioning another political party, I’m actually promoting that party. Politics is not about discussing people, it is about discussing the issues at stake. All powers belong to God. He gives it to whoever he wishes. It doesn’t matter whosoever God wants to give it to. However, it would be wrong for someone of my own background to sit people down and begin to discuss the personality of a former President. Haba! I only know of PDP. I don’t know anything about other parties and their standard-bearers.