‘In Imo, There is Distrust Against the State Government’
The Imo State All Progressives Grand Alliance governorship candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume told Ogheneuvede Ohwovoriole that if he wins the election, the state will regain its lost glory
You emerged winner of the APGA governorship primary election in Imo state. What next?
Like 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 and lost. We are talking to them that APGA is one big formidable family. All of us must work together. The size of government is very large and everyone will find some accommodation. People will work from the local government level up to the national level. We have the local government that will take some people; others may be interested in doing business with government. There is a lot . The most important thing now is to unite everybody and make APGA a formidable machine to win the election in 2019. In the next week few weeks, we will be done with that. 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, Chief Jerry Chukwueke. Our talks are yielding results. Many of them are happy. You know my running mate also aspired to be governor. He is from Owerri zone and he is now my running mate. That shows you the level of reconciliation we have done. They are all doing this because they know that APGA is a party that parades what it takes to deal with post-Rochas Okoroacha Imo and to manage the state. To manage a state, you need a lot of skills, sometimes, unusual skills. It takes just more than your qualifications. In the post-Rochas Imo, you will need to do a lot to manage the issues. You will need to bring our people together. Government has actually divided our people. We need to do a lot to prepare our people for the task ahead.
Are you not bothered about the emergence of a group in APGA, which appointed Ike Ibe as its own consensus candidate?
You don’t appoint a consensus candidate after a primary election. The party guidelines on the conduct of primary elections 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. What they have done was outside the party guideline. It is a nullity. It has no foundation in law.
Former Imo state governor Ikedi Ohakim wrote a widely published article recently, alleging that the APGA primary was for the highest bidder. How do you reconcile with some people who seem implacable with the outcome?
I won’t like to join issues with Ohakim. In any case, I am not the National Chairman of APGA. However, if the ticket was for the highest bidder, he would have been the highest bidder. 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. Unfortunately, the APGA ticket was not for sale. Those who voted had seen all of us. Ohakim was given opportunity to lead Imo State for four years and the people saw him perform. The delegates to the 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 the Imo State Government House. The question is: how did he fare in previous primary elections he contested? Did he win those ones? There are others who have not had the opportunity. I am sure the delegates, in their wisdom, decided to try another person. I think he ought to be kind enough to support the outcome of the primaries. In any case, we hear he is now in Accord Party. I don’t believe that; but that is what is being said. Ohakim is my brother. I think that 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. We know that the leadership of APGA is not corrupt. However, I think that with time, things will fall in shape. Time heals wounds. We all should work together and make sure that APGA is successful in the 2019 election in Imo State.
What do you think are the most challenging issues in the governance of Imo State?
For me, the most challenging aspect is to get our people back. There is high distrust among the people and against the state 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 has begun to address that. In the issue of governance, the starting point is to create policies that will give the people hope. If you look at Imo critically, for instance, the education sector, you will find that nothing is working. 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 living wages. What is happening now is that when you go to our schools, you find 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 are learning are not even good for learning. We need to tackle these and address them immediately. Look also at our local government system. It is dead. As I speak to you, no local government in Imo State gets their allocation. None; so, you need to work on that; reassure the people and rebuild their confidence; make sure that each local government gets what is due to it and also work with it. I will ensure that each local government chairman resides within the local government. It boosts 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 in a month and disappear. They come when there is money to pay salary and that is it. Some don’t even go to office. So, how does the local government area develop when the chief executive of the council does not even live in the area even when they have official residences? Again, if you look at our traditional institution in Imo state, you will find that it has been destroyed and reduced to nothing. By the last count, we have more than 600 autonomous communities and our Ezes have been reduced to nothing. They are made to come to the stadium for match past, like students, when a dignitary visits the state. That is not done anywhere in the world. So, to restore the dignity of the traditional institution, and bring back the respect that they used to have, has to happen. But, more importantly, is the issue of good governance. There is 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 to be 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. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com