Were you surprised at the Supreme Court judgment on the Abia governorship election?
Can you give us insight into your scholarship scheme?
Out of each of the six local governments comprising Abia Central Senatorial District (Isiala Ngwa South, Isiala Ngwa North, Osisioma, Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South), ten university undergraduates were produced; out of those ten, five must be intelligent students who deserve the scholarship, who the committee interviewed and found to be worthy. Then the five others were people whose parents cannot pay their school fees. So on the whole, we gave out 60 scholarships and paid N100,000 to each student, making a total of six million. All the 60 beneficiaries have collected their cheques and we do not owe anybody. The scholarship scheme is a continuous exercise to help people from my constituency educationally.
What motivated you to give out scholarships?
What motivated me was that, I saw there were a lot of intelligent people in my constituency who couldn’t raise the funds to pursue their dreams. You have those whose parents cannot afford their school fees, those who are intelligent but have no money and those who are intelligent also but are not being encouraged to read. I reasoned that the best thing to do for these youths was to give them university training because university education is important. Don’t worry about the jobs, the jobs will come eventually if you acquire the university education. Education does a lot of things, it disciplines you, it makes you to be a better citizen of the society. That is why I said let us do this to produce good citizens from my constituency who will eventually be good citizens for the whole of Nigeria , excel in life, be useful to themselves and be useful to the society.
If you look at those who got the scholarship, they are those who major in engineering, architecture, medicine, computer science, agriculture, etc., the manpower that is needed by Nigeria now. The turnout was unprecedented. Earlier, people were having doubts; but when eventually they saw the reality, they rushed in, but by then we had closed the application. Entry for the scholarship was advertised on the internet and some newspapers. People filled their forms and returned because we gave a deadline and at the expiration of that deadline we started the interview. After the interview out of the lot that applied, we chose only 60. I feel very happy about it.
But as governor you did a lot in terms of education?
Yes. I’m a product of education. if I wasn’t educated I will not be governor. So, I want people to be educated to be governors and all. And when I was governor, I did very well in terms of education. You realised that in WASSCE, we maintained the second position for two consecutive years. After Anambra State, we were second consistently for two years; we won trophies in educational competitions that we attended. We won a lot of laurels. We built and renovated a lot of schools just to maintain the tempo because education is vital.
Politics is a tedious business, how do you manage it with other activities?
Well, I have found myself in politics as of now and there is no going back. You have to face it squarely and face it properly. It’s actually a tedious business but then tedious businesses are also known for people who are tedious in terms of their composition and all. So we are trying our best to manage tedious politics and to manage other things. But foremost is to do this job that my people have elected me to come and do and that is to represent them at the Senate. The people of Abia Central voted me to come and represent them and that is what I’m facing now to represent them effectively, adequately and properly and by extension represent the whole of Nigeria effectively, adequately and properly.
Given the nature of your assignment, do you have time to relax?
Even though you don’t have the time to relax, you have to make out the time because relaxation is very essential for your health so that you don’t break down. Even if it’s 10 minutes, 30 minutes every day you should relax and recreate your brain, remove your brain from the hustle and bustle of legislation. So I try to make out time to relax in my home and discuss with my darling wife, children and relatives. I read a lot of novels, magazines and newspapers and then do indoor sports to keep healthy.
What is your plan for your senatorial district in particular and Nigeria at large?
My plan for my senatorial district and Nigeria, I have started that. We discussed about the scholarship, it’s a plan. And I also plan, apart from making good laws for my senatorial district and Nigeria in general, to touch the lives of the people of my constituency by giving them skills. We have a skill acquisition centres in Abia which we want to utilise. We will organise seminars for them. There is a proposal that has come to me to train people in maintenance of GSM phones. I will sponsor that and train our people so that they can have a means of livelihood and be useful to themselves also. And there are things I’m also doing for people from my constituency; a lot of people come here to tell you about the problem they are having and solicit for your assistance. If I have I give them to alleviate their problems.
No, I wasn’t surprised. The verdict of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, February 3, 2016, has laid to rest all manner of accusations and counter accusations. From the tribunal to the Supreme Court, I was never perturbed because the truth is a fortress that every honest man should rely on. As stated in my previous statements, I am an unshakable believer in the judiciary as the last hope of all citizens. Elections have come and gone, all Abians should join hands with the incumbent governor to move the state forward. We have to take it as an irrevocable fact that there can only be one Governor at a time. Based on present reality, Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu is the elected governor of Abia State. All Abians on all sides of the divide irrespective of party affiliations should support Ikpeazu. Expectations are high from Abians, the three Senatorial zones of Abia are the governor’s constituencies with different needs. The entire people of Abia are looking up to the governor for survival and Abians irrespective of party affiliation will only be assuaged with the governor’s fairness. Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu is the Governor of Abia today based on equity and this philosophy no doubt will guide him in all things. The governor should be magnanimous in victory and it shall be well with him. I urge all to be law abiding and at the same time respect each other’s rights as guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.