Why I Deserve to Be Imo State Governor in 2019
vey and it appears that most items are experiencing inflation rate of over 1000 per cent. So when people say I did this and that in 1998 they should look at where we are now. Are we better off today as we were in 1998? If we are not, then I have been vindicated.
Do you think that Abacha’s plan to transform into a civilian president would have been good for Nigeria?
You just said it all. I believe you asked the question and you answered it. Abacha was a military head of state. He was in the process of democratising Nigeria before he died. There were five political parties during the Abacha regime. Elections were to be held. In fact, almost every politician – about 98 per cent – around today participated in the Abacha transition programme. Why is it that it is Daniel Kanu that is being singled out because he is a youth? We have a country that if you are a young man or you are coming up with a lot of ideas there will be a lot of envy. Instead of encouraging our young ones to grow, our society is finding a way to pull them down.
You write a proposal as a young man and take it to a government’s ministry. Somebody will hijack that initiative without you knowing. These are challenges that young people are facing. Now going back to the issue of better transition; yes, Abacha was a military man. But he was in the process of democratising Nigeria and as you rightly said he was going to retire and contest as a civilian. So I don’t see anything wrong with what he wanted to do because we had a retired military president after him – Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a former head of state and military dictator. The current President was a former military head of state also. So by the virtue of the election of Obasanjo as a president and President Muhammadu Buhari – both former military heads of state – Daniel Kanu has been vindicated. We need to call a spade a spade. Those that opposed me when I urged Nigerians to support the Abacha regime so that the regime could implement the Vision 2010 are the same people that today are supporting President Muhammadu Buhari. They opposed a military man contesting; but today we have a military man. So I believe there have been a lot of hypocrisy and double standards because when a young man brings up ideas it isn’t good. But when they – the cabals that want to continue to repress this country – bring up ideas there is no problem. For 20 years Nigeria has gone backward.
Would you say the Abacha regime was more focused than the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari?
It is not about being better focused. President Buhari is a good man. In the past he was a military head of state. He fought corruption but it isn’t about having much faith in Abacha than Buhari. Remember Buhari also was part of that government that did well in terms of infrastructural development. My position is that in Nigeria we have to learn to have honour, integrity, consistency, loyalty and respect. I am not a fair-weather politician. Today you are here, tomorrow the man is no longer there – for sure you will regard him as a turncoat. I guess that has been my problem because when I stand for something, I stand my ground. If you take away my meal, it is okay. The Bible said Jesus after fasting came out and was confronted by the Devil, who made Jesus some juicy offers. But Jesus said man must not survive on bread alone but through every word that comes out of the mouth of God.
So because Abacha died doesn’t mean I should start denouncing what I did in the past especially when I believe that a military man has the right to retire and contest the presidency or any position in the country – and that has happened twice already. I have been vindicated. Today, Nigeria is wandering because we don’t have vision. We need vision as a country; we need a plan; a blueprint. We have to be consistent; teach our kids to have honour and integrity. If I do anything wrong I will tell you I am wrong and (say) I am sorry. But I was wrongly accused. People said I was paid money – that I embezzled the money and all kinds of falsehood and fake news. You can’t pay me enough money to follow you.
But how were you able to gather two million people in Abuja without a huge financial outlay?
I was very creative. You see ideas rule the world. Companies that are billion-dollar rich around the world were started with nothing but ideas. Facebook was set up by somebody that sat down and created the idea with his computer, sold it to the world. I came up with an idea that, ‘look, there was infrastructural development under Abacha; under PTF headed by Gen. Buhari and PTF was doing a good job’. Vision 2010 was another idea of Abacha that I shared and millions of Nigerians believed in it and contributed. People hired buses and brought supporters to Abuja. Nobody gave me money. The subsequent government that came in investigated and I wasn’t found wanting. If you think that I am wrong then come up with better ideas let’s compete. The more you compete with ideas in the society the better the society gets. I am not averse to criticisms. I love criticisms.
Apart from the two-millionman march for Abacha, what other things have you achieved?
First of all, the most important thing I am bringing to the table are integrity, consistency, vision, ideas, vibrancy, and knowledge of how to grow an economy. One of my companies seeks to protect the environment which is actually my prime job. I believe in the protection of the environment. I believe in the protection of our city so I have been involved in the maritime sector in that regard trying to see how we can protect our environment and to diversify the economy. Also in the past, I have been running a youth foundation that moulds future leaders to have honour and integrity through sports –for several years I have sponsored sports leagues to keep the youths positively engaged. In the past I ran an NGO with two cardinal programmes: Youths Against Crime Together (YACT) and Parent Against Crime Together (PACT).
These two programmes worked hand in hand. YACT encourages kids to report crimes; we teach them about honour and integrity. The PACT has a contract that parents are encouraged to sign with their children. The contract has 10 responsibilities of the parents and 10 responsibilities of the children –each person is encouraged to memorise his or her responsibilities because we believe that many parents don’t know their responsibilities. There are many things I have been involved in over the years.
How do you rate the chance of APGA in the 2019 Imo State governorship poll?
I believe the people should have choices and we live in a country where INEC keeps registering political parties – and they are not registering them for decoration. They are registering them to diversify the options and choices the people have so my contesting under APGA doesn’t preclude anyone from contesting on the platform of APC or PDP. So I believe that is what makes it a true democracy. Imo people have shown that they are very independent critical thinkers and they look at their choices across various political platforms. I believe the electoral process has become more transparent. It has improved since I last contested and there is more awareness.
What happened to me in the past I didn’t fight them as much as I should have. I let it go because I had proved a point that I was an activist in the 1990s; I contested and people said I wasn’t popular enough to win. I contested and won; that showed that the people are independent in making political choices. That shows that the masses actually think different from what the cabals that annulled my victory.
Is there any prospect that the South-East will produce Nigeria’s president in the near future?
Anything can happen. Who says that if I contest under APGA now that in four years APGA can’t win that (the presidency) through Daniel Kanu? I think the issue doesn’t really arise because we all have the right to aspire for any office. What we need is good leadership, first of all, irrespective of where you come from. But then I understand and respect the sanctity of that agreement that the president should be rationed between the North and the South.