As political activities towards the general election of 2015 heat up, many aspirants no doubt are equally perfecting their plans to combat the challenges ahead. In Delta State, one such political juggernaut to look up to in the race for the number one seat is Dr Otive Igbuzor. In this exclusive encounter with him recently by Godwin Ogheneode at the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt during the pan Niger Delta Ethnic Nationalities’ Summit, the aspirant spoke on his ambition and political developments in Delta State. Excerpt: Let us know who you are and the political office you are aspiring for? My name is Otive Igbuzor. I am planning to run for the governorship seat in Delta State 2015 on the platform of APC. As an aspirant let us know little about your background? I hail from Orogun in Ughelli North Area Delta State. I studied Pharmacy at the University of Benin. I have two Master degrees: one in Public Administration and the other in International Relations and PHD in Public Administration. As a Nigerian what would you say gives you the impetus to aspire to govern Delta State? I see my aspiration as a continuation of my purpose in life to touch lives spiritually, financially and knowledge wise. More importantly is that, there is much exploitation in the society; I believe that the poor people deserve more in the society; I believe in the Nigeria development; I believe in gender equality; I believe in an egalitarian society; I believe in a just society and above all, the greatest motivation for me is that I see progressive degeneration in governance and development in Delta State. When I was growing up as a child even if you are from a poor background, if you are intelligent and your parents are able to make sacrifice by taking you to school, you are sure of a good job; and with such good job provision, you begin to work to change your family pattern so as to move the entire family from poverty and indeed the entire generation that follows into a better life. But what I see now is that, those who are born of the same background that I had are now consigned to the dustbin of poverty. I think it is unacceptable; because I am of the view that what your children need is to have a better society than you parents met. When I was in the university, the cost of a meal was highly subsidized by the government and then it cost just 50k not #50. Then we were eating chicken twice a week. In the morning, we took Quaker oats and fried egg. (Cuts in) when was that? That was between 1981- 1986. But unfortunately, all of these opportunities have been eroded by the government such that today the government of Delta State has lost its priority. However, when we make analysis of the budget from 2007 to 2011, we discover that the budget allocation to the government house is more than the allocation to four ministries. With that kind of setting, there is no way you can have development in the society. A situation where priority is not given in terms of allocation of resources to infrastructure, health, education and agriculture. Therefore, I see my aspiration as a desire to rescue Delta State from bad government. This is because Delta State has enormous resources, the population and wealth in the state is more than 50 small countries across the globe. So my mission is to ensure that I use the enormous resources to turn around the fortune of Delta State for the benefit of the people. I am not a typical politician, I am an activist politician. I see my foray into the political sphere as an extension of my activism which I have embarked upon through various pro democracy movements; prominent among them are : United Action (UA), United Action for Democracy (UAD), Campaign for Democracy, (CD) Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO), Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Democratic Alternative (DA), Women in Nigeria(WN). So in any case, my aspiration is just a continuation of what I had earlier started. At this junction, it is also expedient to say that I have been in the development sector therefore what I have embarked upon is divine agitation to redeem mankind and Deltans in particular from the grip of suppression and degradation. In fact, it pains me that I help other states and even other countries but my own state is in this despondent condition. For instance, I participated in drafting a new constitution for Rwanda after the genocides. Besides, agencies, ministries, government parastatals have benefited immensely from my wealth of experience, God given resources, professional knowledge and developmental strategies. Yet, I am handicapped translating all this into full use in my own state because of the kind of system that is in operation here! If you look at states like Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, they are transforming key sector of their economy especially education, but the reverse is the case in Delta State. If you go to some schools today in the state you will see them in their most terrible condition, in fact, when you get there, if you do not shed tears you must be a very wicked person. From your exposition so far, you seem to have affected lives in many places; now as an individual who has done so much for people outside, what would you say you have done to positively affect your immediate people back at home? I have been involved in a lot of activities. Far back in 2007, I set up the Ejiro and Itive Igbuzo Foundation. With that foundation my wife and I have catered for the very old widows and school children have been receiving scholarships; there is also the Niger Delta Resource Centre (NDRC) where there is a library and computer facilities as well a satellite television, where people can go for research. But unfortunately, people have not been accessing the place as expected because of what I call people’s lack of interest for knowledge acquisition… (cuts in) Where is it located? It is located at Orogun, there has been computer training programme. We have also set up a co operative society where fund revolves round for small scale business people. All that we have done. During my fiftieth birthday, there was no grand party; rather, I chose to celebrate it with the disabled people in Asaba and at the end I donated equipment to them. Recently, there is mass defection of PDP legislators at the Nation Assembly to APC, what effect do you think that action could exert on the party, APC? It is not surprising ! All over the world, people are embracing change. In the last ten years, in nations like the United State of America, Greece, Italy, Sierra Leone, Ghana, France, electorate have been voting out seating government; the train is moving and Nigeria is no exception. And there is reason! In the last fifty years, global income has increased seven times but ironically, the number of poor people has also increased. So there is general discontent across the world and the only way to express that discontentment is to vote out self centered government that has not the people’s interest at heart. Nigeria cannot be an exception! Prior to 2011 general elections, there was a similar mass exodus of disgruntled PDP aspirants into DPP where they actually got their ticket especially in Delta State and many made it to the legislative houses but soon afterwards they reneged and most of them have gone back to PDP. Viewing the PDP- APC scenario what assurance is there that what DPP experienced will not replicate itself in APC? Those people will still come back to their former party, DPP…. (Cuts in again) did you get my question right? Yes. I said those law makers who left their party for PDP will all go back. I want you to know that what is happening in Delta state is for a reason; the fact is that, PDP is jittery, those law makers who are decamping to PDP are doing so because they are being pressurized and discriminated against and as such what they feel should be done now is to dance to their tune so that they would not lose out and at least to get what is due them. Take for instance the case of Hon. Edoja Akpodiete, for no just cause he was suspended; but you know politicians can be so shameless, those who placed him on suspension for no just cause, also lifted the suspension without giving any reason as soon as the man decided to go back to PDP. So you can see the funny game being played. Pressure! But I can assure you that when the election is close, they will all leave for APC. There are so many people today who parade themselves as PDP just because of what they are benefiting but when 2015 is so close you will see them retracing their footsteps to APC. PDP claims that APC has no structure on ground to face the 2015 election, what is you take on that? Those claiming that APC has no structure are being economical with the truth. They are just saying so to discourage people; they are just paddling that claim to create a sense of relevance as ruling party. They are saying so because if they fail to make such claims now they will lose all their followers before pre election time. So they must claim that APC has no structure so as to pull a wool on people’s eyes just to create the feeling that all is still well with them. But I tell you that entire fictitious claim will die a natural death a short while from now. And to your question, what is political structure as it applies to the APC as a party ? First of all, you will agree with me that APC was formed from legacy parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ANPP, CPC, and DPP, all these are constituent parties that make up the APC; were all these parties not having their own original party structures? If they did, what happened to these structures they were having? Are they not all collapsed into APC as a party? Does anything happen to the faithfulness, commitment and determination of the people who have collectively come under one umbrella known as APC. In addition to those four party structures, in Delta State, there are two additional structures that have been created: there is Delta Rescue Mission (DRM) which has its structure in every local government, ward and unit; there is also the Delta Force United (DFU) initiated by Barr Festus Keyamo and that is the same way it has covered ground all over the units, wards across the twenty five local government areas with all the executive in place and they are all subsumed within the APC. So what more is needed to have a well defined political structure within a party ! Again, as you can see, registration of members into APC has commenced in earnest. You can see the turn up of interested persons who are enlisting their names. It is great indeed. These people much as you should know are not hired or paid to enlist into the party rather what you see is an exercise done out of pure volition, passion and the desirability to effect change. And you may ask, what is the spirit behind it ? It is all in positive response to the wind of change that is blowing in other countries. So by the time this registration will be completed, PDP will be in complete disarray. As a matter of fact, the days of PDP are numbered. PDP is just making some claims just to discredit APC but I say that cannot stand. Who does not know what they did in the senatorial bye election? We all know their cover ups but we want to assure them that we will not allow that to repeat itself in the general elections of 2015. The local government election is yet to be heard about despite setting up state electoral body; as the strongest opposition party in the state, how is your party concerned in this direction? We are greatly concerned. We are concerned because politicians are doing things with impunity. We are concerned because the Uduaghan government is running an illegal local government system. The position of the constitution is so clear about it (quoting some section of the constitution) “… the local government system shall be democratically elected.” But today they are doing what the military did and it is very dangerous to democratic system. You need no lawyer to tell you that the care taker committees are illegal and so need proper election to choose those who lead Deltans at the local government level! Not the state government foisting their aid or loyalists on the electorate thereby disenfranchising them. But I know they are circumventing the local government election because they know they cannot win. If they are so sure of winning, Uduaghan should conduct the local government election to test the popularity of his party at the grass root, then they will know whether or not APC has the structure to win them. In any case, I want to state clear and loud that the action of Delta State government is tantamount to doing great injustice to democratic consolidation and those who live in glass house. What are some of the mechanism you have devised to structure yourself ahead of the 2015 big task? Well I do not have to reveal it all but let me tell you that we have our coordinators across the twenty five local government areas of the state and the same runs for the wards and the units levels, with that we are putting a lot of things in their proper place. What are your programmes for the people you wish to govern? I have clear programmes to bring about the required changes that will accelerate the development of Delta state. In that effect, we have developed a programme on seven steps to greatness in Delta: this begins with education and human capital development, health care services, infrastructural development, security of lives and properties, agricultural revolution, industrialization, culture art and tourism. In addition, as a matter of special emphasis, youths, women and disability issues will be mainstreamed and given priority in these seven aforementioned areas. However, rescuing our state is a collective mission. All hands must be on deck to bring about the change we desire. Those who know me very well will testify that I do not covet the perquisites of office of the pleasure of this world. This is a response to a great need and divine call to bring about change. As an activist politician, I will not do things like the traditional Nigerian politician. I covenant with Delta people that I will be different and will be guided by truth, honesty, integrity and the fear of God. You presided over the pan Niger Delta session convened to host the region’s ethnic nationalities; what would you say is the objective of this high power meeting cutting across all the peoples of the region? First, let me thank the organizers for putting together this programme at this critical time of our nation’s restructuring. You will agree with me that at this very moment, Nigeria as a country has come of age and would need a complete review and total overhauling of the basic areas of the constitution binding us together as a nation. Nigeria is mature enough to consciously determine how the constituent nationalities should be governed. And you know that these can only be pre determined by the individual ethnic nationalities with each coming up with what they think is best for them. So the essence of this conference is to serve as a veritable medium for each ethnic nation to submit its own position ahead of the National Conference. With this kind of pre meeting by all the ethnic nationalities that constitute the Niger Delta region, we are able to come out with a referendum which is a summation of the various positions of the Niger Delta people. I think that purpose has been achieved. What is your message to Deltans as the election year draws closer? My message to the good people of Delta State is that, they should be peaceful, watchful and prayerful. They should put God first in all they have got to do in the process of trying to make choices for who becomes the governor of the state, those who go for the National Assembly, State Assembly and every other elective position. I want to sincerely appeal that our people should not play money politics loaded with deceit. When the right time comes, they should vote for change
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:19:07 +0000