Why Ngige’ll be elected –Igbokwe

[Mirror]

Joe Igbokwe, an indigene of Why Ngige'll be elected –Igbokwe Anambra State, is the interim publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Lagos State chapter. In this interview with FELIX NWANERI, he speaks on the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State, the party's candidate, Senator Chris Ngige and the alleged deportation of some Igbo from Lagos, among other issues. Excerpts:

How have you resolved the crisis that trailed the emergence of Senator Chris Ngige as APC guber candidate in Anambra State?

Senator Chris Ngige has no serious competitor right from day one and even those who showed interest to square up with him know this fact very well. Ngige has a fantastic, excellent and unquestionable pedigree that tends to dwarf the personality of other aspirants. Comparing Ngige and these other contestants is like comparing apple and orange. It is like comparing President Barack Obama and President Goodluck Jonathan. It is like comparing the capacity of a brand new 504 pickup with the capacity of a 30-year-old Mark Truck. Ngige's antecedents have rendered nugatory, the ambition of these other contestants. His structures in Anambra State are formidable, alive and strong. So, what you call a crisis is the mere imagination of those that expected crisis in the emergence of Ngige, but who were disappointed in the transparent way and manner the primaries were conducted by the APC. It is a fact that apart from Ngige, every other candidate in the election is wading through serious intra party crisis. So, there was no crisis to resolve except in the fertile imagination of the opponents of Ngige.

How has the campaign been so far as far as people's reception is concerned?

The campaign train is moving as expected, riding the smooth roads, then bumpy roads, climbing the hills and descending with grace and dignity, breaking ossified beliefs and heresies, engaging the high and the low, drilling the deepest wells, making politics intercoursey and adorable. The campaign is moving with common sense (even though common sense is not common), reaching to Igbo in Nigeria and Igbo in Diaspora that what happens in Anambra must not worry every Igbo man. Without sounding immodest, Anambra is the engine of Igboland. Anambra State parades the highest class of intellectuals in the South-East and South-South. Anambra State is one of the richest states in Nigeria. Most celebrated leaders in the East of Nigeria are from Anambra State. In Anambra State, wealth is almost distributed house to house. In fact, a school of thought says if Anambra State is not good, Igboland cannot be good. It is based on this compelling need to keep Anambra State strong that informed our decision to beg Ngige to run again and our people are happy that he accepted. Consequently, anywhere we go there are shouts of onwa ga eti ozo (The sun will shine again).

What effect has the relocation of Anambra indigenes from Lagos had on the chance of Ngige in the coming guber elections?

A sound and patriotic policy not targeted at any particular ethnic group just to make Lagos livable, clean and decent has been grabbed by ethnic chance-takers and miserable politicians to score cheap and dangerous political points. The plan of these political nitwits and dwarfs is to use the so-called deportation to bring Ngige to their level. These people know that they are not in the same political page with the former governor and therefore their devilish plan is to beat down Ngige from his towering height to their miserable level by engaging in primordial sentiments and ethnic pre-occupation. It has failed and it will remain so. It is dangerous politics that may rock the boat and put to danger, the cordial and well-respected relationship between the Igbo and Yoruba that dates back to 1970, if not properly handled. The chance-takers and peddlers of misinformation will fail. In 2011, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State deported 29 Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states indigenes on the pretext that they were begging in Awka and Onitsha and heaven did not fall. About the same time, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State sacked over 3,000 indigenes of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, and Ebonyi states from the Abia civil service and sentenced tens of thousands of Igbo men and their families to untimely death, eternal poverty and degradation, yet heaven did not fall. As I speak, I hear that some lawyers said they want to take Governor Babatunde Fashola to court for the so-called deportation. Ok fine. But let me ask the same lawyers to have the courage to also take Governors Obi and Orji to court if they are not tribal warlords. Again, as at today, Lagos still hosts more Anambra people than Anambra State. Anambra people generate more wealth in Lagos than in Anambra, so who loses in the devilish plot to use 14 destitute victims of poor, timid and rural governance in Anambra, who were chased into Lagos to live under the bridges for primitive politics in the end? But, as I said, the Igboman is not foolish and will like to know why a government feels its citizens are better off living as destitutes under the bridges of Lagos than in their home state.

Don't you think that the rally in Onitsha on the day the Obi of Onitsha was celebrating Ofala festival is a political miscalculation and what is the situation now over the issue?

Again, this is another dangerous politics to reduce the towering image of Senator Ngige. If reality is to prevail, Ngige Campaign Organisation had extensive discussion with the Palace Secretary on the matter and the campaign organisation was asked to go on since the Ofala festival in Onitsha is always conducted without asking people to close shops or markets because Onitsha people are civilised people who practise their well-respected tradition with grace, respect and profound dignity. Unfortunately, by the time the campaign organisation was talking to the Palace Secretary, our own HRH Igwe (Dr) Alfred Achebe was in retreat (the normal tradition before the Ofala Festival); I am sure the Palace Secretary did not get the nod of His Royal Highness before he asked the campaign organisation to go on. This is the mistake. Senator Ngige understands Onitsha tradition very well, and he could not have ignored the highly revered Obi of Onitsha.

Beyond all these, however, it speaks of the depth and the height of depravity some people have taken Anambra politics to; for them to believe that such issues and not the general welfare of the people will count in the coming election. They will be in for a shocker at the end of the day because the common masses who know the intricacies and conspiracies between the present All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, government and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Federal Government which wants to sell APGA as a knockdown carcass to the PDP federal government.

How are you addressing the issue of power shift agitation to Anambra North?

In Anambra State, we do not believe in the doctrine of power shift because we do not celebrate mediocrity. Only the best is good enough for Ndi Anambra, Ndigbo and Nigeria. Four years is too much for a vibrant and a very important state to lose in the name of zoning. In Anambra State, we believe that if need be to form a football team for the state, only the best is good enough. If 11 players come from Nnewi North, so be it. Zoning breeds incompetence, mediocrity, and backwardness in governance. You fall back to such compromise considerations when you have failed in governance. When Ngige was governor between 2003 and 2006, every corner in Anambra felt his impact. He didn't need to appeal to primitive sectionalism that breeds such factors as zoning to leverage his tremendous transformative powers in all nooks and crannies of Anambra.

What is your candid assessment of Ngige's chance in the coming election?

There are 10 reasons why Ngige will be elected governor on November 16. Ngige is a trained medical doctor of almost 40 years. He was in the federal civil service for 18 years. He has served as a governor for three years and made unprecedented impact under very difficult and dangerous circumstances. He is a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is first President General of Aka Ikenga, an organisation of Igbo intellectuals. He liberated Anambra State from despicable moneybags and notorious godfathers. Of all the candidates contesting for the Anambra governorship, Ngige is the most experienced both in politics and governance. Ngige is the only candidate that opened the eyes of the people of Anambra State that there is money in government contrary to the picture previous governors painted. Ngige initiated and started the extensive road network we have in Anambra today. Ngige is the boldest, the most courageous, capacity driven, independent minded, most outspoken, fearless, strong willed, and firm among the lots.

Can you briefly give an insight into what he has in stock for Anambra people?

The taste of the pudding is in the taste. Anambra has tasted the Ngige pudding and needs no other factor to know he remains the best among the lot. The APC governors are putting up superlative performances in their respective states because they draw richly from the party manifesto and belief which place the people above all other considerations in governance. We have star performers in the APC who believe in the works of their hands to gain electoral approval and not those who believe in writing election results whether they perform or not. Senator Ngige is coming back to reposition and retool Anambra State. Insecurity in a cash-driven state like Anambra is the biggest problem. Ngige will bring security to Anambra State the way he did it before. Our people must travel home to enjoy their mansions without being harassed by kidnappers, armed robbers and petty thieves. Next is that we want to make the state capital, Awka, to look like a capital of state. APC wants to rebuild our educational institutions, our hospitals, our courts etc. APC wants to boost the economy of Anambra and Igboland by making Onitsha a seaport. APC wants to build a world class airport in Anambra State. APC wants to lift embargo on employment in Anambra declared since 2006.

What is your candidate's regrets about how he left the Government House and what difference will he bring now if he returns?

Ngige has regrets that a state he made the safest has become the den of robbers and kidnappers. He regrets that his template for roads in Anambra has been relegated to the background. He regrets that our hospitals are still mere consulting clinics. He regrets that Awka does not wear the look of a state capital. He regrets that our school systems are dying. He regrets that our children are not employed, etc. These are things that are prompting him back to power and he feels comfortable that the high approval rating he got with his performance while in power will do it for him. Ngige remains a folk hero in all parts of Anambra for the boldness he employed to fight the power cabals. He remains a sung hero on how he changed the face of Anambra in just three years in power. He is coming back to take Anambra to the desired level it should be.

What makes you feel that Ngige is better than others?

A good product sells itself. Ngige opened the eyes of Anambra people to know that governance goes beyond paying salaries and pensions. Ngige revolutionalised road construction in Anambra and proved beyond reasonable doubt that leadership goes with responsibility proved that leadership is not measured by might. Ngige does not believe in wealth without work, but believes that a government must be responsible and responsive. Ngige is a super brand. It is also important to know that the capacities of other candidates put together cannot be equal to the capacity of Ngige. Ngige is not a houseboy as some candidates whose only presence in the nation's sphere is working either as domestic servants or in the employ of their masters who are placing them as stooges. When you look at the antecedents and the schemings of the other candidates, you find out that they are all sold to the deep conspiracy to ensure that Anambra is taken back to the slavish and parasitic politics it rejected. Ngige is the only candidate that keys into the vision of building a new Nigeria where the people hold the key to resources and power.

Do Anambra people see APC as their party?

APC is a pan Nigerian party and not a sectional party. Anambra people are too sophisticated and politically conscious to resort to an ethnic party in the 21st century. APGA was respected because of our late illustrious hero, Ikemba Nnewi and now that he is no more, Ndigbo must join others to build Nigeria. Again, if you watch the politics APGA had been playing in recent years, it is no more than that of houseboys to the PDP. I don't think that is what the Igbo want in today's Nigeria. The outgoing government in Anambra bluntly refused to grow APGA beyond Anambra State for reasons that started manifesting when they became part and parcel of the PDP misrule. I don't think Igbo want to return Anambra to the PDP but they want to join other independent minded Nigerians to build a pan Nigerian party that will rescue the country from the evil clutches of the PDP which had wrecked Nigeria in the past 14 years. This is the reason why Anambra people, known for their wisdom, industry, and republicanism must embrace APC which hopes to bring good governance, development and happiness to Nigerians after almost 16 years of rudderless leadership.

Source: Why Ngige'll be elected –Igbokwe