In the second part of his interview with Sunday Vanguard, spokesman for the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu (Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State), speaks on the defection of Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State to All Progressives Congress (APC) and what it portends for the agitation for the President of Igbo extraction in 2023.
As an APC member from the South-East, how do you view the news of Ebonyi Governor Dave Umahi defecting to your party from the PDP? There are also speculations about some other governors from the zone coming over. What does that portend for APC ahead of 2023 and also Nigeria’s presidency in 2023 of Igbo extraction?
The governors of the South-East are becoming wise. You cannot alienate yourself from the circle and desire to be the lord of the circle. Participatory observation has always proved to be the most credible observation. You must be involved in engagement and it is when you are in the circle that you discuss your matter.
People will build confidence around you, people will see how you manage things and they will begin to assign responsibilities to you. You cannot be far from the circle. The circle now is the party that is in power and that is APC unless something else happens tomorrow or next tomorrow but as things are now the earlier we cue into the building a formidable party in our zone, forgetting all these sentimental dispositions that harvest nothing for us in the circle of leadership, the wiser we become.
I tell you the truth because when I heard the news that Ebonyi State governor was coming on board APC, my heart was gladdened. That is how a wise man behaves. My father-in-law used to say to me that a wise man does change his mind sometimes because there is a way that seems right unto a man, it doesn’t mean that way is right.
You pause and do an appraisal. If the governors have started doing appraisals and found out that to get to the destination they are looking for, they need to change location, change direction, that doesn’t stop us from being great.
An appraisal makes you take one step backward to enable you to jump two steps forward and that is why I said the governors are becoming wise in the South-East and I wonder why it took them so long because, at the moment, the current reality of economic regional integration structure is not strong enough to be able to warehouse a regional political platform, who will fund it? From where? How?
So build your base, strengthen your base before you begin to talk about regionalism and regional party. I preached this to one of the prominent sons of Igbo land few years ago and he was adamant and he said he wanted a regional party and I said “okay” but today he is on board because I asked him the same question which is where will you fund regional party outing from?
This one is APGA, this one is PDP, this one is APC; how will you fund it? It is when you come together and go with one platform and then you know with that platform you can achieve what you are looking for, people will build confidence in that platform, spend money on that platform but now the region cannot be the way they are. It is so split that we are not able to come with our own stake to the table during negotiations.
So, in your political calculation, do you see the South-East producing the President in 2023?
It depends on your participation, time is still far. We are in 2020 and that is why the earlier we get this wise and consolidate, the better they can negotiate because South-East needs to consolidate. It is not a journey of one man. No one man in South-East can come up and say “I want to be President, I will make myself President”. The person is deceiving himself.
To make a President is a function of many things: Alliances, marriages between regions, understanding, give and take, and it takes time. So if South-East desires anything, it is of course their right, let them package themselves well. So coming into APC is one of the strategic steps. It is not because you are not able to run an independent party but you will keep being a small party and small parties are not invited when national issues are being negotiated.
You can win in your little cocoon with your small party but allow the big boys with big parties to discuss national issues and the more they discuss national, big issues in isolation of you, the more your region is impoverished. So, you need to integrate the regional agenda into the national agenda.
The regional agenda should not be isolated from the national agenda. The South-East must infuse into the regional agenda; whether it is regional/economic agenda, regional/political agenda, regional/social agenda, the South-East self-alienation from the national agenda is suffocating, it is under-developing the region. If I was the governor of any state and I am in another party, this is right time to join the ruling party at the centre because it is a disservice to the people you are governing.
When, because of your own disposition, your philosophy alienates your people from benefiting from the centre, if there are appointments, you are limited because you are not of the ruling party. Join the ruling party and build up a strong base.
How do you situate the same in Abia State where you come from, where currently PDP is currently in power? What do you think will happen in 2023?
What will happen in 2023 is that APC will take over the state; that is what will happen. They know it. PDP knows that we will take over power in 2023 but the governor there is a wise man and I am still praying that he will join APC.
You mean Governor Okezie Ikpeazu?
Yes, I am praying that he will join APC, am I hiding it? He is a second term governor. mHe is not looking for anything in that state than to position that state in a way that legacies will speak for him when he is no longer there and the best way to do it is to infuse his agenda into the national agenda so that the people can benefit from the bigger pot. What is the gain of isolating yourself from national agenda and then fight alone?
No, there is no wisdom there. There is nothing to be proud of there.
The PDP is currently re-strategizing to come to the centre…
(Cuts in) There is no amount of re-strategizing that will bring PDP back to the centre. Nigerians have not forgotten where we are coming from. I was a member of PDP, a local government Chairman under PDP; I was one of those people who were made National Chairman in Diaspora.
I controlled six provinces when I lived in South Africa. I was one of the first people that opened PDP in Diaspora, so I was part and parcel of PDP from 1999, the early days of PDP. I can also tell you that majority of the members of PDP have seen that though APC may not be perfect, there is hope working with APC.
What if Abia people say no, we still want PDP in our state?
Abia people will not say no, they are not looking for the colours of the party, they are looking for what will bring the dividends of democracy; they are wise people. You will see what will happen in 2023. Let me tell you, in 2023 it will not be the colours of the party that will win Abia, it will be the credibility of the individuals that will win elections in Abia.
If there is anything like independent candidate, if the Electoral Act passes through and there is independent candidate, you will see that people will forget the big parties and they will go for individuals that they have proven over the years. So Abia people are no longer interested in the colours of PDP. They have been there for years during Dr Orji Uzor Kalu’s days and then when PPA came in and they went back to PDP.
Does it matter the zone now: Abia North, Central and South which produces the next governor since everyone has got a shot?
No, I have been a preacher of balance. I have always been a supporter of equity and fairness. The equity and rotation was going in circles. It went from north and to central and when it was at the central, people were saying Okezie Ikpeazu should not come back. I went on the television and I said no, I am supporting a Ngwa extraction to come back because you cannot do two tenures in Abia north and it goes to central and you do two tenures and when it goes to south, you want them to do one tenure, I was not part of it and I made my position clear, I said they should finish their turn. But after going round, a clock should not start going anti-clockwise.
The clock should continue in the rotational pattern that it started with; it should not go back, so that I can go back again and so, that way, it brings a sense of balance. I am an advocate of that, that this clock should not go anti-clockwise, so it is the turn of Abia north now. And I am sure Abia north has credible people who Abians will like to represent them and anybody they should elect should be about the service, somebody who will serve them well.
Vanguard