We just saw you at
the private residence of the APC governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Mr.
Umana Okon Umana. What were you doing there?
I am one of the human beings that are excited about what God
is doing in our midst because you know for you to destroy a monster you must
use those who made the monster. I don’t think Mr. Umana Okon Umana took up this
exploit on his own; he must have been planted there as God did in the days of
Moses. Moses was deliberately planted in Pharaoh’s house as a mole to acquire
the education and tradition of that empire so that the freedom of Israelites
could be achieved through him. And I see a repeat drama in the case of Akwa
Ibom State. That is why I was there in Umana’s house.
How long have you
known Mr. Umana Okon Umana? What makes you believe that he can provide the
leadership the people are yearning for in Akwa Ibom State?
My belief synchronises with that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu. Tinubu believes that government should be run by technocrats. Umana
Okon Umana has been there from the lecture room, through the civil service, and
then to politics. I believe he has what it takes, intellectually, to run a
state, even a country. I have known him as far back as 1999 when Obong Victor
Attah was the governor of Akwa Ibom State, then he (Umana) was the director of
budget, he became permanent secretary and later commissioner of finance, and
lately the secretary to the state government.
You have been
involved in democratic struggles for quite a long while in Nigeria, what do you
think is fundamentally wrong with our democracy?
The practitioners are mainly for self and not for society
service. What is wrong is the lack of knowledge and understanding of what
politics is all about. We have to make democracy to be people oriented in
Nigeria.
We do hear some
people say that PDP blood runs in the vein of Akwa Ibom people, and that it is
almost impossible for any other party to defeat PDP during elections in the
state?
That is a servitude preposition. One thing about freedom is that
when the bell rings it is spontaneous. I can see it happening now in Akwa Ibom
State. Political party is only a platform. It is the people, and not the party,
that matters.
What is your response
to people who say that Umana is taking his governorship ambition too personal?
Naturally, the Ibibio are very social, they like comfort and
good things of life, and they don’t like quarrels. Some people sometimes want
to regard that as a weakness. But as soon as they (the Ibibio) are collectively
ignited, they will come together very boldly and wipe you out. That is what is
happening now. We have been assaulted, insulted and embarrassed. We know there
is a monster against us that must be removed, irrespective of whatever anybody says.
You can give it to
Governor Godswill Akpabio that he has transformed Akwa Ibom State, at least in
the area of roads and other infrastructure.
I don’t know what you mean because I left this state in
2008. I know the roads that were made by the administration of Obong Victor
Attah. I can see Aka Road, it is a new road. I can see Calabar-Itu Highway.
Governor Godswill Akpabio built those roads. I have seen a number of water
fountains, and some roundabouts at Itam junction and other places. I have also
seen the new stadium. All these put together is about N2trillion. After telling
me what he has done with these much money he has spent in these few projects, he
has to tell me where the balance of N2trillion is kept. Propaganda is a familiar
terrain. If I were not a member of the media, I would have hated the
profession. If I am to direct the policies of ADCON (Advertising Council of
Nigeria) I would not carry government advert because if the government
advertises road, what is it supposed to do in the first place? I know that
recently the minister, Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed said that what
the federal government had put in the last 37 years to develop infrastructure
in Abuja was about N1.3 trillion. This was last year. Between you and I, are
you sure they have put N2trillion in this state? So I am not clapping at all,
instead I am weeping because this is barefaced robbery.
How can the people be
made to be more involved in democracy so that they could help check maladministration?
Well, enlightenment. For example when they built the stadium
recently they called it Akwa Ibom International Stadium for 30 thousand
football fans and we are now told that FIFA have reckoned that that stadium is
22 thousand-sitting capacity. If a 22 thousand-capacity stadium can gulped N100
billion it mean that there is something wrong. We are in trouble. In 2006 President
(Olusegun) Obasanjo spent N60 billion to build the national stadium and other
sporting facilities, including a game village to host the All African Games, and
the World Bank then felt it was too exorbitant, and that N19 billion could have
done it, I wonder what the World Bank will then say about the Akwa Ibom
International Stadium. So, these are the pictures we have to make available to
our people because they are blind, you know poverty is a terrible disease. It forces
you to even abuse yourself. We members of the media have to enlighten our
people, let them know the truth, let their eyes be open. Do you know that if
you put N100 billion into an industrial development goal for the people to be
able to key into, this state would have been like Japan by now. As for water
fountains around Uyo, you cannot start to furnish the palour until you have
built the house. Uyo has not changed from the village settlement it is. In
fact, you can compare Uyo to Ubukpa area of Calabar, whereas Calabar is now
becoming the garden city of Nigeria with little or no money. Where in Akwa Ibom
will you compare to Tinapa? It’s
unfortunate that truth is being hidden; truth is not allowed to fly. But the
truth will fly because we cannot kill the truth. That is why we have a duty to
enlighten our people, let them know their right.
What’s your greatest
fear about Akwa Ibom State?
I see doom. The doom’s day is approaching because you can
fool some people some of the time but you cannot fool all the people all the
time. We are too enlightened to be fooled.
In the beginning of
this interview you sounded as if there is some kind of movement going on in Akwa
Ibom. And there is no way you can have a movement without having an actors, I
mean the principal actors. If you do you really have a movement in place, we
will like you to tell us who the principal actors are?
The movement that I see is the state is the general desire
to change the status quo, and God has decided to use a man who was in that
structure, I believe God purposely put him there, he has the language to use.
This state will queue behind that man because I believe that he is a messenger
of God. The Ibibio deserved the right to be left alone. The issue of power
shift was not to promote ‘our turn’ syndrome the way I am seeing. You know in
this state they have turned the minority into majority, at least economically. Shine
your eyes you will see that even in employment there is serious disparity,
serious segregation, serious inhumanity. Those who have already had have come
to take out of us who do not even have. So we are very helpless and it is time
for God to act and when God act he can use anybody. I am not saying that Umana
is a saint or angel, but I believe God wants to use him.
But Senator James
Akpan Udoedehe has refused to accept Umana’s emergence as the APC governorship
candidate?
Well, I believe the people of Uyo in particular will be
happy to be unshackled from that demonic bondage. Governance or leadership is
not about individual. If Udoedehe thinks he is either the governor or nothing,
that is his challenge. Has God told him he will be a governor?
Have you met or
spoken with Governor Godswill Akpabio of late?
No, he sees me as his enemy because I speak the truth.
Is there any hope of you
reconciling with him?
You reconcile with human beings, not a replica of
Nebuchadnezzar. I am not in this world to reconcile with the devil because I am
a Christian. So if he repents let him ask God to forgive him after appropriate
restitution. our looted resources where
ever they have gone must be brought back because those were the resources meant
to raised orphans and everybody, no one family has that right to squander our
resources. We can reconcile after adequate restitution, let him bring back what
he looted.
Obong Attah seems to
be too quiet over the political situation in Akwa Ibom State?
Well, you know in our tradition the more a leader keeps
quiet, the loudest you can hear. You know about this fable, how the hawk attacked
the owl and snatched away its little one. When the hawk reported to the god
that it stole a baby owl from its mother, and the god asked the hawk what was
the reaction of its mother, the hawk said the mother was just there, so quiet.
The god, according to the story, advised the hawk to return the baby owl to its
mother, because its keeping quiet was dangerous to the hawk.
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