Follow Us on Google
By Agatha Emeadi
Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba was the governorship candidate of thenAll Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State in 2011, before he joined the People’ Democratic Party (PDP) in 2017.
In this chat with the Sunday Sun, Ufomba spoke on the state of the nation, Peter Obi’s divine movement, Nigeria and the way forward.
Since this political season, not much has been heard about you, what are you doing?
Well, we are observing. Like I mentioned to you few weeks ago, I am on sabbatical.
Why Sabbatical?
There is so much uncertainty in the air and as people who are calculating, one cannot just jump into the train, so we want to look at what 2023 portends. The current situation in our country where insecurity is everywhere, people like us have been wondering whether electioneering and insecurity can go in together with the level it is today. It is a very unusual situation.
Do you think keeping quiet is the solution especially at this material time?
No, we are not just keeping quiet, we are talking, brainstorming, meeting and working out strategies to ensure we have a very conducive atmosphere, that we will also give room for a peaceful election in 2023.
According to Abia charter of equity, bearing in mind you are at the forefront of the zoning formula, your party PDP did not choose their candidate from the expected zone, what do you think?
People like to box us into a corner and I refused to be boxed into a corner of zoning. I simply believe in competence; and best hand should govern any state or country. When we talk about capability, there is no village who have not produced graduates and people who have capacities to turn things around. Again, zoning in my context refers to organizations, the ability to organize the society in such a way that there is no friction, everyone gets sense of belonging and that is inclusiveness. If we do not arrange our society like that, it will be a case of survival of the fittest which will not be suitable for a pluralistic society like ours. I prefer to use the word organizing our polity than zoning. We need to organize ourselves in such a way that inclusiveness in a pluralistic society with multi-ethnic and religious groups would be effective.
You were the governorship standard bearer of APGA in 2011 in Abia State, but nothing much is being heard about the same drive again, have you dropped your governorship ambition?
There is this parable in my place that says an old woman does not shy away from the music she knows how to dance. Every human being is a political animal. I was a very successful candidate in 2011, though people have tried to give it different colorations and various meaning. I built APGA in that state and gave it the momentum which people who came successively simply jumped into and started swimming. That ocean was created by me. So, I am not dropping that ambition until Abia begins to prosper; unemployment drastically reduced, infrastructure built and a human capital index is improved. Until we have all these, people like us who mean well for the society must continue to pray for a better society.
Are we expecting that ambition from you come 2027?
Well, do not forget that Michael Adekunle Ajasin became governor at over 70. For me as long as one is agile, mentally alert, one can serve his people. What we call leadership or politics is all about service. If my people remain where they are definitely, we must take off the challenge and serve them creditably.
Now, the ruling party, APC and opposition party, PDP refused to give their presidential tickets to the Southeast, as an Igbo man, how do you feel about these two political parties?
It is very unfortunate that we have refused to build our society. What has happened in 2023 presidential primaries is like what the street person calls ‘adding salt and pepper to an injury’. The Igbo are badly excluded and denying them the opportunity to contest under the two major political parties in Nigeria is very unfortunate. My father used to say: “If you are laid badly, you rearrange your lying formular. That is what the Igbo will do. We are almost being rejected, dejected, dehumanized, excluded and it is very unacceptable because we run a federation and it goes back to what I talked about zoning. The most unfortunate is that even the PDP that had zoning in Section 3C of the PDP Constitution failed to actualize it. We all saw how former President Olusegun Obasanjo was literarily handed over the PDP ticket in 1999, it returned to the Northwest which late President Musa Yar’dua managed, then to the South-south which saw Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan became the president. Again, it went to the North again; is it fair in a pluralistic society with multi-ethnic, multi-religious, with all the crisis, agitations and for the presidency to remain in the North, the answer is obvious no. It does not promote healthy living, co-habitation, does not support the kind of development that Nigeria requires at the moment. All we need do is to go back to our drawing board and run an all-inclusive country, so that everybody would bring his talent to bear. The country has continued to exclude Ndigbo, and as well continues to degenerate; does that not tell a story? Look at what is happening with insecurity; everything about the security is in the hand of one ethnic group and the country is in tatters. Whether we like it or not, this country is half gone. Now, government does not have people who have what it takes to tackle the security challenges in the Army, Navy, Air Force and police etc. There is no Igbo man in these forces. So, is it not time to include those that have been excluded into the main stream of activities and return to the good old days.
Many believe that since the two major political parties refused to give their tickets to the Southeast and Peter Obi emerged the presidential flag bearer of Labour Party, the people have to become Obi-dient, are you also Obi-dient?
Everybody is Obi-dient. About 12-years ago, I told Peter Obi that he would become the president of this country. When he became Atiku’s running mate, I told him that was not the game; but you Peter Obi would be the president of this country. So, his candidature is divine and that is the healing balm for Nigeria; take it or leave it, Peter will be president anytime and that is when Nigeria would witness a turnaround because people have messed up the country. I knew Peter Obi in APGA and worked closely with him. I respect his managerial acumen; people say he is stingy, but he spends wisely and deservedly.
Do you think this ‘Peter Obi Movement’ is real because some people think it ends on social media?
What is social media and who are the people on the social media? Those on the social media are Nigerians. I am a Nigerian and on social media too, armed with my PVC. People will see what they have never seen in 2023, let INEC give us a level playing field for people to come out and vote. Let there be no rigging, no manipulation and let the will of the people for once prevail. Let us re-enact what happened in 1993 when former President Ibarahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) managed the best freest and fairest election in this country. It is a challenge to INEC boss, Mahmood and his team to beat IBB’s record.
In the course of Peter Obi’s declaration, most of his kinsmen are not showing support, instead their allegiance is outside. What do you think?
It is in the Bible. It says a king is not known among his people; that is for some very uninformed politicians. Peter Obi is a movement and if one is not careful with the movement, it might sweep one along or away. I call on my Igbo brothers to be very careful with this divine movement. Biblically, in the book of Mattew and Mark, a question was asked who is your neighbour? By this question, I want us to realize that Peter Obi is not a president for Ndigbo, he is aspiring to be the president of Nigeria. Therefore, the answer to ‘who is your neighbour’ is that passer-bye who saw you lying naked, hungry, tired, crying and stopped to support, comfort, clothe and feed you. I am very happy Peter Obi is getting nationwide support. So, it does not matter what some people say from their high-horse. Sometimes, someday, they will all come down from their high horses and become very Obi-dient.
In a recent post that went viral, Minister of Communication Lai Mohammed accused Peter Obi of masterminding the #EndSARS protest that saw the destruction of many government property last year, what do you think?
Well, Lai Mohammed once told us a story how his grandson asked him ‘Daddy why do you lie? That is one of those lies that his grandson talked about which is very unfortunate. That statement on its own is an indictment on our security agencies. How would a minister who speak for the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria accuse an innocent person. Is that not an indictment, where the spokesman of government, a Minister of Information, that is not a Jankara, Alaba, Ariaria or Idumota trader would come out and make such unfounded reckless statement on a citizen of this country, a presidential candidate, that alone can throw this country into chaos.
How would you assess the 7-years rule of President Muhammadu Buhari; judging from his three main promises he made to Nigerians, namely, ending insecurity, fighting corruption and improving the economy. Has he done well in these areas?
On the area of insecurity, only this morning, I saw some young men carrying dead bodies on a wheel barrow, two weeks ago, we witnessed the most embarrassing act which could not happen to any constituted government or authority, the breaking into a correctional centre at the heart of Abuja. Three weeks ago, we heard of elimination of almost a battalion of soldiers in Shiroro. Even that the president’s convoy was attacked in his homestead; kidnapping and terrorism occur left, right and centre; so, I do not think he has fared well in that area. Now, assessing the economy, what was the exchange rate when Buhari took over in 2015? What were the prices of food stuffs before this government came in? Just recently the price of diesel has risen to from N250-N850 per litre as we speak. Beside all these, everybody has been sent back to the farm, how many people are still farming as a result of insecurity? Those in the manufacturing sector, where do you start from with less than three megawatts of electricity generated for manufacturers all over the country. The inflation rate is over 18 per cent while unemployment settles at over 36 per cent. In the area of fighting corruption, Buhari has been doing that by arresting and releasing alleged victims. He is doing what is called digging a hole to fill a hole. So, the way to fight insecurity in my opinion is to create employment, enabling environment, reduce insecurity and prices of every commodity in the market, corruption will reduce. It is unfortunate that a public servant went away with N80 billion, just one person. it is embarrassing and it means we are not being proactive. So much jobs have been given to security agencies, EFCC whereas we can help these agencies if control is tightened, it will become very difficult to steal. If you ask me, the three agenda he came with, I don’t think I will give him a pass mark with the results.
With the enormity of decay in the country and the extreme hardship Nigerians are facing, do you think that the emerging president in 2023 would find governance easy?
It is a very herculean task. Anyone who would emerge as the president in 2023 must make up his mind not to steal because there is nothing to steal again. He must be a president that will not give ‘Shishi’ and a stingy one as well. When we look at the quality of the president we need, Peter Obi fills into that gap. Governance will definitely not be easy, if not; why should Nigeria be importing finished oil products in a country that is reputed to be the second largest crude producer in the world. If a president in the last seven years is not thinking of modular refineries so we don’t take out our products, what lesson is being passed to discourage importation? I don’t want to talk about targeting a section of the country when it comes to discouraging import, there are things that government ought to lead by example. Why don’t we produce? That would be leading by example, and that is the kind of challenge Nigerians will give to the incoming president. We must begin to produce locally especially with crude, refurbish the refineries, set up new ones, issue licenses to people to run modular refineries and operate them, allow certain imports especially of inputs, so that factories can run, produce and create employments. Truth be told is that the level of unemployment in this country is what is giving rise to the level of insecurity. Apprentices to importers are unemployed and on the street. In essence, we don’t need to set the cart before the horse, no country would survive with importation, but then if one is not manufacturing, why would the gates for all the required inputs be shut? I am in the cement sector, we were licensed sometimes to bring down the price of cement, and we did and brought it back to N1,200, but today cement sells for N4,000 – 5,000 per bag in certain areas of this country and the government is keeping quiet. Monopoly is encouraged everywhere, so why can’t government look into areas where the overall interest is vested. This is the time for Nigeria as a country to leave sentiments and look for someone who has the ability and capacity, tract record of having done it before, even in the micro- level, the story of Anambra comes handy when one talks about Peter Obi. I think people should give Peter Obi a chance, let us try him. There must be a paradigm shift this time around.
As a businessman in the cement manufacturing industry, presently, the cost of building materials has hit the roof, an average Nigerian finds it difficult to build a house, what should be done to ameliorate the situation?
We must lead by example and look at antecedents. We must also look at what the late President Yar’Adua did. Then the price of cement was N2,800 in places like Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri, Adamawa and Taraba, he issued licenses for people to bring in local investors who have factories to bring in packaged products to sell to the Nigerian market and it worked wonders, he was able to bring down prices of cement from N2,800 to a record of N1,200. We cannot talk about meeting capacity with the price of the same commodity which is not affordable. If this capacity is met, why are we buying cement at an expensive price. The way forward is for us to replicate what happened in 2008 under President Yar’Adua. Give the people in that industry opportunity to participate, set the rules because everything about the cement is over hyped. Look at it realistically and ask why are we not buying a bag of cement at N2,000 or even N1,500. The price is outrageous, outlandish, unfortunate and retrogressive. There are infrastructural decays everywhere because the commodity does not have the right pricing.
