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By Chukwudi Nweje
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Modestus Umenzekwe among others in this interview x-rays the inaugural speech of the new Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, and advised him to collaborate with the Federal Government to ensure maximum benefits to Anambra people.
The mood of the nation is not good at the moment; the people are complaining about poor power supply, high cost of food in the market, insecurity in the land and general economic hardship and your party seems not to have any solution in sight; what are your views?
You make me laugh. These problems have been there all along, and this government has tried a lot to improve on them. Power outages, economic problems, hunger, and insecurity among others were all there ever before the advent of the APC-led Federal Government, but they have improved greatly since the APC came on board. So, they are not new, and concerning the recent power drop that we are experiencing, the Minister of Power has addressed the nation. President Muhammadu Buhari has assured us that they are working seriously to improve the situation. You can agree with me that we are seeing serious improvement.
Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo was recently inaugurated as the governor of Anambra State but the event was nearly marred by the confrontation between two frontline women in Anambra, Bianca Ojukwu, wife of the Late Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu, who slapped Ebele Obiano, the wife of former Governor, Willie Obiano. What is your take on that?
Assuming you take me to court on threat to life, the court will ask you what I did that warranted threat to life. So, the way you presented it, that Bianca slapped Mrs. Obiano, the question you should ask is what did she do to attract the slap? Tell me, what did you hear? I am asking you journalists.
We heard that she got up from her seat to confront Bianca where she was sitting. Rumour had it that the former first lady taunted Bianca, asking her why she was in the venue after she had sworn never to attend APGA activities. She also taunted her saying, “You thought we were going to lose the election.”
Now let me ask you; is Bianca a foreigner? Is she not from Anambra State? Above all, she is the wife of our revered Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, an Igbo idol for that matter; you don’t joke with him. Even in death, even though he died in 2011 or thereabout, till today we still revere him. Besides, it was Ojukwu that established APGA and Ndigbo embraced that party, and it is still Ojukwu’s name that is still sustaining it. All those people that ruled Anambra rode on Ojukwu’s shoulders to get votes; that is all. I don’t know the reason the wife should not be respected.
Every Igbo man reveres Ojukwu, and the wife must be accorded that recognition and respect too. They may disagree with him politically but his person cannot be allowed to be dented and he is more Nigerian than most people that claim that they are Nigerians. This was the reason he joined NPN, a national party when he returned from exile, and since then, he has championed the Nigerian project until God called him.
If you attend any occasion as a governor with your wife, is it right for your wife to get up from where you are sitting to go to another person’s position to confront that person? Was it proper?
The former first lady’s action; was it in her nature and was it part of what Anambarians suffered for eight years?
You see, Anambra is a very peaceful state. What Mrs. Obiano did was an aberration. It is even a slap on Anambra people, her husband, and the Igbo nation. It was even an embarrassment to the revered Professor, the new governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Soludo, but I thank God that the Professor himself was clever enough to apologise for the breach of protocol; that shows humility. I heard him loud and clear and I gave him a 100 percent mark. He was able to douse the tension. That is the character of Ndigbo; that shows wisdom and intelligence. I pitied the outgoing governor for such embarrassment from the wife. It is quite unfortunate, but I appeal to Ndi Anambra to put those things behind them and move forward.
Immediately after the inauguration, the former governor was picked up by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, on his way to America. Do you see the arrest as an embarrassment to Anambra people or an indication of the massive plunder under his watch as governor of that state?
Who arrested him?
The EFCC…
EFCC was established for what?
It was established to fight corruption
So, why are you asking me such a question? If the EFCC arrested him, it is either they are tracing corruption or alleged corruption. And now, you are asking me if the arrest was an embarrassment; what do you want me to tell you? Do you stop them from doing their job?
Has there been any report of alleged executive financial recklessness in Anambra State?
Well, it is the EFCC that will answer that question. I know that the EFCC doesn’t act without tip off, so the EFCC is in a position to answer all these questions.
Do you see the new government pointing accusing fingers at Obiano?
I will be surprised to start now to accuse the new government. How can he be Obiano’s problem when in fact they have just taken over and he has not even told us how much is in the purse of Anambra State? So, I don’t see him doing that, and the way the man appears, he is ready to work; he is busy. There are so many problems confronting Anambra State. The expectation is high and he said it in his address. People believe that by the wave of hand, every problem will be solved; so the expectation is high. Why must he now start chasing the former governor? It will be diversionary. Irrespective of party affiliation, we are talking about Ndi Anambra, and I am an Anambrarian, so Ndi Anambra are full of expectations from him; let him concentrate and do the work.
You watched and heard him at the inauguration; was Soludo simply boastful or humble?
Well, it depends on what you mean by being boastful. All I could see is that he was reeling out what he was going to do and passing eulogies to past leaders like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Awolowo, M.I. Okpara, Aminu Kano and a host of them. He spoke like a Nigerian. I didn’t see anything boastful, but I saw that he was in high spirits, eulogizing Nigerians and Anambra people and admitting that we are expecting something different from what we have been seeing. Taking into consideration his academic erudition and accomplishments and what he said he would do, at least, he said he would start with Okpoko, so everybody is watching, and waiting for Okpoko to be transformed immediately.
