•Only Orji Kalu, few Abia Rep members doing well in National Assembly

From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Chief Charles Obioha Ogbonnaya is from Umuobasi Ugba, in Afarata Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State. He is a founding member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), before he lately moved over to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He has served Abia State in many capacities including being a supervisory councillor, councillor, deputy chairman of local government, local government chairman, deputy Chief of Staff to the governor, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Commissioner for Trade and Commerce.

Prior to the 2023 election, following some internal wrangling, Chief Ogbonnaya placed a curse on his former party. Some believe PDP’s misfortunes, especially in Abia State, might have been caused by the curse.

In this interview, Chief Ogbonnaya defended his action and why he would not revoke the curse. He equally spoke on why the Igbo should vote for Tinubu  in 2027. Ogbonnaya also admitted it will be difficult to dislodge Otti at the polls.

Earlier this year, you said you had left PDP, but not sure of your next political destination. Have you reached your destination?

Yes, I left PDP and I’m now in APC.

You were a founding member of PDP, and now in APC. How does it feel leaving the party you helped to give birth to for another?

Okey, I am in APC because, number one, the deputy speaker, House of Representatives came here and appealed to me to help in mobilising for the party, and I accepted. Somebody at that level cannot come and make a simple request and you ignore him. So, I accepted and immediately went and registered with the APC.

I want to tell you that the second thing that made me to join the APC is Mr. President. It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks about Mr. President, I think he is the best thing that has ever happened to us, the South Easterners. We never had it so good before. We were happy when (Dr. Michael) Okpara was the Premier of the defunct Eastern Nigeria. He made a solid foundation for us, but the war devastated everything. Okpara did well because as a medical doctor, he employed the services of an economist from the United States to assist him and the man came and fashioned a programme that was tailored towards agriculture and Okpara did magic with that.

We’ve had Obasanjo, we’ve had Yar’Adua, we’ve had Jonathan, we’ve had Buhari and we are now having Tinubu. Who is better? I have done that assessment and come to the conclusion that Tinubu is the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Okpara, based on advice, established the Eastern Region Development Commission and that helped to boost the economy of the region. In the same vein, Tinubu took the advice of former members of the last National Assembly, and established the South East Development Commission (SEDC), an important commission. We know they are on a preparatory note, but we know that by the special grace of God, by the time they will take off properly, the economy of the South East will go up.

You come to our rail line, I listen to people when they talk and talk, maybe they know how to convince people, they have that power of oratory. Amaechi will blow up grammar, but he was Minister of Transportation for eight years. Look at our rail line; it’s Tinubu that has come to say, no, no, no, this our rail line must be completed from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and he approved over $3b for a start. Who has done this for us before? Look at the Abia Airport, it is Tinubu that approved it even though my governor is saying its Abia Airport. Yes, it is Abia Airport, he is also assisting, but we need to give credit to the man who saw it necessary to establish an airport in Abia.

And when people say there’s hunger in the land, I said yes, Tinubu came and removed oil subsidy, others were afraid of doing this, but he came and took the bull by the horn. I was in government; we never received the kind of money we were receiving now as allocation. At that time, Ochendo (Chief T.A Orji) was receiving N2.5b. When Okezie (Ikpeazu) came, to the best of my knowledge, it was only once that he got N4b. Even these people I mentioned got paltry allocations, they were able to build landmark projects.

You applauded Tinubu for establishing the SEDC. Bearing in mind other zones have theirs, why do you single this out as worthy of the president’s praise?

Yes, Buhari did not do it, what did you do? In the 7th and 8th National Assembly, we pleaded that should be given to us, but he did not. When Buhari was president, we pleaded for the reconstruction of the rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, did he do that? Instead he built the one to Niger, so, why won’t I be appreciative of the man who decided to give to me what is given to others?

You have mentioned some landmark projects by the previous administrations in the state without naming any by the present government

What baffles me is that my governor has refused to do the necessary things and engaged in areas that are not necessary. Prioritise agriculture. When you say people are hungry, why wouldn’t they be hungry when they are not doing anything? There is no state or country that will not take agriculture seriously and survive. I made mention of someone from Umuhu Ezechi. This is a man that has invested much in agriculture and 50 litres of palm oil is costlier than 50 litres of crude oil. These type of people should be assisted by the government, I have given this advice to the governor and the Commissioner for Agriculture.

Why should the governor be spending over N20 billion building a guest house in Abuja? The 36 states have their lodges in Abuja and none has pulled down her own, but the governor went ahead and pulled down that lodge and he is building a new one, spending enormous money. I

listened in part to his address to Abians on Thursday night, when the governor made that laughable statement that he will build four markets in every local government. And I ask, what will the chairman of my local government be building? As far as I am concerned, if my governor does well, I will congratulate him. I have mentioned the Omenuko Bridge. He has done very well in that area and on roads. But there are areas he is not doing very well and he must have to listen to people.

In what areas do you think Governor Otti is not doing well?

Hunger is ravaging everybody in the state, he must engage in agriculture. Let me shock you, do you know that Ulonna Farm settlement, part of it has been parcelled out and allocated to some people? They want to use it for housing estate by individuals. It will have benefitted us most if that place is used for agriculture.

I listened to the Governor who said politicians want him to share money and all that, yes, what’s wrong with that? If you engage Abia contractors in the state, they work and you pay them, is that not a way of sharing money? All the contractors that are working here are all from Lagos, Abuja. The local ones are not benefitting and that’s way you have hunger.

Many will say the hunger in Abia or any other state is not the making of Governor Otti or any other governor, but as a result of the economic policies of President Tinubu…

No, no, no. We need to open our heads, we need to understand, when a man is giving you 30 billion, you were getting N3 billion, you still want him to come and cultivate for you? Tinubu gave us how many trailer loads of rice, corn and all what not for peasants, what happened to them? The corn was sold. My problem is that the governor wants the rich to be richer and the poor, to be poorer. That’s his own ideology. It is wrong for a governor that is getting N30 billion not to engage in agriculture. I hammer agriculture because it is a very simple thing to do. We have University of Agriculture here in Umudike to leverage on, so, what else are we looking for?

Let me tell you, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the richest producer of cassava in the South East. Go to his farm in Ugwueke, Bende LGA. Go to that place, you will know what I’m talking about. That foresight should be emulated by Abia Government and develop the farm orchards scattered around the state. I don’t like people saying they are hungry because of Tinubu’s economic policies. Will Tinubu come to cultivate our farms for us?

You spoke sometime ago that PDP was in coma and would die a natural death. Could one say your prophecy has come to pass?

I spoke out of annoyance and placed a curse on the party and unfortunately- let me not say fortunately – it happened because of the ignorance of some people not understanding the dynamics of politics. For me, I believe in agreement. I am an agreement person. One of the things that made me love Tinubu is because he is an agreement person. Senator Kalu is also an agreement person and that’s why he has a very strong structure for which I was a member. While we were in PDP, we had an agreement that after T. A. Orji of Abia Central, power should move to Abia South, then to Abia North, after which it will come to Abia Central and the Ngwa section of that zone should take it and Ikwuano/Umuahia will not. That was the agreement. But when it came to implementation, the stakeholders of Ngwa persuaded former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu that they could hold the governorship of Abia State for the next 30 years and he followed them. I pleaded with him, I called him my brother from another mother, I told him all manner of things, that this thing will be disastrous. That was why after speaking out in-house, I came out openly to curse PDP. Unfortunately, it happened. I am not a prophet, I am not a native doctor, but God has given me that enablement to see what will happen and then warn.

Are you regretting the curse you laid on PDP?

I’m not regretting it. Why should I regret it because God answered my prayer? Why should I regret it? You recall that some people in Ngwa land, after that was said, came out with the Bible to say it will not happen, that I am fetish, they are Christians. What happened? Because God believes in agreement, in justice, that was what happened. So, I’m not regretting anything. And you are asking if I will revoke it? I’m not revoking anything. I am happy the way things went because people have learnt their lessons to obey agreements.

As 2027 is drawing closer, we are seeing political alignment and realignments. What are we expecting moving forward?

I have said this time and again; we the southerners have refused to learn our lessons. Throughout the tenure of Buhari, no Northerner ever came to disrupt his administration even when he was doing badly, they all supported him. Now, a Southerner is the president, they now want to dictate the tune, ‘he is not doing well or doing what they agreed he should do’ and for that another Southerner or Atiku should take over, and I laugh.

My brother, my respected brother, Peter Obi is angling to be president for four years. That is self-centeredness. He is being too personal; he is not thinking of his people. What will he do in four years to alleviate the problems of the South Easterners or the Southerners? Nothing. He is a young man, he should keep quiet, mind his business and wait for his time. His time will come. Obi’s time has not come; you cannot change the hand of the clock. If Obi becomes the president for four years, will he do for the South what he should have done if he is president for eight years?

The Southerners should rally round Tinubu to complete his term and ensure peace in the country. He may have offended the South, all of them that are doing this thing now we’re together when they decided to push out Dr Goodluck Jonathan, which was a very wrong approach to politics.

How do you see Jonathan coming to contest the presidency in 2027?

He has the constitutional right, but he is being pushed by some Northerners who want Tinubu out of the way.

Don’t you think Jonathan may be trying to have his own pound of flesh?

I agree with you, but of what benefit will it be?

To an average Abia person, Governor Otti is doing very well. From your perspective, do you think he deserves re-election in 2027?

There are a thousand and one people that qualify to be the Governor of Abia State. Am I not qualified to be governor? Okey, everything I do is for Tinubu. In 2023, I coordinated for Atiku. I did everything, I gave my building, I did that because I saw an opportunity, that Atiku was going to win that election. Now knowing the kind of astute politician Tinubu is, is it easy to sweep him away?

With a Peter Obi on the ballot, do you think an average Umuahia person or Igbo man will vote for Tinubu?

We do political analysis and my duty is to tell you. If you tell me it is difficult to beat Otti in Umuahia, I will say yes, it is true. But you will not tell me that Obi will beat Tinubu in Umuahia Local Government where we come from. It’s not possible.

An average Igbo person is not happy with Tinubu over his appointments, which are skewed towards the South West. Don’t you think the South East will have this against him in 2027?

Who has not done this? Obasanjo is the only person who got there and appointed Ndigbo.

Can’t this be corrected?

As far as I am concerned, I’m not interested in who becomes a minister because he can’t do one road except the president approves it.

What’s your assessment of NASS members from Abia State?

You are dragging me too far. Apart from Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, House of Reps deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu, Hon Amobi Ogah and Hon Chris Nkwonta, apart from these four people I mentioned now, is there any other person that is in the Senate or House of Representatives you can just hold and say this is a legacy project he has brought for his constituents? I look at the schools Orji Uzor Kalu is doing, I look at the roads he is doing. Apart from him and the other three members of the House of Reps, which other person has attracted any meaningful project to his people? And all of them will want to go back, but the electorate are watching.