In these final laps to Anambra 2010, African Herald Express is on the beat of the campaign trails of the candidates, looking for news and newsmakers that have relevance to the electioneering environment. In a chance encounter in Abuja recently, Max Gbanite, an internationally known public affairs commentator and governance expert based in the United States granted us an exclusive interview, anchored by Greg Nwadike. In clear terms, Gbanite analyzed the entire environment of the Anambra special guber election, the candidates in the fray, INEC and other stakeholders; and he minced no words in expressing his ramrod confidence that, given INEC’s determination to conduct a free and fair election, Dr. Chris Ngige will emerge governor of Anambra State on February 6, 2010. He explains why in the following excerpts:

 

May I know you, sir?

My name is Max Gbanite; I live in America and also in Nigeria. I am an Igbo man that understands the pains of being marginalized, self-inflicted marginalization. I decided to get involved in good governance and by that I am the media consultant to his Excellency, Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige. Having looked at the other candidates who have the constitutional rights and who are equally qualified to be governors of Anambra state, I feel that he is the most capable and most qualified, and most deserving.

 

I heard you say self-inflicted marginalization, can you give more details on that.

Everything that has happened to us as a people we have brought upon ourselves. During the colonial era, we were a dynamic people, we had no boundaries, we had no chiefs to break our backs, and colonial people choose the most irresponsible amongst us as warrant chiefs and used them to intimidate the society at large. During the era of military, rather than empowering the intellectuals amongst us, the military empowered the pseudo-intellectuals and they became Igbo leaders by virtue of being artificially and corruptly wealthy. Under the current dispensation, the former President Olusegun Obasanjo followed the road of the military and the colonial masters and chose a few pseudo-intellectuals, empowered them and they feel they can lord themselves on the Igbo people. Today we have five states, there is nothing jointly, the five state Governors can say they have done in terms of creating real wealth and creating jobs for the Igbo people who have graduated from the universities. They are instead waiting for federal Government to do that. If the federal government cannot do it, does it mean that you can’t do it. We should not carry our caps and be beggars. We have the capacity and the capability to develop Igbo land,  the five states that we have, without begging anybody to come and develop it for us. With the meager resources that we have in the sixties, communities drank water through communal efforts, all the government of eastern Nigeria did then was to encourage them and they did it through matching funds. That’s what I mean by self inflicted marginalization.

 

In other words you are saying that the Governors could have done better than what they are doing now?

Definitely, could you imagine, during the upsurge of the oil windfall, had each of the five governors ear- marked one billion naira (N1, 000,000,000) towards joint industrialization, we could have been better off. We are the only region that allowed our industries to go down, let me digress a little bit, the former Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC) renamed itself New Nigeria Development Corporation, they are vast in real estate, in agriculture and in manufacturing, they are still investing in these things and they are functioning. The old Western Nigeria development corporation (WNDC) renamed itself Oduduwa Investment, they are into Telecoms, into Real Estate, into manufacturing into oil and Gas, name it. ENDC nurtured by late M.I Okpara created the celebrated Obudu Ranch, the Igbariam farm settlement, the Nando Area Farm settlement, the Nigercem, the Niger steel, Niger Gas. Yet, today, all these investments are existing in names only. Today Ebonyi state has acquired the former Niger Cement (NigerCem) and they are fighting with the core investor. So what is in Igbo land as of today compared with the past glorious days of Okpara? There was a time the only cement used in building facilities in the eastern Region was Nigercem but nowadays we are using Dangote cement, a man that has no investment in Igboland. Today more Igbos than other ethnic groups are using Globacom, a company that has no investment in Igboland. The only investment which it has in Igboland is of necessity and it comprises of Antennas and Masts that carry its cell signals. So what are we talking about? Could you imagine if these Governors brought one billion naira (N1b) and use some of the money to tackle the IPP issue, set up your own Independent Power project. Onitsha market produces close to ten Billion naira (N10b) in business revenues every week, yet you don’t have a Niger bridge which you can rely on to move goods out.   Ariaria market just the same thing, yet, we are crying of marginalization. We have members of the National assembly who could clamor for federal roads in the east, instead, they are feeding their own nests, forgetting the community. So if these state Governors had put in one billion naira each and say between the boundary of Anambra and Enugu state we are going to set up an industry there, that can employ graduates; between the boundaries of Enugu and Ebonyi set up one; between the boundaries of Enugu state and Abia state and set up another one; between Abia and Imo, we set up yet another, we will become a model that the rest of the federation will be looking up to. Recall that we were once the model the federal government used as a reference point for the whole nation but we allowed ourselves to be suckered into self-inflicted injuries brought by divisive tendencies sold to us by outsiders.

 

As a true Igboman and stakeholder in the polity, what are your expectations in 2011 elections?

Before 2011 the most crucial is 2010, Feb 6^th governorship election in Anambra state which will set the stage for good and credible elections in 2011. Some time ago, Prof Maurice Iwu was in Anambra state to give the guidelines on how the election will be held. I am one who had, in the past, joined in criticisms of Iwu and INEC, but not anymore. If Maurice Iwu succeeds in what he outlined in Anambra, then he has written his name into that of Gold, rather than that of sand. Truth is that I am very impressed with what Maurice Iwu has proposed to do in Anambra. It now behooves on Anambra people to do the right thing, keeping in mind that Anambra people have led the Igbos, led the federation.  This is the state of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Alex Ekwueme, Prof Dike, Prof. Enweonwu and others, including Chris Ngige, a man whom God chose at appointed time to do two things, destroy an oracle called OKIJA and destroy the godfathers and, the godfathers tried to kill him, but God kept him for thirty four months, to show that people’s money can be used to deliver good governance and democracy. If he didn’t have those people around him, I would have imagined what he would have done compared to the current Governor who has completed four years without any godfather on his neck, received more federal allocation than Ngige did, including internally generated revenue. His budget and federal allocation combined over a period of four years was almost three hundred billion (N300b), yet he didn’t do what Ngige did in Thirty four months with forty two billion naira (N42b), that’s how you judge performance.

 

Talking about Ngige in the 2010 election in Anambra state, what do you think are his chances?

Well, one good thing that people have said is that Ngige has no money, therefore he cannot compete. They are correct; he has no money because he didn’t steal money. He worked for the people of Anambra state and every community enjoyed the road Ngige did. If you compare the roads Ngige built five years ago , they are yet to have potholes because they were built by serious engineering corporations, all you need to do is to compared them  with the ones that are being built by the incumbent Governor, they have all washed up. He is giving engineering contract to traders and bread bakers to go and become road-contractors. That is  not how you do things. Ngige put round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes, and that was why things were happening at that particular time.

 

Then you talk about security to life within that time, Ngige recognized the criminals amongst the society and said look, I want to give you a second chance by giving you employment in the state government, rather than you being the thief, you will look out and tell me who the thieves are. Before he could do that Federal government pulled out his security from Anambra state. There was peace because those boys became the Vigilante groups. So when a man is earning some amount of money per month he doesn’t have time to go and steal from those who are paying his salary collectively. Anambra people paid the salaries of these  people who would have been criminals, to repay them back they give Anambra citizens sleep and gave them security. So they could sleep at night. So the current Governor has brought all kinds of gadgets for the police, yet he doesn’t have a clue how to reduce the crime rate in Anambra. I don’t really want to compare and contrast except to say that Ngige’s record speaks for itself.

 

If you go to Anambra, they are talking of him, talking about what he has done, the roads, the schools, the education system, security to life, so he didn’t have to steal money to succeed. If there is a free and fair election based on INEC guidelines he stands head above the rest. There are other reasons people support Ngige. He is gutsy and smart to boot. I am quite sure that in your primary or secondary school days , there is always a bully, but there is a small guy that stands up against a bully, not because he has the physical size to fight the bully, but he has the intellectual capability and tact to outsmart and dismantle a bully and. Ngige reminds me of that small guy in every primary school, that small guy in every secondary school that stands up against a bully and prevails.

 

In 2003, he challenged, outsmarted and dismantled the bullies, and came out smiling. And then he went on to deliver superlatively in governance; and today he is looking at the bullies again. Bullies with billions of naira and godfathers in the Andy Ubas and Obasanjo, the Soludos and Ekwueme, Arthur Eze, Emeka Offor and PDP big-wigs, the Obis and Ojukwu, the Ukachukwu financial empire- all bullies, godfathers, warts and all. Ngige doesn’t have the money but still stands tall above their money, why, because he is a man of the people. He connects with the Catholic Church; he connects with the Anglican Church, with the youth,  whereas his opponents will like to buy the church, the youths and the pagans. You can never buy your way to heaven. You must go to heaven by following God’s instructions and rules. Ngige will be elected because he plays by the rules. He will be elected because he loves Anambra people over and above himself. He will be elected because Anambra connects with him, he will be elected because only Almighty God is his Godfather.

 

Looking at Ngige’s performance in less than two years in office and now that he is coming out again, can you associate his emergence this second time with the people’s lack of faith with the present Governor?

Ngige is the candidate to beat. The present Governor is spending billions discrediting Ngige rather than spending billions in trying to outdo what Ngige has done, to build better roads. The same Governor receives over seven billion naira from federal roads because Ngige tarred federal roads and the Federal government refunded this to the same Governor and not Ngige because Obasanjo refused to refund Ngige when he was in the office. So when Ngige left and Obi came to office he was refunded but Obi failed to give Ngige credit for that. So if Obi, had, with due diligence continued to do well, today it would be a no contest, all the political parties would have adopted him as their  candidate. He is the only Governor that PDP did not ask to convert to their party, because they see him as a non-performing Governor. We are looking for national figures. We the Igbos are true Nigerians, so we don’t want to come and see somebody tell us he is more Igbo than an Igboman and that APGA is an Igbo party. Instead, we are looking at a political organisation that stands for Nigerians, stands for the Igbo, stands for any ethnic group of Nigeria. Because that’s what we are. We are the only people that hold ‘Offor’ for everybody. We are the only people that can come to somebody’s community, establish a trade, establish business and live amongst them, therefore why should we compartmentalize ourselves into just being Anambraians or Imo people, Enugu people and so on.

 

Generally, are you bothered about the political situation in Anambra state?

Yes, one must be bothered because Anambra state is dynamic to Igboland. When Anambra people sneeze, the rest of Igboland catches cold, and if they sneeze twice, the rest of Nigeria catches fever.  Therefore one must be bothered when anything goes wrong in Anambra. But the Onus of this election is on the church. Anambra is the bible belt of Nigeria. Anambrarians are Christians, so we must do things according to Christianity. The Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodist and others in Anambra must point their flocks to the candidate mostly likely (and tested) to deliver good governance. And then, they must allow the people to vote; let the people vote and choose their leaders. Don’t select leaders for people. When you see somebody from your church sponsoring thugs expel him from the church because procuring thugs is against Christianity. If that person is a minister, a legislator or a commissioner and is sponsoring violence, stop giving him Holy Communion in your church and excommunicate him because he has performed acts against Christianity.

 

Let true governance reign in Anambra state. Let there be free and fair elections in Anambra state.  Andy Uba is also qualified to be governor but this is not his time, he is yet to invest in the communities of Anambra state. The money he spent in litigations would have been enough to put boreholes in every ward in Anambra state, as a gift to people. You can’t buy the people; you must give them things to remember you. Anambraians should not forget the bombing of Awka, the bombing of state house. Awka received more bombing under democracy and in civil time than they received during the civil war. That is something that should never be forgotten when you talk of the Ubas. Nicholas Ukachukwu is a wealthy man but he has age on his side. If I were to be his adviser, I will tell him to withdraw his candidacy and use his money to support Ngige. Maybe, in future the blessing of Ngige will rub on him and he can be the governor of Anambra state. This is not the time to come and waste money rather let him support Ngige and let the race begin. As for Soludo - the banker or the lecturer , the Supreme Court has joined the PDP in imposing him on the people of Anambra state. Anambra people will eat his money because it is their money. Anambra people will not forget the crooked banking policies he enunciated. This banker called Soludo is a catastrophe and a grand associate of godfather’s, but in the end Anambra will reject him and vote for Ngige.

 

How would you assess the current Political situation in the country?

It's unfortunate that we are gravitating into a one party system. If that were to be the case then we now have a civil party and military party, but I hope that doesn’t happen. I cannot point a blaming finger on the PDP, it’s my party. It is so,  because opposition parties also failed to sensitize their communities on the reason why they should not be part of it. But why I am particularly excited about Anambra is that this election is going to be zero-party based. It is going to be based on personality and capability to perform and deliver good governance. At the national level, if I have to compare the last three years of governance under Yar’ Adua and the eight years of governance under Obasanjo, I will only say that under Obasanjo we operated under a fuzzy- political environment, things appeared to be moving yet nothing moved, however, under Yar’Adua who (under his own admission) is a sick person, we have seen some accomplishments like the rule of law; the dredging of River Niger, an idea of forty years old, has began in earnest; the Niger Delta problem is suspended under his Amnesty programme and you can’t help but commend him and imagine what he could have done if he had his full health. I am also reliably informed that he had no hand in the selection of Soludo; it was after that he was informed and, I tell you that the emergence of the banker is still shrouded in mystery. And according to one self professed overseer who works for the Soludo camp, he said that Soludo will be packaged to rule, but he will not win the election. So this is something for the Anambra people to remember, that he will be packaged to rule but will not win the election. So we ask the Anambra people to tell the overseer that he didn’t see right.

 

Are you part of those calling for the resignation of the president as a result of his ill health?

I can never call for the resignation of Mr. President. I am not part of them; the constitution is supreme, what happens if the president is not alive? If Yar’Adua were to be called by God to come home, he will not be the first Nigerian President to leave office. We had the late Tafawa Balewa, General Ironsi, we had General Abacha and he will not be the last, neither will he be the first. All I say is that Nigerians should pray for his good health and by God’s grace he will be alive to finish his tenure, but during the second term, Nigerians also have the right to decide if he is qualified to continue to be in office or not. But at this particular point in time all we owe our country is to pray to God to allow him finish his first term in office.

 

As Ngige’s media consultant, what do you think the people should expect from him?

In the last journey that Ngige took that lasted for only thirty four months, he only accomplished twenty five percent of what he intended to do, therefore the remaining seventy five percent, he will finish all the roads that are yet to be finished. Finish the ring roads around Anambra; finish all the schools yet to be completed; revitalize the water scheme system he earlier started. You can’t continue to dig boreholes around Anambra state, because we have several rivers in the state that can be used as a scheme to give water to the people forever and ever. Boreholes do dry up, but rivers don’t dry. So these are the things he wants to do, including to secure the lives of the people of Anambra state. Above all, he will bring good governance and make sure that the future National assembly members, local government chairmen are chosen by the people and elected by the people. Comparatively, Obi has fought with everybody who has opposed to him, and that’s not how to manage a people. He is currently the father of Anambra state. He should be able to have government of inclusiveness, but he is not doing that because he is a trader and so he has the mentality of a trader and will remain a trader for the rest of his life. He is not an administrator. That is why Ngige should be the mandate.

 

Do you see Ngige winning the 2010, February 6, election?

Under free and fair election, he will win hands down. It is now up to  Anambra people to make sure that they protect the votes they cast for Ngige. During the civil war, there is a famous cliché which Okoko Ndem used to tell us in Biafra that went like this: “Onye ndiro gbara gburu-gburu na-eche ndu ya nche mgbe niile; umu Igbo, unu ararukwana ula."