•Yar’Adua Photo: Sun News Publishing

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A former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. U.S.A. Igwesi has urged Nigerians to rally round the administration of President Musa Yar’Adua in his bid to transform the country.
In an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos, he argues that commitment to rule of law and determination to overcome the energy crises have the capacity of building the nation to greater heights.

Igwesi, however, urged the president to make the best out of the pool of talents in the country in order to realize his objective. “My advice is that he should look beyond political parties and go for technocrats; so that things will be the way they should be.

“There are good politicians, but these politicians are being shut out by the bigger ones. He should look for them, search for them. They have certificates. They have the brains, and they have the experience. He can get at them and they will work,” he declares.

He further expressed confidence in the Nigerian judiciary, saying, “they have arrived”.
Igwesi speaks further on the good works of his native Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime, and urges him to continue with it. He speaks further on other sundry national issues.
Excerpts:

Nigerian judiciary
I want to say that the judiciary is actually trying these days. In fact, people now have confidence in the judiciary and their pronouncements. They have shown that they have arrived and are the last hope of the common man. You will be afraid of rigging elections these days because you will be wiped out by election tribunal. Our judges at all levels, even high courts, are all wonderful and we are commending them.
PDP convention and expectations from Ogbulafor.

We have to assess his background and antecedents, when he was the national secretary of PDP. We all know he’s a humble man. He has humility as his watchword. He’s honest. He’s transparent. He’s very, very much organised and he can listen to all voices regardless of status. Given that background, I think he’s going to mould our party. We are going to get back the founding fathers of PDP. We have the confidence that he’s going to cement the party and he’s going to solve problems as regards factionalisation in the party in all the states.

Actually, we have been talking about internal democracy, it has been on for a long time. Even if that is the issue and concern for most people, there should be a context. There should be election so that people at that party level, will start having confidence in democracy and the judiciary. So, people believe there should have been election. People want election with voting not election without voting but at the end of the day, the important thing is that since there is no dissenting voice, everybody agrees he should be the chairman. In our constitution, i.e PDP constitution, there is a place where we say that whatever problem you have in the party you will go to all the levels, all the organs within the party and you cannot go to the law court. So, I think the process that led to his emergence is a normal process but one would have loved a situation where there is election.

Reconciliation in PDP
My view is that there should be an urgent reconciliation of all aggrieved people in the party. We need that done immediately. All these factionalisations are not good for the party. Godfatherism and all kinds of malfeasance are not good for the party.
Even in Enugu State, we have factions and it’s not good for the party. We need the party to be one because once the party is united and they speak with one voice you see it strong and it can fight all the opposing political parties. But once there is internal wranglings within the party, then there will be problem. But I know PDP is a big political party. At the end of the day, you will find out that this problem is going to be resolved.

Financial allegations against Enugu governor
I think I don’t have the capacity to look into the finances. I’m not the Accountant General but all the same, the ones we see, the man is wonderful. He’s opening central routes, he’s constructing the roads. He’s reconstructing routes. In fact, in no distant time if he continues with this pace, Enugu State is going to look like Calabar. It’s going to look like Abuja. He’s strong and believes in what he’s doing and if he continues with this pace, I think we won’t have problem. But my advice is that he should play policies of inclusion. A lot of people are crying that they are being excluded from his government and there’s no way you can do politics without including people. You look for people, you don’t shut out your door to people and the PDP wants people. So my advice is that he should open his doors and reconcile with whosoever he is having problem with.

The man Musa Yar’Adua
I look at Musa Yar’Adua as the biblical Daniel who came to judgment and we all expect him as a new broom to sweep clean. And he has come out with a lot of reforms. First is obedience to rule of law. He has been hammering on it anywhere he goes. Even outside Nigeria, he keeps talking about the rule of law and that is the foundation of democracy and if we want this democracy to work, we must listen to the rule of law. Injunctions must be obeyed, both local and international. And I think he’s equally interested in reforming our energy sector. In fact, there was a time he said he’s going to declare state of emergency in our energy sector and which I think he did by centralisation in the hierarchy of our energy sector, and as such I want to advice him to continue to look into that energy sector because once the problem of energy is solved, power supply, electricity supply is solved in Nigeria, I think we’ve built a formidable ground for democracy. Let him bequeath Nigerians with power before he leaves office. If that is the only legacy he leaves behind, posterity will never forget him.

My advice is that he should look beyond those people who are advertising themselves now. They are trying to sell themselves for board membership. You see people advertising themselves, people going up and down, he should look beyond them. He should go deep and see if he can put round pegs in round holes. There are some good professionals but they don’t come out. He should find them wherever they are. We want honest people. We want transparent people.

We want people who are ready to work. We want people who know what they are doing not bringing a novice and you put the person in a professional position. Professionals should want professional positions. So my advice is that he should look beyond political parties and go for technocrats so that things will be the way they should be. There are good politicians but these politicians are being shut out by the bigger ones. He should look for them, They have certificates, they have the brains and they have the experience. He can get at them and they will work.

Message to Nigerians
My message to Nigerians is that they have to be patient with the present government and I want to thank God for the presidential tribunal, the Appeal Court presidential tribunal that confirmed Yar’Adua’s election. He has good intentions for Nigeria no matter how he came about as the president. The truth is that court has confirmed him and Nigerians should work with him, they should support him, there’s no leadership without followers. I think Musa Yar’Adua is going to sustain this country. We are going to have a new Nigeria in no distant time. We should be patient with his pace. We should be patient with his reforms, and we should support him to achieve results.