The Sun News On-line/politics

Comrade Abba Moro, Coordinator for the Yar’Adua and Jonathan presidential election campaign in Benue State and former governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) is one of the few politicians who dare where others dread.

Blunt as he is controversial, the Idoma-born former Benue State chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria Chairmen, ALGON, says he would have been governor of the state had he been a Tiv.
But he also regrets the sudden death of Engineer Andrew Agaba Agom, former Managing Director of Nigerian Airways, who according to him, was in the good books of the Tivs and the establishment, and so would have changed the political equation in the state.

In this interview with Daily Sun in Makurdi, he bares his mind on many topical national issues, including the tribunal ruling on the presidential election, nullification of election results in the three senatorial zones in the state, creation of Apa State, Idoma politics, his achievements as ALGON and council boss, and many more. Excerpts.

Presidential Election tribunal verdict
I had no doubt in my mind that the tribunal was going to rule in favour of President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. As human beings, exercises of this nature carried out in a developing country, are fraught with a lot of imperfections. But the problems that you witness in an election may never be enough to nullify an election. Of course, ballot papers arrived in some places a little bit late because of the nature or terrain of some places. But like I said that is never enough to disqualify an election or to say that there was no election. If you look at the trend of election in Nigeria, it has followed the same pattern and 2007 was not different.

The same states that have been given the highest number of votes are still ahead of others. Talk of Rivers, Kaduna and Benue States. Perhaps, because of massive mobilization, they have continued to top other states in the number of votes cast. Quite frankly, I knew that people were going to complain. The 2007 election could be said to be one of the worst elections in the history of this country, granted, but that cannot take away the fact that there was election. The Yar’Adua presidency has taken off and has given some level of hope to Nigerians, level of hope to say that things can be done right and that by all standard, is what Nigerians expect.

Your governorship aspiration and PDP primaries
The question of processes being free and fair may not necessarily reflect the outcome of such exercise. Like I said, we are a developing country with a lot of imperfections in the electoral processes. For me as a person, I am a democrat and when I submit myself to a process, I take the results as they come. I do not know whether you would call this freeness or fairness. But a situation where the establishment insists on a particular candidate or person or even pattern and you get defeated, do not constitute fairness. What actually happened in the case of Benue State was that about 19 of us were voted for and I came third. But the man who was able to manipulate the mindset of the people, the man who was able to convince the people won the election. I want to say this for the first time that the man who was supported by the establishment won the election.

Yet, I do not want to think that the establishment was throwing up the wrong people or is it, threw up the wrong person. I think that all of us that contested for the governorship were eminently qualified by the standard set by the electoral commission. The issue is that before you went into election, you’d think that you were the best candidate to run the system. I think that I would have been the greatest thing that would have happened to Benue State, because of my dream for the state, but other candidates also thought the same.

Nullification of election results in the three senatorial zones in Benue State
On the issue of annulment of the results from the three senatorial districts, I do not really think that the aggregation of the votes in the zones constituted the election of the governor. No. And for whatever reason the election petition tribunal nullified the results, I think it is best to obey the ruling. But as an active participant, the elections that were held in Benue State were not different from the ones in Kano, Kaduna or Kogi. It was the same process and pattern.

Your feelings after the primaries
Yes, I was not happy over the conduct of the primaries in Benue State because I expected to win. But that was how far I went and I have told my party people that if election was free and fair and I lost, I would accept the result and remain in the party. And for your information, as soon as the election result was announced, I threw my support behind the incumbent governor. It would be too presumptuous to say that unless it was not Abba Moro, nothing else would happen. But you see, when we came in, we had expected a situation where an Idoma person could be supported to become the governor. The reason is that since the creation of Benue State no Idoma person has become governor through electoral process. We thought it was our time. If you remember, immediately after the election, I was handed over a national assignment of coordinating the Yar’Adua and Jonathan election. I think that was a noble assignment. I did not contemplate leaving the party, though I was not happy at the conduct of the primaries.

But AC won your ward
Yes, AC candidate won in my ward, but that was the will of the people. He was the one the people wanted. The people wanted a particular candidate, who incidentally was not running on the platform of the PDP. That will tell you the level of the political consciousness among my people. We vote persons that we think will deliver not political party.
I think that the Idoma situation is a typical republican system. We go for the best!

Achievement as ALGON chairman
In my local government the records are there. I veered into politics because I had the conviction that I had something to offer to my people. We were poor in everything. No good roads! No potable water! No schools! We were merely existing. And so I went in, very ambitious to recreate the council. Records are there. We constructed several culverts, built bridges, sunk about 26 boreholes, constructed and reconstructed various markets and at the end, we had over 134 lock-up and open stalls. We had over 13 primary school buildings, either reconstructed or constructed. We built over 58 primary health centers and moderately equipped them. We launched revolving micro-credit finance, which was the benefit of my study tour of France. We launched a Mass Transit and trucking system to help villagers in the transportation of their produce and bought-off some guest houses from individuals, including recreation centers.

At the state level, as ALGON chairman, we also realized that the aggregation of the development in the various local councils would amount to the development of the state. We constructed lecture halls at the Benue State University. We donated water tankers to the College of Preliminary and Advance Studies because of water scarcity in the institution. We constructed a multi-purpose lecture hall at the Benue State Polytechnic, Gboko. We also bought HIV/AIDs drugs and many other things. These were the modern interventions we had to undertake, the reason I felt I could do more as governor of the state.

Ethnic card
Yes, it would have been different. It is very possible that if I were a Tiv man, I would have been governor today. I have contributed in several ways to the upliftment of the living standard of the people of the state while I was ALGON and council boss. But maybe, you should also know that it takes more than performance to attain political position, factors other than necessarily physical performance at whatever level. Do not forget also that the people with whom I contested also have some support in their own areas. The incumbent governor has been in the House of Representatives twice.

Agitation for Apa State and disunity in Idomaland
Self- determination is an integral part of life. Yet it is not because the Idomas want to be governor that they are clamouring for the creation of Apa State. I think that right from the beginning, the Idoma people feel that state creation is a catalyst for the development of a place. They want a state that is entirely homogenous to accommodate their aspirations, a state that would represent their dreams, a state they can call their own; not necessarily because anyone wants to become governor. I think what is happening in Idomaland is not new anywhere. You expect to see diversity. Honestly, I do not understand what you mean by disunity, but as far as I am concerned, for a common purpose, we agree on the creation of Apa State. We also agreed on Idoma person becoming the governor of Benue State. I think the major problem is the approach.

The Panache of late Engr. Agom in the Benue’s politics
To say that had the late Engr. Agom not been dead, the Idoma could have won the governorship? Well, yes, and no. Yes, because I do know that Engineer Andrew Agom was very focused, tenacious and pragmatic when it comes to conviction. At the time he died, he was in the good books of every Benue State indigene. I think he would have made the difference if he were alive. He could have broken into the ranks of the Tivs and delivered the governorship for the Idomas.
So, absolutely, Engineer Agom’s death has left very wide gap in the political history of the Idomas. Definitely, I miss him. All well-meaning Idomas would continue to miss him.