From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki

In  2023, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), will still retain power in Ebonyi State.  Chairman of the state chapter of PDP, Mr Tochukwu Okorie in this interview dismissed the All Progressives Congress(APC) as a threat to the party which had ruled the state since 1999.

What would you say about your emergence as PDP Chairman of Ebonyi State and how prepared are you for it?

You know the PDP was in a state of palpable apprehension, a result of the surreptitious moves by the governor to kill the party in the state. So, what was needed at the time was a reassurance, someone who the people can trust. I’m glad that Ebonyi people found me worthy of their trust and I have no plans to disappoint them. So, we are fully prepared to confront the challenges that the party has faced especially following the ignoble defection of Governor David Umahi and to work with Ebonyians to reclaim the state for the people.

The chairmanship position was hotly contested and there was friction here and there. How do you intend to calm frayed nerves and bring aggrieved parties on board?

We have already started reaching out to everyone concerned and I am happy to tell you that the response has been quite encouraging. The truth is that PDP in Ebonyi holds strong ethos and is united towards taking back the state. So, everybody agrees that there is need for all the parties to sheathe their swords and unite. Ebonyi people can’t wait to welcome PDP back on saddle and we all understand that unity is the singular language they want to hear in PDP. There may still be pockets of disagreements but they’re nothing significant, nothing that we cannot overcome.

PDP had been the ruling party in Ebonyi since 1999 till last year when Gov. Umahi defected to APC. Do you see PDP coming back to Ebonyi Government House or reclaiming the state in 2023?

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First and foremost Ebonyi is a PDP state. Like you noted, Ebonyi people have never voted any other party. Umahi is governor today not because Ebonyi people have any personal liking for him. He is governor because he came under the big umbrella. Outside the PDP, Umahi is a loner. Have you not noticed that the real leaders of the people disowned Umahi the moment he veered into the wrong track? Those that are with him are the dregs of the society, a handful of misguided Ebonyians whom he was able to deceive and lead astray. So, make no mistake about it. The people know their leaders and Umahi is not one of them. Besides all these, in the South East, APC is an anathema. APC is like leprosy. No true Igbo son or daughter would touch it, not even with a long pole. The only presence of APC in the region until Umahi ridiculed himself, was the one they call Supreme Court governor. You know the story. Our people did not vote for him and he had to use other means to become governor. Now given the deliberate emasculation, impoverishment and serial traumatising of the masses and the widespread insecurity pervading the state, which Ebonyian in his right senses will give a vote to the APC?

Are you not bothered about the seeming resolve by the APC to take over the South East, as the party also bandies infrastructural interventions in the zone including the Second Niger Bridge as its achievements?

Which Second Niger Bridge? The only infrastructure you will see in the South East since 2015 is the one that had already been paid for by the previous administrations. Everything about the Second Niger Bridge has nothing to do with the APC-led government or Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. It was and remains an ongoing project. We, however, thank them for not halting the project and probably diverting the funds provided for the project by the Jonathan administration. Now, when was the last time you travelled the road between Enugu and Onitsha? Or from Umuahia to Port Harcourt? Buhari has continuously excluded South East from his infrastructural development plans and the recent election in Anambra State speaks eloquently to that. Umahi joined APC because he wants to be president. If that is how APC plans to take over the South East, I can only wish them luck.

As leader of opposition in Ebonyi State, how would you assess the Umahi government given the new face and image the governor has given the state?

I have a background in Social Sciences and I can tell you that Ebonyi State economy has defied all known macroeconomic principles. The question people, especially journalists don’t ask is, why is poverty getting more endemic in Ebonyi by the second notwithstanding huge government spending? Why are more and more people sliding into abject poverty on daily basis and, meanwhile, Umahi and his family are the only ones prospering? It is a proven fact that government spending is a fiscal policy instrument usually deployed when an economy is in trouble. You use government spending to reflate the economy thereby putting more money in peoples’ pockets. In the case of Ebonyi, there is what I call an inverse relationship between government spending and economic growth? What that tells you is that the so-called infrastructural achievements of this government are all a smokescreen, a conduit by which huge sums of money are siphoned. By the way, the concrete roads he built less than a year ago are all collapsing and becoming unpliable. Who was David Umahi before he was brought into Ebonyi politics a few years ago? Look, Ebonyi people know what is going on and you in media as the fourth estate should also be upbeat with your investigative instincts in order for the world to know the truth as well. Find out. Who are the suppliers of the materials Umahi uses in his so-called infrastructure? That is what is being masked as “direct labour”. They don’t use contractors because they don’t want anyone else benefitting from the spending. So, they themselves are the contractors, the suppliers and the paymasters. Is that what anyone would want to continue?

What kind of Governor does Ebonyi deserve in 2023 and what should the people do?

Ebonyi deserves a humane governor, not a wicked one. Citizens, indigenes and especially non-indigenes need a state they can call home and be rest assured of the protection of both their lives and property. Ebonyi deserves a governor the people can trust. A man who truly has the interest of the people at heart, not a self-consumed egotist. You know as well as I do that, all human development indices in Ebonyi have all gone south since 2015 when this man came to office as governor. Ebonyi needs a governor who will prioritize the people’s welfare, human capital development and economic empowerment of the people. What we have today is someone who has run the state as a family business and that has to stop. What should the people do? The people already know what to do. They are in a hurry to kick out this darkness that has beclouded the state since 2015. I urge every Ebonyian of voting age to go to the nearest INEC office and register and get their PVCs. Those who registered before should go and update their registration. If not, the Bimodal machine will not recognize them during accreditation. Let me use this medium to warn those who may be planning to cause violence as a means of winning election that that era is gone and gone for good. Ballot box stuffing is of no use anymore as the Biomodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is intolerant of such bad behaviours.