A former lawmaker representing Awka North and South Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Chukwuemeke Nwogbo, has described Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate for the forthcoming elections as God’s gift to Nigeria.
Nwogbo, in this interview with OBINNA ODOGWU, said that Obi has solutions to Nigeria’s problems and that he was confident that he would turn the country around for good if elected president. He also spoke on other issues of national importance.
How would you rate Nigeria’s performance in 2022? Do you think the country retrogressed or progressed?
Well, in Nigeria, a lot of Nigerians have come up with different reasons why we are where we are today. There is a consensus as to the fact that we haven’t made any progress prior to even 2022. We have not done very well. They have brought so many reasons to the fore. Some people have blamed it on COVID, the aftermath of COVID; some people have blamed it on so many things. The problem is largely due to the fault of the government – the executive, the legislature. They haven’t done what they ought to do. Nigeria, the leadership of the country has been asleep for a while now and people have been going on the frolic of their own. All the things that the current government promised us; their plans to stem corruption; their plans to stop insecurity; their plans to institute a robust economy have all failed abysmally. The government has failed in those spheres. They failed woefully. So, there’s nothing to encourage me to begin to even believe that any progress was made in 2022. The economy is worse off for activities. All the borrowings have come to naught. Almost our entire budget is used in debt servicing. There’s nothing to smile about or to be encouraged about the performance of the government in the year 2022.
If you were the president, what would you have done differently?
Well, I would have stuck steadfastly to the campaign promises I made to the people. I would have decisively fought the spate of corruption in Nigeria; I would have brought people to book. I would have dealt decisively with the people who have been indicted in the court for corruption no matter whose ox is gored. I would have encouraged the various policing departments of the government to do the right thing. Then, regarding insecurity, I would have dealt decisively with this spate of killings in Nigeria to stop the descent into near anarchy in Nigeria. We have seemingly been paying lip service and I don’t believe that the government has done enough to stop or critically attack this insecurity in Nigeria. Then, again, the incessant borrowing and allotment of these funds to non-productive sectors of the economy and the seeming allocation of infrastructure to preferred areas of the country without actually allocating the infrastructure to where they will be more productive and where the funds that are borrowed will be likely to be paid back by the infrastructure that you’re using those borrowed funds to build. The rail lines; yes, the rail lines have been built in places that the government has chosen; but the more productive areas have been left out for one reason or the other. I think I would do a lot of things differently if I was active and in government.
How would you rate the performance of the National Assembly in 2022? Some Nigerians were not impressed about the lawmakers’ performance. Having been there before, do you think that their services to this country are worth the pay they got so far?
I think that the National Assembly has not done great. I think that the National Assembly has seemingly played a lackey to the executive almost all through its lifespan in the past three years plus. I don’t think it was unexpected but the National Assembly has not done well in its duty to check the executive and better the lot of Nigerians. They could have done a lot better than they have done.
Let’s come down to the South East. Do you think that the state governments in the South East have been impressive with their performance; their responsibilities to the people of the geopolitical zone?
Well, the South East; we’re talking about Anambra and beyond. Let me start from Anambra. The government is new in Anambra but from what it is doing or it’s done so far, I think the government is headed in the right direction as per infrastructure. We have seen the roads that the governor has flagged off and I think that if they’re done and done in good time, they will alleviate the problems of the people. It’s looking like it is going to be a very responsive government and we pray that it remains so. But the onus of taxation of the people in the state is weighing down the necks of the citizenry of the state. So, I think that the government should critically analyse the burden of taxation and make sure that it’s equitably distributed; and that it does not break the necks of its citizenry. Then, in the other states in the South East; well, I think that from what I know, I may not be completely competent to speak deeply about governance in the other states. So, I will really rather restrict myself to Anambra State.
Nigerians will go to the polls this year to decide who leads them as president. The quality that you want in a leader, do you see it in any of the presidential candidates?
The quality of humans; I think that Nigeria is about to be lucky. For the first time, we are moving away from the conventions. We, politicians, we pay lip service to a lot of things; but for the first time we are faced by the truth. The truth is, we are faced with the situation where we are either going to make a decision to better the lot of ourselves and our children or we will fully destroy the polity; make a decision that will adversely affect the lives of Nigerians. So, it’s a clear, very clear cut situation. It’s either we choose to come out of this doldrums that we have dug ourselves into as a people or we choose to remain in it. Nigeria has not been as bad as it is in the history of this country. So, the decision is all ours. God has, for some reasons, brought Peter Obi from a seemingly unknown Labour Party (LP); first to balance the anomaly, the imbalance in the society; two, to bring responsibility and purpose to governance. Three, to stay away from the incessant greed in the leadership that we find in Nigeria. So, it is either we want to make a good decision and choose Peter Obi or we want to remain in the doldrums. It’s a choice; and it’s a clear choice. God has given us a chance to make a change because of our children. Nobody can second guess the fact that Peter is an answer from above to Nigerians and the plight of Nigerians.
How bright is Obi’s chance in this presidential race? You’re a politician and I believe that you may have some information. Do you see him emerging as president at the polls?
From what I know in today’s Nigeria, we are going to go to the polls. Nigerians are going to cast their votes and those votes will be counted and Peter is going to win. If we now decide that Peter has won but we will not announce Peter, that’s a matter for another day. But we are going to the polls. We are going to vote and most people are going to vote for Peter in the north, in the south and it’s going to be counted. And Peter is going to come out tops. So, it’s either we now say that we as blinded Nigerians don’t want anything good for Nigeria; then we’ll say okay we jettison the lot of the people and God forgive us.
Why do you think that insecurity in this country has persisted despite the amount of money that has been spent on security?
Insecurity in Nigeria is not rocket science. The agitations by some people that the government has refused to address; they’re real people with clandestine motives that the government has refused to critically address. There are borders in this country that we threw open to bandits. There are compromises in the choosing of the people that will police Nigeria. There is a compromise in employing people who will guard Nigerians. If we don’t do things right cumulatively, at the end of the day, we’ll be faced with this problem over and over again. I think that for some reasons, there is a wilful decision in certain spheres to destroy this country because I can tell you that in every society in our land, we know who the culprits are. It’s either we want to go and get them, arrest them and bring them to book, or that for some reason, because we are related to them, we do not want to arrest them. We will rather sacrifice society’s safety instead of doing the right thing.
While you spoke earlier, you made mention of Soludo and his performance so far. What are your expectations from the governor in 2023?
I think that the governor has only one expectation from the critical minds of every Anambra person. He needs to improve the level of infrastructure in Anambra State. That’s all the expectations from him. And he should also be mindful of the sensibilities of its citizenry.
By that, what do you mean?
First of all, I mentioned taxation. Secondly, no matter how cockeyed the sentiments of Anambra State people may seem to him, he should restrict himself to pure governance because he’s the governor of Anambra State. His opinions should be tamed.