Magnus Eze, Enugu
Director, Communications of the Enugu State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council for the 2019 general elections; Chief Nana Ogbodo, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of faulting results of the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state just to explain away their woeful failure.
What’s your assessment of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Enugu State?
I would start by conveying our deep appreciation, once again to the Enugu electorate for giving us what I consider an overwhelming support. But that is to the extent of comparison of their disposition to PDP vis-a-vis other parties. I would say that this election exposed a lot of things and it is not only about Enugu. I would regard it to be about the whole of Igbo land. We keep on shouting voter apathy, but in the analysis made so far about the elections, you would reckon that in the North-West 52.8 percent of the electorate came out to vote, in the North East where there is Boko Haram disturbances, 42.2percent came to vote, in the North-Central over 36 per cent came to vote, in the South -West it was about 32 percent; in the South-South only 22percent of the registered voters came to vote but then you come to the South-East; we were only able to produce 20.2percent and it calls for worry. Our people are too keen to vote on Facebook on internet, on Instagram. Very soon Big brother Nigeria will come on and most of the voting population will come from the South East. People will be glued to it forgetting the main basis of our existence which is politics and policies that come with it. So, what I’m trying to say is: yes we acknowledge so much their support which is quite overwhelming viz-a-viz a comparison with other parties. But I’m not so happy with the voter turnout, and it calls for a lot of issues. One is that when you come to Enugu State for instance, we have nearly 480 autonomous communities. There are some wards that are made up of even five communities grouped together, yet most of them did not produce more than 1000 votes. It exposed a lot of things: does it therefore mean that fiefdoms were created for some individuals without human beings there? It is no longer fashionable to say that traditional rulers are not a part and parcel of politics. For instance, they are propitiated everyday either by patronage of salary and even vehicles have been given to them and some of them nominated political appointees. You cannot divorce yourself from the environment and still retain your identity; even Christ at a time became man. What I’m trying to situate is that in the near future, we are likely going to assess the viability of communities by the number of people that can vote. We are not even now saying that such people should come and vote for the PDP. The number of people that can come from each community to vote will tell us the number of human beings that are living in that community. Community cannot just exist in a vacuum; it must be populated by human beings and if in a community we were not able to produce up to 500 people that can vote, it should be taken that such community is not worthy to be called a community, because there are various issues that determine relationship with power. For instance, look at Yobe State, a state that had been buffeted by violence, they were able to produce over one million voters. I’m not now talking about who they voted for, I’m talking about the fact that they were able to vote. If you reckon with the campaign before this election, Enugu sustained a campaign telling people to go and register; at some point, it was go and collect your PVCs. And if the report published by INEC was anything to go by, Enugu was adjudged one of the high states that really responded to that clamour. We were able to get over 1.9million voters. But how many people voted? Are you telling me that out of this 1.9m that it was only about 500,000 persons that can vote? That is very bad! Are you telling me that in Igbo land, all put together, that a presidential candidate properly so called would not mind how many votes he’s going to get in the whole of South East because it does not compare to the votes gotten from one state in the north? If not for geographical spread, I would tell you that a presidential candidate may not even need to waste his time coming to campaign in the South East. And yet the Igbo are too easy to assert that we are the most populated ethnic group in Nigeria. This is a point to really prove same.
Do you remember that Ohanaeze’s President -General had promised Atiku Abubakar 20 million Igbo votes? What happened to that promise?
You see, when a president begins to react with tamed disposition to the South East, we should begin to look inwards. What do they stand to gain in issue of votes may be the reason. To a presidential candidate what he stands to gain is your votes, and if the votes are not there so to speak, why should he waste his time trying to propitiate you. That is the way it concerns me and I’m saying in the election of March 9th, the Enugu people should begin to now prove that there are people living in Enugu. I don’t know how to put it, but some people will tell you it’s because of the postponement of the election, it got so many people disillusioned. But why should it disillusion only the Igbo? Why did it not disillusion even those in IDP camps? Some would say that emirs in the North direct their subjects where to vote. But why can’t our traditional rulers have such roles to play? In the circumstance of Enugu how do they really reciprocate the gestures of the governor who has done so much for them? Enugu is like a big construction site; there is construction going on simultaneously in the 480 communities at the behest of the governor’s ten million naira grant; yet on the day of voting, you will see some communities would not produce up to 200 votes. Are such communities worthy of the next tranche?
The opposition APC in Enugu State has rejected the outcome of the elections; calling for its cancellation because of what they call massive irregularities. What’s your reaction?
It is in their nature to say this, don’t forget it’s often the passion of the dog to bark at the enemies of its master. Do you really feel that they should not say such, how do they now explain the facts of their claims about the votes? When the national leadership of APC came to campaign in Enugu; one of their candidates, (because they have many governorship candidates in the state), said that they were going to give Mr President 85 per cent of the votes. Now looking back, that candidate was not even able to win his ward. There was a high profile officer, who got only seven votes in his own polling unit, so how do they now explain the high expectation and the reality on the ground? It is not unexpected but thankfully the press was part and parcel of the whole thing that happened. Enugu still remains one of the most peaceful states in the country in the fact that there was no incident of election brigandage; nobody was caught, nobody was chased, nobody even attempted ballot box snatching. There were so many states that people lost their lives as a consequence of the election. Enugu people were so civil in their disposition, people trooped out in their numbers and voted without any molestation. So, I think it is vacuous, it is venal; it’s vain to begin to claim that there was such malpractice in Enugu.
They also alleged that the government compromised some INEC ad hoc staff and the security…
(Cuts in) It still boils down to the same thing; they must raise some issues to explain away their indolence. They must raise issues to explain away the vacuity of their claims; they must raise issues to explain away why they were not able to sustain their various wards in this election. But the issue is that, with Ugwuanyi, I have seen that the temperament of the man at the helm of affairs determines a lot of things in the state. Because he’s a man of peace, he has refused to be overwhelmed by the violence of politics. Most people may feel that it has always been like this in the state. No! We know where we are coming from in Enugu. We know how it was in 2003 in Igboeze North to be specific; and other parts of the state. But this man has brought the temperature of politics down; he has been able to employ silent dignity to win what noise of politics could not have done! But some people appear like the godhead that demands blood for propitiation which does not take palm oil simply because it is red. I do not really know what more one can preach to be able to sustain the fact that peace is the bedrock of every development and he has been able to give peace to the people of Enugu State.
So, what should we expect this Saturday?
We are going for coronation; like I did say somewhere that this election is going to be a referendum as a sitting governor going for a 2nd term, it’s going to be a referendum on the promises he made vis-a-vis the performances. people will reckon that he promised Enugu people peace and today Enugu is the most peaceful state in the country; he promised civil servants a new lease of life and today civil servants can testify that they do not only receive their salaries when due; they receive even the 13th month. He promised pensioners a new lease of life; today so many arrears of pension and gratuity that had ossified over the years have been paid. He promised Enugu people peace and today, in what I call political ecumenism, this is the first season in the politics of Enugu State where both the opposition and the ruling party enjoy themselves in one single party, if there is a social function you will see the governor chatting and hilariously exchanging banters with those in the opposition. He’s able to grant you the right to swing your arms in as much as you would grant him the right to protect his nose. Enugu people will want to certify that this peace we enjoy shall continue.