By Sunday Ani
Chief U.S.A Igwesi was a member of the House of Representatives but before his emergence to the National Assembly, he was the Pioneer Leader of Enugu State House of Assembly. In this interview, he spoke on various issues including the controversy surrounding the zoning of gubernatorial ticket in Enugu and the readiness of his party (PDP) to wrest power from the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) at the center.
What are your views on the controversy surrounding the zoning of the gubernatorial slot in Enugu State?
There is no controversy surrounding the zoning of the gubernatorial seat in Enugu because this age long arrangement has permeated and assimilated into the Psyche of Enugu people and become internalized in the blood and vein of all the political class, electorates and the entire people of Enugu State since 1999 and was further strengthened in 2013 when the state caucus, which is the highest organ of the party in the state documented it inform of agreement. We have three Senatorial Zones in the State namely Enugu East, Enugu West and Enugu North Senatorial Zones, which to me represents a tripod. And this tripodal agreement started in 1999 when Dr Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East Zone became the governor and handed over power in 2007 having done his eight years in office to Governor Sullivan Chime from Enugu West who also did eight years and handed over in 2015 to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwanyi from Enugu North who will complete his tenure by 2023. The governor is expected clockwise to hand over power again to Enugu East Senatorial Zone to continue the established course of action in the state. So having seen the rotation template, one will not agree that there is controversy surrounding the state zoning arrangement. To be honest to you, people from other zones who are not entitled or favoured to contest the election usually try their luck to see if they can scratch the surface of the arrangement against the tide but it has always ended without positive results. In summary, it is the turn of Enugu East Zone to contest the 2023 governorship race in the state and any other person not from the preferred zone will not have the capacity and the political will to truncate the peaceful understanding going on in the state because the masses will resist it frontally.
What kind of character do you want to succeed Governor Ugwuanyi?
Governor Ugwuanyi has peaceful disposition; he is humble, humane and accessible and above all, a devout Christian with milk of human kindness. On assumption of office, he told the people of Enugu that he was going to create an alternative city to the Enugu Metropolis, that will centre rapidly on the growth of rural economy through construction and reconstruction of rural roads as a gateway to the creation of rural economy. That he has done. He also deviated from the usual norm of a new governor fighting his predecessor. He gave his predecessor peace and deserves to have peace as well. So, we need a new governor who in addition to all these qualities will open comprehensively Enugu State in terms of road construction, poverty reduction and alleviation, grow the urban and rural economy, build industries that have been elusive since the days of Dr. M.I. Okpara. A governor who is not a professional politician that will devote his tenure playing politics and settling perceived old scores. We need a governor that is germane and rooted in private and public sector that can transform Enugu State to her Eldorado; whoever must succeed Ugwuanyi must be ready to raise the bar and run an all inclusive government that will further unify Enugu and drive development in all facets of the state economy.
With the emergence of a new Chairman of APC at the National Level and the quality of new entrants into the party in the state chapter, don’t you think APC is now re-engineered and repositioned to battle power with PDP in the State.
Enugu is a PDP State since the inception of democracy. All the members of other political parties in the state including APC were all members of PDP. So, other political parties in the state are passively fanning the embers of politics in the state as pretenders, not contenders. They don’t in any way constitute a threat at all. PDP is the only political party in the state that can be found in all the villages in the states. The party is structurally entrenched in all nooks and crannies of the state and will continue to win as long as they are interested in the contest. A change in the leadership of APC is a routine political behavior and will not in any way constitute a threat to the political engineering, management and administration of the state body politics being driven by PDP.
Do you think PDP has chances of winning the forthcoming 2023 Presidential Election.
The chances of PDP winning the 2023 Presidential Election in Nigeria are very high given the poor performance indices of APC government in the country. Nigeria is like a country without leadership. Look at the present situation of things in the country, total black out, scarcity of both aviation fuel and motor spirits popularly known as fuel. Lack of food on the table of average Nigerians, insecurity ranging from kidnapping, Fulani herdsman, robbery and issues of Boko-Haram. A political party with all these political liability and baggage cannot continue to be in power, nay the people will perish for lack of care. So PDP has been repositioned, regenerated and resuscitated from her previous mistakes and is in a better political radar to drive positive leadership and all round developments for the country. PDP as a political party has learnt her lessons and what transpired during the just concluded National Convention of the party was an eye opener to their preparedness to take Nigeria to her deserved peace if given power in 2023. Above all, the party (PDP) must do justice to all the zones in the country. All the zones should be carried along in such a way that no zone should feel cheated or marginalized as enshrined in the constitution of the party. I believe that if the leadership recruitment process of the party is transparent, free and fair, the party will definitely reclaim political power in the country.
It is important to note that PDP must as a matter of equity, good conscience, fairness and justice zone the presidential ticket to the South and further micro zone it to South East precisely. This political character will definitely attract vote to PDP that will make them clinch the presidency of the country once again; the party should follow the constitutional requirement on zoning and do the needful.
How do you rate Gov. Ugwuanyi’s performance in Enugu as the clock thicks very close to his exit date?
In my own assessment, Governor Ugwuanyi has fulfilled all his election promises; when he assumed office, he told the people of Enugu State that the State Capital is suffocating and deserve to be complemented with other cities inform of decongestion. He stated he will create an alternative city in Nsukka and that he will also grow the rural economy through construction and reconstruction of rural roads that will make it easy for farm produce and other agricultural products to be accessed and evacuated to their relevant markets. Ugwuanyi in addition to that has done enough in the areas of poverty reduction and wealth creation through his various empowerment programmes.
His recent comprehensive rehabilitation of both primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the state cannot be overemphasized. He has constructed lots of bridges and flyovers in the state as part of his urban development initiatives. I may not be in a position to enumerate all that the governor has done in the state, because I am not his media aide but will always beat my chest and say that Governor Ugwuanyi came, saw and conquered but he will definitely crown that up with the choice of a clam, amiable, humble, accessible and God-fearing man as his successor who will continue to lubricate and improve in all he has done in the state in the interest of continuity.
How do you rate the security situation in the country.
Nigeria has displayed all the indices of a failed state. The railway route is not safe, the waterways are not safe, our roads are not safe, the aviation industry is not safe; you stay in your house you are not safe, you stay outside you are not safe. No place is safe. What does it tell you, that we are at a precipice; anarchy is looming, the centre is no longer holding, there is fire on the mountain, and it is for us to run now or remain to be consumed by that horrifying fire. The government needs to regig their strategy and seek external help before the country is consumed by bandits and hoodlums. Aside the insecurity issue, the economy is at its worst state since the emergence of democracy in Nigeria; the U.S Dollar has crushed our dear Naira to a worthless paper, and the average Nigerian can no longer feed herself or himself. Motor spirits otherwise known as fuel and her counterpart aviation fuel are high up and no longer affordable. Nigerians can no longer have light for consecutive one hour daily in their homes; everything has turned upside down and the centre is no longer holding. I believe that the absence of all these things have endeared our youths to embrace crime and criminalities, and we need to do something urgently to arrest the situation. The president should convoke a national security summit that is star studded and will be fashioned in such a way that it will come out with a lasting solution to this mayhem.