From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Veteran journalist and former senior media aide to the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu during his days in exile in the Ivory Coast, Kanayo Esinulo, has given an insight how he was granted pardon by the Shehu Shagari government.
He also bared his mind on the spate of intra-party crises in the country, as well as the controversial issue of charter of equity in Imo State, where he comes from. Excerpts:
As a senior journalist and commentator on public affairs in the country, what is your take on the spate of crises that have hit some of the political parties following the primaries that led to the emergence of candidates for the 2019 general elections?
I would say that not many Nigerians were surprised with the development in some of the parties because long before now, there were complaints over serious lack of internal democracy and outright impunity within our political parties. But perhaps, what brought the matter to the fore is the situation in the All Progressives Congress (APC) where the crisis that resulted from its post-primary elections seems not to have been properly managed. The result was that strategic elements within the party accentuated the disagreements by going public with their grievances, all the time. The situation could only have gotten worse, not better. Some of us believed and still believe that the party should have managed its internal affairs better, given that it has a very formidable opposition that would easily benefit from its internal wrangling. No matter what you say today about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it did not face such problems in the corresponding period of its existence, even when the country had just emerged from years of military rule and was beginning a new democratic experiment. It tried very much to foster cohesion within. The APC should have learnt from the experience of the PDP. After all, most of its members are from the PDP. However, I believe that the current challenges will, hopefully constitute vital and strategic lessons that will be useful to our political class in future.
From the look of things, the 2019 presidential election will be a clear political ‘battle’ between the APC and the PDP. Are you surprised that no third force eventually emerged to contend for presidential power?
I was not, in the least, surprised because flippant talk about a third force came a bit too late in the day, and I realized that Nigeria is essentially a conservative society. It would take time to galvanize Nigerians to dismantle an existing political order. Besides, and perhaps more importantly, our political elite lack the capacity for consensus building. To majority of them, self-help is usually the order of the day. Each Nigerian politician or public figure sees himself or herself as possessing the exclusive knowledge of how to run the country. That is why we have 91 political parties at the last count. Politicians do not want to work with one another or even with each other. They prefer to run parties where they can dictate everything that happens. Those who find themselves stuck in one party cannot even agree among themselves. For me, third force, first force, or second force, may not be particularly relevant; what is important is that our political elite should learn how to construct political consensus in the interest of the people and in the national interest. After all, Nigerians belong to one big family, first and foremost.
There was also the issue of younger people being given the opportunity. From the look of things, we are not about to get a 30 something-year-old president?
Do we really need that? For me, age is not the real problem. The problem is systemic. In any case, we have always had young people in government. In 1999, the average age of those who emerged as governors was 41 years. By all standards, that falls within the ‘young age’ bracket that you are talking about. Yet, none of those ex- governors can beat his chest today and say, in all honesty, that he performed exceptionally well. Today, we have a governor who is about 40 years old. From all I have been reading about him, he is not doing anything spectacular or exceptional. Some even say he is the worst governor. For the young people, I think what should be their concern is for the country to be repositioned in a way that more job opportunities would be created for them outside the territory of politics.
You come from Imo State where the internal party differences in the ruling APC took a different dimension amid the fear that it will alter the expectations of the generality of the people of the state during the coming general elections. What is your take?
I put the blame squarely at the doorstep of the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. You mentioned expectations, but I want to help you by adding that the expectation was that, for the sake of equity, the governorship should go outside Orlu zone, after residing there for 16 years in the current dispensation. Mind you, I come from Orlu zone, but I have always tried to be just and fair and to remain loyal to certain values that the good people of Imo State share. But the governor of my state, out of sheer greed and primitive selfish interest, started early enough to position his son-in-law, who comes from the same Orlu zone, to take over from him. That was not too good and fair, at all. I repeat, I come from that zone, Orlu, and I know that many thinking people from our zone would quietly tell anyone who asks, that greed and domination have perhaps, unknowingly or knowingly, taken over our known sense of fair play and brotherhood. I do not agree that after 16 years at Douglas House, Owerri, our seat of government, another Orlu son or daughter would rule Imo; it’s unfair. It is unjust. Many of us do not buy the idea. Mind you, all the crises in Imo APC emanated from that desire of the governor to impose his son-law on us. This pettiness led to the quarrel between him and his deputy, Madumere. It led to his falling out with his first deputy, Agbaso. Two or three secretaries to his government and a whole lot of other people who were, at one time or the other, involved in his administration left over this awful greed. Go and check!
But Hope Uzodinma, who has the party’s ticket, is also from Orlu. Has that solved any problem?
There are other candidates from the other two zones in the other political parties. In PDP and APGA, we have Emeka Ihedioha and Ifeanyi Ararume who come, respectively, from Owerri and Okigwe zones. And, of course, we have Ikedi Ohakim, also from Okigwe zone, who is flying the flag of Accord Party and who, all things being equal, holds the joker for the resolution of the political imbroglio in the state, especially as it concerns which zone should produce the next governor.
Can you expatiate on this?
First, on the issue of our famous equity formula, which I must confess has special attraction to me as a person, Ohakim is the only person whose election next year can resolve that issue in our state, once and for all. If he is elected, and I sincerely pray he does get elected, that will assuage the people of Okigwe zone, who still feel justifiably short-changed that they were not allowed to do two terms. At the same time, Ohakim can only do one term of four years and if the matter is well packaged, he should hand over to a successor from Owerri zone. In fact, he has said that himself. I understand he swore to an affidavit where he made that undertaking among other things. So, you can see that with Ohakim, we will not be talking about equity by 2023. Now, to the second issue, which is on resolving the economic and social crisis in the state, I believe Ohakim also stands out and in the best position to hit the ground running from day one. Given the awful decay that Imo has witnessed in the past years under Okorocha’s watch, I believe it requires a fellow that has the experience of where the state was before 2011, to reverse the trend. I have heard some of my fellow Imo people say that our state is exactly like a car that has a knocked engine and, therefore, requires an experienced mechanic, not an apprentice to fix it. Ohakim handed over to Rochas Okorocha a state with a vibrant economy, but this was totally mismanaged. The state civil service was active, vibrant and an agent of development, and all relevant and important institutions of governance in the state were involved in the rebirth. I think we should hand back the state to Ikedi Ohakim to do a surgical operation and get our once beautiful state working again. In four years, there would be changes, I strongly believe. He knows what was where before May 2011. I feel like also mentioning also that Okorocha ran Imo State for eight years without documents. We, therefore, in my view, need somebody who has and knows the records of our state to move in and do a surgical operation. There is no evidence of financial impropriety against Ohakim. I hear that he is a man not too attracted to primitive accumulation. And that stupid allegation of flogging a Catholic priest, which led to some of our people allowing themselves to be used by his opponents, have since been found to be totally false.
You seem to be quite conversant with the nuances of politics in the state, but you are not deeply involved. How will you help in persuading other citizens of the state to accept your views? And if I may ask, what was exile life like with a popular leader like Chukwuemeka Ojukwu?
In the first place, the views I have just expressed are not new. They are on the lips of the majority of the people of Imo State. Go and check; second, I do not need to be an active politician to know what is happening in my state and in my country. I can always offer useful advice. In my career in journalism and writing, I have seen it all. My mentor, the late Biafra leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu cannot work with you if you cannot be critical in your thinking. He has absolutely zero tolerance for dull and lazy thinking. For years in exile, he taught us to be truthful to ourselves and consistent in our beliefs and to be dependable allies to truth and justice. That is what I have stood for all my adult life, and that is why I am in the Ivory Coast today, and not in Enugu. Identify truth, say it out, defend it and stand by it. Exile life is ‘murky” and for the many years we were out there in exile, I never regretted our people’s decision to leave Nigeria in May 1967, and the roles I played in the struggle. Very few people know the role I played in Emeka’s homecoming. I saw him as a leader in the original sense. For instance, when he submitted my name for scholarship to a Catholic institution based in Italy in 1975, and the body said the submission was coming too late for that year, Emeka forwarded our names, my name to The Netherlands branch of the World Council of Churches. I was called the next week by Rev. Hoffmann and Mrs H.M.C Blersch to go to the Netherlands Embassy nearest to me, feel out the necessary visa forms and pick up my visa few days later. It was like a dream, but I knew, at once, that Emeka, has, as usual, pulled all the strings. That’s a leader for me. And he did the same for many of us who sacrificed to stay and suffer with him in exile, and who wanted to further their education. He cared and good leaders care. I observed some bits of Emeka’s humane and leadership qualities in Ikedi Ohakim through my good friend and colleague, the late Pini Jason, but more when Pini died suddenly. My story on Emeka will wait for another day. I am sorry for the digression. Good leaders fascinate me. Can I tell you two things: I re-entered Nigeria soon after Alhaji Shehu Shagari was sworn-in. Emeka wanted it so. By the way, he likes to be called Emeka. Don’t think that I am being disrespectful. Two, I was at the centre of nearly all the talks, negotiations and shuttles that led to his home-coming, and I name those he told me to contact as we began the project: Dr. Ibrahim Tahir – one huge human being who chain-smokes, Editor Gbalabo Ogunsawo of the influential Sunday Times, Minister of Works, Victor Masi, Chief Ike Onunaku of the UAC, and, of course, essential Dr Chuba Okadigbo whom Emeka likes to call Wilberforce, Prof. George Obiazor who was with Chuba at the Shagari Presidency. Colonel Joe Achuzia joined our team at some point. Emeka felt that we needed someone with a military mind to be part of the team. However, along the line, Emeka insisted that I should come with Okadigbo and Obiozor to Bigerville, a suburb of Abidjan, where he lived. Three of us came in on the agreed date using different airlines. I think the duo needed clearance from President Shagari before undertaking the trip. I needed no clearance, but just some days off-duty from Manager (News) NTA, Victoria Island, Lagos, Victor Folivi. I was working with the news outfit at the time. And the day the historic decision was made, I was the one who flew out to convey the news of his pardon by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, even before it was made public.
Dr Chuba Okadigbo who played very prominent roles in the project quickly funded this particular trip, even before I could reach Emeka on phone for permission to draw fund from Chief Ike Onunaka, General Manager at the UAC, Lagos Head Office, who was under instruction to always make funds available to me. Chuba had confided in me, before I took off for Ivory Coast that he didn’t want to share the glory and the credit of getting the news across to him with anyone. Prof George Obiozor is alive today. Go and ask him. I flew Air Cameroon to Abidjan and Emma Akah, Emeka’s Chief Protocol Officer, was waiting at the airport. I broke the news to the General in his office. He reached out for a huge bottle of Champaign and asked Emma to open it for a toast. I took just half of a glass and almost got drunk. I have never taken Champaign after that day. It worried my constitution. In humility, I confess that I drank from his wisdom and benefitted from his fearless attachment to truth and justice. At 70 years plus, I am quietly becoming an elder. None of the people gallivanting and boastfully claiming to be this and that, have had the kind of exposure and experience that I possess or can be associated with the kind or level of risks I have taken in my life in the pursuit of truth and justice. I have enough experience and exposure to advise on how my state should be governed in justice and fairness.
What I see clearly is a situation where people who have not worked in any organization, apart from running their private outfits as traders or contractors, want to become governors. The good people of Imo State should not, and must not, make that mistake again. That was the mistake my people made in 2011 with Governor Rochas Okorocha. There is no record that he worked in any organization before becoming our governor. That’s why he had the temerity to tell us that he does not believe in due process. And we can see exactly where that has led our once beautiful state. We shouldn’t make such silly mistake again.
How soon are we expecting The Book. You must give us a book on the exile life of this our great son. How soon?
As soon as I meet Emma Akah, Emeka’s Chief Protocol Officer, an Ivorian that was so dedicated and loyal to him. I am trying to re-establish contact with Emma. There are critical facts I certainly need from him for the book to have solid message, solid meaning and grounded in what is right and just.