Amby Uneze engages a federal lawmaker, Chike Okafor, representing Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo federal constituency on the significance of the new electoral law on the Ngor Okpala bye-election, Imo state and the chances of APC in 2023 national elections
What would you say are the benefits of the new law that governs elections in Nigeria?
For the naysayers and those who probably don’t see anything good in President Muhammadu Buhari, that he does not mean well for the country can now have a rethink and praise him for midwifing what we may call a perfect electoral reform for the country. For the APC government championing electoral reform is commendable. It is not only engaging in reviewing our electoral reforms but by deepening our democratic process to make it better than it was, though our democracy is a nascent one. It is commendable because even those countries we copied their model are also engaging in electoral reforms. I think Nigerians should give credit to the APC government at the centre for midwifing a process that could also affect their fortunes in the next ballot.
It is not about whether the next election is won or lost by APC, it is all about bequeathing to our country and generation unborn some good electoral model. We should give credit to the APC-led government. The summary of it is that we have an amendment to the electoral act that makes it somewhat difficult for election riggers to manipulate the wish of the people. In other words, we have perfected the cliché of “let the votes count”. So the votes will now count.
Imo state was the first to test run the new electoral act because it had the Ngor Okpala state constituency bye-election immediately after the signing of the electoral bill. Do you think the new electoral act was actually applied in the bye-election?
Very well, the process was applied. That Ngor Okpala state constituency bye-election complied with the new electoral act. It started with the choice of candidate. I tell you today, you can’t count 10 to 15 people in Ngor Okpala without counting Bladyn Amajirionwu, the winner of that election. So the APC settled for a popular people-oriented candidate and that made the election almost 50 percent won by the popular candidate. Then the party did not also go to sleep; we had a sellable candidate which we campaigned across the 11 wards in Ngor Okpala. The voters from Ngor Okpala came out and voted for a popular candidate. The election was free and fair and fortunately the APC won. That election signified that our governor, Hope Uzodimma is well accepted in the state, and that he is performing in terms of quality governance. We should also commend INEC for living up to the expectation as well as the security personnel in the state.
In 2015, the PDP-led government introduced the card reader and many felt it was the reason President Goodluck Jonathan was defeated in that election. Now there are fears that the new electoral act might work against the APC in 2023 elections. What is your take?
The APC does not have any fear in going into the 2023 elections. APC is not looking at what affects it as a party in future elections but we are much more concerned on what would give an advantage to the country’s electoral system. We have a government and a party that is so responsible and responsive to what would affect our country and her electoral process. In the long run what would matter is what we would bequeath to the country to make her electoral process flawless: an electoral process that is people-oriented; an electoral process that is something close to the model we are copying. If you put it side-by-side with what the opposition think, they know the truth. This government has done much better.
Today, one can freely move from Ibadan to Lagos by rail; from Abuja to Kaduna by rail. You can see some commitment on the part of the government and the people are happy. Those who mean well for the country are seeing it but those who are thinking about the next election are not seeing it. I want to say that the current leadership we have in the country are statesmen who are not looking at the next election but are looking at the next generation. So APC is not bothered whether this is going to translate to electoral luck. There is fear whether we are going to win in the next elections but what is important is that we are migrating to an electoral process that would make it impossible for unpopular candidates to win elections.
Recently a group of youths from your constituency endorsed you for another term, how do you feel about that endorsement?
I will call it an ambush for the formidable young men that cut across the 108 polling units in Ihitte Uboma local government to come all out to ask me to go back to the House of Representatives. I can tell you they are youths that do not belong to one political family. In 2015, they also endorsed me and their action translated to electoral victory for me. They took me by surprise because they invited me to their quarterly meeting for me to brief them on my activities since they sent me to represent them in the ninth house. They were in their numbers and after briefing them, they were convinced that I needed to go back there to possibly get to the leadership position as a ranking member. However, my answer to them was that I would consult the party and my governor who is the leader of the party in the state. The young men are busy in their trenches planning on how to return me to another term.
Prior to the endorsement, the youths must have been convinced that you have impacted positively on the lives of the constituents; what are those significant programmes/projects you have attracted to your constituents?
First of all, I believe that the essence of holding political office, whether elective or appointive, is to bring development to the people. With that definition what I have found myself doing in politics has been to better the lives of my constituents. To ensure that the programmes or projects I attract to my people in terms of infrastructure or service are beneficial to them. I may not count them because there are many but I know that when I found myself in the eighth assembly, I was made the chairman of the health committee, that was when I started the medical outreach and I built over 22 health centres and furnished them. I also made sure that over 45 health centres across Imo state were renovated and equipped.
In the last ten years I usually go across the constituents and identify indigent students and pay their WAEC. The last time I checked I have paid for over 4,700 students. This year, I have paid for about 780 of them. You also know about my annual surgical outreach which was an advanced part of medical outreach. Medical outreach does more of clinical, consultations and prescription of drugs but surgical outreach does more on very deep medical outreach such as surgeries. Last January we had over 180 successful surgeries, ranging from fibroid, hyena, appendicitis and other very complicated surgeries. These surgeries were handled by very qualified medical consultants. So these were very impactful programmes I have embarked upon.
There are other projects that are ready for commissioning, especially my intervention in the education sector. Through the Ministry of Housing, I am just completing one-storey buildings in Umuezeala, Ehime Mbano, ditto Okenalogho Secondary School in Obowo LGA and Amakohia Secondary School in Ihitte Uboma. These three projects have already completed worth over 120 million naira. I did some water projects in Aba branch, and Oriagu market in Ehime Mbano through Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority. I also provided street lights in some areas through the Rural Electrification Agency. Again, through the National Health Insurance Scheme, I have also provided a free health insurance scheme to about 7,200 to women and children (maternal and child). These people are getting treated free in nine designated hospitals; three in each local government area.
On job creation, what have you done?
My intervention in the area of job creation for our teeming youths is unprecedented. In my first tenure I caused a stir among my colleagues and I had to take my time. In one swoop, I secured employment for 25 youths in NAFDAC. At a point I had to engage the traditional rulers and my coordinators to draw up lists. In the Central Bank of Nigeria, I have given jobs to many, ditto to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Umuahia and Asaba where I have secured over 30 employments to young doctors and dentists. Of course, I can’t count the nurses. I think I have secured over 150 employment opportunities across different sectors and segments of the economy.
What is your opinion on Igbo presidency?
What we should be asking for is Nigerian president of Igbo extraction and it is high time an Igbo man becomes the president of this country. However, it is not given freely; it is a struggle and a matter of interest. It is something that is negotiated among the other ethnic groups in the country. There is no sentiment and emotions about it. So we must engage the other geopolitical zones, other tribes. It is not what one gets by agitation, in fact, agitation angers the other people. We should also look at who we have? I can tell you that if APC and PDP zone the presidency to the South-east, over 50 people would come out and start to malign each order. It becomes pertinent for us to find ourselves in a closet and tell ourselves the truth and maybe agree to present at least two aspirants each from these two domineering parties to go for primaries of their respective parties. I think we are our own problems, so the earlier we resolve that aspect the better for us.
