TNE: As a former Mayor of Owerri what were your responsibilities?
The responsibilities included the general administration of the city; making sure the public servants did their work, ensuring environmental sanitation, administration of the motor parks, the regulation and supervision of markets and ensuring there’s peace in the city.
TNE: Talking about the supervision of markets, what’s your position on what the present government in Imo State has done with the markets in the city, especially the relocation of Ekeukwu Owerri?
First of all, what the government has done is against the Constitution. The government has no constitutional rights/power over markets. It’s only the local governments that are permitted to administer markets. Governor Rochas Okorocha was acting above his powers in taking over the responsibilities of the market. Of course, he could do that because he has not had any local government elections. That’s why he could go into the markets unchallenged. That’s wrong.
It is also wrong from the point of view that a market is a spiritual thing for the people. Every community and especially in Igboland is identified by three things – farmland, waterfront and markets apart from other social things like chieftaincies and the traditions of the people. So to go and take away a people’s market is something that is spiritually wrong in Igboland.
However, we believe that he has not taken away the market. You cannot take out a market from one community and say you have relocated it to another community. We know where our market is and we know that the market will remain there. How it would be, will unfold with time.
TNE: Are you saying that someday Ekeukwu Owerri will return to its original place?
Ekeukwu Owerri has remained where it has always been. It has not moved. We know our Ekeukwu Owerri and we know where it is and we hope that God who made us and put us where we are will provide the grace that will make us go back to our market place which is there waiting for us.
TNE: Putting aside the spiritual, is there a possibility of returning the market to its original place by legal or constitutional means?
Yes there is. First of all, we are in court and we believe that justice will be done through the courts. Secondly, we’re political animals. What governor Okorocha has done, has advised us as to what our political stand will be. We will choose a governor and a local government chairman who will allow us to do business in our market, which is there waiting for us. That’s what we will do. We will certainly go back there some day.
TNE: Owerri has for years been one autonomous community made up of five villages. But now it has been split into five autonomous communities each with a traditional ruler. What’s your take on that?
It is unfortunate that such was allowed to happen. But we are very careful about the issue and the reason is because there are two sides to these autonomous communities. Some people wanted autonomous communities because they have become political instruments and some of us were working towards that but also respecting and maintaining our traditions because we can never have two Oha Owerri or two traditional institutions in Owerri.
Unfortunately, some of those who were looking for these autonomous communities ran ahead of themselves and got them according to the law.
This does not mean that as Owerri people we do not know that we are one. This will pass. Owerri people will come together, they have started coming together and we will come together and put together a project that could identify with these communities but which will keep Owerri as one. That is very important.
There will never be more than one Owerri nshi use (one Owerri town with five villages). It will always be one because Oha Owerri is one. We could have a hierarchy of monarchies that is still one and that is what a lot of communities have done in Imo State.
There are a lot of communities in the state who have allowed their original monarchs to stay even when they have new autonomous communities which are just political instruments. We think that will happen in Owerri very soon.
TNE: But don’t you think or see these autonomous communities as a divide and rule strategy by the government geared towards 2019?
Well, even if it was not, that’s what it has turned out to be. Even if the governor had wanted it to be something good for us, what he has now tried to do is to divide Owerri especially as not everyone supported those who were finally made Ezes. Certainly, it was quite a divisive thing. But as I have said before, Owerri people are very smart people.
Even with all these things that are happening, we are coming together, talking about it and we doing everything possible to ensure that at the end of the day, Owerri people remain one and our traditional institutions are sacrosanct and as unified as they have always been.
TNE: Still on Owerri Municipal, we understand that the governor built a Palace for Eze Imo. How does this work? Who occupies the seat?
We are totally against that and we will always be. The Eze Imo himself knows he can’t have a palace in Owerri.
TNE: Has somebody already been named Eze Imo?
Yes, there’s a person who is said to be Eze Imo. But whoever he is and however they see that position, he cannot seat in Owerri. He knows that.
TNE: So presently nobody is occupying the Palace?
Nobody is sitting there and the so named Eze cannot sit there.
TNE: What if he dares
He cannot and he knows it.
TNE: From all you are saying, are you implying that the Eze Imo project is an exercise in futility?
It is not just an exercise in futility, it is a non-starter and the governor knows that and I repeat whoever he makes Eze Imo knows that.
TNE: Recently, the Son-in-law of the governor was given a certificate of Citizenship by one of the autonomous communities in Owerri; how does this play out?
When somebody says he is an Eze and the law supports him, it gives him liberty to do certain things one of which is to say that anybody is his citizen. But whether that person is a citizen will be decided by the people. Owerri people do not recognize him. This is also another exercise in futility. I say that because he cannot have any farmland.
By the way, he is part of the people who have taken our farmlands and built houses there. He cannot have any waterfront, he cannot have any title that originates from the people. What is his citizenship for? He has no lineage, who will he say his father is or his grandfather or his great grandfather?
It is a political weapon but it is a weapon as blunt as an old woman’s machete. It’s not going to work. For whatever cosmetic purpose they want to serve, you know cosmetics usually wash off, it’s going to wash off. It’s not something that we take seriously and in any case it was also coordinated by some people who know they cannot influence anything. But it has put money in the pockets of some of our boys and we grateful to them for giving them the money.
TNE: We all know the role money plays in politics. Since Owerri zone is insisting that it should produce the next governor of Imo State, can you visualize a scenario where for some reason some people will present Rochas Okorocha’s son-in-law as a candidate representing the zone because he now has a certificate of citizenship from Owerri?
No. That can’t happen. He is not a citizen and he knows it. If he claims that citizenship, he will also lose where he is from. He will lose Nkwere and that will raise serious problems. Like I said before, it is something cosmetic. It is politics and we see through that. It is so clear and nobody will take them seriously. They are trying to appeal to the youths of Imo but you see no matter how good the Eze’s palace is, it can never be better than your own father’s Obi.
They will do all those things but we have more important things to talk about in the politics of Imo State. It’s not just that we want somebody from Owerri Senatorial Zone to be governor but we want quality human being.
After 16 years of this republic, one can now speak with authority and say unless we have a certain kind of person, there will be no progress, we won’t have development. If you look at areas in Nigeria where we have seen quite clearly the dividends of democracy getting to the people, you have no doubt at all that it is because of the people who have superintended the area in past 16 years or more.
Look at Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Enugu, Bauchi, Anambra and Lagos States, you’ll see it’s about people with pedigree, people who are prepared and in politics for service, people who with or without politics will still self actualise. When we say somebody from Owerri Senatorial Zone, we are not saying just anybody. Thankfully Owerri Zone has such people with pedigree. There are many of them all over the place and those are the people we are talking about.
We are not just saying give us people from Owerri zone. We are saying we want to produce a governor who has a clear picture and the capacity and the capability to transform Imo State. To get Imo State where it is supposed to be. If you take what we have, if you take our natural resources and the human resources, if you take everything that makes up Imo State, it should be one of the best areas of Nigeria. Unfortunately it is not and that’s because we haven’t made right choices about those who go to the House of Assembly, not just the governor, and those who go to Abuja to represent us, those who become our deputy governors etc. It’s not just about Owerri but about the quality of human being we will produce.
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TNE: As you and some other people keep talking about Owerri Zone producing the next governor, other people are saying Owerri people are not united and cannot speak with one voice; and that this might work against the zone. Do you agree with that?
Yes to an extent. I agree that people hold different views and make different choices. But there will never be a time when everybody will agree on a candidate. That will not be politics. First, like I have said, there are lots of qualified people in Owerri zone and everybody wants to try. Secondly, Owerri zone is made up of people who are not very transactional whereas other people in Imo are transactional. They see opportunities in everything like a business and they take it.
People from Owerri Zone are more like public servants and they see a system and everybody thinks ‘this system is going to be nice to me’ and so it’s difficult but what some of us have tried to do is to raise the consciousness of people to look at the quality of the human being, not just that he’s form Owerri . If we do that, we can narrow down the number of people to choose from.
This quest for an Owerri governor is what will save Imo State. I say this because it will break down barriers created by political parties and political godfathers and it will set up a political system that will bring out somebody who is excellent not just in his capacity but in his attitude to life. We are going to have a completely new type of person who will come from Owerri Zone and who will become the governor of Imo State.
We are working towards this for 2019. We are no longer saying I’m from Mbaise, he’s from Owerri or he’s from Ikeduru; we are saying and insisting that there’s a kind of human being we want, if you are qualified, come out.
TNE: In your opinion, is Owerri Zone ready for 2019?
At this point we are not ready but before then we will be. In fact, we will be ready in the next three to four months. Something is going to happen; we are going to speak with one voice and go behind one candidate. We are not just going to stand behind one candidate as people from Owerri Zone, we will get people from Orlu and Okigwe to stand behind the candidate. That’s a better politics than the politics of I’m from Mbaise or he’s from Ikeduru or Owerri.
We won’t do that because if we make a choice based on that, there are Owerri people who may be worse than the people we already have and that would be a disaster.
TNE: Can you rate the performance of the Imo State House of Assembly in the last six years?
Zero percent, I would say because they have not done anything of significance. You can’t say there’s anything they’ve influenced in governance. I’m serious about it. Nothing has happened in the state to which you can say if not for the House of Assembly it would not have happened or that it didn’t happen because of the House.
In the first four years, do you know that the House of Assembly gave the governor a budget for four years? When have you ever seen that kind of a thing happen? Four years budget at a go! There is nothing that has happened in Imo that you would say happened because we have a House of Assembly.
For me, it’s zero unless somebody corrects me. But I have been here, I know these things and they have not contributed in anyway.
TNE: If you say they have not contributed shouldn’t part of the blame go to the people because it is their responsibility to hold their representatives accountable?
Those people are not our representatives because we didn’t vote for them.
TNE: If you didn’t vote for them, how did they get into the House?
They got in there because the system allowed them. They know that and that’s why they are not accountable to us. You see something happened and the Governor took over and with the machine that they have they got those that they wanted.
Most of the people in the Imo House of Assembly are from Owerri Zone but they were not the choice of the people so they don’t owe us any responsibility and they have shown it.
In all of the wars that we have had, even in the quest for an Owerri governor, none of them has come to speak up, none of them says he’s going to be governor, none of them says no it’s the turn of Owerri Zone. You can see they don’t have our interest at heart. We don’t count on them and they also don’t count on us.
TNE: A lot of energy is being put into who occupies the government house next year, are you putting some of the energy into those that will go to the House of Assembly and National Assembly?
In fact, one of the things we are doing now in Imo State is that we are even more concerned about sending people to the House of Assembly because if a governor has a House of Assembly that is overlooking his activities, he will be tamed. If the House of Assembly is working there will be order. In everything they are doing there will be a law guiding it such that if you say don’t pack here and somebody packs there, there’s a law backing you and if you take that person up you are acting within the law. It’s not like that now.
We are as interested in who goes to the House of Assembly as who goes to the government house. In fact, if we can get twenty good persons in the House of Assembly, let anybody go and be governor because the House of Assembly will put him right. Unfortunately, that’s not what we have seen in past six years.
TNE: For what it’s worth, rate Governor Okorocha years in the State.
I think we have wasted our time in these six years Okorocha has been governor. Very unfortunate to say. Basically, Imo State has been taken backwards. There have been few cosmetic developments here and there but those things do not have foundation and, therefore, they cannot be continued. They are things that are not sustainable as we say in development Economics.
The man wakes up, thinks up an idea which might be good but because it is not well grounded and there is no law backing it, and it is not well thought through, it begins to show cracks even as it starts. There’s going to be a lot of reversals when Gov. Okorocha goes and those reversals will cost Imo State a lot of money, time and energy. It is very unfortunate that we allowed this to happen and it is the fault of the House of Assembly more than any other group of persons. They allowed the man to run riot and so in percentage, I will be very kind to give him 12 per cent.
TNE: Can you tell us one thing you can say Gov. Okorocha did very well?
Gov. Okorocha did very well? Honestly, I can’t think of anything.
