Sir Temple Ogueri is an Ac­countant and a retired Air force officer who joined politics after much pressure from his people in Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency of Imo State. Presently, he is hopeful to contest the oncoming House of Representatives seat on the platform of the All Pro­gressives Grand Alliance (APGA). In this interview, the renowned accoun­tant speaks on some burning issues in Imo State.
Excerpts:
Do you think APGA can win the next governorship election in Imo State?
APGA is the party designed by God to liberate the people of South East from dis­unity. So, anybody who leaves the party for another party has committed political suicide. Two parties are dominant in Imo State, The All Progressives Congress (APC) and APGA but without being told, APC is a tenant while APGA is the landlord. A tenant can never win the landlord. So, anyone who contests under APGA has won the election.
Would you say you are a grassroots politician?
I am a grassroots politician. Today, I am in Lagos, tomorrow I may be in Imo State. But APGA, like any other party such as PDP, APC etc is a national party. Well, in the South-East, APGA has a large following. People seem to show sympathy for the party because of the founder, Late Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. Moreover, some people, especially myself have been advocat­ing for a political party in our zone so that we will speak in one voice. When the five South-Eastern states have a party that speaks for them at the national level, we can always achieve our advocacy. The way we are scattered now, we may not get that which is rightly ours. We will continue to be the looser if we continue with a divide and rule system. Let us consolidate on our voice through APGA.
Do you think APGA is really popular in Imo State?
APGA is a popular party. The National Secretary of APGA is Alhaji Shinkafi and he is not of the South East extraction. We are scattered all over the country. Our problem is that we win elections, and they will steal them from us because we don’t defend our vote. We may not win presidential election now but one day, APGA must produce a President. In 2003 election, APGA won election in Lagos, without a candidate in councillorship ward. That showed how popular APGA is. There is no state in Nigeria that does not have APGA. As time goes on, we will get there.
What is your take on the fortunes of APGA in Anambra and Imo?
Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has APGA at heart and cannot dump the party. It is his own baby. He is building the party. Rochas Okorocha had not won any election in Nigeria, until he joined APGA. He won his first election in APGA and after two years, he left APGA. I am assuring you that now that Rochas has left APGA, he has committed political suicide because, APGA is returning to Douglas House come 2015. APGA is a grass root party in Imo State.
Why do you want to be a member of the House of Representatives?
Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency constitutes two local governments area but Mbaitoli is the second largest local govern­ment area in the state. Since I retired from the Nigerian Airforce in 2004, there has been this pressure for me to come and represent my people. I gave it a shot in 2010, I overwhelm­ingly won the primary election but for the reasons best known to the state chairman of ACN, he substituted my name with that of my rival or opponent. ACN now lost woefully because, my people were not happy about what ACN did to me, so, they massively voted against ACN which lost woefully. We have continued to rebuild APGA since I joined APGA, so many people are now happy with me. Well, we had this chatter of equity that Mbaitoli will be there once, then Ikeduru will be there once. But the gentleman there has been there thrice. It is now the turn of Mbaitoli. That is why I am the person to beat because I am in APGA, the most popular party in Imo and two, the people chose me to contest. We have people-oriented pro­grammes that I have initiated for the past two years; we even involved some organisations. We have touched families. In the villages, a lot of families are poor. They cannot afford to train their children in schools. We have to tap into that lacuna and start training people in skill acquisitions. Creative skill such as motor mechanics, tricycle repairing. We went into the Federal Constituency, picked those interested and attached them to those who al­ready have started the job, and we pay them to train them. We have graduated many of them, about 150 persons. By September this year, we are graduating another 150,000 trainees. If I am doing this when I am not in the House of Representatives, you can imagine what I will do when I get here.
If you win, what will be the first bill you would like to present?
The first bill is to ensure that we will make it impossible for state governors to have ac­cess to funds allocated to local governments. You find out that the fund allocated to the local government goes into state account and without exception, the governors hijack the fund and the local governments are crippled. By the time we have a change and the local governments have their money completely and as at when due, you find out that there will be progress. My local government will also function very well. Some of the roads that are bad would have been repaired if the state government had not cornered the money meant for local governments.
For instance, Mbaitoli has received over N3.5 billion from federation account commit­tee since 2011. Go to Mbaitoli/Ikeduru and you won’t see anything worth N500 million. Where has the money gone to? Local govern­ments will not be blamed for any failure, as they don’t have access to their account. Denying them access to their accounts is ille­gal. It bordered on criminality, but because of immunity clause that all the governors have, they do this stealing with impunity.
During Ohakim time at least, he conducted election for local governments but when Rochas came in, he disbanded them and started using caretaker committee. People who are desirous to work for the local govern­ment can’t contest. I cannot do it alone, but I need to lobby other members and now face the matter constitutionally. The constitution should be amended so that local governments will have access to their money.
What is your assessment of Rochas Okorocha’s administration?
When you come to my Federal Constitu­ency, the present administration has not done any reasonable project despite the fact that the deputy governor is from the place. Generally for the state, how do we access a government? You must put side by side the resources and the project the government is executing. There must be talk of employment and build­ing up the economy. You talk of security and the youths. Imo State in the past five years enrolled more candidates for JAMB than the entire 19 Northern States put together. That shows you the enormity of the problem. What has the government done to create employ­ment? Is it by building houses, Bongo Square or building conference centres? There must be economically viable projects that the gov­ernment must build or attract in the state.
Even the schools that are being built, the bricks are being imported when we have ma­sons and block moulders in Imo State. Why sow the uniforms of the students outside the state when we have tailors in Imo State. We demand to know how much the government has borrowed. I pity the new governor of Imo State if the rumours going round is confirmed that Rochas Okorocha has exceeded the amount of loan he can borrow for the state.
The next governor may not be able to pay the salaries of the ministry workers.
APC is a stranger in Imo State and a strang­er cannot win a landlord, APGA is a landlord so, APC has failed woefully in Imo State.

‘APC is a stranger in Imo State’