Governorship aspirants, especially, those from Owerri zone were
shocked when one of their sons, Hon. Independence Ogunewe was appointed
Director-General of Senator Ifeanyi Ararume Campaign Organisation. The
lawmaker who represented Ahiazu Mbaise/Ezinihite Federal Constituency in
the House of Representatives from 2003-2011 in this interview, speaks
on various issues including why the PDP should adopt Araraume as its
candidate for 2015 governorship election in Imo State. Excerpts:
Why did you accept to be the Director General, Araraume Campaign
Organisation when Owerri zone where you hail from is laying claim to
producing the next governor in 2015?
First of all, may I state categorically that, I’m a citizen of Imo
State, and before being this, I’m a citizen of Mbaise in Owerri zone.
The popular reggae icon, Bob Marley, once sang that when it rains, it
doesn’t rain on one man’s house and stop. What I’m communicating is
that, the bad government that we are experiencing in Imo State today is
not limited to Owerri, Okigwe or Orlu zones. The entire state is
suffering under the burden of bad leadership as represented by the
current administration. Therefore, the task before us is to ensure that
the present government is replaced with a better one. It’s not the task
of Owerri, Okigwe or Orlu zones alone, but that of all citizens of Imo.
To that extent therefore, I surveyed the horizon and looked at all the
sons and daughters of Imo who are aspiring to become the governor next
year and put some factors into consideration. I conclude that for now, I
wouldn’t know about the future, but Araraume is best man who is best
prepared to sack this government if all of us should rally round him.
That is not to say that the other people who are aspiring don’t have
qualities to be governor but what we should understand is that the
manner of person we need for a job at a time is defined and determined
by circumstances of the job as at that time, circumstances of the task
and challenge at that time. However, for today, even the other aspirants
particularly from the PDP appreciate the fact that if, indeed we are
determined and really desirous of voting out the incumbent from office,
we can do it. An incumbent of the type of Rochas Okorocha, we must look
for the man who has the extra capacity, extra quality that is needed for
this particular kind of challenge. In other kind of challenges, he may
not be the best person for it. So, we are looking for that man who is
prepared to take up this challenge. By my assessment, Araraume is the
person. And we should also understand one fact; Araraume could have been
from Owerri, perhaps, from Orlu zone. That he is from Okigwe zone is by
accident of birth which is by providence. So, where he comes from now
is not the issue, the reality now is who can remove Okorocha. I had
discussed with one of my cousins who is a businessman in Owerri, he
asked me exactly the same question you put to me and followed it by
saying in our language, ”Onye orun beke na agu ego agula ahu ya”
meaning, “a civil servant counts money towards himself”. I agreed with
him that he was absolutely correct but I also pointed out to him that
for a civil servant to count money towards himself, he must have secured
a job from the beginning. You don’t begin to count money when you don’t
have a job. So, right now, we are trying to secure that job by removing
Okorocha from office and we look for somebody who is best to do that.
When he does that, then a job would have been created, a job would have
been found. Then when the next opportunity or occasion comes, Owerri
zone within the PDP family might begin to say, we lay claim to this and
it would now become an internal PDP arrangement.
Is there anything like Imo Charter of Equity on how power should rotate among the zones?
To the best of my understanding, I don’t think there was. I wasn’t an
active player in 1998-99 when the current dispensation of democracy
began, but I was an adult, old enough to know that during that period,
Orlu and Owerri contested. I also know that in 2003, when Chief Achike
Undenwa wanted to do a second term, he didn’t just have a jolly ride
into the second term because an Orlu person contested against him where
he hails from. Owerri zone also ran. If we must mention names, you know
that somebody like Nze Desmond Iwuagwu, Banex, is from Owerri Zone,
Ugochi Nnana Okoro also contested and there are other people who from
Orlu in 2003. Then in 2007, the same scenario played out. Udenwa was
just finishing his second term in office. Orlu also ran. It was a very
strong race where even Senator Hope Uzodinma came second, a close second
at that. Assuming Hope had won, nobody should have said he shouldn’t
become governor because he is from Orlu. In that same competition,
Okigwe and Owerri zones participated. In 2011, Orlu, Okigwe and Owerri
zones took part. So, in that circumstance, you wouldn’t say there had
been a Charter of Equity because if zoning has been instituted, what it
means is that at any point in time, that zone from which we expect to
get the candidate or the governor would be allowed to produce it even if
they had 1,000 aspirants who must come from that zone and one person
would now be taken. But it has not been so. You may not strongly say
that there has been a charter of equity. Of course, if there is any, it
may be a gentleman’s agreement. It should be documented, it should be a
reference point, stating that Imo people met at so-so point and agreed
on so-so point and looked at the communiqué that came from the meeting
and it stated that this is how the governorship position should rotate. I
don’t think there has been anything as Charter of Equity in Imo State.
It is just something that has existed in the figment of imagination of
some people.
Many people still believe that Araraume may be a hard product to
market having tried twice to become governor. How do you intend to
correct the wrong impression hitherto, created by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo in the build up to the 2007 guber election in Imo?
I would disagree with the issue you raised that Araraume may be a
hard product to market. In 2007, he contested the primaries against all
odds and won. He didn’t just vote for himself; people voted for him. His
victory was made possible by people who voted for him. That was even
when Obasanjo came to Owerri and made the kind of provocative statement
he made about him. Ararume still went ahead and won that election. Imo
people voted for him. The emergence of former governor Ikedi Ohakim in
2007 as governor is known to all. The situation that threw him up is
known to everybody; Ohakim himself knew that he didn’t win election but
was imposed on the people by Obasanjo. In 2011, Ararume contested again
and of course, you know that if he lost that election it wasn’t because
of his person but some other extraneous considerations like platform.
Because it is difficult to imagine that the defunct Action Congress of
Nigeria (ACN) which was considered to be a Yoruba party would win that
election in Imo. That, it even came third in the election was because of
Ararume’s personality. If it was not for a person like Ararume, ACN
would not have made such impact in Imo. Even at that, if the first
election, that is the National Assembly election that was cancelled was
not cancelled, perhaps the result also wouldn’t have been the way we
found it. So, anybody who says Araraume is a hard product to market is
all part of the propaganda we have here locally. If somebody like my
person after spending eight years in the National Assembly and my eight
years in the green Chambers would settle down to say Araraume should run
means that the whole lots of people are also saying he should run and
he will win. So, he is not a difficult product to market at all. But
that is not to say that there are one or two things Araraume himself did
not get right. Perhaps, he didn’t begin to appreciate on time this
issue of perception. The time Obasanjo came and labeled him with all
manner of negative labels, he decided to play the role of Jesus in the
book of Isaiah 53, which said, “Jesus was led like a sheep that is being
led to the slaughter before its shearer but opened not his mouth”. So,
Araraume decided not to open his mouth. He felt he shouldn’t join
issues, he felt it doesn’t matter and that people would know what is the
truth. But that was the wrong thing he did. He didn’t even issue a
statement to debunk such kind of insinuation that came from no less a
person as the President at that time. So, such things began to stick
with time. But with time, people are beginning to see that those
statements are lies. It may interest you to note that Ararume is a
devote catholic, a knight of St. John International and if the Catholic
Church is any institution or organization to reckon with, you would know
that they have their own system of investigating people. And I want to
assure you that if Araraume had been found wanting, an institution like
the Catholic Church which has the greatest followership in the world
would not have confered knighthood on Ararume. So, Araraume is not
going to be a hard sell at all. He has from his personal resources
helped more than 40 kidney patients get trans-plant in renowned
hospitals in India. In fact, there are three couples, I may not want to
mention their names but some of them have decided that they want to come
out to make it open, who had challenges with child bearing. He
sponsored their trip to a hospital in Maryland, United States of America
where they met the best fertility doctors and today they are proud
parents of children.
Do you foresee a repeat of supremacy clash between Ararume and the
former governor of the state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim; both of them are
from Okigwe zone and are in the race, won’t they divide their votes?
I don’t want to talk about anybody or the chances of anyone but
Araraume. I do know that even in the deepest of Ohakim’s heart, he knows
what his chances are. If he doesn’t know, then it is unfortunate. I
don’t foresee any supremacy clash between them.
From what you are saying, it seems Araraume is the only person
that can wrest power from Okorocha?
What I said is, it would be wrong to say only Araraume can do it. He
may not be the only qualified person but the only aspirant that has the
muscle to wrest power from Okorocha. Let it be put on record that he is
the only person who has what it takes to sack Okorocha.
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