PDP WILL WIN IMO IN 2015 -Eze Duruiheoma, Chairman, PDP, Imo

Shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Okorocha the winner of the 2011 governorship election, PDP candidate, Ikedi Ohakim congratulated him. Why did you turn around to challenge his victory at the tribunal?

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations once announced that he would not go for a second term but he later changed his mind and decided to contest again. When he was asked why he changed his mind, he answered: Only a fool cannot change his mind. That is only part of the point. The truth about it was that at that time, even the PDP joined in congratulating the governor.

And you will agree with me that that is a show of good faith and good faith should beget good faith. But when these things happened, the governor instead of reciprocating the good faith, the goodwill from us, took up an aggressive posture, took up a very hostile posture towards the PDP.

Is that why you went to court?

Of course we needed to let him know that it takes two to tango. If we did this to show you goodwill, you owe us something in return. But when you now proved to us that you didn’t owe us anything, we then went to court to remind him that there were irregularities during the election. So, on the one hand, that is what happened. But all that is history now.

Now that the election/court matters are done and dusted, what’s next for your party?

To settle down to play opposition politics in the state just like the governor has settled down to govern.

And you think you are a vibrant opposition to the ruling APGA?
Of course. Opposition politics calls for everything you can muster, it calls for creativeness, pro-activeness and alertness of the mind. It demands too much from you so that you are on top of every situation. I can tell you it has not been a pleasant experience.

What policies of this administration have you taken a stand on?
PDP as a party has been raising its voice against unpopular policies of the government through the media. When the government came up with the idea of relocating Imo State University to another place, the party raised its voice against the move.

We took up that matter, issued releases stating our stand. We also did the same to every other unpopular decisions of the this administration. For example, the opening of the road that causes regular congestion along Assumpta Avenue. PDP was the first group of people that condemned the decision. The opening of that road is the reason for the traffic congestion at Assumpta Avenue. Not many people noticed it before we did and so many other things.

On free education

We have repeatedly said it here that this administration is very long on promises but short in fulfillment. Take for example, the issue of free eduction. When this government came up with the idea of free education, they didn’t know what they were going into but now it is becoming obvious that they can’t achieve free education at the university level.

It is dishonesty to talk about free education at the primary and secondary school levels because, they have been always there. Free education at the primary school level has been there from the period of UBE and it has not changed. Free education at secondary school level has also been there. What may be new is university level. What our people need is not this type of free education that is being bandied about.

What we need in our tertiary institutions is investment and development in infrastructure. But because the administration does not listen to anybody except itself, it is drumming it into people’s ears that free education is achievable. Now the chips are down and the chickens have come home to roost. They are now looking for a way to reduce the number of beneficiaries and that is why admission into Imo State University, which is the only university that they have agreed to implement the free education is being controlled.

In other words, any Imo son or daughter in any other university is not good enough for free education. You must be in the Imo State University to enjoy the free education. Because they cannot control admission in these other universities except in Imo State university, that’s why they are pegging it to ridiculous 30%, can you imagine 30% admission of Imo children into their own university? I mean it’s flash point and it will create serious problem. I’m worried, everybody is worried. That’s the mother of all injustice.

On community/fourth tier government

Our position on fourth tier government has been consistent. We are oppose to it because, it is an unnecessary distraction. If you go into the law, if you read the law on this subject matter, you will wonder why anybody should sit down to think about it. Autonomous communities have always been in existence. Their town unions have also always existed. They on their own evolved their own modus operandi and also the relationship between the town unions and the traditional rulers have worked so well for communities over time. Most communities in Imo State are other than the state.

I mean before Imo state was created, these communities were functioning. They had town unions and operated smoothly and effectively. Why come now to introduce these alien ideas? Why? And the result is disharmony and unnecessary conflicts in the communities. Before ninety seventy something, when they introduced this uniform ezeship thing, most communities lived in absolute peace but as soon it was introduced, ezeship tussle now became the other of the day. If you go to the courts, ezeship tussle accounts for 70% of cases there.

Today, because of government involvement in the way communities should be run, tussle of leadership of communities and ezeship tussle now become the major social problems confronting our people. Why? Communities should be allowed to develop at their own pace. Some communities are stronger than others. Those that are weak today may be strong tomorrow but let them do so at their own pace. But to wake up one morning to introduce a uniform style of government in every community destroying the people’s culture in the process does not follow. That is taking matters too far.

On security challenges

Well I don’t want to make the mistake the incumbent governor made. He made that mistake when he politicised the issue of insecurity. Security is a very serious matter and should not be trivialised. So I’m not prepared to blame it on him. Some other people may do that but the kind of politics that I play, I will not hold him responsible for that because, the issue of kidnapping and robbery appears to be now endemic. It is something that has been existing, he didn’t introduce it. But if he rode into power with the promise that he will eradicate all these, and today we are still saddled with them, the, that is a lesson to him and other people not to promise anything they can’t deliver.

On abandoned projects

We want to advice the governor to complete people-oriented projects began by previous administration. Nobody says he cannot complete them and put down his name on them. There is no point abandoning projects because the man who started it is your enemy or from a different party, it’s wrong. And the losers at the end of it all are Imo people. Take for instance the two fly-over bridges started by the previous administration, if he starts work there today, the cost of completing the projects will be different from their cost as at two years ago when he abandoned them. Now, who bears the responsibility of the extra cost, isn’t Imo people? And that money would have been used for other better things for the people.

On sacking of council bosses

The Court of Appeal has made pronouncement on that, describing the governor’s action illegal. So, that Court of Appeal decision is still valid because, it has not been set aside. Now, the governor has purported to have sacked the chairmen because according to him, their tenure is over and the chairmen are in court. As I’m talking to you now, there is an order of court in favour of the LG chairmen.

What all this will mean is that nobody should tamper with the status quo until the matter in court is resolved one way or the other. So there is no question about conducting fresh elections. Of course, are you going to conduct election when the chairmen are still deemed to be occupying their offices? Are you going to elect people who will wait for them to now finish their tenure before you swear them in? No no! Things are not done like that.