By ANOZIE EGOLE
He may not have spoken with this
type of anger before. Obviously, he
is not happy with the Gov.
Okorocha led administration in Imo
state. In this interview, Chief Dr
Achike Udenwa, a former governor
of Imo state and also a one time
Minister of Commerce and Industry
under late Yar’dua, talked about
prevailing issues in the state and
the forthcoming general election.
After eight years as Imo state
Governor and two years ministerial
appointment, much have not been
heard about you, what have you
been doing?
It depends. You have not been
hearing about me maybe because I
have not been making enough noise.
But, I have been around.
What have you been doing since
then?
I am a private man. Since I left as a
minister, I have been a private man
and still participating actively in
politics.
In the last general election, in 2011,
you contested for Orlu senatorial
seat under the platform of the
defunct ACN and now your are
back to PDP. What happened
between that time and now?
I joined ACN in 2010 and after the
election of 2011, I remained in ACN.
In fact, I was one of the founding
fathers of what we call APC today.
We had the initial discussions that
finally led to the formation of APC.
But shortly after the formation of
the party, there were some
differences between my group and
some other groups especially in Imo
state so we decided to go back to
PDP.
What could the differences be?
It was not much but the issue was
that the APGA elements in Imo state
joined APC because the governor was
with them. Together with the
governor, they wanted to hijack
everything and our people were not
happy with that. It is not as if it
was personal to me, but my group,
the old ACN were not happy. So
most of us left for PDP. After Mr.
President had invited me and some
others to join PDP, we considered
that and joined the party.
Due to Gov. Okorocha’s education
policy in Imo state, it appears the
APC is enjoying more support from
Imo people. What is your take on
the education policy?
Quite frankly, the support the
present government is enjoying is
misplaced. Misplaced in the sense
that it has been based on deceit.
Now many things are being done
and crimes are committed and
people don’t know, people are not
aware of what is happening.
For example, you find out that the
Okorocha’s administration is not
really working if you consider the
amount of money that is available to
him. Since the present
administration came into
government, they have taken so
much money. Most of the proceeds
of the loan Ohakim took, came over
to the present administration. They
have this money and they have over
N150 billion coming from the local
government system plus the normal
monthly allocation which is
averaging about N5 billion per
month. In our time you would be
lucky any time you had up to N1.5
billion. They had all this money and
the present government has been
borrowing also. In our time, we did
not borrow any money from any
where. So he has so much money at
his disposal and I can assure you
that the bulk of this money the
administration has at their disposal,
he cannot account for it. A lot of it
has disappeared in the system and
he is doing a sort of public relations
project.
The general hospital buildings in
Imo towns even with the ones in
almost every local government areas
are dilapidated. Why not
rehabilitate and re-equip them. He
decided to build brand new general
hospitals and each one is on the
main road so that people will see it.
Even if the hospitals are in the
bush, people will not use them
because non of them is completed.
So, this is the type of project you
will get from this government and
people think that he is doing well.
Come to the state capital, Owerri
you have so many conference
centers. What is he even doing with
conference centers? These are not
priority projects for the people. The
yardstick to measure how good a
government is will be to ask
questions on the livelihood of the
people. Are people today better-off
than they were maybe eight years
ago? The answer is NO. In our own
time, we were receiving less than
one third of what the present
government is receiving but I can
assure you that if you go out and
ask an average Imo man whether he
is better of now than then, you will
get NO for an answer.
So most of the things that are being
done are pure and complete deceit.
Today, I can tell you that our
governor has the best private
residence I have ever been to in
Nigeria as a whole. So these are
things that happen everyday. Check
the number of estates around him,
check what they have acquired
within four years. Then you will
know whether an average Imo person
is better off today than he/she was
before.
Most Imo people have been saying
that they are unfortunate when it
comes to governance. According to
them, since the time of Mbakwe,
they have never had a dynamic
government. What do you have to
say about that?
Well, I do not know whether they are
saying that. But I have to tell you
that as far as we are concerned, this
is the worst deceit we have had of a
government.
No doubt during your
administration from 1999-2007, you
made conscious efforts to ensure
that the state was counted as one
of the neatest states in Nigeria, but
now, the reverse is the case. Who
would you attribute the blames to?
I think it depends on the priority of
a government. In our time, we
engaged ordinary people. We
engaged ordinary women to clean
the streets and from there they
earned a living. Today things have
changed just like what I am telling
you about the present economic
situation of our people. You talked
about our own time, I am not here
to praise my regime but at least in
Imo at that time, we made sure that
the funds we had, though little,
went round. Today, you hear of a
government importing school desk,
uniforms among others. Does it
mean we don’t have tailors and
carpenters in Imo state? How will
the money flow down? Government
does not give people money but by
deliberate efforts and policies the
government makes sure that
whatever money available to it goes
down even to the common man in
the street. When we were building a
secretariat here in Owerri as at that
time, they were 10 blocks and we
divided these blocks among local
contractors from the 3 senatorial
zones in Imo state. So the
contractors will go home and hire
labourers from their villages to come
and do the job to earn a living. Even
some youths who would have been
miscreants, didn’t have time to play
pranks because they worked hard
and earned their money and lived a
better life. That had the double
effect of one, improving their
economic standard and secondly,
bringing down the rate of crime in
the state. Those were deliberate
efforts of government. But you don’t
see that in Imo today.
Because, almost every contract that
is being done in Imo state today is
by one single construction company
directly or indirectly. People of Imo
state know these facts, they know
that this government is not in
anyway looking after their interest.
You said something about using a
single construction company.
During your administration there
was this Monier Construction
Company, (MCC), that was doing
some major jobs in the state that
time. It seems they are no longer
into existence, why?
No, MCC did not do many jobs in
the state. They did only a few jobs
which I can even remember. We
distributed the jobs all round at
that time. Most of those companies
not just MCC, are no more around.
Because, what the present
government is doing is to be using
one particular contractor. The other
indigenous companies are sub-
contractors who are not doing any
major jobs. Some of them are owed
by the government. A lot of them
have left on their own, living behind
huge debts the government is owing
them and that is the new policy in
Imo state. And that is why we say
that these deceit must stop. The
people of Imo state are being
deceived, they don’t really see
through what is happening.
Lets do a review of Imo state
administration starting from your
tenure. How would you assess the
government?
I am not in the position to do that.
It is not ethical for me to start
comparing the past administrations.
It is for the public to do that
assessment and not me.
What do you make of the war of
attrition going on between the
President’s hatchet men and APC’s
campaign organization over the
later’s presidential candidates?
Would you say its healthy?
I was one of the people who
conceived the idea of bringing
smaller parties together into what
we today know as All Progressive
Congress, APC, and to me, it is
healthy. That we have two major
parties, even though we have many
other smaller parties, gives our
people a choice. And that will help
to ensure that no party will remain
complacent. Each of these two major
parties will work hard to win
because, one is as strong as the
other one so they must work hard to
win. What you are seeing today is
not unhealthy, it is healthy.
Being one of the founding fathers
of APC in Imo state, don’t you
think that would have given you a
better opportunity of achieving
your senatorial ambition?
No, there is nothing like that. Today,
I don’t have any ambition to contest
for any position. It is not a question
of party, I am not just interested in
contesting. At least for now, I am
interested in seeing how we can
help our party to win the election.
The governor in Imo is APC
member. Any hope for your party?
We are already working hard. The
most important thing in Imo state
today is to get the people at the
grassroots to understand the real
position and it is our duty. We
understand the level of the deceit
and misuse of the government fund.
We understand the level of using
our people, we understand the level
of starvation our people are going
through and we also understand the
economic stagnation of the state. It
is for us to make sure that the
grassroots understand these things
and it is unfortunate that many of
them don’t understand these things.
We have made conscious efforts and
its yielding fruits. People especially,
the elites are beginning to
understand these things.
The question you will ask yourself is,
in Imo state who belongs to APC? 80
percent of politicians in Imo state
belong to PDP. We understand that
what is happening is pure deceit.
But with the grassroots, it is
difficult. One of the deceits being
presented to the grassroots is the so
called free education. Education is
not free in Imo state. Anybody who
is telling you that education is free
in the state is deceiving you. It is
not true because, education is free
at the national level in the whole
country up till JSS 3. What is
happening in Imo state now is that
the so called university free
education is only applicable to Imo
state university. What happens to
the numerous Imo indigenes who
are in other universities outside the
state? And what this present
government has done is to limit the
admission of Imo people in IMSU.
They now prefer students from other
states, because they are not giving
them anything. They talk about free
education to Imo people yet they
have reduced the number of
admission of Imo people into IMSU,
are we going up or down? At the
same time, if you are told how much
these children pay for both
registration and acceptance fee, you
will know that there is nothing free.
We need to talk to the people and
the parents and let them
understand the deceit.
Now if you are admitting less Imo
students into the state university,
are you doing good to Imo people?
The main aim of establishing Imo
state university is to ensure that
more of our people go to school. But
because you say you are giving free
education, you now cut down the
number of Imo people in the school.
It is all deceit. In education itself.
You said that the elites are aware
of the deceit in Imo state, how do
you intend to communicate this to
the ordinary man on the street?
Exactly, that is why we are now
doing a door to door campaign.
We have finished the rallies. What
we are doing now is meeting people
in their own homes through
associations. We are meeting market
people, artisans, and even the
religious bodies and we are
beginning to educate them. Many of
them don’t understand what is
happening. So, what we are doing
now is to educate them and we
believe that once they know the
truth, they will not touch anything
APC in Imo state and it is paying off.
I know in many places were I have
engaged and talked to them, they
said that nobody has told them all
these things since. Go and see the
roads constructed by the present
state administration, some of them
cannot stand two raining seasons.
Some of them would be washed off
after the first raining season. Are
they the type of roads we need? We
have roads that were built over 10
years ago and they are still strong
without any maintenance. You now
count that you have constructed
800km of roads while you have done
nothing.
What are your post election plans?
I am still enjoying my private life. I
must not be in any government
position to survive but I am still a
politician. I am still bent on giving
my people the right direction. And
that is why today, we are looking for
that person who will be the governor
of this state and be honest to our
people. Not just one who is there
deceiving the people, preaching to
the people on one hand and on the
other hand doing nothing. . We
want to follow a leader who will tell
us to go and he will follow us. That
is the type of leader we are talking
about. We are not talking of a leader
in whose administration, there is no
economic development in the state,
there is nothing bringing in money
in the state and the little money
that comes to the state is just for
the benefit of the family. With me as
the former and the longest serving
governor of the state, I will be doing
a disservice to our people if I don’t
tell them the truth. It is my duty to
tell them that these things
happening to you are not good. And
that is what I am doing.
If you are asked to predict the
forthcoming presidential election,
who do you think will emerge the
winner between the ruling party,
PDP and oppositio0n APC?
Well, I spoke about that recently in
an interview and I made it clear that
it is going to be tough and I am
happy that it will be tough. But at
the end President Jonathan will win
because, he has the credentials to
win. Its going to be tough and it is
good to be tough so that whoever
wins and gets in there will not take
us for-granted.
There are strong speculations that
there will be post election violence.
As a member of the ruling party.
How do we avoid violence?
I think that anybody who is thinking
that way does not mean well for this
country. Elections should not be a
do-or-die affair and there should be
no violence. If anybody wins, it is
our duty to support the person so
long as we see everything
transparent.
Some people have been clamoring
for Jega’s resignation. What is your
stand about that?
Jega is a man I know and have
respect for but with some of the
allegations that have been leveled
against him recently, I feel
personally disappointed. Now, North-
east is a zone we all know that are
on war and there are many
displaced people yet they had one of
the highest distribution of PVCs, how
did it happen? Is it not a big irony,
that people who have been
displaced were the ones who have
collected the PVC’s most? About
removing Jega, I don’t know if it will
be the best thing but if we find out
that removing him will give us a free
and fair election, so be it. Nobody is
indispensable. If removing him is for
the best interest of the country and
not for any selfish reasons, we will
do it.
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/okorocha-is-deceiving-you-udenwa-tells-imo-people/

I can't wait to vote this Aboki man out of douglas house, Ihedioha we know.

Rochas is a huge mistake that must be corrected by may 29

Udenwa is an enemy of progress and is only seeking for the interest of his pocket. Disgusting polithiefian

Only the elections will settle all this.
Lets keep our fingers crossed until the elections come and the results are announced.