Governor Peter Obi of Anambra
State provides some insight
into the deal President
Goodluck Jonathan had with
governors of the South-East
geo-political zone ahead of the
April polls vis-a-vis the raging
controversy over zoning. Obi
also speaks, in this interview,
on issues relating to the polls,
his administration and the
Anambra polity.
The Ikemba, Chief Odumegwu-
Ojukwu, is a formidable force in
Anambra politics. He was around
during your re-election, when he
asked Igbo to vote for you as his
“ last wish”. Unfortunately he was
not around during the last
election. To what extent would
you say his absence affected the
outcome?
Well, he was around in 2003
when we won our victory. He was
around in 2007 when we won
everything and were denied
everything. He was around in
2010 when we won the re-
election. This time round, he was
unavoidably absent because he
was not well. If he was around,
he wouldn ’t have changed the
result of the election. Whether he
is there or not, people know he is
with us. They see him in me.
Taking your performance into
account in the last election, how
do you see the All Progressive
Grand Alliance (APGA) in the next
four years, especially in the
South-East?
Our party is entrenched with the
people of Anambra State. Look at
all the big names. How many of
them are with APGA? All these big
names are on one side. For us to
win them in the 2010 election
and this recent one where we
took the number we did, this will
tell you that we are more
formidable than most people
think. Remember we were
operating with zero number of
members of the House of
Assembly, zero number of
members of our party in the
House of Representatives, zero in
the Senate. To have come from
there to here where all the
heavyweights could not stop us,
then you can conclude that this
party ’s growth is on the upswing.
*Gov Peter Obi
People have this impression that
you have not done much to
contribute to the growth of APGA
in the South-East all these years,
unlike Bola Tinubu, who has now
recovered the South-West from
PDP and is forging ahead in other
parts of the country with his
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
You did not seem to have done
much in terms of financing your
party outside Anambra State.
I won’t say much about my
contributions to the growth of the
party financially. If you measure
the income of Anambra State and
compare it with the income of
other states, then you will be
amazed at how much we have
been able to do in developing the
state, and why we may not be as
free with political funding as
others. In Nigeria, we don ’t
compare like with like. You don’t
compare New York Times with a
newspaper in a small state like
Arkansas, which has a budget
about a 10th the size of the
budget of New York. People like
to compare one state with
another without looking at the
relative monthly incomes each of
them has to “play” with. If you
compare what some of the big-
budget states have done with
their income and what we have
done with the little we get, you
will agree with me that we have
done far better than some of
them. You have to look at other
factors attached. Some of these
governors were in office for eight
unbroken years without being
impeached. Our mandate was
stolen. When we eventually
recovered it we were impeached.
We have suffered an
uncommonly hostile political
environment here, but I ’m glad
we are now on the move. Even
Ikemba faced a similar problem.
He was never able to win
elections, even in Nnewi, his local
government area. In 2003, we
lost; in 2007, we lost. During the
re-election, last year, we lost. But,
during the 2011 general
elections, we won in Nnewi.
For you to know how strong you
are in the state as a party, there
are key areas you have to win.
Awka North and South Federal
Constituency we won, Onitsha
North and South Federal
Constituency we won; Nnewi
North and South Federal
Constituency, we won. These are
the key areas of the state. We ’ve
done very well as a party, and
someone was responsible for the
effort, together with the rest of
the party ’s leadership.
I want to take you away from
elections stuff. In the build-up to
the elections, APGA came out and
endorsed the PDP presidential
candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
You said the endorsement was
based on an agreement with the
president. PDP has decided to
give the Speaker, House of
Representatives to the South-
West against the wishes of the
South-East. The question is, what
was the deal?
We made that endorsement
based on a deal we had with
President Jonathan. The South-
East agreed unanimously not to
contest the post of the presidency
and the vice-presidency. We
agreed to support a candidate
who best accommodates the
interests of the South-East.
When we looked into the
programmes of all the candidates,
their promises, what they said
they would do, we were
persuaded by the prospects of
Jonathan. So, we called on our
people to support him, and our
people came out in large
numbers to support him during
the presidential election with five
million votes from the South-East
alone. The question you asked is,
what deal did we agree with the
President.
I have to differentiate between
the deal we, as governors and
leaders of the South- East had
with him and the internal PDP
arrangement on zoning of
political offices. When we were
talking with Jonathan, we were
not talking about the PDP zoning
formula for sharing political
offices. What we concerned
ourselves with was what was
there for the people of the South-
East; what was there for the
people of the country at large.
Throughout his campaign, he
stressed he would make sure that
the Enugu Airport is converted to
an international airport because
the people deserve it. He said: ‘I
will build the Second Niger
Bridge, I will help tackle erosion,
which is a big problem in the
zone, I will increase power
generation and extend it
equitably to the South-East
because your people are
entrepreneurs ’.
These are programmes that will
impact directly on the people of
the zone, and the country at
large. And he is already doing
some of these things, just as
agreed. You should be asking
PDP leaders from this zone what
they have gotten for their people.
I didn ’t go there looking for what
individuals will benefit. I was
thinking of what will benefit my
people. Any road you pass
through in Anambra that is not
good today is a federal road.
These are things he promised
he’d do.
These are things I’ll want him to
do for our people. It is our
brothers and sisters who are
members and leaders of PDP that
will have to bother about office
sharing.

continue reading it here: www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/obi-zoning-not-in-jonathanigbo-govs’-deal/

This zoning stuff sef don tire person. democrazy na wetin we dey into nw. n a wa oh. read other versions of this story from Newsng.com, [url]http://newsng.com/story-detail.php?title=Obi:-Zoning-not-in-Jonathan/Igbo-govs%E2%80%99-deal-&story=9203218d61[/url]

Dotman01:

continue reading it here: www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/obi-zoning-not-in-jonathanigbo-govs’-deal/

continue reading what? after this ur long vertical post. i didnt even read ur own let alone going to ur "continue reading"