Daily Independent (Lagos)
Ben Duru
26 November 2008
interview
Nze Ignatius Umunnah, former Secretary to the Imo State Government and a founding father of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, was instrumental to the emergence of the party as winner of the governorship seat in 1999 which it retained in 2003.
Today, the party is entrenched at the grassroots, hence making PDP a force to contend with in Imo politics.
During a visit to the Abia State capital, Umuahia, Correspondent, BEN DURU, had an encounter with the PDP chieftain, who used the opportunity to debunk claims in a recent advertorial that the party did not field a candidate in the 2007 governorship election in Imo State. He also spoke on such issues as repositioning the PDP at both state and federal level, Yar'Adua's pace, and the possibility of Obasanjo's boys resisting his removal from the BOT chair.
Excerpts:
Sir, recently, there was an advertorial bearing your name to the effect that PDP fielded no candidate in the last governorship election in Imo State. How true is this?
Well, thank you so much. There is no truth in that advertorial. It's one of those falsehoods being spread by the bandits, the outlaws that made up what was PDP in the nation and Imo State before the 2007 elections - the anarchists who were in control of the PDP then. PDP had primaries in Imo State and somebody in the person of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume (won the primary) whose name was sent to the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) as its official candidate. But because the powers that be didn't see it that way and either through blackmail and intrigues, they wanted his name out. Araraume went to court. And the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, looking at the party's constitution, looking at the electoral guidelines of the PDP and that of INEC and, in fact, the generality of the laws guiding election in Nigeria, returned a verdict that PDP had a candidate in the person of Araraume, whose name they had already submitted to INEC. But it's all history. The man who says he is the number one citizen, who is supposed to protect the Constitution of the country and the laws of the country, Obasanjo, turned out to be the number one outlaw. He left his job in Abuja, flew into Imo State, landed his helicopter at Dan Anyiam Stadium with accomplices like Udenwa, who also swore to defend the Constitution of the country, all got up at the Dan Anyiam Stadium and said PDP had no candidate, and rubbished the Supreme Court.
You can see banditry, anarchists and outlaws right from the top. Ojinnaka is not part of that criminal gang. I go by the rules, I respect the laws. The rule of law as being propounded by the Nigerian President, Alhaji Umaru Yar' Adua, I go by that law. So, there is no way I can now wake up and write that PDP had no candidate. I am not a bandit like them and I will not write such a letter to the President who I also know has respect for the rule of law and who did not approve what happened then. I am not an outlaw, I am not a bandit. As a matter of fact, that paid advert is a forgery, it's fraudulent. There is nobody in Imo State PDP that goes by the name Nze ISO Umuna. There is nobody in Imo PDP that goes by the name Dr. J.C. Oduma. My names are Nze I M O Umunnah, the other name is Dr. J C Odunna, and we are leading members of the PDP, those who were ostracized by the cabal of Udenwa and Obasanjo.
Now they have messed up everything, because, Udenwa in his greed, wanted to be minister; governor for eight years, he wanted to be ambassador; he wanted to be minister, he wanted to be president, he wanted to be everything all alone - from Orlu zone. Because that kind of thing is going on, maybe, they went into the business of forged advertorial.
On the other hand, I also believe that this thing can come from inside the system, some elements in Ohakim's government could do this. Why? They are trying to legitimise Ohakim as the man who won an election, when in actual fact, he didn't win. So, they now want to use my name and that of Dr. Odunna to say that PDP had no candidate. Of course, they have misfired. I am still alive, I am not dead yet.
But why would anybody want to use your name and that of Odunna?
Well, that is a question I thought you could answer, because really in Imo State PDP, in Imo State politics today, all those boys who have now joined the senior club are all boys I brought up. I showed them direction, I built up PDP in Imo State, I made PDP what it was in Imo State and I made PDP the strongest party in the South East with PDP Imo State being the strongest PDP in the South East. But Obasanjo and his group came and all that is now history. Now the tribunal is approaching, so all sorts of news items will be bandied around. One of them might be that the PDP had no candidate in Imo State, said by a person of my own standing. I quit Udenwa's cabinet because I insisted that I will not join in the battle to fight Araraume and destroy the PDP. I insisted that there should be a level playing ground for all the aspirants and whoever emerges from the primary we should back him and he won; but he said it would never be, but I said it would be. So, come and say we have no candidate and to ascribe that to me is the criminal work of some elements in government.
So what is the state of the PDP in Imo State as at today?
I will be honest with you. The authentic PDP today is that led by Araraume. What is called PDP executive exist only in the briefcase they are carrying about. They are all there just to look for pittance, whatever comes from the system. Is it the members of the House of Assembly who don't even know if their party exists? Is it the Speaker whose duty is to terminate or remove or expel other members of the PDP who he believes are a threat to him to remove him as Speaker or to stop him from being sworn in as acting governor, according to him? Is it the Speaker who refuses to swear in a PDP candidate who has won an election without any reason except to say that there is a court order? Which court order? It is only in the Imo State House of Assembly that I hear that a High Court can over-rule the Court of Appeal with a spurious fraudulent and unfounded order and the Speaker tends to celebrate that. A Speaker who allows one that the people did not elect to stay in the House of Assembly or a man who lost an election and went to court to nullify that election and came back to stay in that House of Assembly, in spite of the election he nullified? Then, is the Speaker a PDP member? He's not and he is doing that at the expense of the PDP. The whole House of Assembly leadership doesn't even talk of PDP, but are interested in how much they make from the government. Inside the government itself, there are a lot of them who said they are PDP but they are serving that government. Recently, I hear they are now trying to abandon their leader, Udenwa. They have now decided to join forces with the system because Udenwa has no more money to dish out. The money now comes from Ohakim - they go that way. That's the PDP we have in Imo State.
So in order words, the PDP in Imo State is still in shambles?
Comatose, go to Orlu zone - there is nothing like that. I just talked about the House of Assembly. Which Federal House member in Orlu zone talks about the PDP or even the senator - the senator is partially a PPA member because he is working for the PPA and fighting the PDP in his local government to a standstill. So, what are we talking about?
But isn't this part of the Government of National Unity which the PDP is promoting at the national level?
Very good. Yar' Adua, at the national level, is not in anyway operating to destroy the other fringe parties at their various states. They are fringe parties. After all, PPA, how many members do they have in Imo State or other states of the country? The President is not fighting to destroy them, he is not fighting to destroy APGA in Anambra State. So (to) compare what is happening in Imo State with that at the national level is a misnomer. Who told you there is a Government of National Unity in Imo State? There is none because PDP in Imo State did not officially take part in any government here, it was Udenwa who picked his cohorts.
And by the way, what goes around comes around because he used boys I brought up to try to destroy me, he used boys brought up by Iwuanyanwu to try and destroy Iwuanyanwu, he used Arthur's boys to fight Arthur. In fact, he comes to your local government and use boys loyal to you to fight you, because he used government money to buy them to destroy you. He mapped out some local governments he was going to destroy and he did it one by one. But, today, Ohakim is also paying those boys who he (Udenwa) put in the government to be his eyes and nose there. Ohakim is also using those boys to teach him a lesson. Those boys have dismantled what he thinks he has a structure, the structure I left for him, and the structure I built up which he used to climb and run as governor. Now Ohakim has used those same boys to dismantle him. So, that is what is happening, there is no Government of National Unity in Imo State.
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