Gbenga Oke
28 December 2008
interview
Mr Eloka Peter Okocha is the Action Congress, AC, gubernatorial candidate in the last elections. In this interview with Sunday Vanguard, he speaks on the crisis rocking the party in Delta State. He also comments on the pending case of his party at the Appeal Court just as he gives thumb up to the judiciary but laments the slow pace of cases at the Appeal Court.
He argues that the AC is not just an opposition party on pages of the newspapers, adding that the only way the opposition could be heard is through the media. Excerpts:
RECENTLY, all appears not to be well with the Action Congress in Delta State. What is really wrong with the party?
Well, there is no time really that is meant for crisis and there is no time meant for peace. A party like any other thing is a conglomeration of people with different backgrounds, different ideas, only bound by one ideology and, if they have cause to disagree, it makes for a better understanding. So, it is not only Action Congress that is going through transformation, other parties are also doing same and I am sure that whatever Action Congress in Delta State is going through, they will overcome it.
You were fingered as the brain behind the AC crisis in Delta State. Will this not affect the party ahead of the Appeal Court judgement?
No, not at all. The crisis is within the executive members of the party, it is not with the whole party system. It is crisis within the management of the party and I am sure they are in the process of resolving it and that does not affect our chances in the Appeal Court. What happened is just one of those things that can happen to any party or any association and I believe in a week or two, it will be over.
What is your assessment of the judiciary in the country especially in the areas where people feel a lot of cases are being unduly delayed?
Well, I think the judiciary is overwhelmed by pressure of work and it is unfortunate that the cases are taking almost fifteen months or two years, after the elections, to be resolved. I was reading recently in the papers that NBA is saying that all the cases must be resolved before March next year, we hope so. As you can see, some cases are in court, you are not permitted to comment on them because it will be subjudice. So I am hoping and praying that, as the last hope of a common man, the judiciary will live up to expectation.
Now that a date has been fixed for your case at the Appeal Court, what are your expectations?
Well, my case is a very known case. It is a case of pure exclusion. There was similar problem in Kogi and Adamawa states; so we are waiting and we are praying that, that of Delta State will not be an exception.
The Appeal Court recently declared Mr Adams Oshiomhole winner of Edo gubernatorial poll and people praised the judiciary. Personally, what significance do you see in the judgement, putting in mind your own case at the Appeal Court?
Well, it shows that the election was flawed because I have never seen an election in the history of mankind that you have so many nullifications. So, the Appeal Court upholding Oshiomhole's election was a victory for democracy, the rule law and the common man; I am definitely sure that whatever Oshiomhole does will be better than what Osunbor will do or did. This is simply because Oshiomhole has been a man of the people and has been for the people.
I am confident that, if he replicates the kind of development Governor Fashola of Lagos State is putting in place, and am sure you will quite agree with me that Fashola is doing a great job, it becomes not only a soft landing pad for me, it becomes additional campaign material for me when the election in Delta State is annulled.
But many Deltans have always maintained that the PDP-led government has turned the fortunes of the state around...
What are they doing? I have not seen anything that the PDP-led government in Delta State is doing. That they light up the streets with generators shows that they lack the basic economic running sense because while other states in the federation are using solar, Delta State is running generators all over the place to light up the streets. Does that make any economic sense?
We have funds in abundance. How much are they fueling those generators to light up the streets at night? When the inhabitants of the town do not even have light in their houses, they are lighting up the streets.
The graduates are unemployed; if the government wants to do social welfare, why don't they clear the bush and build warehouses and arrange them and power them with generators and people will come and rent and do small scale business? Will that not make more sense? They are driving the armed robbers away from the street and pushing them to peoples houses because they can no longer rob on the streets as the streets are lighted, but the houses are dark, so they go into the houses.
Our institutions do not even have generators. If those that have cannot afford to service or maintain them and our streets are well lighted, I call it financial rascality and lack of development programme or trying to play to the gallery for people to say, 'oh, the streets are well lighted'.
The unfortunate thing is that in a state like Delta, after nine years of democratic governance, it has nothing to show for it. Thank God, they just started Asaba airport. Let us see how long it will take to finish it, let us see how much they will spend to finish it. All those are just nothing but Chinese small box economy or development without programme. There is no standard road in Delta State, 90 percent of the roads are called constituency projects.
People that got those contracts will rent graders and just add bitumen. Just one rainfall, the thing is off. Everything in Delta State has failed and they need to declare a state of developmental emergency so that the state can develop and indigenes will now realise the potentials of being one of the oil producing states because there is nothing to show for it.
How many youths in Delta are unemployed? Government does not have the data; governance is more than blowing siren, it is a 24/7 job and it is not what a father can hand over to his son. It is what you have to dream about, sleep about; every facet of your life, you have to be pre-occupied with how to make it better. But unfortu-nately, that is not what is happening in Delta and that is why I said Delta is an example of a failed state.
Having said that, if you have been the governor of the state since April 14, 2007, what difference would you have made?
First of all, I would want to know how much is in the treasury. As at today, we do not know how much we are owing, whereas this is supposed to be public information. How much is Delta owing and what is the income? How much are they paying out? As governor, I will have this information at my finger tips, then I will be able to know how to re-schedule our loan and prioritise our development within capital and current projects.
But everybody in Delta is groping in the dark, maybe except the governor that knows how much we are owing. Why can't he tell Deltans, this is the state of affairs in Delta State? Are we in debt, are we in surplus and how much did we inherit? Why have all these things become a secret?
This is what journalists should be asking. But nobody is asking questions. People are supposed to ask questions: What is happening to our money? Are we over-staffed or under-staffed? Are we negating capital projects or are we servicing debts on current projects? So, until we can fine-tune all these questions, we will be grumbling inside.
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