Our Reporter

Dr. Theodore Ejike, TOE, Ekechi, is a businessman who has paid his dues before venturing into the world of politics.

A former commissioner in Imo State, he was formerly Director of Monitoring and Planning for the Buhari Campaign Organisation.

Recently, he spoke to select journalists on his new vision for Nigeria: promotion of people and service oriented politics. Sunday Oguntola was there.

Not long ago, you were named as Commissioner representing South-East in the Northeast Development Commission. After visits to the region, what is your assessment of the situation?

Well, I am not sure if it is appropriate to qualify me as a Commissioner in the Commission. But it suffices to admit that I am a Member (representing South East) on the Governing Board.

The situation in the North East continues to be precarious. The devastation is enormous and mind-boggling requiring massive deployment of men and materials to alleviate the sufferings and build a sustainable future for the current population and generations to come.

While we always look at the physical destructions and report the colossal impact in terms of Naira and kobo as most intervention orgainisations are wont to do, the real catastrophe of the Boko Haram insurgency is in the unconscionable destruction of the moral and social fabric that knit peoples of society and community together.

Can the North-east region be restored to his its former glory days?

It is up to Nigerians to so decide. Government alone cannot fix the region particularly with respect to restoring it to its peaceful old self. As Government delivers on its commitment to deploying military, personnel and other humongous resources to flush out insurgency and rebuild the region, Nigerians, particularly, politicians from the region must passionately demonstrate and display patriotism in both words and deed in their response to the crisis before we can heal wounds, engender forgiveness and therefore achieve self and collective rehabilitation for a peaceful coexistence. Those who seek to score cheap political advantages should for the sake of humanity seek God’s face and have a change of mind.

There is mindset of politics being a ‘no-go’ area for Nigerians in the corporate world. Do you think that can be changed?

Indeed, it is foolhardy to live in that mindset. The general belief is that politics is a dirty game, time consuming and in fact distracting. None of these assertions is far from the truth, though. But this is politics of Nigeria, politics of your country, politics of your state and of your community.

This is the politics that decides your present and your future and the future of your generations to come. Why leave it in the hands of desperados who may not be as endowed as you. Why play the ostrich or the idiot with your present and future? Why attempt to run away from your own shadow?

If you care about our individual and collective socio-economic wellbeing, you must care about the country’s political well-being because it is political power that determines, shapes and controls society’s socio-political equation.

So, corporate Nigeria should desist from being holier than thou and join the political fray; sanctimonious pontifications from the height of corporate boardrooms will only make opportunistic politicians drink and toast to their own “good health”.

There is also the belief that when you are in government, you must make money and this is even shared more by the governed. What is your take on this?

There is nothing wrong in a political appointee earning sufficient and adequate wage for his labour if that reflects a commensurate payment for the deployment of skill and time. The challenge however is that the average politician looks forward to political appointment as a compensatory package for all his political investments as well as that for his constituency. All that should change.

Political appointment should not be a Magna Carta for wealth acquisition, of getting rich. It should be for achieving glory, societal recognition and respect. Those who hold political positions should be called out if they become wealthier after serving out their terms. At the risk of sounding immodest, I opine that my tenures as Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister of Interior, Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Imo State or as Director of Planning and Monitoring of the APC Presidential Campaign Council were for me periods of self-sacrifice, self fulfilment and service to humanity.

That is probably because I did not join politics with the objective of enriching myself and family. This is in turn because I was not impoverished spiritually – poverty is a spiritual condition. Otherwise, why would people whom you can credit with so much wealth goes into government and steal to the last penny? This is poverty of the soul or you call it Spiritual bankruptcy! Those who conquer spiritual bankruptcy don’t steal from government coffers.

Is politics really a treacherous vocation?

My response above, I think, clearly addresses that. Treachery in politics is not a myth, it is real. Almost a dog-eat-dog enterprise. And this is simply because many a good man have left the arena for social hyenas and jobbers to dominate. The more professionals (who have established, verifiable source of livelihood) we have in politics the more decent the political turf will become. Only a decent political practice can guarantee sustainable dividends of democracy.

What is the difference between the worlds of business and politics since you have extensively navigated the two?

There is no doubt that there is so much primordial negativity associated with doing business in Nigeria. However, this is a child’s play compared with the insincerity, lack of transparency, absence of integrity and trust, unpredictability, backstabbing and predatory disposition associated with Nigerian politics. Yet, politics is a necessary evil that must be played.

Truth is if you don’t play politics, politics must play you. So, since we know that directly or indirectly our lives and livelihoods are dependent on the political decisions taken by some people whom we may consider as mediocre (and there are many of them) and misfits, there is increasing need therefore for more and more people who consider themselves fit and quality to subscribe to active political participation – this must not necessarily be in the realm of partisan party politics. You don’t have to be a party card carrying member to serve the country through political participation.

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Now, let me ask: have you had to cut corner as a politician to achieve your aim even when such was against your personal convictions?

In Christianity there is this saying that just as fishes in the waters cannot deny of water, man on this earth cannot deny of sin. It is impossible to play politics in this country without cutting corners or at best be part of the system that is consistently cutting corners. A politician is guilty of cutting corners even when he personally did not but looked the other way when corners are being cut or refuse to testify against any unhealthy, unethical and immoral practice. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.

The difference however is that there are politicians who equate politics with trickery, treachery, 419, deceit, business in the realm of do-or-die. By God’s Grace I, T.O.E. Ekechi, am not in that mold. For me, politics is neither a vocation nor a profession nor a career. It is not even a calling. Politics should be a platform for service to the soul for self fulfilment, to the people, to humanity and to God.

You are involved in promotion of peace in the country even before your appointment. How far have you gone with the project?

I convened the United Nigeria Initiative for Peace and Prosperity in 2016 as an alternate platform for dispute resolutions among groups, particularly restive ethnic nationalities who for one reason or the other are warring against one another or against the state.

Often, and consistent with our findings, people who foment troubles within ethnic groups are usually a small minority who attract to themselves a larger proportion of the voice share which is deployed to dominate the rest of the community. Our alternative platforms enable “other” voices to be heard thereby providing a fair and equitable basis for problem resolutions. In this wise we are doing our best within the constraints of our self-funding sources.