Senator Chris Anyanwu is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy. She represents Imo East Senatorial Zone of Imo State on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). An advocate of effective representation, she is of the view that no representation is worth it when the doors are shut out on those who elected you. In this interview with Assistant Editor, LINUS OBOGO, in Abuja, Anyanwu spoke on APGA, politics of Imo State as well as the secrets of her youthful looks. Excerpts:
You have always looked pretty, young and ageless, and I bet a lot of women will envy you. What is the secret behind your good looks?
I envy them too and they are more youthful. There are many Nigerian women who are very excellent in their looks and all that. Anyway, what’s my secret? I have no secret at all. I just ascribe it to God and His works. It is the grace of God. But what I do is that I try to exercise as often as I can. I try not to live a very complicated life. I think all that comes together to help.
Are there particular kinds of food you avoid?
Well, we’ve been told that oily food is not good for you. This is so for children as well as some adults. You are told to avoid greasy food and try to eat less of the starchy food. You know, Nigerian diet is very starchy, but I am not going to walk around like a scare crow or a piece of iron because I want to look pretty. What I have to do is to eat in small measures.
When I am really hungry, I eat but there is a level you will eat and you are already doing harm to yourself. I try not to get myself to that level. So, I just eat in small measures and avoid greasy, fattening and extremely starchy food. There are times you see the table is so rich and so wonderful, but it is not necessarily good food. Some of our soups are very oily and greasy; the vegetables are over cooked and all that. But you really have to watch what you eat.
What do cosmetics have to do with your good looks?
A lot. You have to know how to enhance what God has created. When you get to a certain level, you have to know what is good for you, what is right for you and what is not right for you. There are a lot of people who think that cosmetics are bad and that they don’t need to enhance nature, but I am of the belief that you can do a lot to enhance what nature has gifted you with. Anyway, there is a whole lot happening in the sector. Everybody is moving away from chemically-based cosmetics because there is the fear that many of them are carcinogenic. They are shifting to natural products; cosmetics that are based on herbs.
They seem to be much more healthy and they are very good too. The face of that sector is changing.
Cosmetics are good if you choose the right kind of product, in quality and what suits you. It is not every kind of cosmetics that is good for you, especially if you have a dark skin.
Many people see you as a very serious-minded person…
Yes I am.
And having observed you over the years and the work you do at the National Assembly, how do you relax actually? What do you spend your leisure time doing?
Honestly, I was serious the day I was born and I will probably remain so throughout the rest of my life. So how do I relax? I drive it. I drive it for a long time and then go back and compensate. You cannot drive your system or body hard forever without compensating for that time. You must find sometime in-between those times of extremely hard work that you just sit down and put your feet up. For me, I just sit down under this shelter (behind her house in Abuja) and look at nature. Also, I do my gardening and I swim sometimes; but I continue to exercise. It is a good habit for me. And then I read. You have to feed the brain. Unfortunately, we are all so wired up. You have your I-pad; you have your mobile phone coming at you. I get calls at the rate of maybe, 10 every minute, text messages and then you have emails and all that. So, there is little time to do the things one wants to do. Sometimes the greatest thing you can do for yourself is to throw away the phone or keep it somewhere and walk away.
Telephone is becoming a source of torture for many of us. You can’t rest, you cannot do any hobby so long as you are so wired up. And you know even the people in the villages know how to use it to torture you. They are coming at you from all over every second, even at ungodly hours including 2 am, 3 am.
Looking at you also from a close distance, one can say that you are a fashionable person. What does fashion mean to you?
I am not a slave of fashion. I wear what suits me. What suits, to me, is what is fashionable. Maybe at this point, that is the way I see fashion. There are classical looks, but I don’t remain there. I don’t follow what is in vogue. I think that everybody should have a strong sense of personal style. I do have my own sense of personal style; if you don’t dig it, maybe too bad. What suits me, what suits my personality, my attitude; the way I see the world and interpret things around, and my Africanness; what fits into all that is what is fashionable. And if
you have a strong sense of personal style, sometimes you dictate the fashion.
What is your favourite colour?
I don’t have any particular colour, but I know that some colours are very nice. Pink suits me and sometimes I used to wear a lot of brown suntans but at some stage in my life, I know I need to add a little more colour because one is getting a little older. At this stage, you need to make some extra effort to pep up your wardrobe. But green is certainly not my colour, even though it is Nigeria’s national colour. Red is occasional; it depends on the occasion. You don’t wear red and you are walking around anyhow in broad day light. Red often is a ceremonial kind of colour.
What puts you off?
Bad attitude, greed, vulgarity. All these put me off easily.
The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) was one of the parties that did not suffer the casualty of Independence National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) deregistration exercise. But the party cannot be said to be having the best of times. How disturbed are you and how does the party intend to overcome the infighting currently bedevilling it?
Let me first of all go back to your preamble which I consider as wrong. There was no way APGA would have been considered for deregistration because it produced two governors, one senator, over 12 House of Representatives members. And in a state like mine, more than half of the state legislators are APGA. The same goes for Anambra State. There is no doubt that it fulfilled not only all the requirements expected of a serious party, but it also surpassed them. APGA is a serious party and that is why the whole country reckons with it.
I am sufficiently disturbed by the happenings in APGA, but permit me to say that the experience is not peculiar or unique to the party. Even the PDP has its own internal problems. Isn’t the PDP in Ogun State enmeshed in crisis? The same goes for the party at the national level. Even though we don’t get to hear of the crisis in other parties so loudly, that is not to say that they do not have their own undercurrents sometimes. Every party has its own issues. Of course, that is expected. APGA is an assemblage of different people from different backgrounds and it is normal to differ on opinions and views. People will have their own personal high goals which often may not be in sync with the collective goals and objectives of the party.
You expect these differences to come up from time to time. But it gets to a point where you must come together and say hey, enough is enough, let us sit down and talk. I think that we are getting to that point where we must sink our differences as members of APGA and where the party has to get its act together and work towards the goals and objectives that we all uphold. The Anambra governorship election is coming up this year and if the problem is not solved, it is going to affect the outcome for us as party and as a state. We all know that whatever happens in Anambra State has a way of ricocheting in Imo State as well as other South East states. That is why we have to be very cautious. And it is imperative for the leaders of the party to come together and find a way to resolve whatever disagreement that has the potential of threatening its corporate existence.
As a party controlling two states and closely knit by a common faith, one would expect that any differences that exist should ordinarily not assume the hue of a conflagration capable of consuming it. Where would you trace the genesis of the crisis the party is embroiled in?
We still remain a closely knit family. Do not forget that APGA is more of a national movement than a political party. It started as a movement and it is still a moment. The people who started APGA are so into the party that nothing can take them out of it. What the real people, the ordinary people of that region know is APGA. For them, it represents a movement. There is this strong sense of ownership and it is very difficult to pull them away from the party. It is, by and large, a closely knit party. There is a perceptive of cultural flare to APGA.
Does it not bother you that for all that APGA represents, it has not been able to spread beyond Anambra and lately Imo states?
APGA is everywhere. It is in the South South, with a strong presence in Rivers State, which was why the former governor, Mr. Celestine Omehia, ran on the platform of the party. When some candidates who fly APGA’s flag do not win, it tends to appear that the party is not everywhere. That is not true. APGA is a national party and that is why the National Secretary, Alhaji Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, the former governor of Zamfari State, is from the North. We have membership spread across the federation. APGA has a strong membership pull also from Abuja.
What are your thoughts on the crisis in Imo State which ultimately led to the removal of the former deputy governor, Jude Agbaso, from office?
I am really troubled about the development in my state. But I am very optimistic that it is not going to last very long. Once in a while, it is good for things to happen like this so that people can be jolted from their revelry. Having said this, the crisis in Imo State was a temporary thing. It was about the governor wanting to displace his deputy. Of course, it was not new. After all, it happened in Akwa Ibom State where the governor also displaced his deputy governor. Heavens did not fall. It happened in Bauchi and some other states. It was not peculiar to Imo State alone. That is part of the instability that you will witness in a democratic state that is still emerging. So, for me, it is just an extension of that. It is not something novel and it will come to pass. I am sure sanity is gradually returning to the state.
Some people have argued that the undercurrent in Imo State is as a result of 2015. Isn’t it too early in 2013 to begin to spoil for war over political office which is still far off?
You know, Nigerians are very restless people. No sooner have they concluded an election than they will plunge into another one. So, it is never new, especially in some of these places like Imo State to see people begin to heat up the polity. I would not be surprised if it is all part of jostling for 2015. But I will hope that people will allow peace to reign and be focused on their subsisting mandate. Everybody has a mandate, part of which includes delivering on the democratic dividends to the people. Honestly for me, it is a privilege to be allowed to serve. The only way to show gratitude to the people is to do your very best. If you use all the time fighting for an expected event which is three years away from now, it is definitely not the way to go about things. For me, I will prefer that elected officers concentrate on meeting the yearnings of the people and fulfill their electoral promises to them and hope that what they do serve as testimonies that will speak for them when it comes to 2015.
Factionalism is threatening to tear APGA apart, with Chief Victor Umeh on one hand and Maxi Okwu on the other in a battle for the soul of the party, ditto Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha seemingly charting a new ideological compass and Governor Peter Obi cleaving to the old ideology that defined the party from the outset. What do you make of these babel of voices or ideologies in the party?
For the records, Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha is now in APC and not in APGA anymore. If he has left for APC, the APGA that he left behind in Imo is no longer his own. APGA has long taken a position and insisted that it does not want to merge with any party, but that individuals could go and join new entities on their own. As a party, it wants to retain its identity and remain so in a long while to come as a political party. And that is its position. It was clear from the beginning that the action of the governor of Imo State did not represent the position of APGA as a whole. As an individual, everyone is free to hold whatever views he or she believes in. And that is what it is.
If you were to advocate for a merger with the APC, how much threat do you imagine this would pose to the PDP?
I cannot speak for the PDP, but all I know is that a more pluralistic political system will help Nigeria a great deal. There is nothing wrong in having other strong political parties coming up, especially if you have two or more parties creating platforms for the people. More importantly, it will create a healthy competition for a party that has become entrenched. It will make the ruling party to sit up and be alive to its responsibilities to the electorate and not take them for granted. It will also make for more negotiation. It will lead to a more robust debate on issues rather than having a coterie of people ram it down the throats of many which does not bring the best out of the polity.
So, for parties forming alliances and coalition, it is not a bad thing. What this means for the PDP is that it will make it sit up, make it to be more rigorous on issues than what obtained in the past and still obtains today. It will make the PDP reach out to the elements that will add value to the party. They will no longer run roughshod over other people. It might also bring internal democracy to the PDP. So, I think at the end of day, if the other new parties are not merely coming to undercut people, but to add value to the polity, it will work for the good of all..
How do you react to the erection of bumps in the way of securing autonomy for the 774 council areas in the country in the ongoing constitution review by the National Assembly?
The only people rejecting autonomy for the local governments are the governors. The local government chairmen have not said they do not want autonomy and the people at the grassroots have not said autonomy is not good for them. When we did the public hearing all across the country, the position from all the geo-political zones was the same: that we need to give both political and financial autonomy to the local governments. I hope that in the end, the right thing will be allowed to happen because as they say, in democracy, the view of the largest majority should weigh in the actions that we take. As for the states assemblies, we just hope that they will summon the courage to accept their own autonomy. They need to do a rethink and come to terms with the huge benefits of being weaned from the apron strings of the governors.
Owing to the occasional instability at that level, governors themselves are afraid that if the House of Assemblies are allowed the autonomy, they will be impeaching their governors every day. That is what they are worried about. The level of maturity and experience at that level is also an issue. But by and large, it is up to the state assemblies themselves to stand up to say they want their own autonomy from their governors.
How close are you to your constituency in terms of development and empowerment?
I have been staying very close to my constituency and constituents. The general impression that national lawmakers are not close to their constituents is really not correct. A lot of lawmakers have been voted out for not visiting home or staying close to their people. But I will imagine that in those volatile areas of the north that have come under the onslaught of Boko Haram, lawmakers will find it hard to do so. But other than that, some of us come from where there is competition to surpass or get one up over your rival in terms of affecting your constituents. So, my people have continued to benefit from my presence as a lawmaker at the federal level. They have never had it so good. On the whole, legislators collectively are doing very well. Personally, I have been working on key projects and at the end of the day we will begin to show what we have been able to do.
As Senate Committee Chairman on Navy, how would you rate the preparation of the navy in tackling some of the security challenges along our waterways?
I want to say that I am very pleased with the current head of the Navy because his actions are very right headed and in the right direction. The Navy is working hard to deal with peculiar challenges of illegal oil bunkering and theft. But owing to the enormity of the challenges and how far they had been allowed to fester, we should not expect the problems to fizzle out overnight. The Navy has been more prepared than ever before in combating the illegal activities of oil theft and bunkering in the Niger Delta region. The number of vessels destroyed in the last three months has been phenomenal. But because the criminal themselves are more daring, the more of the vessels you destroy, the more they return and the more daring they get. But the Navy will continue to attack the heart of these criminal activities on our economy until the saboteurs are run out. We need to applaud the Navy. They are doing extremely very well. But they need more logistic support from the government to be more effective in policing our waterways.
