Ben Rolland Ibakpa represents the Ethiope Constituency in the House of Representatives. The former commissioner in Delta State is one of the first-timers in the House, but he has been outspoken. Nevertheless, he lost the ticket, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to seek a second term. In this interview with TONY AKOWE, he speaks on his chances of winning on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP)
You are confident of winning the election but going through the final list published by INEC, a different name was published as the NNPP candidate for Ethiope Federal Constituency. Was that a mistake?
It was an error which has been corrected. It is not that my name was missing; my name was in another constituency, Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie which is not my constituency. I still take it that maybe it is a mistake on the part of maybe, the party or INEC but that has been corrected. I don’t know where the mistake is coming from because for somebody like me, I don’t think anybody needs to look twice to know my constituency. I am a serving member. Where I belong to is in the public domain but somebody working on that kind of document might not have time to look at everything to be sure; you give it to them and they upload whatever it is but it’s been corrected and there is no cause for alarm. We’ve started our campaign. We are on course by the grace of God and the people.
After the primary you brought a motion to the floor of the house, trying to amend the Electoral Act on the delegates system. Why did you abandon it?
I have not abandoned it. You remembered it was becoming turbulent, it was becoming controversial, I believe it is a leadership recruitment process and the primary is the beginning of that recruitment process and if the primaries are not properly done, as I said, the drivers of this beautiful vehicle, if they are defective, then you should expect that the end is also going to be defective. If you don’t have people with character and capacity to do the job, the good governance that the people, Nigerians are crying for, it will never come and that is why I felt it was expedient that moment to just get done with it. But, as it is now, it is pending, maybe before we close or by the next assembly, the 10th assembly, that is one amendment that must come. It must have to be done so that our statutory delegates can vote.
But, be that as it may, people must put this at the back of their minds, it was not like there is an error per se, it is just trying to remove any form of ambiguity from the Act, from the law so that when you look at it, as at the 2010 Electoral Act, that is the position, that is how it is but now that several surgeries have been done to the electoral act bringing it to speed, the national assembly leadership in their wisdom feel there is need to clear this thing, make it open so that this elected delegates and statutory delegates should vote. But somehow, the president did not sign; so it becomes difficult for the political parties to say what if we go ahead to use the statutory delegates and tomorrow it becomes an issue of litigation and whatever we have done will be taken null and void? So, to be on the safe side that is why all the parties now went into using only the ad-hoc delegates which was a disaster. It became too commercial. It became too deceitful that people cash and carry.
We know of the many things that happened. It has not been an easy thing going into the election but this one was really bad that certain persons that these primaries threw up were not what Nigerians were expecting. So, if you don’t have money, if you don’t have control, some of them may even collect the money but they still have owners, they were now acting like pets that have owners. Somebody put them there. They take money from you and they go to that person for instructions on who to vote for. That affected the credibility of a lot of these persons that the primary threw up. That is why we said okay, let us do it the way it should be because these statutory delegates know everybody. These are people that have been administering the party for some time now. They know all the candidates. They have been following them up. They know their antecedent, not just some strangers who emerged on a cash-and-carry basis and did what they had to do. So, it is one amendment that will surely come. There is no gainsaying it. It’s a must that that part of the act must be amended to bring the statutory delegates on board.
What are your chances of winning the election?
Elections are not won or lost on the day of the election. Elections are won and lost, the moment you decide to be a politician, not just even when you are elected. People will judge you by your activities and what you have been able to bring to the table over the years. People judge from character, people judge from family threats, people judge from your presentation, how they look at you. For this 2023 elections and my NNPP candidature, I believe I have put something on the table such that every progressive mind will want to look twice because the wind that is blowing everywhere is the fact that people are looking at individuals and no longer political parties.
For me, political parties are just vehicles to your destination and the candidates are the drivers. So, no matter how beautiful a vehicle is, if you don’t have a good driver, that vehicle cannot take you to your destination. So, talking about my preparation, I prepared myself since 2019 when I am elected into the national assembly, believing that there is always a 4 year period for renewal of the electoral contract. So, the people are judging by the score card and so far, the reactions have been very encouraging, my consultations, now that the campaigns are open, have been wonderful. So, we believe that now that power has actually gone back to the people, which is what it is supposed to be, the right candidate has to win and in this very case, I am the right candidate for Ethiope Federal Constituency and I will win, by God’s grace and the will of my people.
Are you saying that the next general election is about character and capacity and who you are?
That is it; that is the wind. You can hear the enthusiasm with which our young people collected this permanent voter’s card. Before now, there is this voter apathy. People believe it has been done, whether you vote or don’t vote, somebody will emerge but now people are now looking at it, that yes with the Electoral Act 2022 which has made it mandatory for a partial electronic process, people are now beginning to feel, yes, my vote will count, there is need for me to go out and vote and in voting, you must decide and looking at the process of the election, looking at the candidates, looking at their character, looking at their pedigree and their capacity; so people will definitely vote for character, capacity and competence. That is what it is.
What have you done to deserve re-election?
Well, first, you must understand the cardinal objectives or functions of the legislator; popularly said law-making, oversight and representation. For anybody that comes to the seat of a parliamentarian that will not discuss, will not talk when it comes to national issues, especially issues that affect you and your people, that is failure number one. So, I believed to the best of my ability I have been up and doing when it comes to that area of law-making, representation and oversight and in doing that, part of the representation is making sure that you have some things in the national budget that are seen to settle or ameliorate the requests of your people and that we have been able to do.
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So far, we have been able to distribute; I have 22 electoral wards in my constituency and out of the 22, as of today, I have projects dotted in all except one and that one, I had some projects. What I do most times, I do what I call the needs assessment. What do you really want? What is there? But this place, this particular ward, one of their leaders called me that they need a market. So, we are thinking of how we can do some open stores for them but for me, building the market is not part of the federal budget, it’s a local government thing but because you represent them and part of the representative functions you can provide, we are going to see how I can do it, maybe out of my pocket or whenever I will get it done for them. Apart from that, some wards have two projects, and some have three, but everyone has something whether we are erecting a transformer, fixing a school, providing water, medical infrastructures or roads. But, it seems magical for them because they are coming from somewhere and I am a first-timer.
During the last general elections in 2019, the incumbent then, my dear friend and brother, said when you are a first-timer you can’t do much and that you can’t even say anything because the PDP is the opposition party in the parliament. But, I came here, thanks to the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila who is one bipartisan person that gives everyone the room to speak. Mr Speaker has never shut me down. He will give you the room to express your mind because you are here to represent your people. Everything you do here affects the other person. So, Mr Speaker has given me that room and I have raised serious motions that affect the entire nation. Talk about that China loan and so many other ones. So, we have been able to do that. So, my people are happy too, that when it comes to looking at the national assembly and the activities, they see that I am active. They watch me. I have exhibited a lot of competence in terms of doing this job but that does not get into my head because I promised them that I am going to bring the national assembly close to them. Abuja is far but I’m going to bring it close and bringing it close means I have to be home at all times. I have my constituency offices that are very active and almost every weekend I am home with them. We celebrate when there is a need to celebrate. We cry together when there is a need to cry and that to a lot of them is more than money.
In this legislative business, we’ve been able to strike out some far-reaching bills like the Federal Medical Centre which has been passed. It is now in the Senate and the Federal University of Education, the Isiokoro Bill which has also been passed. For me, those are my star bills and we expect and pray the senate deals with it as fast as possible so that our people can start seeing the fruits of their labour. In my consultation, now that the campaign has started, I go to places and I don’t need to say I will, I say I have and I will do more and that is my campaign because it is not taking me time to explain what you have done or what you’ve not done. There are places I go to, I don’t even talk. I just sit down and they say we know you, you are the person that did this, the person that did that, there have been several interventions, things happen, several issues. There was a killing of a young man not too long ago, an 18-year-old boy, it happened today and the next day and I dealt with it and the company had to come running down to the family. I came by the weekend, the company was in my place, we went to my constituency office, and the issue was resolved; that is peacebuilding. So we are doing quite a lot in these areas and my people appreciate them. Again thanks to Mr Speaker for allowing me to present the motion. By the grace of God, we will do more when I return next year.
You know in Nigeria, we usually witness policy summersault. My people know that I have to come back to complete what I have started because getting a new person, person might have his or her priority and can jettison the good jobs that we have started. So, my people are standing by and with me because they love what I have done. They want me to complete it.
We have seen so much happening around the Labour Party, the APC and the PDP but not much has been heard about the NNPP, particularly in Delta State. How confident are you that the party will make an appreciable impact in next year’s general elections?
The NNPP is not a new political party. It is a party that has been there for some time now and the presidential candidate is not a pushover. He’s somebody who has been around: a two-term governor, senator, minister and former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. I believe he’s doing his bit. You can see his resumé. But elections are won in units and we will make an appreciable impact. This election will actually teach political parties to allow free and fair primaries to throw up credible candidates because if you allow credible candidates, your work will be less. I am carrying my scorecard around and whenever you want it, I show it and I ask my people to ask others about their scorecards too because we are about 6 in this race and about 5 of us have been to one office or another. That shows you have a scorecard. I campaign in 2019 as a state commissioner and former member of the State House of Assembly representing Ethiope West and now, I am running for an election that goes beyond Ethiope West. So, you must convince the people that when you were in one local government as a House of Assembly, you performed and now, I can bring that up. Now, I am no longer saying I will do this, I say I have done this and I will do more.