Chijioke Chukwu represents Bende North State Constituency at the Abia State House of Assembly. A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he is one of the lawmakers in the opposition in Abia State 7th House of Assembly. In this interview with SUNNY NWANKWO, he speaks about his emergence as the Minority Leader and his party’s preparations for the next general elections in the state.
Your emergence as the Minority Leader of the 7th Abia State House of Assembly has been described as a palace coup. How did it happen?
My emergence as the Minority Leader of the 7th Abia State House of Assembly is not unexpected. It is in line with the constitution and the rules and order of the Abia State House Assembly; where the majority of the minority parties in the House should produce the minority leader. It can come through nomination from your party or by resolution of the members of the House of Assembly; nominating one of their own to serve as their leader. The former Minority Leader, Sir Abraham Oba is a big brother that everybody respects. The House of Assembly is only acting in accordance with our oath of office; by respecting and abiding by the dictates of the 1999 Constitution and the rules and order of the Abia State House of Assembly as enshrined in our House Order Book. That was what happened. In fact, it didn’t happen when it came out in the open, it happened from the date the member representing Arochukwu State Constituency, Mike Ukoha defected from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to All Progressives Congress (APC). His defection gave the APC more representation in the House of Assembly than the APGA. So, according to the House rule, it is expected that the APC being the majority of the minority should produce the Minority Leader, but for the strike embarked by the legislative workers and other political interests that came up, the changes were not immediately effected. We had to engage ourselves and finally, my colleagues unanimously agreed that I should take over the Minority leadership. This was conveyed in their resolution to the APC. Based on that resolution, the party chairman, Donatus Nwankpa wrote a letter through the Speaker, informing the House of the party’s decision to allow me to occupy that position. Abraham Oba, the former Minority Leader remains my leader. He is a ranking member that I have great respect for; that was why it took a lot of time for us to implement that resolution.
What do you mean by political interest?
In politics, even when the rules are clear, not everybody would want a particular individual to occupy a particular position. So, that was the reason for the horse trading.
What are the chances of the APC as an opposition party, with your emergence as the Minority Leader?
Our chances are very bright, especially with the calibre of people in the party today. These are people that you cannot wish away their political experience. The inability of the ruling PDP to deliver democratic dividends to Abians has made the APC the choice party for anyone aspiring for any political position in the state; particularly for those that are looking for a credible platform to actualise their dreams.
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You are one of the opposition figures that have been very critical of the administration of Governor Ikpeazu. What informs this?
One cannot just wake up one day and start criticising the policies of the government of the day for the fun of it. I have tremendous respect for the office of the governor. I have great respect for the person that is presently occupying that office, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. For the fact that Ikpeazu is the governor, I have a joint ticket with him. When the history of Abia State will be written after our tenure, the history of Governor Ikpeazu will never be written in isolation from my own tenure as a member of the House of Assembly. So, we are concerned about how this government will be rated and assessed. Most of the criticisms are not that we are not seeing the areas that he (Ikpeazu) has been able to marginally improve on from the time that he took over as governor. We are doing it to make sure that his eyes are open to some of the decisions of his aides and sycophants around him who want to blow his trumpet as if he has taken the Abia State to the Eldorado. We want him to know that the challenges are still enormous so that he can be on his toes. By doing so, we are only assisting him to achieve his genuine and positive plans for the state. If everybody continues to sing praises of the governor, it means that at the end of the four years, we will all cry together. Anytime you see us taking a different position from the position of the state or assess the government’s performance differently from the assessments of his aides, we are doing so to point out to the governor the areas the state needs improvement, particularly in the area of infrastructure. The governor may have marginally improved on infrastructure, but most of the critical infrastructures that we need for the well-being of Abians have not been touched. We are looking at the effective utilisation of funds accruing to the state from the federal allocation. We are talking about our internally generated revenues (IGR) that are moving into private pockets which could have effectively been deployed to improve the road infrastructure of the state, to make sure that pensions are paid as at when due, to make sure that school teachers are paid as at when due, to make sure that university lecturers receive their salaries. We know that there are challenges, but we want him to engage more in the areas that we have pointed out. Our criticisms are not to bring the state down, but to make sure that the governor is alive to his responsibilities.
Some members of the Abia House of Assembly like you were threatened recently. How has this affected the discharge of your duties?
Well, what an average Abian sees as a threat, I see it as politics and politicking because when a politician issues a threat against another politician, he is only playing his role in the opinion of the other politician. It is only when that threat is personal and puts one’s life in jeopardy that one would take it seriously. In such a situation, one will complain to the appropriate security agencies. I didn’t see that comment made by a few of my colleagues as a threat. I saw it as part of politics. It didn’t deter me in any way. It made me understand that I am representing my people and my party well, by pointing out those things that I feel are not done well. As an opposition party member, my responsibility is to bring out those things that a member or members of the ruling party will not point out. To me, they were only expressing their frustration on my vibrant opposition to negative government policies which is reckoned in politics. Now that I have assumed the position of the Minority Leader of the Abia State House of Assembly, it calls for more responsibility; it calls for more work and more positive engagement of the governor to ensure that the House, the Executive and the Judiciary work in synergy to execute our joint destiny and responsibilities.
How prepared is the APC to produce the next governor?
The APC at the state level has a very strong, responsible leadership. The party in the last few years has attracted dependable and trustworthy politicians; politicians from different political parties have defected to the APC and that has strengthened our resolve in making sure that things are properly done. We have politicians in the party today who feel that Abia State is not where it is supposed to be. The people are equally feeling the pulse that this is the time for positive change. The people want a party that will live up to the expectations of Abians like what we see in Ebonyi State, Rivers State, Cross River State and Lagos State respectively being replicated in the state. When the time comes, the APC will present formidable candidates from the governorship to the Senate that Abians will not be able to resist. It is going to be about the candidate and not just the party as was the case in the past.
How would you rate the programmes and policies of the Federal Government under President Buhari?
Some of the concerns raised by the people and the opposition parties are genuine concerns. We all have our shortcomings. In terms of performance, on average, President Muhammadu Buhari has performed creditably well more than the 16 years of the PDP was at the helm of affairs.
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