Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) represented Cross River Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly for three terms. In this interview with our Correspondent NSA GILLS, the former Senate Leader speaks on sundry issues, including a projection into the next National Assembly that will work with Asiwaju Bola Ahmad Tinubu after being sworn in as president on May 29
What are your expectations for the incoming National Assembly?
It’s going to be a very interesting National Assembly because before we used to have only two major parties, one in government and the other one in the opposition. If you look at the number, no party can produce a two-thirds majority. They can only pass matter that requires a simple majority like in the Senate the APC already have a simple majority but when it comes to those important constitutional issues where you require a two-thirds majority, you must go into alliance and that is where the beauty of democracy is; the horse-trading, the argument, the conversation. You’re going to see some improvement in the legislative process; that’s one. Two, for you to even stabilize the place you must make sure that members from all those other parties are willed into one manageable block, so it’s going to be quite interesting.
Do you think zoning will influence the choice of the next Senate president?
I can’t say categorically because there are many factors that you take into account in zoning. Fortunately, we know where the president-elect and the vice are from. In the past, if we have a president from the North, the Senate president will also be from the North. It was during David Mark’s time that we had Goodluck Jonathan from the South and David Mark from the North. That happened because Jonathan’s administration was seen as an extension of the Yar Adua administration. Essentially, the position of a Senate president will go to the South but when it comes to the South, so many other factors like national integration and inclusion will determine who gets it. But, I believe the president-elect, as a versatile politician, will work with the party to balance all those demands.
What is your comment on the just concluded general elections in Cross Rivers State, particularly the governorship?
I thank God for the choice of Senator Bassey Otu as governor. Choosing between Senator Bassey Otu and the candidate of the PDP is like choosing between justice and lack of justice; between history and the lack of history; between independence and being subservience to another governor who will be exiting power soon and who was trying to colonise Cross River State as his retirement benefit. It was a choice between order and disorder; a choice between justice and ethnicity.
I am not one of those who came from outside with flamboyance. I’m just a local boy who has grown up with a tradition of us sharing things based on senatorial districts and local governments. Even when Akwa Ibom was part of Cross River, at least I was a commissioner and when we want to share opportunities they’ll say Uyo senatorial district, Cross River Central, you share based on senatorial districts; it has never been tribe. Then on the eve of an election, you said we should change the sharing formula from what has given us peace all these years for us to go and experiment on something called ethnicity and you know the danger of ethnicity.
At some point, some people will be more Ejagham and more Efik than others and the problem will start with no end. Let us use the formula that has worked for us; it is victory over history. People said that Bassey Otu was brought by Governor Ben Ayade and I said no; that’s not true because I was part of the process that brought the emergence of Bassey Otu. I chaired the critical component of that process. But, let us assume that it is true; then who is your sponsor, a governor of another state? So, we should prefer the choice of an outsider to our own?
We are independent-minded free born. When Peter Obi my friend endorsed him (Sandy Onor) they were making noise; I said as far as I am concerned the endorsement is not an issue because, at the end of the day, Cross Riverians will decide who their governor is. If you like to bring a billion endorsements, we at Cross River we’ll do our endorsement. We have chosen peace and unity over discord and chaos. The outcome of the election was very significant for us in Cross River; it’s far deeper than what you just see on the surface that it is Prince Out; the choices were very stacked and if we had made a mistake, we would have regretted it in the long run.
Issues of irregularities were raised on the just concluded elections, what is your take vis-a-vis our democracy?
If we had a perfect democracy anywhere, Donald Trumps wouldn’t have tried to stop the result of the 2020 presidential election in America. If we had a perfect democracy anywhere we wouldn’t have had the issues of Florida some years back in the US election. So, the people who are coming to teach us the standard of democracy should remove the yoke in their own eyes before coming to remove the spec in our eyes. I think we should reject this attitude of people coming to tell us how we should be and how we should behave. If a white man comes here now to talk about etiquette, he will tell you to use a fork and knife to eat; will you use a fork and knife to eat pounded yam? It’s our culture to use our hands, so don’t come and impose your standard on us; even your system is not perfect. Democracy keeps evolving from stage to stage, so ours is still evolving. Ours is only 24 years old; your own (America) is over 200 years old and you are still having issues; so they should stop that. And we should remove this mindset that everything they tell us is correct. Democracy grows according to its environment and they should allow us to develop our democracy. Yes, the election was not perfect; I have an issue, for instance, with the election in Ikom. We’ll take their observations but we’ll try to improve our system.
For Cross River, what should we expect from the incoming government?
For Cross River, we should expect a change in the style of governance. Prince Bassey Otu is more of a system person; Ayade has his style. But, with Prince Out, you’re expected to see a return to a more traditional system of governance. The regular thing that you expect from governance — the nature of his cabinet and the role of the civil service — roles will be more defined. Coming from an organised business background, you’ll see a methodical approach to governance and then his personality too; he is the listening type. He’s open to new ideas and suggestions. So, you’ll expect to see a lot but my estimation is that you’ll see a return to a more traditional system of governance, where if we have three things on the table, you’ll see North take one, Central take one and South take one. There will be more predictability in government.