Senator Anne Okonkwo, who represented Anambra Central District between 2007 and 2011, recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He spoke with OLUKOREDE YISHAU on the agitation for the Presidency by Igbo and fight against corruption in the country.
What is your position on the quest for an ‘Igbo President’ in 2015?
The ambition for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2015 is not just bones without flesh. It is not a slogan for grand popularity, neither is it a baby song to help us go to sleep and quit disturbing. Far from that,it is a political, social and economic reality that the culture of Nigeria as a political entity supports since 1914. It has become a necessity that fairness and equity made imperative. It has gone beyond the usual sentiments, intrigues and politics that lack honesty and faithfulness. If Nigerians still believe and accept that – in brotherhood we stand, then the best centenary affection we can dramatize to cement that resolve is to persuasively buy into the Igbo Presidency Agenda.
To me, the wisdom of fair national preservation should convince politicians, businessmen, technocrats, school children, market women etc to reflect and dance this tune for once. We will accommodate every alliance to realize this, we will respect every commitment we make in this regard. We assure Nigerians, they will get the best deal they have ever seen. Let us build trust by sacrifice and let our genuine sacrifice as a nation determine our true prosperity.
But the problem of unity among Igbo has always been a serious one. How can this be solved?
I am aware of the popular perception that Igbo are not united or not capable of speaking with one voice. I am also aware that politics is not only about speaking with one voice. It is more about speaking with several voices about the same issue. If there is any issue the many voices of over 50 million Igbo in Nigeria and the Diaspora have been consistent and united about, it is the sacred agitation for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. We should not malign this century old desire with day old excuses that Igbo are not united or can not speak with one voice. What is practical and clearly evident from this misinterpreted scenario is the Igbo man’s exemplary passion for national unity above ethnic exclusivity. That is why we have about 70 per cent of our population spread comfortably in every nook and cranny of our dear country. They are there investing their lives earnings, speaking the language of their hosts, assimilating their cultures and always remain their No1 development agents sometimes against aggravated attacks and selective mistreatment. That is the open score card of our faith in national unity. And the test is for our fellow compatriots to accede to us this much sought after concession. We have adopted a multi level, multi partisan approach to the vital negotiations and engagements necessary. Committee 21 (C21) which I happen to be the President of is one of the revving engines amongst many others advancing this timely frontier.
Every day we read about corruption in high places. Are you not worried?
Very regrettably, there appear to be no new language to describe corruption in Nigeria. There is nothing new I will tell you that you have not seen or heard. Our grave picture of arrested development at a graying adult age is sadly the harvest of our corruption tragedy.
The havoc of what I call our Acquired Corruption Tragedy Syndrome (ACTS) is worse to our national life than AIDS is to our physical body. This is because while AIDS can be evaded through fear and discipline, corruption is lethally invasive with value killing propensity and impunity. Our easy accommodation to the pills of corruption and quick adjustment to its devastation, is a development taboo that we must vomit to make progress. So don’t ask me whether the Government is trying or not in the fight against corruption. Assuming the government have not done much as is very obvious, should we the people surrender? We must devise the courage to put our fingers in our throat and vomit this scourge in our system without hesitation. By that cleansing, we will serve the government a yellow card, and consequent red card if they still fail to act.
For example, the attack on corruption should be fought with the same intensity Americans fights terrorism internally and globally. The same momentum Muslims fight for their faith. No compromise, no half measures unless we have resigned to be buried as living carcasses in the decay. When governments and institutions that should fight corruption energetically make excuses as atonement for not performing, then darkness will assume superiority over light in our affairs. It is that sad.
Do you think that the Igbo are truly marginalised?
While overseas, I read what Governor Rochas Okorocha said about Igbo marginalization at an Ndigbo forum in Lagos recently. He admirably articulated the issue properly and proffered the way forward. And by the way, he is an able member of the C21 group. I concur with him that the soft cries or loud moans of marginalization without more, will not take us far as a race. In Nigeria as in other nations, people are constantly marginalized by race, culture, economic, religious and even gender. In reality, equality is a precept, because you will always have the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the tall and the short. What is significant is how many triumph do you make out of your perceived or real weaknesses. The Igbo have had economic marginalization after the civil war. But they became giants of trade and commerce. Today we are being marginalized politically especially at the highest level of leadership in this country. Have we given up, no. Should we continue to cry without doing the necessary, no. Can we do something about it, capital yes. We must re-enact that can do spirit of triumph to once again overcome, and I am certain, we will.
Are you comfortable with the deregistration of parties by INEC?
We have all lost count of the number of political parties that are supposed to engage us, educate us and canvass for our votes for acceptance. But we also know that most of these parties have long converted their certificates into title documents for personal ego and sundry trading. INEC feels it’s their duty to do something about them which they have done. Some of those affected have loudly said no; that INEC cannot do that legally. That is the beauty of democracy. We are eager to see them square up with INEC at the courts of Justice and I believe at the end of the day, our institution of democracy will be the better for it. What I may candidly suggest is that, it would have been more expeditious if this kind of matter can go straight to the Supreme Court so that it can be decided once and for all. That way, it will have less strain in the pockets of the litigants and save INEC, too, from operational pressures. But like I said, it promises to be an interesting and enriching combat.
Is the on-going constitutional amendment likely to give us the desired result?
The constitutional amendment being undertaken presently should cut a radical picture of thoroughness based on core principles of justice, equity and fairness. If we make the mistake of playing to the gallery with our usual sentiments and politics, the essence will be lost and the cynicism of the people that it is a staged jamboree will be validated. The issue of the cost of governance and the size of government should be taken care of down the three tiers of government. All impediments to the enthronement of merit and performance should be expunged. True federalism may not come in one fell swoop, but clear progress in that direction should be made. The Judiciary should be mandated to establish special courts for corruption and economic crimes to end the gimmick of purchased injunctions and procured endless adjournments.
Then of course, the big one, two more states from the South East. I understand that there are more than forty two wishes for additional states nationwide, but two of them are overriding necessity, the South East extra states demand. Let us heal that open sore to our national conscience.
