Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, spoke with OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE on the performance of the Umahi administration so far, as well as security in the Southeast and the factional crisis in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The governor hardly talks to the press. Is it that he is shy, has nothing to talk about, or that he has a disdain for the press?
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Just a few weeks ago, he gave an extensive interview which touched on all aspects of our political economy – and I do not mean just about Ebonyi State, but a panoramic view of the political, economic, security, religious and moral challenges facing the entire federation. It was a tour de force. I challenge you to give me an example of one single governor, amongst the 36 that has spoken directly to the press or granted more press interviews than the governor of Ebonyi State. Such epithets as ‘shy’, “disdain’ and ‘has nothing to talk about’ are completely alien to Governor Umahi. On the contrary, I find him to be bold, confident and assertive; he is also welcoming, accommodating, friendly and respectful; and he most definitely has plenty to talk about – and he talks down a roof! He has redefined the history of Ebonyi State through physical, psychological, developmental and social transformation. There are elements of these adjectives that only the people of Ebonyi can truly understand and appreciate. But the rest are open for the world to see. For the very first time in the history of the state, Ebonyi has become assertive as a national player, anchored on stupendous progress on the home front.
The five Southeast governors, including Umahi, were accused of not supporting the Biafran struggle, thereby leading to the incarceration of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu?
I can speak for Ebonyi State to the extent that it is my official duty to do so. If such an accusation exists, it is not only ridiculous, but can only be peddled by those who are perhaps ignorant of the facts and the varied nature of the solutions that were and are still being evolved and pursued. The governor of Ebonyi State is the Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum and I am a witness to some of the open and discreet efforts he and his brother governors made and continue to make in respect of the IPOB/MASSOB agitations and the intense pressure to secure the release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. I can assure you that the governors of the Southeast are alert to the demands and aspirations of their people. Anyone who thinks that the rascality, wild opportunism and crude excesses of some chief executives are the most civilised approach to meet the exigencies often thrown up by the boneheaded politics at the centre is as much a fool. We deal with sublunary events as they are, and others may seek their utopia whichever way they choose. But no one should pretend that public administration is anything but a complex business that demands the discipline of serious-minded people.
Things are happening in the area of infrastructural development, yet little or nothing is being said about them…
First of all, I totally agree that a lot of development is taking place in Ebonyi State. Our capital city, Abakaliki, is experiencing transformation; major road networks are not only being constructed but are being constructed in such a manner as to endure for half a century. Health, educational and human empowerment sectors are top priority. The revival of Nigercem is gaining ascendency through the administration’s impetus. To suggest, as you do, that ‘little or nothing is being said about it’, is a false and ignorant indictment and you know it. Apart from the ‘money-bag’ states such as Lagos and Rivers, point out any other state that receives more national coverage in terms of government initiatives and actions than Ebonyi State?
What is the unique selling point of Ebonyi Rice, which is one of your achievements?
In the last seven months or so, I have granted interviews to more than 15 national newspapers and to television and radio news networks on the revolutionary agricultural agenda of Ebonyi State, focusing particularly on rice production. The biggest source of confidence for what the Umahi administration is doing in the area of rice production is the unwavering encouragement from the Federal Government and from Mr. President directly. President Buhari takes the success of the Ebonyi Rice Programme personally. The unique selling point of Ebonyi Rice is that although our landmass is relatively small, only about 5.5 thousand square kilometres compared to, say, Kebbi, which is nearly 37 thousand square kilometres or Nasarawa which is over 27 thousand square kilometres – I mention these states because if rice production in Nigeria is a competitive business, then they are our direct competitors – we have a much longer period of rainfall which feeds our extremely fertile swampy fields and thus sustains the production of prime quality rice. In other words, this allows us to produce rice that tastes better and far more nutritious. The Ebonyi Rice is also healthier because the quantum of synthetic fertilizer deployed by our farmers are so negligible that you get as close to organic rice as you are ever likely to get in Nigeria with the Ebonyi produce. The benefits of consuming non-chemically produced foods speak for themselves, especially in an age of the cancer epidemic. We have also modernised our rice processing techniques and mechanisms, so that the Abakaliki Rice which used to be called ‘stone-fest’ is now celebrated. Our ambition is to produce just 10 per cent of the total annual rice consumption of five to six million metric tons by Nigerians; a bulk of which is, disgracefully, imported. That translates to between 500,000 to 600,000 metric tons annually. Last year, we achieved 200,000 metric tons in circumstances where we were confined to wet season production only. Going forward, we are laying the foundations for irrigation infrastructure that will allow us cultivate in multiple cycles within any given year. Once this is achieved, we will be in a position by 2019 to double or even triple our self-assigned quota.
Your party, the PDP, is in the eye of the storm. There are two factions presently. What faction does your principal belong to; the Makarfi or the Sheriff faction?
Ebonyi State is a PDP state by a margin that is far too huge to bother about factions. Faction exists in Abuja. If other people are struggling to belong to this or that faction, Ebonyi should, in fact, be wooed by the so-called Sheriff or Makarfi faction. I know that this is a bold statement, but I make it with total confidence because I know it to be the entire truth. At the end of the ongoing voter registration exercise, which INEC commenced recently, the quantum of our figures will stun observers. Ebonyi has a population that can comfortably produce over 2.5 million eligible voters. That is the joker that matters. PDP leaders in their various domains and constituencies should see this as the priority, rather than the bickering over factions. If the 11 PDP states can show the discipline and application of mind to register, mobilize and sufficiently motivate 30 million voters across the nation, which is more than possible as far as I am concerned, then factional rancour will wither in the shadow of superior franchise. He who commands the votes commands the levers of power. Partisanship is only important to the extent that you have the voting population to cross the finishing line and advance your agenda. Those who place raw partisan brinkmanship over and above the voting population are numbskulls. They don’t get it. The sterile sentimentality and shortsightedness of those slitting throats and bleeding out over a party office or working committee or such nonsense are nauseating, and, quite frankly, offensive to the sensibilities of many thinking but silent men and women in the PDP. Let the serious-minded ones use this singular opportunity to mobilize and register 30 million voters and indoctrinate them and set carefully marshalled strategies in place to turn them out on any given election day, then you can very well lead them to Zebedee Party and still attain your electoral objectives. But, of course, no one will pay heed to this line of thinking until 2019 delivers another knockout punch to the party – and still these portfolio powerbrokers will remain heedless. It’s utterly mindboggling how people make deliberate and willful choices against their own best interests.
Of course, I cannot fail to mention that the legal authority of the PDP today rests with Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff. As a lawyer, it would be stupid of me not to make that incontrovertible declaration until the Supreme Court of Nigeria declares otherwise.
Your support base is believed to be waning, because other parties, including the APC, are making inroads into Ebonyi State…
I refer you to my submissions in the previous question. As for APC having a foothold in Ebonyi State, well, the last time I checked, Nigeria was still a multi-party democracy. The easiest thing to do now is for me to be lured by your question into launching a ferocious attack on the APC. But I have a bigger fish to fry than bother about the foothold or handhold of opposition parties in my state. My time is better preoccupied by mobilisation campaign to persuade citizens to go and register to vote in 2019. Once we have our 2.5 million or more registered voters, then we can assess who has a foothold or political certificate of occupancy in Ebonyi State.
