Chief Victor Iyanam is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State. He served as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the state for two years under Governor Godswill Akpabio. In this interview with our correspondent, Kazeem Ibrahym, he speaks on the politics of the state. Excerpts:
If you are to assess the government of Governor Godswill Akpabio in the last six and half years, what would you say?
I was part of the government for two years. From 2007 to June 2009 but if I am to assess the government, I will say the government started out on a very bright note. The governor was very enthusiastic and almost all the physical projects that are ongoing now were initiated in the first two years, most of which I participated in the drafting of the contract. Almost all the roads, the Tropicana, 20th anniversary hospital and so many of the roads in some of the local government areas. As it is now, since I left government, four and half years ago, some of the projects are yet to be completed. Some of the projects include the Tropicana, which was a major project of government, then the 20th anniversary hospital and some of the roads. Some of them in major city centres are yet to be completed and then I will say most of them in the Oro Nation are yet to be completed. That is the five local government areas that make up the Oro. I know that some other people are also complaining that some of the roads in their areas too are yet to be completed. Another one was the Ibaka SeaPort that the government was so enthusiastic about. I read in the paper the other day that the Ibaka SeaPort, with all the consultancy government did, is not subsumed under the Federal Government initiative. So, what we are seeing now is that such a wonderful initiative, which could have moved faster with the state government, is now being placed under the federal government. We are no longer as happy as we would have been if the matter were to be conducted by the state government.
Then of course, there are some happy sights. When we came out at first, the Airport was a priority project. I am happy that the airport is functional and we are even flying to Isreal. The face of Uyo has changed. On the overall, we say that in terms of physical development, the government is not doing badly.
It is just one and half years left for Akpabio to leave. What do you think the government should focus on?
The government should focus on uncompleted projects, especially the 20th Anniversary Hospital because that was the only Akpabio’s initiative. That hospital project should be completed, the Tropicana project should be completed as originally conceived and then there are so many road projects, especially in Oro Nation. Those ones should be done. Right now, erosion has cut off part of Oro on the federal road. Just like the government was doing federal roads else where, they should go and complete the one in Oro Nation.
Secondly, what I want to say is that luckily for us, the governor is not contesting any election in 2015. So, there is no reason why we should fall under no governance because of election. The governor himself is not contesting any election, so that cannot be an excuse. It would have been different prior to 2011 because the governor was contesting election in 2011.
Who do think should be blamed for the under-development of Oro Nation?
That is not a difficult question to answer. The buck stops on the table of the governor. The governor went round the entire state, when I was in government, I can tell you that contracts were actually awarded for roads project in Oro Nation. If the contractor had done their job to the fullest extent of their contracts, no Oro person will be complaining of bad roads in Oro right now. If contractors in other places were supervised to the extent that they finished the contract they had in other areas of the state, why not use the same machinery to ensure that contracts in Oro are completed? When you award contract in Oro, is it the ordinary man on the street that should be disturbing the contractor as to when the job should be completed? No, it is not, it is the job of the government.
Contractors are complaining that they are not being funded. Is it Oro people that should contribute money for the contract, of course not, it is the government? So clearly, we cannot have government in place and start blaming another person for bad roads or for uncompleted projects. The government machinery should be employed fully to ensure that government projects everywhere are completed and if there are people to be punished or sanctioned for not doing their job, government should do so.
Are you now saying the people of Oro have not been fairly treated by this administration?
Clearly, Oro Nation has not been fairly treated by this administration. You just need to go to Oro to see things for yourself. There is no Oro patriot. Even the quietest of Oro person will speak out now that Oro has not been fairly treated. The other day, I was at Oron, I saw the half hearted attempt; they just put bitumen on the road without stone base. What do you expect of such a road when rain starts? Nothing is happening in Oron, it is a shame.
You were one of the Akwa Ibom PDP elders calling for an open contest for those aspiring for governorship in 2015 even as this contradicts the thinking of the governor that power should be zoned to Eket Senatorial District, how do you intend to achieve this?
The clamour that governorship should be zoned to Eket Senatorial District now is suspicious. Now, let me tell you how it is today. My father before me was part of an arrangement which ought to have been followed till now. We used to have an arrangement of the Ibibio, Annang and Oron. Nobody ever discussed senatorial district. The discussion was always about tripod. The tripod of Ibibio, Annang and Oron. In saying so, we were all mindful of the fact that there is no senatorial districts in Akwa Ibom state that do not have the Ibibio people. Infact, right now and since 2007, the Senators representing Akwa Ibom State are all Ibibios. We have Senator Aloysius Etok in Ikot, he is an Ibibio man. We have Senator Ita Enang, an Ibibio man from Uyo and Senator Helen Esuene, an Ibibio woman. Before her, we had Senator Eme Ekaette, an Ibibio woman too, before that we had Senator Udo Udoma, an Ibibio man. So, if we are going to say Senatorial District for governorship in Akwa Ibom State the elders at that time knew that we are running a risk of having Ibibios in perpetuity, so they said Ibibio, Annang and Oron. Now, in an attempt to distort an arrangement that would have guaranteed peace, people are now saying after part performance of the original agreement of Ibibio-Annang then when it is Oro turn, people are now saying Eket Senatorial District. Now, why it is suspicious? Even in the Eket Senatorial District, we seem to hear louder noise coming from Ibibio again in Eket Senatorial District. What do you think people like us from Oro Nation, who are thinking deep and seeing through what is going on, will believe? Do we sit by and support Eket Senatorial District, which will have no meaning for the Oro Nation?
Assuming Oro people allowed themselves to be tricked to accepting Eket Senatorial District and they lose out to somebody from Onna- Onna is for your information Ibibio; now, what will be the fate of Oro people? Clearly, if somebody comes out from Onna as governor, the deputy cannot even come from Uyo because Uyo is already Ibibio and so, the other senatorial district that is left will be Ikot Ekpene. Again where do you place Oro Nation?
Are you going to promise Oro Nation a position that doesn’t have any constitutional guarantee or recognition in terms of tenure? So, we cannot in all good conscience allow ourselves to be tricked into accepting senatorial district after we have played the tribal card all along.
Are you now saying instead of relying more on Senatorial District, the people should rely more on the tripod of Ibibio-Annang-Oron?
That was the original tripod. Oro people are charting their own destiny and saying, well, we are better off if you don’t want to specifically mention Oro as the beneficiary of the next governor of the state. We are better off in an open contest so that we can go and vote for who we like. Instead of deceiving us and making us accept Senatorial zoning and at the end of the day we lose out from that contest and have nothing for the next 24 years. It is better for Oro people to embrace an open contest and vote for who they like.
How do the Oro people intend to produce governors and senators now, given the fact that the last time an Oro man was in the senate was 30 years ago, when the late Senator Victor Akan occupied the seat?
Oro Nation has always been faithful to any agreement that we ever made with any of the other tribes from the old Cross River State till now. In 1979/80, Oro people aligned with the Ibibios and brought in Dr. Clement Isong, an Ibibio man from Onna to be governor. Now, when Oro was shortchanged in that government, Oro people cooperated with the other ethnic minorities like Efiks, Ogojas, Annangs, and brought in Senator Don Etiebet to be governor. Now what did we get for it? Oro was never satisfied with what we got because that was the same arrangement that was supposed to result eventually in an Oro person becoming governor at some point. Now, we cooperated with the Annangs but now it is different ball game all together. This state could have been called Akwa Ibibio state because of the predominance of the people of Ibibio in Akwa Ibom state. Now the scenario is no longer the same. There are no Ogojas here, there are no Efiks here again except an over whelming Ibibio majority. So, when we have an over whelming Ibibio majority in Akwa Ibom State like I have said elsewhere, my people say a tree that wants to survive must stand close to the colanut tree to survive. So my own view of it is that in Akwa Ibom State, the only way an Oro man can survive is by aligning with the Ibibios and there is good history behind it. In 1992 when we had a fresh taste of civil government in the state, we had Chief Akpan Isemin as the governor. We had an Oro man as the deputy governor. We had party chairman and all manners of appointments. My dad then was the chairman of the transition committee of Akpan Isemin’s government. That government lasted only for about two years. In 2003, we had Obong Victor Attah as governor. We had the speaker who was from Oro. We had the party chairman from Oro. These people had inputs in government while the deputy government was from Annang. Now can we say the same of an Annang man government? So where is Oro Nation? I am not talking for myself alone. I am raising this observation concerning Oro Nation. We don’t even have party chairman anymore and yet it was Oro Nation that brought about this government.
How?
The chairman of PDP then, Otu Ita Toyo, ensured that he was not under any pressure to throw out the ticket of Godswill Akpabio. The man is sitting quietly in Local Government Service Commission now. That is his reward and that came at the tail end of Akpabio’s first term or this term. Oro Nation has been humiliated over time and we are currently counting our losses. Now the road cut into two due to erosion and I can’t see the government spending N100million or N200million maximum in making sure that that road is fixed. People have lost their houses as a result of the erosion. What relief came to them? Oro is a defeated Nation right now.
During the last solemn assembly conducted by the state to usher in year 2014, the governor specifically told the mammoth crowd that converged at Ibom Hall Grounds that he would not discourage anyone from running for office in exercise of his constitutional rights but that justice must be done to Eket Senatorial District, is this statement not a pointer to the fact that Eket Senatorial District will produce the governor even when majority of the PDP elders are clamouring for an open contest?
To say that governorship going to Eket Senatorial District amounts to justice is again, with all due respect to my governor, suspicious. We are still not discussing Oro Nation, the third largest ethnic group in the state. What we should be discussing now is Oro Nation not Eket Senatorial District? Let us even look at the statistics, it is really true when my learned friend talked about justice. Let us see it. Ibibio people have about 17 local government areas, Annang people have about 8 local government areas, Oro has five local government area, so if you are going to talk about justice and equity, it means for instance for an Oro man to be governor with his five local government areas, he should wait for an Ibibio man to go three times because 17 divided by 5 means three times. I have been a lawyer for 28 years now so I know what equity means. You cannot share things equally between minority and majority. It is injustice because you are not taking note of their population or their spread.
Do you have a particular candidate in mind for the 2015 governorship election in the state?
I am looking at all the candidates. Since I am an Oro person, I feel that in the circumstance, my people will be better served by a candidate from Uyo Senatorial District. I am looking at possibilities and I hope we can manage to persuade former SSG Umana Umana to enter the race. There are so many politicians in history, including Shehu Shagari and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, they were all persuaded to participate. We hope we can persuade somebody like Umana Umana to show interest and actually contest in the election. I think such a person will be better for Oro Nation.
