Okey Maduforo 
Chief Damian Okeke Ogene is the immediate past Vice President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. He speaks to OKEY MADUFORO on unification of South East for development under the aegis of South-East Governors’ Forum and the fate of Ohanaeze under the current leadership
Bishop Hassan Kuka recently urged the South-East Governors to synergise for collective development. How do you see this?
The Bishop is saying the obvious because God has created Anambra State as the number one state in the South-East, if not Nigeria in general, and our people used to say it as a people that we are pathfinders. So, God has given Anambra State everything it takes to lead the Igbo race and coming to what Kuka said Governor Charles Soludo has been fully prepared for that synergy.
During the time of Ohaneze South-East Summit, Soludo was the Chairman and the agenda of the Ohaneze as it were, was the South-East Development Commission and he was the Chairman of the committee then. We talked about inter-connectivity, both roads and railways and that was his first year in office.
Soludo said that he would put down N500 million and that if each of the five states put down N500 million that would be N2.5 billion and that would be a takeoff fund, but unfortunately nobody brought that money and now Soludo has started dualizing all the federal roads, getting to point where every nearby state and has promised a railway line from Onitsha to Nnewi; Nnewi to Ekwulobia and Ekwulobia to Awka.
So, what we had in mind as Ohaneze that time was to have railway from Onitsha to Owerri, Owerri to Aba, Aba to Umuahia, Umuahia to Okigwe , Okigwe to Enugu and Enugu to Abakaliki to Nssuka and from Nssuka back to Onitsha. And this policy was also to connect the roads in the South East just as the railways would connect the major Cities in the South East. Like in Anambra for example you know that you can attend four to five functions in one day and come back.
What Ohaneze had in mind was to propose to the South-East Governors’ Forum to make South- East a one urban state. This is because creation of more states from the former East Central state do not mean the creation of more countries because administratively, we are one family.
For example, what Soludo is doing in Anambra state is such that he doesn’t understand which of the states one comes from. Today Soludo says it is easier to make Anambra a one city state with all the connections of roads and at every one kilometer you see a developmental project that is bringing Anambra together as a one city state. Soon Anambra would become Lagos state because in Lagos you do not know when you get to Ikorodu.
The development from Ekwulobia has gotten up to Nanka and it is getting to Nibo and Nise and in a shortest time somebody can come from Awka, lodge in hotel at Ekwulobia and attend meetings in Awka.
Somebody from Ikorodu to Lagos is it not more than from here in Awka to Enugu? So, I agree with what Bishop Kuka said because it is obvious and workable and when Soludo talked about five thousand housing units; people were asking how? But he is on it now. When he was constructing roads, people asked where will he get the money to pay compensation to people affected by the demolition but the roads are about being completed and nobody has complained.
That is one thing with Anambra State. When they see a good job, they key into it and any amount you pay them as compensation they take it in good faith. Nobody has gone to court; nobody has ever complained because everybody wants development and the mission of Soludo was very clear.
I spoke with him some time ago and he said in the 1960s when Mbonu built this road that vehicles plied the road once or twice in a week or once in two weeks and he said that today you can stand on that road and more than 2,000 vehicles are using that road.
He said that from here to Nanka, it will take more than four hours to get to your home. So, it is better that we dualize this road now and construct more roads to open up the state and you know that Anambra is expanding.
Since the election of the new President General of Ohaneze we have not seen anything new…?
We have just finished our election about a month ago and our new President is Senator John Azuka Mbata from Obiakpo Local Government area of Rivers State and he is the right choice and we did not make any mistake in electing him and it is constitutional because it rotatory and this is the turn of Rivers State. He is a very good mixer and a no-nonsense man.
I have served about eight President Generals of Ohaneze and I can tell you that when you discuss with Mbata you will discover that he has put down millions of his personal money to establish the state headquarters of the Ohaneze in the respective states and he is making foundation for Ohaneze Secretariate in every state and at all the higher institutions to institute a chair of prominent Igbos in those schools. He is trying to bring it down to that level to make people know what Ohaneze stands for.
You earlier said that the Igbos are united but how about political differences?
That was in the old, not now. The Igbos of today are not the Igbos of the past. The issue of political differences does not count anymore. That one comes from Imo or Anambra or Ebonyi doesn’t change you from being an Igbo man because we are one. So, any Governor that is not thinking towards inter connectivity that will unite the South East is doing a disservice to the Igbo Nation and I do not see any of them thinking that way.
When some of these Northerners want to divide us, they use the states or political parties to do that but our people have become wiser and more focused to know that political divide cannot help us but ruin us as a people. There was an incident where a woman married to Abia was to be the Chief Judge but they protested that she is from Anambra.
By then Anambra is employing people from Imo, Abia, Ebony and Enugu states. And you look at the last employment by Soludo once you are leaving in Anambra state you apply go for interview and if you get the cutoff point and pass you will be employed.
Go to local government service commission you will discover that people from different states are employed and in fact a Yoruba man was prompted as a Permanent Secretary in Anambra state.
So that shows you that the old order has changed and most people have come to realize that those things do not apply in this modern day. Division cannot help us in any way and we are now soft pedaling.
The issue of insecurity in Anambra appears to have been tackled what about other states?
It is a matter of methodology and every governor in the South-East has his own style and if they find what Soludo has done good, they can apply the same method.
Soludo has just clocked three years in office. What is your opinion?
Well, it is interesting to note that the man under three years have done very well and it is there for us to see. When you look at the road network and the projects that he has embarked on you can agree with me that he has done well. Some people say nobody should contest with him but I say no.
It is not democratic because it is an election. If you say that you want to contest, go ahead and that is why the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC had to register many political parties so there would be more candidates for the election.
Soludo tried it once or twice and could not get it and he came again and won the election, and so far, he has proven that he wants to serve Anambra State and he is doing it to show that he is desirous of developing the state.
The essence of democracy is governing the people for the people and by the people. You must give people chance to express themselves and that is the beauty of democracy. If you say ‘he alone should go and contest’ it becomes autocracy or dictatorship and that is not democracy.
