
Hon Uko Nkole represented Arochukwu/ Ohafia Federal Constituency of Abia State in the 8th and 9th National Assembly. In this interview, he speaks on governance in the state under Governor Alex Otti and state of affairs in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU writes
You said in a recent interview that Governor Alex Otti should stop chasing shadows and concentrate on governance. What informed your position given that he is touted as one of Nigeria’s performing governors?
It was my submission on the political perspective of an insight the interviewer raised on issues, particularly the novel shadow government that was instituted by the new state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, Amah Abraham. We’re in opposition and the job of an opposition, as I’ve always said, is not to clap for the government in power.
The job of the opposition is enshrined in the constitution. Yes, in the constitution you may not see the word opposition, but the constitution refers to the opposition as a minority.
In Abia State, what the party chairman has done was also define his mode of keeping to the constitutional minority role by saying ‘I’m forming a shadow government’. That kind of government is a mindset because they don’t have any office. They don’t have any building and they don’t have any place they have sat down and said this is our office.
They haven’t built any other government building etcetera and someone will say that they’ve gone beyond their brief. Opposition in this context is to shadow whatever the governor is doing, give him insight and point to better alternatives in their opinion on how the government should be run.
Take for instance; Governor Otti claimed he spent N6.5 billion on recreational facilities across the state and the shadow commissioner for Tourism is asking for the locations of the recreational centres, where did you build them, let us go and see them, let us go and verify them.
People came back for Christmas in Abia State and the question is, where can they locate the recreational centres including taking their children to enjoy the facilities. There is a false narration being created here and countering such is the role of the minority under the auspices of a shadow government.
I’m in Abia and I want to see where the recreational facility is located in my local government, and I want to know the location, if any. That is what the shadow government is asking for. Where is the location of the recreation centre you spent N6.5 billion to build?
Members of the opposition in Abia State have accused the governor of not being transparent in his project execution; do you share the same position?
As a former parliamentarian, let me start with his 2025 budget presentation. The 2025 budget proposal he presented to the Abia State House of Assembly fell short of best practice.
Best practices demand that the governor first reel out the budget performance of the preceding year of income generated, performances of both capital and recurrent expenditures etc for the budget of 2024 before flowing into 2025 estimates. That will be done such that, at a glance, the citizens could determine and rate key performance index and how well the state economic policies fared.
The line items must also clearly indicate the amount voted for both new and ongoing for transparency and ease of reference for citizens and in the absence of this obvious due diligence, one cannot help but conclude the lack of transparency and accountability in the government.
Governor Otti flagged off the reconstruction of the Ohafia-Arochukwu federal road, a highway in a bad state for a long time under your constituency; how do you feel about that?
The Arochukwu Ohafia highway is a stretch of 35km and was awarded initially by then President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to Messers Beks Kimse Ltd, now KDI Ltd, with contract no C/N
There is a false narration being created here and countering such is the role of the minority under the auspices of a shadow government
6158 at the cost of over N2bn in 2013 and later was split into two with KDI assigned to undertake the reconstruction of about 14.5km stretch which KDI Ltd achieved performance of about 7km up to binders course level with line drainages and culverts also achieved.
The remaining stretch of about 19.5km captured as Bende-Arochukwu Ohafia road, with contract no C/N 6481 and measuring about 19.5km, was awarded to Messers Hartland / Setraco Ltd at the cost of about N5bn plus awarded by then President Muhammadu Buhari under my watch in the life of the 8th National Assembly with budget performance and construction of over N3 billion releases and 63 per cent construction achieved, representing about 14.5km work at binders course with line drainages and culverts as at June 2023, when I left office.
Let me take you back to your word on shadow government as a form of opposition, how do you react to the fact that your party, PDP, is not doing well as the main opposition party at the centre?
I will beg to disagree with your position because I know every political party has its challenges. The All Progressives Congress (APC) is not having it rosy even as the ruling party at the centre. The Labour Party is also not having it easy being a government in power in Abia State.
For example, in Abia State, the governor is in the Labour Party, while the local government chairmen at the grassroots are in the Zenith Labour Party. So, it is not just a PDP affair. Why are you people not asking the same questions to the governor about why he is in a different party from the one at the grassroots?
It means under the watch of the governor, his party has drifted and split into two, which has never happened in the history of Abia politics or under any PDP government. That will show you that something is wrong with the party. So, the crisis is not something peculiar to PDP alone. At the national level, 70 per cent of the voters do not belong to any political party.
Then the 30 per cent that belong to political parties are minorities. That gives the impression that whichever political party comes into power is based on their ability to convince the 70 per cent of the electorate on their programmes and policies in their manifestos.
PDP did well then as the national government party, and as an opposition party today, it is doing well but it is for the masses to rise, team up with PDP and challenge the system because all of us are the ones feeling the heat of the APC government. Opposition should be for all the people feeling the negative impact of the government in power, and not just for a political party.
This is because based on the realities on the ground today, I believe championing the opposition against the APC-led administration should be a collective effort of citizens and not about PDP now. PDP is doing its best but it is no longer the job of PDP alone.
The masses and electorate should interrogate and ask questions, demand change and be at the forefront of confronting the realities. It is even worse because the government at the centre is not tolerant of any diverging view and they are clamping down on the opposition voices you will agree with me that such never happened under PDP.
President Bola Tinubu galvanised mass protests against government policies from 2013 to 2014 and led Nigerians freely without any consequences. But today are they tolerating that? He wrote a letter, telling the then-president not to remove the subsidy. Has he not swallowed his vomit?
What is your take on the achievements of the APC so far given their policies?
As of 2014, Nigeria is an import dependent nation, a dollar was less than N200 and APC, at that time, criticized the PDP-led administration, saying the dollar would be equal to N1 once they come to power, and that the power sector, particularly electricity supply will be stable than that we used to have.
Sadly, the APC has not added one kilowatt of energy, neither have they upgraded the power infrastructure that PDP left on ground.
Today, grid collapse that never happened under the PDP has become a recurring phenomenon. What is the cost of fuel and diesel today? Multinational companies are leaving the country in droves and SMEs are closing down because of fake promises.
They have failed in everything they promised and made Nigerians abandon the PDP. You will agree with me that there is no basis for comparison of Nigeria in 2014 and Nigeria from May 29, 2015, down the line. For me, I want to see progress where all Nigerians should be happy.
If APC is serious about governance, they should first take the naira back to where they met it if they won’t improve on it. They met naira at less than N200 per dollar.
Even if they can’t make it N1 per dollar, which was their campaign promise, they should take it to N100. They met petroleum at less than N100 pump price, they should take it back there.