
Hon. Ogbonna Nwuke, a former member of the House of Representatives and one-time Commissioner for Information in Rivers State is currently the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. In this interview with Emmanuel Masha, he speaks on some salient issues concerning the state. Excerpts:
Your party kicked against the recent commissioning of judges quarters and donation of 41 vehicles to judges in Rivers State. What is particularly wrong with that gesture?
There are certain things that are statutory, which the executive arm of the government is supposed to handle. The provision of vehicles for example, belongs to the statutory issues government should handle.
Sometimes there are mixed reactions arising from lack of knowledge of these issues, and which is why, I said my party will favour implementation of the first line charge, which gives complete autonomy to the legislature and judiciary and makes it impossible for the executive, by any means, to manipulate relationships and processes that have to do with either judicial officers or the judiciary as the case may be.
The eye brows raised at the time were not over whether the judges should not be entitled to vehicles after all, they go to work and need to get to offices on time. There were vehicles given to them three or four years ago and you saw that the criticism did not come from the APC alone.
There were people across Nigeria, who felt at this time that funds are hard to find, the government of Rivers State could spend that amount of money it did on the acquisition of a new range of exotic cars for judges.
We had information from a strong authority that the same government was providing funds for judges under the guise of building official quarters for them. When we issued a press statement, some people thought the APC was crying wolf where there was none.
We also noted then that information available to us showed some distortion in terms of promotion of judicial officers. In the Judiciary, seniority, excellence and performance are the yardsticks. Luckily, the governor is a lawyer himself, so he knows that law is a conservative profession and these rules are strictly followed.
Rivers APC also faulted the move by the state government to stop workers in the state from going on strike via a court injunction; what informed that position?
I believe that it is a fundamental requirement that a worker is entitled not only to his wages but to his complaints. These workers are saying that there are certain conditions in Rivers State that are not being met. I don’t know why it is difficult for the administration to negotiate with the workers. If it is handicapped, it should be able to discuss with the workers.
The state government has to meet some of the conditions; it may not meet all. All it needs is to negotiate.
As we talk, the labour house which its land and plan was allocated to labour is under lock and key. We are talking about democracy. What integrity test are they doing in the house that they have not completed up till now? It is an indictment on the government, which built the house.
It means that it acquired the services of contractors, who are not competent, and if you want to rectify the integrity of the house, how long will it take. We have a system that rewards those who are with us and punishes our perceived enemies.
Are you indirectly indicting the National Industrial Court, which granted the injunction?
I don’t want to delve into the nitty-gritty of such things. I’m just thinking aloud; that rights belong to the people and they are said to be inalienable. That is what the constitution said. I can understand that there are strikes that are violent, that put government property at risk but you must prove that intent.
The situation we have is that a group of people are dissatisfied with the way their affairs are being handled and as a union, they are seeking to collectively advance their course and let the world know their plight. All they are doing is to draw attention to their problems.
Why hasn’t the Federal Government gone to court to stop resident doctors from going on strike? Why is it important to incubate a problem that is boiling underneath under the guise of an injunction?
What can the strike of civil servants cause you?
A government which should negotiate and persuade labour to understand its limitations and what it can do rather chooses to harass them with court injunctions. This makes people even wonder if this palliative Governor Wike is delivering to the judiciary is not intended to hoodwink the law.
What is your party’s assessment of Governor Wike since his second term in office?
I believe you want me to talk about the flyovers, the roads in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpo councils. I have heard that the government is building five flyovers; what is interesting is that all of them are in one stretch. The major back bone of Port Harcourt is the Port Harcourt-Aba road. At various points, the road has a lot of flyovers going on.
All that means is that people are moving around, but painfully. It is difficult to navigate. I think at a time the country and our state in particular is faced with serious challenges; joblessness, low protection level and adverse effect of the Conovirus pandemic, the kind of policy to implement should be that which gives people access to food.
I’m not saying that the governor should dash people money, all I’m saying is that the people’s money Wike is spending on construction of roads and flyovers, tagged ‘urban renewal’ would have been spent on very critical subheads, such as cottage industries and agriculture because they create job opportunities.
There are no jobs anywhere in the state. The job Wike has for Rivers people is the ‘Neighbourhood watch,’ where our young people are taught how to carry guns. It is crazy to imagine that people are hailing this development. I’m not saying that provision of infrastructure is not good, but there should be a balance between provision of infrastructure and wellbeing of the people.
As we speak, Rivers State government is owing more than N300 billion. I’m reliably informed that the state is entitled to the sum of N6 billion monthly at Indorama Petrochemical Industry as dividend but the money is tied to the loans.
That means N72 billion has already been leaned to creditors. I must admit that development is critical, but should we also develop at the level incoming governments will be saddled with debt repayment and when a generation of Rivers people will have nothing to do.
So, when you say assess him, I’m cautious because I belong to the opposition. Perhaps, it is my duty to tear down all that Wike did right but I’m thinking beyond the opposition. I am thinking of what happens to the wellbeing of our kids.
Many of them went to school, that is a good thing to do, and many of them have graduated but are still with their parents many years after graduation. They can’t work; they have no source of livelihood. Nobody is thinking about these things. There was the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), set-up by former Governor Rotimi Amaechi. When Wike came to power, shut it down.
There were medical doctors employed by Amaechi’s administration, who were working at the health centres across the state, he shut all down. Governor Wike presided over the looting of the schools and other institutions Amaechi built and equipped with computers.
Those facilities made us the reading capital of the world. It is not a question of whether I’m talking in favour of Amaechi or not, I’m talking about continuity in governance. There are lots of dislocations and it is painful.
So, for me, Wike should look at other critical sectors. Out of the 23 local government areas in the state, he is only interested in the affairs of two, what happened to the remaining 21?
What advice do you have for the governor?
I have always insisted that consultation remains the best way forward. A government that does not consult its citizenry and doesn’t that people should make input on what it is doing, is traveling the wrong path. It makes sense to call the people to a session; town hall meetings or whatever to explain some ideas behind your actions as a government and to seek their endorsement of such actions because the mandate you are carrying is ours irrespective of political party affiliations.
A government which wants to get the input of the people must support the growth of democratic institutions. To subjugate democratic institution in the name of playing politics is counter-productive. If the constitution says we must have a multi-party democracy, for God’s sake, Rivers State government should create the level playing field for multi-party democracy to flourish.
To engage in actions that suggest that you want to create a one-party state will not be consistent with the position of our constitution as such will lead to some level of autocracy and dictatorship.
One of your party’s bigwigs, Chidi Lloyd, recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). How do you feel about that?
Why are you always talking about Chidi Lloyd leaving? Have you not heard that Hon. Ephraim Wuzi, the deputy chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has left the PDP for the APC?
Lloyd said it was to join the PDP instead of staying in the APC and be causing troubles. What he meant by that was that he was aware there were people like himself, who were still in the APC and causing troubles.
What is the APC doing to put its house in order ahead of the 2023 general election?
We are having conversation at this point in time; it is going on across board. All those who probably think there were differences in the past have made their points, and so there is a peace mission going on gradually in the APC. Note that some of those angry crossfires have reduced.
Why are Senator Magnus Abe’s people not shooting at Amaechi and Amaechi’s people not shooting at Abe’s people? You should be able to say to yourself, perhaps, something new is happening in Rivers APC. I want to confirm that something new is happening in the Rivers APC; that people are talking to one another.
We are in the midsts of an effort to create some roadmap for peace and reconciliation. Let me say that Senators Andrew Uchendu and Wilson Ake are at the centre of the effort to bring mainstream party members together.