Cross River: We will stop Imoke’s imposition agenda — Sen Mbu October 27, 2014 Why he is against Ndoma-Egba - Senator Matthew Mbu Jnr Represented Cross River Central Senatorial District from 1999 to 2003. He was the Chairman, Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence. In this interview he speaks on the gubernatorial succession in Cross River and the fierce battle for the Cross River Central Senatorial seat, and that his successor, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN is qualified to go for a fourth straight term. Excerpts: By Johnbosco Agbakwuru Being Senator Ndoma-Egba’s predecessor what is your opinion on his return bid to the Senate? I think he more than deserves to come back to the Senate. He’s one Senator who has served his people, in fact, Cross River State very well. It’s all about representation. The question we must ask ourselves is this: Has Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba represented his people well? The answer is: yes. He has done so well for his people. He has not changed from the person he’s been, right from when he started. He’s there for everybody; anybody can approach him and as I said earlier, it’s all about representation of the people. He’s done very well in the Senate to the point that today, he’s the Senate Leader. That’s a great achievement for us. He’s the number three person in the Senate. If we don’t want him back in the Senate and talk about bringing another Senator; that person would start from the beginning. What he has attained in the Senate today is equivalent in the military to the position of a General. It would be most unfair, for us in the Central Senatorial District, to replace a General with a Private. But some say he is not popular at home? You can only be popular with some people but to be popular with all the people is impossible. But Senator Ndoma-Egba is a legislator, not an executive member and as a legislator, you can only attract projects to your constituency and has he done that? I tell you here that he has done that more than enough. He has attracted water projects, road projects, hospitals, schools, lots of scholarships granted across the state. Why are the leaders of PDP in your state, particularly Governor Liyel Imoke, against the Senate Leader’s return? Point out which leader is against his return. I’m sorry to say but my brother, Governor Imoke, is not a democrat. He’s a dictator. He’s coming out very strong…Imoke is interested in dictating to people; who should be where and who shouldn’t! We can’t go by what Imoke is saying and this is the time when all well-meaning Cross Riverans should rise up against dictatorship. We are practising democracy; where the will of the people should always prevail and not the wishes of one single individual. For whatever reason, Governor Imoke doesn’t want Senator Ndoma-Egba back; for the same reason he’s been toying with other aspirants who want to be governor in Cross River State! This is what is happening right now in our state. So, you don’t go by who you are supporting or who you are not supporting. He has an agenda and many of us know that. You don’t use that to say Senator Ndoma-Egba is not popular. This scenario portrays PDP as being fractured in your state right now. Well, PDP revolves around one man and that one man is Governor Imoke. It’s always been like that; even now when you go to the people and ask them; ‘who are you supporting?’ They tell you they are still waiting to hear from the governor! Is that democracy? You tell me! In a situation where Governor Imoke succeeds in picking a representative for Cross River Central, what will the people do? If that should happen, it would be most unfortunate. I can tell you this now. We pray that he doesn’t impose anybody because that is what he’s trying to do but if it happens, it would be most unfortunate. What scenario do you envisage? If it happens, it may be another party that would even produce the governor, which may not be the PDP. If he does that, I fear we may end up with a non-PDP governor in Cross River State. It’s alleged that those who want to remove the present Senate leadership are aiming to use a new leadership against President Jonathan? Well, I can’t say exactly that that is the game plan but it is possible because if truly, you are with the president on the same page on this matter and he has instructed you on that, why should you now start turning against what you’ve been told? You don’t need a soothsayer to begin to tell you that all is not well. We are talking of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria telling you something; that he’s very comfortable working with these group of people at the National Assembly, instructing the governor that this is who I want; why should the governor turn against the president’s instruction? Why do we keep having this huge turnover every election year? We are having it because we are selfish, we are self-centred and it’s most unfortunate, I have to be this blunt but the truth is that we are just like that. In this country, everybody would tell you that; ‘that man has been there for too long, is he the only person? Let another person go.’ Nobody is thinking about the benefit to the nation; that is, if you are looking at it from a broader perspective. If he’s not doing well, it’s a different ball game. But if he’s doing well, to bring another person would mean to start from the scratch. It’s not even good for the stability of the nation as a whole.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:20:38 +0000
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