‘Detractors should allow Uduaghan to concentrate on his job’ Honourable James Idogho, is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State. In this interview with EBENEZER ADUROKIYA in Sapele, he speaks on the activities of the state government and other issues. Excerpts: How would you rate the administration of Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan? Governor Uduaghan, because of the litigations here and there, has not been given the full opportunity to actually perform the way he would otherwise have performed. My prayer is that anybody that has any problem with him, either in the court or elsewhere, should withdraw so that the state can move forward.He too should be a good listener. He, again, should try and also work with men of integrity who will not drag him down, because a lot of the people he is presently working with are people that will dine with him and start praising him in his present but behind him, they will start castigating him. So, he should watch the type of people he has put in place and he is working with so that he will reap the gains of his good work. Delta PDP has been operating the principle of power shift. Regarding the 2015 elections, do you still subscribe to that arrangement? If you use the word power shift, there is no way power has shifted. When James Ibori was there, power was in the Delta Central. Now, Governor Uduaghan from Delta South and some are of the opinion that it is the turn of Delta North? When you use the word ‘power shift,’ is Uduaghan Urhobo or an Itsekiri man? Of course, Uduaghan is an Itsekiri man as you know very well. Let us not deceive ourselves; there was nothing like Delta South or Delta Central. There was Delta Central and Delta North because the next governor is supposed to be from the North. Do you subscribe to that arrangement of the next governor coming from the Delta North senatorial district? According to a gentleman’s agreement, yes, it is supposed to be so, because we are all one. If today, the power is shifted to the North, we still belong to PDP and after eight years, it will go to another place. If it is rated like that, you can now access the performance of each governor from each senatorial district. Look at what happened in Edo State for instance. Dr Samuel Ogbemudia was there. Lucky Igbinedion became governor, and it now came to Professor Oserheimen Osunbor and then Adams Oshiomole. If you compare notes, you see the ability of each of them. I am of the view that if power now goes to the North, let us see what the Northern man is going to do since the entire state belongs to us all. The issue now is, will they agree? The majority of Deltans are in the Central District and because of money and hunger, people will be bought over. But let us see how it goes. That is the way I look at it. With regard to the East–West Road, are you satisfied with the level of work done so far on the dual carriage way, and would you say Elder Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of the Niger-Delta, has performed his duty to the expectations of his people? The East –West Road project had been awarded to either the second or third contractor before he was appointed. Chief Tony Anenih, I think, was the minister then when the contract was awarded. It was during his time the East- west road was awarded. The stage it is now, there are lots of lapses. Take for example, my very good friend, Major General Patrick Azazi, a four-star general, died just because the East-West road is not completed. If the East-West Road is completed, it would take less than 45 minutes to drive from Yenogoa to Port Harcourt. But because the road network is bad, you see a lot of people who have no choice but to travel by air. If you have good roads, a lot of the people will not take flights that are sometimes more hazardous. The climate has changed. The weather is no more friendly and favourable to air travellers. There was a time I was supposed to get a flight from Abuja to Lagos; we waited for about six hours. How many hours would I drive if we had good roads? We waited at the airport for six hours just for the weather to be clear before we would commence our flight. You mean people prefer air travel because of the bad road network? Exactly. I will seriously appeal to the president to focus more on the East-West Road because at the end of his tenure, he will come back home and it will be a taboo if, during his tenure, the East-West Road is not completed because this is his home base. Right now, he is concentrating on developing the FCT, Abuja, leaving his own constituency. If you were to assess the president’s tenure so far, how will you rate him? Rome was not built in a day. It takes a gradual process. To me, he is trying. Look at the railway that was dead; it is now working, as some parts of the country now enjoy train services. The only area I will urge him to concentrate on more is power generation. Power generation assists a lot; it provides employment to many Nigerians, especially the artisans who use electricity to do their businesses. If there is a way that the government can really focus on power generation, that will assist Nigerians a great deal because the money we are spending on the importation of generators is much. I want Mr. President to focus on the areas of power generation and on roads. There should also be a ministry that oversees all the governors’ and local chairmen’s activities and to access them, considering the amount they are given and how it is spent. This body will be able to ask the question, what are you doing with the money? If the government can create a separate ministry that can checkmate these people, I believe they will spend judiciously all statuary allocations. Would the ‘Nigerian factor’ not come into play in the proposed ministry too? The syndrome will not come into play immediately. Even if it comes into play, it will take time, because they are going to select men and women of integrity. And we know them in this country. Take for instance country like Dubai, go and find out how much the lowest paid police man receives as salary. If a policeman is receiving, say, N300,000 a month, what type bribe are you thinking of giving such a person? He will never listen to you. If these persons are well paid there would not be all these corruption we are talking about. This country is very rich in oil. President Jonathan’s people are clamouring for him to come back to power in 2015, saying that if he fails to contest, he should remain in Abuja, and never come back home. What do you have to say about this? With what I am seeing, if I were in the president’s position, after 2015, I would retire and rest. Let another man continue from there. That is the way I see it. The Ijaws have their rights to air their views. I also have my own right to suggest my own view. I am not saying that if he contests, I will not vote for him. If he contests and wins the primaries, I will vote for him; if he is allowed to contest and wins the primaries, then good luck to him. But in my own point of view is, let another man come in. Even though they are stressing that he has not completed his eight years, but from the problems the country has, if I am in his position, I do not have to bother my head over such problems for another four years, I would step aside. Look at General Ibrahim Babangida. When there was problem in the country, he stepped out on his own and today, he is enjoying his life. Jonathan should go and rest peacefully and live his life successfully because he is still a young man...
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 11:39:35 +0000
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