TAN working for victory of Jonathan and Okowa in Delta Prince Ned Nwoko is Delta State co-coordinator of the Transformation Ambassadors (TAN), a group mobilising support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in the February 14, 2015 election. In this interview with Correspondent, Felx Igbekoyi, the former legislator says TAN’s mandate in Delta is to ensure the victory of Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, in the elections Would you give an insight into the recent visit of Delta State PDP governorship candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, to your country home? The visit was a positive step on the part of Dr. Okowa, who is the candidate of the PDP, in the February 28 election. First, the visit was a condolence visit, which was occasioned by the unfortunate death of my 22 years old son, Tarik, who was studying law in London. He died in the early hours of December 8, 2014, which was the date of the PDP primary election in Asaba. Virtually all the political leaders in Delta North were involved in the process of ensuring that the PDP governorship ticket came to Delta North and it was not going to be an easy task since we had 18 contestants from Delta North. When Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan withdrew his support for Sir Tony Obuh, it was a major blow to our hopes of getting the ticket. Of course, I have argued that, if the governor was backing any of the aspirants from Delta North, that gives us brighter chances of realising our aspiration and as such we should not join the other zones to oppose the governor but support him to achieve our collective interest because the other zones would welcome such support from an incumbent governor. So it was a rude shock when I heard of the governor’s withdrawal of support for Obuh on December 6 and he went ahead to endorse Olorogun David Edevbie, from Delta Central, which had been there for 10 years. Naturally, Delta North political leaders had to quickly assess the danger and think of how to avert the shame of failing to get the ticket. This was made difficult by the fact that none of the aspirant from Delta North was ready to step down. I had reached out to several political leaders in Delta North and we held meetings on that fateful Sunday, December 7, 2014, to harmonise our ideas of who has the best prospects of being accepted by Delta South and Delta North. Dr. Okowa was highly favoured and we had to dispatch messages across a broad spectrum that Dr. Okowa should be supported. Unfortunately, I was not around to see how the drama played out as the news of my son’s death was relayed to me in the early hours of Monday, December 8, 2014. So it seems logical that Dr. Okowa should come on a condolence visit. This seems to be your first meeting since both of you contested for the Delta North senatorial election in 2011. We have met in the court premises and the atmosphere was not cordial. This is actually his first visit to my country home; there was a kind of reconciliation and alignment of interests, since he is a governorship candidate from Anioma area and I am a member of PDP, I should be supporting him with the platform of TAN. The visit provided us the opportunity to think of how TAN and the Okowa Campaign Organisation could work to ensure massive support for both the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and Dr. Okowa in the elections. What is the role of TAN in the forthcoming elections and its activities in the Okowa campaign? We have launched the Delta State chapter of TAN, we have appointed co-coordinators in various local government areas in the state and they are mobilising at ward levels. We had some initial challenges but all these are receiving attention. The national coordinator of TAN has come to Delta State to inaugurate TAN here. We have followed Okowa’s campaign since the flag-off campaign at Oghara township stadium; there was massive turnout of party supporters and even members of the opposition party who were curious to know what was happening. The same massive support was repeated at Koko in Warri North Local Government Area. From Okpe Local Government Area to Sapele, Akwukwu-Igbo, Isele-Uku and Aboh, the story has been that of massive turn out. What is the key emphasis of TAN’s contribution in this respect? First we are highlighting what the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has done in education, power, agriculture, transport, road construction, auto industry. We are also highlighting the inconsistencies in the campaign of the opposition. On the part of Dr. Okowa, we are presenting his pan-Delta vision of a united and prosperous Delta State. Dr. Okowa is a unifying candidate who has shunned ethnic divisions; he has equally outlined his message in a five-point agenda, which he has promised on the need to accelerate the work on the Warri industrial park as a step towards job creation and promotion of economic development. He has promised to provide quality education that will give products of education in the state access to job. The administration of Dr. Okowa wants to promote affordable health care through insurance-backed health scheme. He is equally looking at the total issue of human capital development, urban renewal programme through developing one major town in each of the three senatorial districts, which will serve as a pull of development to the other adjourning towns. All these are vital to the people of Delta State irrespective of the ethnic affiliations, so the experience of Dr. Okowa, his record of performance in public service as secretary and chairman in Ika North East Local Government Area. His performance at the Ministry of Agriculture, y of Water and Natural Resources, Health Services, Secretary to the Government and senator representing Delta North. These are solid records that are required to move the state forward. It is important that the other parties eschew politics of exclusion and bitterness. He is the most acceptable of all the other candidates and he has promised prosperity for all Deltans. What is the objective of TAN in this election? Since President Jonathan came to office, the mass media have been used by certain persons who believe that Nigeria is their personal kingdom. The media have been replete with half-truths, lies and total character assassination of Mr. President. There seemed to be a conspiracy within the media and civil society community to magnify the weakness and mistakes of the government but to black out its achievements. Unfortunately, the PDP, which has been in power for the past 16 years, had been going through its internal crisis. There is no party in Nigeria where you will not find a significant number of PDP members. It is a party that has individuals of different socio-economic and cultural background. It is expected that managing such a large political party will always present its own challenges. The coming of President Goodluck Jonathan coincided with the time when some persons boasted publicly that they would make the country ungovernable for him. It is also interesting that this threat was matched with acts of terrorism that have seen massive bombing of diplomatic institutions, schools, markets, parks, places of worship, military barracks and installations, attacks on villages, abduction of women and schoolchildren. The challenges of governance was there but the unkindest cut was the determined effort by the All Progressives Congress (APC), which benefitted hugely from the liberal democratic disposition of President Goodluck Jonathan, to undermine the Presidency, discredit national institutions, demonise individuals that are in the federal service, all in its desperate effort to gain power. TAN was, therefore, founded as a vehicle to counter the jackboots mentality of the opposition party and its allies in the civil society and mass media who believe that the federal government should be pulled down with the tactics used against military dictatorships. TAN operates outside the bureaucratic spheres of government and political encumbrances. Its goal is to mobilise support for Jonathan. It believes that you don’t have to be a politician to support the President. It believes in projecting the accomplishments of President Jonathan outside partisan coloration, to enable Nigerians make rational and informed decisions. In this era of politics, what dominates the media space is propaganda and outflow of jaundiced information based on selective appraisal of objective reality. TAN is open to Nigerians of all walks of life, in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. TAN is not pretentious in projecting the accomplishments of Jonathan and the administration that he leads. Our strategies have been use of rallies, road shows, media and PR strategies, sponsorship of relevant political events. It has a green-white-green as its colour as a symbol of patriotism. We have set our goal to propagate the accomplishments of the Jonathan administration in agriculture, road construction, oil and gas, aviation, rail transport, inland waterways, education, health care, rebasing of the economy, and the total transformation of the Nigerian economy. President Goodluck Jonathan may have national security challenges but that is not to say that governing Nigeria is as easy as a taking a one-pill prescription which the APC is offering. What are the specific achievements of Jonathan’s administration? The Jonathan administration has brought back rail transport in Nigeria after 30 years of neglect. The administration constructed modern schools, almajiri schools and 12 universities. This is the first government to construct cargo airports and ensure that all zones in the country have an international airport. There has been serious remodeling of the airports in the country under President Jonathan. The incidence of high-level corruption in distribution of fertilizer has been eradicated. Agriculture, which lost its glory, is becoming attractive to Nigerians. Our economy is now the largest in Africa. Those who have used the train transport services can see historic revival of our rail lines The trains are modern and comfortable the Aba-Port Harcourt line was commissioned by the Vice President Namadi Sambo who rode in the masses coach. GEJ is transforming Nigeria and we must focus on his performance as much as the opposition has focused on the security challenges in some parts of the country. Nigerians should put politics aside and join hands in fighting insurgency because that is how it is done in other countries. There is clear evidence on ground to prove the construction of major inter and intra-state roads and regional international highways. It takes three and half hours to travel from Idumuje Ugboko, my village to Abuja because of the construction of a bridge between Delta and Edo states passing from Onicha Ugbo-Idumuje-Ugbo-Ewohinmi road. Take a look at the Abuja-Lokoja road, the Lagos-Ibadan road the Apapa Port-Oshodi road and the Ore-Benin road; their new looks have reduced the number of hours people spend on the road while traveling. Many people expected that you would contest this time; why did you opt out? There was strong pressure on me to run for the governorship or the senatorial election this year. The pressure came from the PDP, APC and Labour Party, several groups printed posters and organised political structures but I considered it more challenging to work for the return of Mr. President for a second term and to see that an Anioma person emerged as the governor of Delta State. The two objectives are paramount in my mind rather than pursuing a personal political goal at this critical time. By the grace of God we shall succeed.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 23:31:37 +0000
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