The governorship candidate of Action Democratic Party (ADP)in the November 11 governorship election in Imo state, Dr. Kachi Nwoga, in this interview bears his mind on a number of issues and what he intends to do to turnaround the state if elected. Excerpts:
Why are you in the race?
I am involved in running for Imo governorship because Imo people want a different type of government from what they have been experiencing. Not just presently, but for a long time now. I am here because there is harmony between where Imo is and where Imo ought to be. Imo is that same state that has the highest literacy rates in Nigeria. Imo is the state that produces the highest number of people seeking admission. Imo is a state that has the third busiest airport in Nigeria. Imo is the state that has the fourth highest destination for packaged goods in Nigeria. Imo is a state that has the fourth busiest GSM switch in this country. For that kind of state, that state should not come anything outside the fourth or fifth position in the indices of living, in the indices of labour, in GDP, revenue collection, in income per capita, in terms of employment, in infant mortality, in maternal and child mortality.
But where do we find Imo? Ease of doing business? Everything is all down, down, down. We’re in double digits, sometimes in the thirties in each of these. Very surprising but very painful.
And this state obviously is living far below our potential. That’s why I’m in the race. I want to realign Imo where Imo belongs. What it means is that all these things that Imo has, it means that the government that has come into Imo state has not built on any of these. Imo is a natural home of tourism, Imo has the highest number of hotel rooms per square mile in the whole of West Africa, Owerri in particular. Now, you do not find government policies, you do not find government programs that are actually doing anything at all to encourage any of these things. Instead, we even have policies that are pulling them back. So, we need to realign. What it tells you is that if we put the right government in Imo state, Imo can assume. When you mention Lagos, you mention Port Harcourt, you mention Abuja, and to see anywhere that should come before Imo state. And we can do it and we can be there by deliberately encouraging and building on the natural strengths of the states in terms of education, in terms of tourism. In fact, Imo people want the good things of life. Today, the biggest challenge in Imo state is security. Imo is so insecure that even this gathering we have today, it is not a gathering we can easily have in Imo state and Imo people want to be secured. It is when we secure Imo people that they can have the free education they’ve always yearned for, Imo people can have the jobs they should have. So it’s unfortunate that in spite of the challenges of security we have, you would expect that everybody will be looking for solutions. Especially those at the helm of affairs should be looking for how to calm the state down and pull us out of this insecurity mess. Unfortunately, painfully, certain policies of the government threaten to make everything even worse. Apparently, government doesn’t seem to be sensitive to the security challenges of the state. This election season, I’ve just sent some documents to you what you’re going to share with them. These are complaints that have been made by all political parties. The opposition is not allowed to breathe. I cannot go and put up a billboard today because when I tried, they were telling me to pay N54 million to put up a billboard. It means I cannot put up a billboard. I don’t know any state anywhere, even if you need to convert it to dollars, nobody can charge this kind of money. It’s obscene, It’s atrocious, It’s sinful. That’s what they’re asking the opposition to pay. And I intend to ask, since the entire state is filled with the billboards of one particular person, I really want to know how much the state has made from that one person if this is how much you have to pay for billboards. So this is one. If you brand cars, you will see them (state agents) obstructing cars, picking up and confiscating cars that are politically branded. They call it a gubernatorial advert permit. How on earth do you have something called a gubernatorial advert permit. They have somehow appeared to cow everybody, because I expect everybody to be speaking out. It just appears to be quiet, the labour Congress is quiet, even the press is quiet. What’s going on? A healthy opposition is very important for governance. And when you succeed in stifling opposition, it means you are never going to have proper governance. And by the way, if this country is going to allow people sitting in office, whether it’s president or it’s a governor to sit and determine and make it impossible for people to even campaign, to advertise themselves, is there any bigger rape on deocracy than that? If one person can get away with it, people will do worse than that.
You are contesting on the platform of ADP, a relatively known party in the South-east people would say. How acceptable is this party in Imo state?
Imo people are advanced. Imo people have learnt and can learn to live above party. On February 25th, Imo people voted Labour Party, 80 percent. Labour has never won a single councillorship election in Imo before then. Imo followed the candidate and voted. I believe I am the candidate that Imo people need at this time and Imo people will follow. By the way, I’m sure you remember that PPA won the governorship election in Imo state some time ago. APGA won the governorship election in Imo state some time ago. As a matter of fact, the last time the PDP won election was in 2003. So, what I’m trying to say is that Imo people will follow who they want and go to their party.
Why is the government of the day uncomfortable with proving a level playing field for the opposition to sell themselves?
I wish you will just go and ask them. I think they have everything. I think they have the state resources, they have all the security, even though the insecurity appears to have been weaponised right now. If I ask people to go to Owerri now, all of them are going to start worrying. Should I? or can I? It’s been weaponized. I wish you could go ask them as a matter of fact. I’m beckoning on all of you to go find out from them and let Nigeria tell them that it is the wrong way to go. Being in government today does not guarantee you will not be in the opposition tomorrow. So let us not set the standard that can lead us to hell.
Imo has been known to be peaceful from your past governors up to Ikedi Ohakim, Rochas Okorocha. As a stakeholder, at what point did Imo get it wrong?
This is an open price, there are some things I can discuss freely publicly, there are some things that can be discussed better with the security apparatus to aid them, to guide them. But I will tell you something that even in Imo state, it has worked, which is to build security from the communities coming up. Home grown security, it has been shown to work. Of course, there are other things in terms of equipping, in terms of how to align the security you have with the regular security architecture. What you see today in Imo appears to be the same hand of imposition of everything into insecurity. People are coming in from the capital or wherever into a community in a van wearing an outfit nobody can identify and they are armed. Average people in the community no longer know when it is the adversary or the security. Because it’s the same thing, whichever way, they get punished, they get beaten up, they get harassed, they get intimidated, they even get killed. If the security apparatus does not enjoy the confidence of the people, can it function? The answer will be zero, they can never succeed. So you must get a security apparatus that is endeared to the people, and the people can have confidence and run to them. Not the one that people will run away from. Unfortunately, rather than even trying to change it we are doing even more.
If elected, what will you do to change this narrative? Because Imo has a bad public image, especially when it comes to security.
Like you said, the truth is that Imo people are actually some of the most peaceful people of this country if not on earth. Because people who love to enjoy themselves, people who love themselves, love visitors are not people who are violent. What would I do? differently. The first thing is that we will go to home grown security as a first line of security. In the home grown security, you don’t just say, you also give the support — training, equipment, communication and align them with the state security apparatus.
I’ve seen results come in the same Imo state when the state apparatus aligns with the local apparatus. The local apparatus understands every nook and cranny, the state apparatus has the force, and when you combine those two you get results. The number one is never politicized security. As the chief security officer of the state, I will take full responsibility. God knows I will never sit down and look for who to blame for insecurity.
I will never ever politicize and say he is causing (insecurity). If you are even the one causing, why am I the chief executive? Of course, I will handle it. You don’t mix security with politics, the result is always bad. There is the second part, there is a third and a fourth and a fifth part. 43 percent of unemployment is already insecurity on its own. What do you do about it? Who are the first line? Do you know I can create 3,000 to 5,000 jobs in two weeks as the chief executive. It is not a tale. I can tell you how it’s done. I have done it before.