Q: This meeting contradicted earlier fears that it was meant to support President Obasanjo’s third term ambition. How was it put together?

A: What happened is that there was a gathering of leaders from Southern Nigeria to discuss the Nigerian problem. I have had cause to restate, time and time again, that the third term campaign is a distraction. For me, I do not believe that there is anything like that. What brought us together was much bigger than ambition or political office. We discussed Nigeria and it was not partisan. The discourse cut across party lines, it cut across tribe and language. We were all there to discuss Nigeria and the Nigerian project. The Nigerian project is about the structure of the nation; it is about how the ethnic groups were brought together by the colonial masters and how they live together. The Nigerian project is about the many nations within the mother-nation called Nigeria. How do they relate to each other? How do they govern themselves? How do they share their resources? How do they protect and police themselves and how do they relate to other nations of the world? That is how we defined the Nigerian project. It is much bigger than any political office. That was why we had to go back into history and say that these mini- tribes had relations, governance or life before Nigeria and colonialism, slave trade etc. It did not start with Nigeria. They were put together as Nigeria under the colonial influence of merchantilist and expansionist philosophies that were rampant in the world then. Now that our forefathers agreed to get into the agreement to form Nigeria, four regions went through military rule, back to democracy. We need to redefine that union. It is only going to be redefined or refined through dialogue, moreso in a democracy. So, we do not want an elitist thing; to say that when you want to do a thing, you stay up there. Why is there such fascination for political office? The fascination for political offices is there, because there is so much power and influence. The structure is not based on mutual respect and equality. To have a true structure that is home-grown, that is stakeholders-driven, defined by stakeholders, there will be no fixation on who is president or who is not. Our meeting was about restructuring. It was about how we share our resources.

Then, of course, the power rotation issue. But for me, it is not the highlight. Let me explain to you why I think so, because of the level of political maturity, because of the level of enlightenment, because of the level of social development in the country, holding political office is not synonymous with development in any area. This is because, if they say the North has held power for 35 years, does that translate to infrastructural development? Does that translate into capacity building? To me, it does not. We have what we call artisan leadership. The bulk of the politicians you see are mere artisans. They shuttle from one party to the other; from one association to the other; from one regime to the other. They play politics that is not ideology-based, not driven by vision or programme.

For now, whoever holds any political office has nothing to do with the people. They are far removed. To reduce the national discord, we have to address these anomalies.

Q: Please confess to me. Were you surprised at the success of this summit?

A: I confess. I really confess, but not for the reason you believe. I confess because as I speak to you now, there are no commercial flights coming into Enugu airport. Many people left by road. Some went to Abuja Airport, Lagos Airport, only to realise that there was no flight to Enugu. Some of them took off by road from those points to be part of this summit. I am surprised that Nigerians could do that. Most people could have just called to say: ‘look there are no flights.’ I must confess that I did not know that governors and leaders would go to the extent they did. My colleagues would have just called me and I would understand. I must confess that I did not expect Afenifere members to come the way they came. The moment you walked into that hall, was there anything that indicated that you are in Igboland? Do you know that it is likely that there may have been more Yorubas there? There was no pretence. For the first time, people were signing a communiqué, no argument, no story. Falae, Tony Anenih, Senator Okurounmu, Ebitu Ukiwe. Can you imagine that? It has not happened before in the history of this country. It is hunger for self-respect. It is hunger to respect your dignity. It is hunger to argue on the basis of equality. That is what is happening. People deprived for so many years being forced into an arrangement and suddenly they realise that we can actually talk about it. And for once, they did it. Not just for themselves, but for their children. Some may be in the twilight of their political sojourn on earth, but have now realised that they can do this before God calls them.

One of the speakers at the summit requested the South-South and South-East to produce two candidates for the 2007 presidential race within two months, so that the South-West can give its full backing. Do you think this is feasible?

The issue of political office is beclouding the whole thing. Is it not because of political office that people are saying: ‘don’t touch the constitution?’ The issue of political office is beclouding the debate. I told you earlier that what we are talking about is far greater than political office. We are talking about the structure of the nation, restructuring the country to reflect true federalism. We are talking about sharing resources – how do we share our resources? It is not about political office.

Q: So, for you, what was the motivation?

A: It was certainly not my idea. It is a collection of ideas. From what happened, you could see it is the idea of everybody. You could see that everybody was speaking about the same thing. It was certainly not my idea. My colleagues also contributed. It was a chance discussion by a group of governors, including Bola Tinubu. It took 12 hours to get the consent of all the governors; all the 17 governors without exception. We had the consent of all the governors that they were going to attend. Senate President, Deputy Speaker, everybody was speaking the same thing. So, nobody can lay claim to it and I certainly cannot take the credit for it.

No time is too short to restore Nigeria. No time is too short to strengthen Nigeria, to strengthen the unity of this nation. No time is too short to address the need and concerns of Nigerians; concerns that threaten the stability of this country, concerns that create militia groups everyday; concerns that even threaten the treasure base of the country. No time is too short. If your house is on fire, will time be too short to turn things around? If you are heading for destruction, will time be too short to make amends? No time is too short. There is no time that is too short to reflect true physical and fiscal federalism in confusion. We have been debating since 1922. No time is too short to reflect on true federalism or create one state in the South-East zone. We are talking about 15 months or thereabout. The debate has been ongoing and because everybody has been debating, there is a consensus on the issue of resource control. It is just the number. Is time too short for that? There is a consensus that we are a federating unit. The constitution has to be strengthened so that power can devolve. We have to provide parameters in our constitution that will enshrine true federalism, because it is not strong enough. These are shortcomings that have been there. So, we need to take care of certain aspects of the constitution to ensure that we have true federalism. Those who feel that time is too short are those who are worried about the so-called third term campaign and are thinking that the constitutional review is directed at political office. We have people who are fixated on political offices and they are now using the so-called third term campaign to deny sons and daughters of Niger Delta their rights, to deny the South-East a state, deny all the regions a true reflection of federalism. They are now latching onto it and everybody is relaxing, while some are even using it for political gains. Some so-called anti-third term campaigners are using it as a rallying point. Some, whom time has forgotten, are using it to resurrect and get new jobs and get media attention. Certain people who Nigerians have forgotten or can’t even remember alive are suddenly waking up into relevance. We need to reflect on all these. Certainly, time is not too short to reflect on Nigeria.

I am not exaggerating anything. There is no doubt that the result of pollution, both in the air, water or soil will not just reflect in terms of erosion, environmental degradation, it can also reflect not just in terms of anomalies in kids, but on reproductive ability. It has biological consequences. Let us just put it at that and I have no doubt that if these issues are not addressed, these biological consequences will reflect in the future. That is if they are not being reflected already. There again, we must be concerned about safety, so that when you collect scientific data, you will be able to know that these are Ijaws. You will be able to know what is happening to the Ijaws in terms of infant mortality, maternal mortality, what are the incidences of these types of anomalies and you will see what I was talking about. All I am saying is that there are biological consequences.

What happened is that development partners made of World Bank, DFID, UNDP, etc, based on international parameters reviewed governance in 35 states and FCT looking at vision, policy, mission, budgetary mechanism including due process, service delivery, etc. based on that they came up with the judgement and declared that this is the best run state. For us, it is a critical assessment. There were areas of strength and of weakness. We are taking note of everything and we are going to work on them. It is not something worth celebrating or partying over, it is just an assessment that we are going to use to rebuild confidence in the system and improve on areas where we have to do more work. It is also a reassurance that what we are doing in Enugu State is not a media hype.

We are going to reinforce the areas of institutional reforms. Since we are leaving, we want to leave institutional capability so that whenever we leave, work would continue. Institutional reforms in the health sector, in the area of commerce, industry, wealth creation, criminal justice system, educational sector, civil service, etc. So, once we have institutional reforms, everything will follow. We would also like to complete the infrastructure for social development. We believe that by April, we would have finished the university, the teaching hospital and most of the other projects we have here in Enugu and do little jobs here and there in the rural areas.

We have a good team. We have what I believe is the best team in Nigeria. I am sure you were at the conference and saw how the secretariat functioned, how the whole thing was organized, you will believe that we have a good team. I believe we have the best team in Nigeria. So it’s just a manifestation of God’s desire for us through hardwork and prudent use of our resources, using whatever we have on a monthly basis and with the help of banks, we recycle overdraft on a monthly basis to pay our bills.

Yes, obviously. I have seen democracy work and I have been part of democracy. I have been part of a society where as a norm, a woman goes to the hospital, delivers a baby and goes home immediately. I have lived in a society where they respect democracy, justice and equity. I have been part of that life. And I realized that I am from a society where it is different, where women die out of child labour, diarrhea, malaria, where poverty or hunger is the norm. But rather than stay in America and talk about Nigeria everyday, I decided to go back there to my people and see what I can do to effect social changes. So I believe the drive and hunger is that I wanted to be governor. I had something that I was doing, but I wanted to come back home to be part of leadership of my people. I wanted to be counted. I had a vision of what I wanted to do for my people in terms of capacity building and infrastructural development. America also gave me the confidence, because being in America and being trained in America gave me the confidence to confront every challenge I face. It also gave me the training and the background to face anyone in this world to present my ideas and to meet any challenge and be able to conquer whatever I face.

They are people we know and they are also people we have worked with. Audu Ogbeh was our party chairman. As chairman we were very loyal to him. We spent quite a lot of time in his company, either in his house or at the Abuja party office or even in his house in the village. So, we had a lot of interaction with Audu Ogbeh. We also know that Audu Ogbeh is very, very passionate. He is very emotional in what he believes in. A poet and a writer. So you can’t really diminish him. So you can’t say that you are celebrating that he left PDP. What he did is an exercise in democracy. What he did, from a personal point, is an exercise in democracy. In my view it does not diminish Audu Ogbeh. He was my chairman, nominated me, signed my nomination papers as Governor of Enugu State. So we wish him well and we pray for him. May he succeed in his endeavours.

But just as he has left, a lot of people have also entered the party. The PDP, you know, in Enugu, is a very strong party. It is also a very strong party nationally. And even the Working Committee, the new chairman we have, you have to give it to him. He is decisive and very articulate. He is a physician. A lot of people don’t know. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, as good as you can get, trained at Ibadan. But when people say Ahmadu Ali, they just don’t understand that he is a northerner who came into the University College Hospital, Ibadan. At that time it was not easy. That was the only medical school in the whole country. He got admitted and people like Jubril Aminu were there. He is a specialist that is very decisive. And of course, you can see how the party is organized. Our meetings are short and direct. We would have spent the whole day at our convention but you saw how it lasted. He is a very senior colleague of mine in whom we have great respect. So the party is alive and it is very, very strong. It is the party to beat anytime.

I don’t. I don’t have any fixation for any political office outside being governor. The issues that are involved are better than political offices. I have no desire for any political office and I believe that the level of leadership position we are talking about is God-ordained. The presidency of Nigeria is God-ordained. It is not something that you can get via personal machinations. History has proven that God cannot place the destiny of 150 million people in the hands of (just) anybody. God cannot leave it to chance. I cannot stand here and be fixated on being the president of Nigeria when at 47 God would have given me the opportunity of being governor of a state for eight years. What other blessings do I want? For the next many years I am going to witness all these infrastructural investments, seeing the University Teaching Hospital being used. I will be part of it. So I have no such ambition. I am just a kid from Agbani trying to fulfill my dreams. I thank God for giving me that opportunity.