Why North is against Jonathan – Essien, ex-minister ;Says card readers may deny millions chance to vote

Chief Nduese Essien is the political leader of Eket senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State. As a former member of the House of Representatives, he was leader of the South-South caucus in the House. He later served as Minister of Housing and Urban Development in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government in 2010.

He participat­ed actively during the recently-con­cluded National Conference, where he made a strong case for true fed­eralism and resource control.

In this interview with FRED ITUA, Chief Essien spoke on a number of political issues, both in his home state and at the centre. He spoke specifically on Jonathan’s re-election chances and the political tension in the country, among others. Excerpts:

Sometime last year, you open­ly declared that you were retir­ing from active politics. What informed your decision and how have you been faring in retire­ment?

Well, let me correct you. I did not take leave from active politics. What I said was that I will no longer contest for any elective position. So, that is why, I am still involved in active pol­itics and trying to provide a road for the future. I opted out of contesting for any elective office because the process of emerging at the primaries in all the political parties is no longer based on merit, acceptability or popularity of the candidate. What I refer to as ‘selectoc­racy’ is the order of the day. Again, I regarded contesting election as an offer to serve the people but that no longer appears to be the motive nowadays as aspirants now want to force themselves into office through undue monetization and application of violence. Finally, I feel strongly that older persons who have served severally in elective posi­tions should stay back and use their ex­perience in advisory capacity to assist young leaders to do better.

I have been in the forefront of those agitating for the governorship of Akwa Ibom State to go round the three sen­atorial districts. Having done that and succeeded to convince the state to reason with us, I then had to assist in identifying a most competent person that should take over the mantle of leadership from Governor Godswill Akpabio. That is where we are today projecting Mr. Udom Emmanuel as the best material from the Eket Senatorial district to run for the office of the gov­ernor of the state.

Given the growing level of hate speech by political actors in many parts of the country, are you not concerned about the likelihood of violence after the forthcoming general elections?

Every serious-minded and patriotic Nigerian should be concerned about the level the political class has elevat­ed hate speech in the build-up to the forthcoming elections. I think the situ­ation is akin to what happened in 1965 before the crisis in the Western region snowballed into a major national issue.

From the South to the North, politi­cal leaders have thrown caution to the wind and have attacked one another in ways that have threatened the very essence and foundation of our exis­tence as a country. Even when leaders of the major political parties signed an accord to maintain peace and order before, during and after the elections, the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was pelted in many parts of the North by a mob of youths. The youths who attacked the president did not go out on their own to embarrass the President, politicians hired them. Apart from a few feeble voices of dissent, the lead­ership of the North had maintained an implicit silence over the attack on the president, who is the symbol of our sovereignty and the expression of our democratic rule. For us in the South- South, it was one of the most embar­rassing things to happen.

We in the South-South and indeed Southern Nigeria have always exhib­ited a great level of tolerance and we have always accommodated people ir­respective of their religious, ethnic and social differences. That is why nobody has threatened and or attacked any presidential candidate campaigning in the region. Unlike in the North where President Jonathan has been pelted in many places, General Muhammadu Buhari and presidential candidates of other political parties have freely cam­paigned in the South without any form of attack or harassment.

We want to send a message to our northern leaders and brothers that this country belongs to all of us and no­body, I mean nobody has the monopoly of violence. Nobody should be proud that its youths pelted the president of Nigeria. I believe the ex-militants who threatened to declare war if President Jonathan does not win the election might not have done so but for the provocation by those who attacked the president.

Are you satisfied with INEC’s preparation for the general elec­tions and particularly the distri­bution of the Permanent Voters’ Cards across the country?

I am not satisfied with INEC’s preparation for the elections. For in­stance, while the commission said it was fully prepared to conduct the polls before it was rescheduled, we have found out that INEC could have plunged this country into a needless crisis if it had gone ahead to conduct elections beginning from February 14. Barely two weeks to the original date of the election, over 30 million regis­tered voters were yet to collect their PVCs. The commission had not even at that time finished the printing of PVCs, yet it claimed to have been ready for the elections. I found that very curious and could not understand how the lead­ership of the commission could have gone ahead to conduct elections and deliberately disenfranchised over 30 million eligible voters. The postpone­ment of the elections clearly showed how unprepared INEC was and even those who cried foul have now appre­ciated the need for the shift.

INEC is said to have registered mil­lions of underage voters in many parts of the country, especially in the North. If millions of these children are issued with PVCs and allowed to vote during the forthcoming elections, the result of such polls cannot be said to be credible. There are tangible proofs that the elec­toral umpire has taken certain actions that could significantly jeopardize the outcome of the elections and Nigeri­ans should watch out and be sure that INEC does not plunge the country into needless crisis.

One of such examples was when the commission attempted to create 30,000 new polling units across the country with 21,600 allocated to the North. It took the intervention of patriotic Ni­gerians to stop the commission from going ahead with the plot.

Another issue is that of the card read­er. While it is a welcome development and has the capacity to ensure that only properly registered voters are accred­ited, there have been widespread con­cerns over the functionality of the de­vices. For instance, when it was test-run during the mock election, the device was said to have worked in many areas but there were also complaints about the duration it takes for a single voter to be cleared. There were also complaints about low battery life and the need for reagents to clean the fingers before be­ing placed on the machines.

Unless there is a marked improve­ment in their performances, the card readers may deny millions of elector­ate the opportunity to freely vote for candidates of their choices during the elections. INEC must, therefore, begin to look for ways of resolving that issue among many others.

The South-South has always been a major ally of the North politically until now when the two regions seem to be going on a collision course. How will the outcome of this election af­fect the relationship between the political North and the South- South?

In 1999, I had gone to the House of Representatives with the mindset that the South-South has been undu­ly cheated over the years; particularly when oil became the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. The region was never a major participant in managing its resources. That was why as the lead­er of the South- South parliamentary caucus then, we insisted that derivation should be paid and that the people of the oil-producing areas should have a com­mission that should manage their affairs in order to redress the imbalances in the level of development.

You know before 1999, the South- South had always been an ally of the North. The North was comfortable using the region to clinch the seat of the president in 1979 and 1983. Sub­sequently, they always relied on the region for the support.

In 2007, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo gave us an oppor­tunity to produce the vice president apparently as a means of placating the South-South’s agitation, we felt com­fortable because it was tied up with a northern president, the late Umaru Yar’Adua. Unfortunately, Mr. Yar’Ad­ua died in office and the South-South vice president became the acting pres­ident and later metamorphosed into a president.

At the end of that tenure, we strongly felt that the South-South man should have time as president, so we encour­aged President Jonathan to stand for election in 2011. Having won the first term, we expected that he should be al­lowed to do a second term just like the rest had done. Unfortunately, however, the political elites in the North have come out strongly against the South- South candidate even when they bene­fited from the support of the region in the past.

I daresay that President Jonathan has demonstrated a very high level of commitment to the development of Nigeria during the past four years. The president has not shown sectionalism in his leadership style and in the distribu­tion of development projects. We had expected the North to reciprocate our support in the past by supporting Presi­dent Jonathan to finish his second term to strengthen our political alliance.

Many powerful people are afraid this is go­ing to be the first time a Nigerian president will be emerging without the support of godfathers. In 1979, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was brought to the government by godfathers. In 1999, Gen. Obasanjo was sponsored to office by a god­father. In 2007, the late President Yar’Adua and Mr. Jonathan were brought into office by a godfather. But after President Jonathan won the 2011 polls, he distanced himself from the political godfather. Now that he is seeking re-election, he will be going in free from any attachment to a godfather. I call on Nigerians to look at the situation and realise that the pres­ident who emerges on that background is most likely to perform better than the one which will be tied to the apron strings of the godfathers. I still want to appeal to all Nigerians to give President Jonathan this opportunity and see how he will take Nigeria to a higher level of development.

Unlike in 2011 when Akwa Ibom State exploded in an orgy of political violence, the ongoing electioneering campaigns in the state have been largely peaceful. What is responsible for this?

When it became very obvious that the gover­norship was coming to Eket Senatorial District, we formed the Eket Senatorial District Assembly comprising of people from all the three federal consistencies of Oron, Ikot Abasi, and Eket. We worked together as people from the same area and agreed that all of us should work for an aspirant from any part of our senatorial district. Unfortu­nately, some of our brothers and sisters in Oro Na­tion who held that the governorship should have been given to them are the only ones that opted out. Instead they now support someone from Uyo Senatorial District.

That unpleasant development has shown that some of our people in Oron don’t have regards for the other composite parts of the senatorial district. We would have expected them to team up with whosoever emerged to win the governorship. But for them to team up with people from another sen­atorial district that had taken eight years already, is very disappointing. We in Eket, and I believe people from Ikot Abasi would have supported any Oron man that emerged during the primary to run for the governorship.

Are you not worried that the polariza­tion of the country along religious, ethnic and political lines and the current secu­rity challenges in the country are signs that Nigeria may be heading for disinte­gration?

Of course, I am and I know other patriotic Ni­gerians are too. It’s so sad that politicians have dragged religious leaders into politics and have thoroughly desecrated some of the values we hold so dear. But Nigeria will not disintegrate because of the forthcoming general elections or Boko Haram or ethnic tensions. This coun­try is stronger than what a lot of people think and what unites us is by far stronger than what divides us.

I was still at the National Assembly when we got a report that Nigeria will disintegrate this year. Although a lot of things have happened to indi­cate that we have a serious problem, I also know that we have the capacity to deal with our pecu­liar challenges as a nation. Most of the countries that are telling us we will break up are also facing challenges too and they are not contemplating a break-up. Why should we be cowed to believe that because we have challenges which are usual to growing nations, we are on the way to disin­tegration? Nigerians should reject such theories and work towards a more united and prosperous nation.