Awka South politics hits tough,as two candidates fight over Hon.Oseke

Last week, one Mr. Mr Christian Ezenwwoke's,Ochili claimed he stepped down for  Hon Harford Oseke for

Awka South House of Assembly. Today, Mr. Tony Nworgu counted him bluntly, saying he was the one who stepped down for Oseke. enjoy his interview

WHAT were your roles in the last general election and what do you have to refute about some publications you have read on it?

  I was involved in the last election, the House of Assembly election. So many of us actually indicated interest to contest the election. In my own constituency, there were about four to five of us who indicated interest. But we were waiting for the state to tell us how much they were going to sell the form; the registration form. We had hoped it was going to be something like five hundred thousand naira. So finally, it came to be 1.2million naira; two hundred thousand naira was for expression of interest and one million naira was for the form.

 Under what political party?

  The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. So when the party announced the 1.2million naira fee, many of  us who formally indicated interest dropped. I bought the form for 1.2million. Prince Ifeanyi Anugwu, the son of the Igwe of Mbaukwu equally bought the form for 1.2million, then Harford Oseke also bought the form. Just the three of us.

  Few days to the party primaries; I understood,  Igwe Peter Anugwu! the traditional ruler of Mbaukwu’s; son stepped down and we were left with the two of us: Oseke and I. Then on the day of the primaries, somebody came and said “the Governor wants you too to step down” and the person who asked me to step down was the then Commissioner for Science and Tech: Hon. Obiora Nwankwo. He said the Governor was asking me to step down for Oseke, and I stepped down for Oseke. So it beats my imagination to come and see somebody like this (pointing at Mr Christian Ezenwwoke's interview in a previous publication)who never bought the form, saying he stepped down.

So is that all the bone of contention?

  Yes. That he stepped down, this is deceit because the person who stepped down may have an opportunity to run for an election tomorrow. Now somebody who did not buy the form  now comes to deceive people, telling the Governor that he stepped down for peace to reign. That is contentious. We want the Governor to be our Governor and take whatever decision he wants to take based on the truth of the matter.

  He is the Coordinator ; Awka South Willie Obiano Support Group and I am a member of the support group. And ordinarily, our micro intention for the support group is to see that the state moves positively forward. Then if I can stay where I can make the state positively move forward and I close my eyes over certain things that become  big deals.

  He is running faster than everybody so that the Governor will see him as working really goods, but we know the intentions. Now what is the contention? We want to inaugurate this group.

Which group do you mean, please?

  The Willie Obiano Support Group. The inauguration must be done properly. Awka South is only a branch of the state's group. The state is to launch itself first, then we go under the state. Now, because he is putting himself so forward, he wants Governor Willie Obiano to see him. The state is not yet inaugurated and he wants to inaugurate a branch and the mission is what he has done here (pointing at the previous publication). I want to tell our Governor simply the truth. Let us not be misguided. If I am black, let me say I am black. If I am white, let me say I am white.

  We have quarrelled over a lot of things in the state. I used to be a politician but a passive one. Now I have come in, let us tell the truth as it is.

  If he was not able to buy the form or did not buy the form, let him forget about ‛stepping down' because he never bought the form, he never contested. This is the issue and I want the Governor to know that this young man never bought the form, just that.

What are these things going wrong in your group?

  We have officers but I don't know who the Treasurer is. I am the Financial Secretary.  he collects the money from you.

Is he the Treasurer?

  He is not the Treasurer. He will tell ‛Mr A' that he has opened an account and that I am a signatory to that account and when they come to me, I tell them that  I don't know of any account anywhere. So in all honesty, what I am asking for is that things be done properly. If he has a hidden agenda or intentions, let it not be to hoodwink anybody. Let the state flow.

  Positions are allocated by God not man. If we understand that he did not run for the election and his mission is to push forward for the Governor to see him as doing a nice job under crook, then we are not going anywhere.

   If the Governor for example, comes to understand that it was this way and that things are not really going right and I kept quiet, I must have made myself a fool by not speaking out. So I sincerely wish  to counter him on this principal issue; that he never contested any election, not to talk of stepping down and that Willie Obiano Support Group be run as an organization that has the interest of the Governor at heart.

  If we are launching, we launch the state. The Governor gave an authority that the body should be registered, and he gave the authority to the state. He did not give the authority to Awka South (a branch of the group). So if we are to launch, we launch what the Governor supported and not the branch. But because he wants to throw himself forward and where he is heading for is the next House of Assembly election. I don't know whether I will be alive at that period, I don't know whether he will be alive then or even the Governor; only God knows. And if we don't state the truth, then the Governor may be misguided. So let the Governor see everybody as we really are.

Has there been any effort made by the group to correct this anomaly, so that after the state's support group has been launched, the branch can then queue up with one voice?

 We meet almost every Sunday, but from the time we start until the end of the meeting, he will be the only one talking. And if you try to call him to order, he will shout at you asking you to allow him finish what he was saying. And at the end of his speech, he will announce: ‛General'.

   On one occasion, a woman from the  crowd challenged him saying: “if you call this an association, then you must allow people to contribute”. The woman was shouted at and asked to render an apology, I was looking at them. They talked about inauguration mass. He did not discuss it with anybody. Though I am a Catholic but the group is made up of many denominations. I was seated at the high table then, and so I signalled him to seek the opinion of the members to know where they would want it so that we don't create crisis.  That is democracy and that is where I belong. He can ask the group to do him the favour of having the inauguration mass in his church and by so doing, he would win their understanding. So the little effort made to put things right, he puts it out. For instance, I was the Secretary and just one day he came to me and said, “I want you to be the Financial Secretary” and he brought another Secretary. And the next time, he signaled to another person to come up to the high table. This is not how to run an organisation. My sincere intention is this ‛let things be done right' so that nobody will start creating problem in Anambra State.

This man you refer to, was he elected or appointed as the Coordinator?

   No, look at how it happened. A few of them met and went to the Governor and told him  that they are the Willie Obiano campaign group and the Governor told them that many people have the same interest, let them harmonise. They appointed him (Ezenwoke) Coordinator of Awka South branch and he came allotting positions to people he likes. He will sit you down today and tomorrow he will remove you and put another person.

  I collect money as the Financial Secretary and he collects the money from me and it becomes a regular exercise. He will tell Mr A that he opened an account and that I am a signatory to the account and when they ask me, I tell them that I don't know anything about the account. The way and manner the money is spent, we don't know. And people are grudging. But that is not the key issue that I am actually concerned about.

  The key issue that I am actually concerned about is that there be transparency in all we do; including who you really are, what you really did or what you will do.

But have you been able to call him to know about the income and expenditure?

  That has not been done. If you come to the table; because he appointed them– 99.5 per cent of them are sycophants. The day the woman challenged him from the floor; it was from the table that she was shouted down and the same woman is from his own  place. The day I stood up and said we should have an agenda that will move the state forward, it was the man they call the Secretary that stood up and said: “the man is loaded; don't go there. He knows what to do”. I was cut short. So if any person has something to say, the person is afraid because they will shout down at the person. He is using others, holding them at ransom to better himself. Democracy is all about transparency. He did not buy the form, let alone stepping down. Let it be known.