Public Office Requires Character, Competence – Abaribe

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is a former deputy governor of Abia State who currently represents Abia South at the Senate. Senator Abaribe is in the Abia Gubernatorial race for 2015 and fields questions from the media on his ambition.

      –     Osigbesan Sultan Luqman reports

Have you done well in the Senate to deserve being trusted with the Governorship of Abia State?

Of all the people who have been in the Senate from Abia, I think I have done more than anybody. If what you have done for your people is the criteria, then I deserve to be governor based on that, and the evidence is clear.

This is not evidence that is coming just from me but is pictorial and otherwise, which people can verify.

Are you not contesting only because the governorship has been zoned to your area?

I started my consultations in April. Between April and May, we went all over the states. By the time we completed the consultations, June had passed. It was in July that the state party took the decision to zone the governorship fortuitously to my zone — Abia South.

So, I could not have launched my bid because of the zoning. I would want to think it was because we had sufficiently told the party the reasons they needed to take the best decision; that may be part of what made the party to zone it to Abia South.

What are you bringing to this race distinct from others?

Three things: Character, competence and integrity. All the political actors in Abia know, for one thing, that it’s not just enough to talk the talk; you should also be able to demonstrate by your actions the type of person that you are.

I can say this without any fear of contradiction that anybody in Abia knows that if it is in terms of character, uprightness and being able to be your own person and actually work for the people of Abia, they will not find me wanting.

If it is in terms of being competent enough to do the job of governor, they will also not find me wanting because I have been at various levels and demonstrated at various times that I have the ability to run a state.

For a governor, your word is your bond. In the past, we had the unfortunate situation of having a governor in Abia who would say one thing today and do the exact opposite tomorrow.

That will never be me and that is why when I meet with Abians, they agree that this is the sort of person that is needed at this time of our national development.

The issue of the governor installing his successor keeps changing. What relationship do you have with Governor Orji because people see you as an independent-minded person? Do you see the governor trusting you?

Let me say this very unequivocally. At the time we heard some people made the claims of being anointed by the governor, I contacted him. I called a meeting of Abia South senatorial zone, being a political leader of the area and we needed to deal with that matter.

The governor told me that I should, please, tell the people when I meet with them that he had not anointed anybody and that he didn’t have any intention of anointing anybody.

Subsequently, the government of Abia also went on air, on radio and disowned any such statements and statements died down. People who do not have anything to sell themselves with usually try to do reflected glory of saying ‘this man is bringing me.’

I call it reflected glory because that means you got nothing yourself to offer and you need somebody else to do it for you.

Also recently, when the governor swore in the transition chairmen, he made the same statement and said he was not going to anoint anybody, that what he’s going to do is to create a level-playing the field for everybody to have an equal chance of emerging as governor.

And he said it very clearly that the person who would become governor would be made by three persons — first, God, because everything we do as humans is only possible if God wills it; secondly, that he himself, as the incumbent, will also have a say on how the process is done; thirdly is the party apparatus, that is those within the party who will eventually be the delegates to the congresses that will elect the standard bearer.

Subsequently, he had also made several points along this line. When the party made the decision for zoning to Abia South, there was a meeting of all stakeholders to cosider it.

When the stakeholders met, I couldn’t go. I had to send the governor a text and he responded and told me that we should continue to sing the song of equity and fairness in Abia and that it’s only fair that the senatorial zone that had not produced the governor before should get the opportunity now.

The governor has been singing the song of equity and fairness. As I said, he is a man that we trust in the sense that when he says ‘this is what I believe or this is what I want to do,’ he doesn’t go doing something else.

Having said he believes in equity and fairness, we believe also that he will not turn around to be unfair in trying to pick anybody.

So, I believe him when he says ‘I will not interfere in the process in any way. All I want is that let the process be sure to bring out somebody who will work in the interest of Abia State.’

If you become the PDP candidate, how would you work with other parties? Are they existing in Abia?  

I can make a prediction today and I want you to take the prediction to the bank: If I am given the ticket of PDP in Abia, there will be an exodus from every other party to PDP because most of the people, who are in the other parties are just waiting for the PDP to make its decision.

I know that they will not have anything to challenge PDP for once we have the ticket. We have not been talking about other parties because we know those other parties are actually PDP people who, for one reason or the other, found themselves in those places.

I know that a consensus builder coming into the race will bring everyone of them back to PDP.

Party chieftains in Abia find it difficult to work together when the chips are down. This happened in 2003 and 2007. How are the PDP leaders addressing this bane towards 2015?

I think that matter had been settled and dealt with by the incumbent governor, T.A Orji. Since 2010 when he came back into the PDP, he has been able to wield everybody together; he has been able to bring the different factions of PDP together.

What we have seen is that that syndrome of disunity has been permanently buried by the way Governor T.A. Orji has handled everybody.

Let me tell you that between 2003 and 2010, for example, many of us never went to Umuahia, not to talk of going to the Government House,Umuahia, even though we were senior members of the party.

Even though somebody like me was a senator in 2007, we never went there because of the way the previous incumbent scattered everybody. But today, you can see that any time there is anything that brings us together, everybody goes to show that disunity has been permanently buried.

What is your relationship with the Presidency and the PDP headquarters?

I am a very strong member of the Peoples Democratic Party. I have been in the Senate twice. I have very good relationship with the party at the national level and I have also related with every member of the party at the national on a personal basis. So, I’m not unknown at the national level of the party. I am also not unknown to the Presidency. My role today as the spokesman of the Senate shows that I have a very good relationship with them.

What are the challenges you see on the way of your 2015 ambition?

For every politician, whenever you put yourself forward to the people, you will always have challenges.

The challenges are two-fold. First, you have challenges from those who also are having the same ambitions like you. Secondly, you have the challenge of fitting within the dictates of your party, since we are running a democracy that does not allow any independent candidate.

But you have to look at yourself and be sure that you meet the criteria set up by your party. Once you meet those, the second one will be that you are trying to put forward your credentials and your criteria for running.

Other people are also putting up their own and what you want is a level playing ground so that the party people, who have to make the choice of who becomes their candidate, would be able to do so.

Therefore, I do not see any challenge. I have been in the field; I have done consultations at all levels; I’ve done consultations with stakeholders in the state — individually and collectively.

I’ve done consultations with the party people in Abia North, Abia Central and Abia South. I come from Abia South and I have also done consultations with people at the state party level.

I can tell you that I had a lot of enthusiasm from people wherever I went. No other aspirant in Abia has been able to traverse the state in the way that I am doing.

Are you done with the consultations?

No, I’m going into the second level of consultations now.

Have you done well in the Senate to deserve being trusted with the governorship of Abia State?

Of all the people who have been in the Senate from Abia, I think I have done more than anybody. If what you have done for your people is the criteria, then I deserve to be governor based on that, and the evidence is clear.

This is not evidence that is coming just from me but is pictorial and otherwise, which people can verify.

Are you not contesting only because the governorship has been zoned to your area?

I started my consultations in April. Between April and May, we went all over the states. By the time we completed the consultations, June had passed. It was in July that the state party took the decision to zone the governorship fortuitously to my zone — Abia South.

So, I could not have launched my bid because of the zoning. I would want to think it was because we had sufficiently told the party the reasons they needed to take the best decision; that may be part of what made the party to zone it to Abia South.

What are you bringing to this race distinct from others?

Three things: Character, competence and integrity. All the political actors in Abia know, for one thing, that it’s not just enough to talk the talk; you should also be able to demonstrate by your actions the type of person that you are.

I can say this without any fear of contradiction that anybody in Abia knows that if it is in terms of character, uprightness and being able to be your own person and actually work for the people of Abia, they will not find me wanting.

If it is in terms of being competent enough to do the job of governor, they will also not find me wanting because I have been at various levels and demonstrated at various times that I have the ability to run a state.

For a governor, your word is your bond. In the past, we had the unfortunate situation of having a governor in Abia who would say one thing today and do the exact opposite tomorrow.

That will never be me and that is why when I meet with Abians, they agree that this is the sort of person that is needed at this time of our national development.

The issue of the governor installing his successor keeps changing. What relationship do you have with Governor Orji because people see you as an independent-minded person? Do you see the governor trusting you?

Let me say this very unequivocally. At the time we heard some people made the claims of being anointed by the governor, I contacted him. I called a meeting of Abia South senatorial zone, being a political leader of the area and we needed to deal with that matter.

The governor told me that I should, please, tell the people when I meet with them that he had not anointed anybody and that he didn’t have any intention of anointing anybody.