We encourage robust arguments in Edo ACN, says Ize-Iyamu

Osagie Ize-Iyamu is the National Vice Chairman, of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) for the Southsouth. He was the Director-General, Oshiomhole Campaign Organisation, in the July 14, 2012 governorship election in Edo State. The former Edo State Secretary to the State Government  also organised the November 12 inauguration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his deputy, Dr. Pius Odubu, for a second term in office. In this interview, he  speaks on the governorship election and the state of his party in the zone. OSEMWENGIE  OGBEMUDIA reports.

You were the campaign director of Governor Oshiomhole.

What, in your view, was responsible for the success of the election?

It was a combination of factors. First, we prayed to God for peaceful election and God heard our prayers. And to the best of my recollection, I don’t think that there was violence any where. I have not been told that any one died. The weather of the day was good and the election went quite well. Again our people behaved properly. Apart from the security arrangement put in place, the usual incident of ballot box snatching, trying to stuff the ballot boxes or the use of force to rig the elections did not occur. The Edo people too must be appreciated for behaving themselves in an exemplary manner and showing to other Nigerians how an election should run. It should not be a do or die matter, it should not be a desperate thing. Also we must thank Mr. President. I recall when he came to Edo State to campaign, he made it very clear that the era of writing results or using security agencies to intimidate people were gone. That the election would be free and fair; that it would be one man one vote and that even the security agencies had been told to behave themselves properly. Honestly speaking, that was what happened; it was one man one vote and the security agents behaved properly.

You mean there was no ballot snatching?

Well, you know during the campaign, many of those issues were brought to the fore by our candidate in particular, and to a lesser extent, other party officials kept saying they would not tolerate ballot snatching. We were all determined that even if the security agents were to be found wanting, we were ready to take the law into our hands to ensure that such a thing did not occur. But I also think that the president’s own assurances and the way the police and military behaved helped to ensure that every body played by the rule. There was no preferred political party or candidate; that made it easier for people to behave themselves. The level of enlightenment and mobilization was quite high and ACN as a party made it very clear that we were not interested in rigging elections. All we wanted was that the outcome must be transparent and credible and at the end of the day, that was what we got.

Didn’t you entertain any fear before the election on account of the major opposition’s capability?

We never had any fears at all. Perhaps what came as a surprise was the overwhelming victory. That we would win was not in doubt. Somebody might be a General in the Nigerian Army, but in terms of partisan politics, we felt that he was relatively new and when you look at the whole election, the things he said and of course the final outcome, you will agree with me that he was quite a novice. Even the unit where he voted, he lost to the ACN. We are not talking about the ward or local government. We are talking about his unit, and he lost the place. We were never carried away by his military title. There is no doubt that he had a lot of resources but money is not everything. If you know the history of our people, you will know that money is not really what makes people to win election. Yes, it’s paramount but it is not the major factor. We were not worried about his rank and military influence; we were very confident that based on the performance of the Comrade Governor across the state, it would have been a big shock if he had not won the election. The pleasant surprise is that we won particularly everywhere and even the PDP bigwigs that we thought would be able to win their unit lost them. If there is any surprise at all, it is the fact that even PDP bigwigs did not win their own units. We were very confident we would win.

So far, ACN has been successful in the state, but people are concerned that some of you who came from the PDP due to crisis could cause similar crisis in the party.

The problem with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was that its leadership was too autocratic and too personalized and because of that, many of us could no longer stay. At the height of the arrogance, we came out with the slogan “no man is God” because we were trying to say that there was need for humility even in leadership. For ACN, I believe we have learnt from the mistakes of the PDP. During the campaigns, there were talks about a pending implosion in ACN, but at the end of the day, we came together and worked together.

The beautiful thing about ACN is that we encourage robust argument. We are not afraid to disagree with ourselves and we also have a mechanism for settling problems before they get out of hand. When such a mechanism is there, it only makes the party healthier. A party where everybody says one thing is not a healthy party. In a political party, there are different people and if they are vibrant, they must have different views. The ability to collate them and say this is our view is what makes the party strong.

You can see the unity that played out in our election; it takes unity to win 18 over 18. We had one purpose, we had a clear agenda, if you listened to our message throughout the campaign. There is no harm or crime in disagreeing. Disagreeing is healthy in politics but what is important is the ability to annex these views; the ability to accommodate one another even if we disagree. It has played out in this election and we also believe it will play out in other elections.

It is alleged that because the state is broke, most of the projects that have been initiated by the governor will be abandoned…

I don’t know where you got the information that the state is broke; the state is not broke. I am even aware right now that contractors are being paid. I also know that public servants are being paid when due; if the state is broke that won’t happen. The only time there was a lull in construction was because of the rains; now, the rains have stopped, contractors have fully returned to site. So, the state is not broke. If you look at the way the Comrade Governor has handled the revenue of the state, you will actually give him kudos.

Apart from the fact that there is transparency, he has also made steps to make Edo State viable. Today, people are paying their taxes; institutions that no man would have talked to are being talked to – PHCN, UBTH, the Banks – they are now paying their taxes. In the past, these organizations would collect ‘pay as you earn’ tax from their workers running into millions of naira and theyy were not remitted to the state government.

What can you say about the IGR profile of the state?

The revenue profile of the state has increased. Today, the state is not totally dependent on flack as it used to be in the past. From the internal generated revenue alone, Edo State government can pay its recurrent expenditure. And if you look at the pattern of administration, his priority is capital project and in his current budget, he made it clear that deliberately, recurrent will not exceed 40 per cent of the budget, and capital, 60 per cent.

We must not continue to consume our resources. So, Oshiomhole is determined to take Edo State to the next level. In this second term, I see a lot of commissioning; I see a lot of projects across the state being commissioned.

I see more development being started and completed at the same time. I see areas where people thought had been neglected being tackled. You could see Aliko Dangote at his inauguration. Dangote spoke to the Edo people at the launcheon and said because of the persuasion and commitment of the Edo State government, before the end of the year, he would do a ground-breaking ceremony of what will be called the biggest fertilizer plant in the whole of Africa in Edo north – Agenebode. That will bring thousands of jobs that will bring serious economic activities and increase the revenue of Edo State.

For those that think he has not done much in job creation, he has always said that he wanted to first make the state attractive. “I want to put infrastructure in place that will make people come to Edo State. I also want to make the state viable. I want Edo State to be able to pay salaries and pensions,” the governor once told Edo people. He has achieved that. The next level has commenced and the key is economic transformation, making Edo State economically strong.

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