National Daily

Money bag politicians brought disaster to Anambra — Enechukwu

Former Speaker of old Anambra State House of Assembly in the Second Republic, Ifeanyi Enechukwu, has come down hard on the legion of young millionaires in the state whose involvement in politics have caused a series of negative influence. Enechukwu who was among the political big-wigs at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders meeting on Anambra State , told our Abuja Bureau Chief, CHUKS EHIRIM, in this interview that the role of these “get-rich-quick” young men has brought disaster to the politics of the state

WERE you asking Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, to cross over to the PDP?
He is holding brief for the Peoples Democratic Party.

So you are telling him to crossover to the PDP if he wants to stay in office till 2010?
I didn't say so. Did I say that?

Was that not what you said?
No. I mean if he wants to continue to win election.

That means if he crosses over, your party (PDP) will field him?
He will contest under PDP and stands a better chance because he is an incumbent. You heard what our former chairman of Board of Trustees (BOT), (Chief Tony Anenih) said. He said it is not easy to defeat an incumbent.
So being an incumbent, he will have an added advantage, if he comes over to the PDP, he will have an added advantage that is PDP plus incumbency power.

How do you view the removal of Baba Gana Kingibe as Secretary to the Government of the Federation?
Well, he was holding an appointive position and anybody on appointment is at the whims and caprices of his appointer. So, there is nothing strange about it. You don't even know the terms of this appointment. Maybe he was appointed to stay for a certain period or may be he decided to leave himself.

But some people are already saying that it is the fallout of the power play within the PDP especially with regards to the P resident's health?
President's health? Okay, let me use the opportunity of the press being around me to say that it is most regrettable, the way the print media have politicized someone's ill health. It is not good by my own estimation.
All the headlines are on the president's ill health, whether he stayed in Saudi Arabia to look after his health or whether he didn't come back with funfair and all that, a man with so much arrears of work, trying to settle down to clear his table, they said everywhere is locked up, nobody is allowed to see him.
But you had here, people who saw him. The politicization of likely or alleged president's ill health is condemnable. I don't like it at all. It makes news that Mr. President is suffering from stomach ache because he is a President.
But the way it has been disseminated, in my own opinion, is wrong. I will like the print media to moderate the kind of publicity given to the man's indisposition, because all of us get sick. In fact, nobody is well. Or show me that man who is 100 per cent healthy.

But his information managers are the people who caused the speculations?
Normally they belong to the press, aren't they?

Let's take you back to Anambra. You made some fables here, regarding the politics of wealth and how, in the past, wealthy people lost elections to those who did not have money. Will it not be proper to say that part of the problem of Anambra politics is the presence of many money bags?
Yes, I am saying it could be attributed to the presence of money bags. I said so in my contribution, that the arrival of the get rich quick young stars spoilt the peace of Anambra State. It is the major cause of political instability in Anambra state.
Looking at the case of Dr. Chris Ngige, Somebody had to pay for every thing for him to become a governor and at the end of the day, he demanded his pound of flesh. And ever since then, Anambra State has been in turmoil.
Then look at this last one too. It was Andy Ubah. He came in with a lot of money and soon after he won his party nomination, he made a mess of the party, threw away everybody. When he became governor, look at the first appointments he made. No strong party man was in it.
Then stories began to come out about some people who won party primaries but were sidelined and people who didn't even get up to 10 votes, are in the Federal Legislature. A case in question is in my own local government, or Federal Constituency where Charles Odedo, he won his case in the Supreme Court one year and one month after.
He scored over three thousand, six hundred votes. And somebody who had seven votes was sent to the Federal House and he enjoyed the full rights of a member of the House of Representatives.

Will it not be proper to blame leaders like you because you were there, and these young stars, like you said, with sacks of money, were able to hijack the party machinery. I am sure that in the Second Republic when you were Speaker, such thing never happened because the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Jim Nwobodo would not allow it?
We cannot be blamed because ours is to talk. What I am saying now, I have said several times. I advise the money bags, come and contest election. That is what I was saying when I gave vote of thanks.
If you know you are popular and you have money, come and contest election. Let the people vote for you. But you see, because they are not popular, the Igbo person rejects money when he is not sure of the source. They know they are not popular, that is why they don't contest.
They prefer to sponsor a candidate, install him and then use that candidate. That is the case of Eselu Uga, Chris Ubah and Chris Ngige. Ngige didn't have a kobo. Ubah brought out money, sponsored him and gave his terms. Then Ngige became stubborn and Anambra state boiled.

What, in your opinion, is the solution to the crisis in Anambra state chapter of PDP?
The solution, I told the Nwobodo panel that came to mediate and reconcile the people, let's get back to the status quo. Allow the people to elect popular candidates at the grassroots at the Ward Congresses. If you win a Word Congress election, then you are strong, you can speak fearlessly.
Even if somebody gives you money, you just take it that he is supporting you, not that he is installing you. You get the point? And you can say no, if he says anything that you don't like.
You see some of our members at the National Assembly, from Anambra State don't have the courage to say no to what they know is wrong, because of earlier sponsorship and all that. So what I am saying in effect is that, the solution, we must start from the grassroots.
Let's have a democratic congress in which the people will vote and the leaders will emerge. They will be thinking of those who voted them in.

But this meeting did not find solution to the crisis in Anambra PDP?
No. The party allows that. There were other suggestions from the other groups. The Nwobodo committee was asked to submit its report to the National Working Committee (NWC). Based on that report and the suggestions made by various individuals at this meeting, the party will issue a statement which we shall all obey.
They will come out with a directive that will be popular. I can predict that they will say we continue with the congress.

What is the most important achievement of this meeting today?
The National Working Committee has listened to the real stakeholders of the PDP in Anambra State. They have listened to us, not just to base their judgements on petitions, most of them frivolous, or on the report of the monitoring committee. They heard from people like us. I say that I am the number one stakeholder.

Is it possible for PDP to remain strong in Anambra State politics without these people you called get rich quick young stars?
Very possible. Listen to me; I said I have been there over the past 30 years. I have been involved in all the elections. Make me your consultant and I tell you how to win election in Anambra State.
So, without the money bags we will still win. In fact I will say, the money bags should leave us alone so that we can go from house to house and canvass for votes. Look, money has won elections only at the electoral commission level, not at the polls. Share money to the people who come out to vote, they will still vote for who they want to vote. At the end of the day, a few people are given money at the INEC level. To write election results.

In other words, the involvement of the money bags in Anambra politics brought misfortune to the state?
That is what I am saying, that the involvement of money bags has brought disaster for Anambra State and I say they should keep off.