Daily Times Nigeria Thursday May 24, 2018
Politics
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APC has failed as govt, PDP has failed as opposition in Nigeria – Iheanetu Hon. Mike Iheanetu, is the member representing Aboh Mbaise state constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly. In this interview with our correspondent, CHARLES ONYEKWERE, the two time lawmaker and a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is sad over the mediocre opposition, the PDP has exhibited so far across board and other issues.
of Enugu not vote for Governor Ugwuanyi and PDP to continue the good work? Why would a right thinking person want to experiment with another candidate or another party? Apart from Anambra State that had its governorship election last year, the remaining four states in the South- East will be ruled by the PDP in 2019.
Can you say that the quality of opposition from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is worthwhile? The opposition we are talking about is not just at the federal Level, it includes the party’s opposition in Imo State. What I see is the worst form of opposition and the worst form of governance. For you to talk about opposition, you have to talk about governance. The APC has provided the worst governance since the return of democracy in Nigeria and we in the PDP have provided the worst opposition. The worst governance in the sense that all the landmarks and all the basic achievements recorded within the 16 years of PDP rule in the country have all been destroyed within three years of APC misrule. So you begin to ask yourself, are we taking two steps forward and four steps backward? As far as I am concerned, PDP made a lot of achievements in 16 years which have been squandered in the three years of APC misrule. Even in Imo State, all that the PDP achieved in the state have been squandered in Rochas Okorocha’s APC government. If you want me to describe APC government in Imo State, I would rather say it is a bad play by midnight. We have failed as opposition if proper accountability of opposition is placed on the table, otherwise we would have held the governor of Imo State responsible for not giving proper account of his stewardship. We would have held the governor to account for the so called primary schools he claimed to have built, none is functional. We would have asked the governor to account for the so called 27 block works he calls general hospital. We would have asked the governor to tell us who and who are doing all the contracts in the state. Have you gone anywhere and seen any sign post of a contractor doing any job? The PDP as a party has failed to ask what is the design of any project or road done. We have failed to ask the governor whether he has paid compensation to those he destroyed their houses and properties. What about the people who died out of frustration? He might have good intentions, but succeeded in producing bad results. We don’t use hardship to
Are you not bothered by the confusion among presidential aspirants in your party? I don’t discuss such politics because I feel ashamed of what is happening in PDP. If Goodluck Jonathan had listened to the voice of reason or wise counsel, he should not have gone for the 2015 presidential election that brought this incompetent administration. We would have ceded the presidential ticket to the North and by now the North would have been completing eight years and the presidency returns to the South. But the current President collected the Presidency by default and about completing his four years. If another Northerner wins the Presidency from another party other than the APC, he would like to do eight years and when you add the four years of Buhari it will be 12 years of power residing in the North. We are trying to avoid the mistakes of Buhari administration. But I don’t care who gets the ticket in the North. Anybody is better than Buhari; a man who cannot differentiate between sincerity and reality. How can you be a President of a nation where somebody would score two points in an entrance examination and gets admission while the other person from another zone scores 130 points and he’s denied admission? He has localised the Nigerian state. How can a president of a country put all his relations in various positions at the expense of other sections of the country? Is Nigerian constitution useless? How can you be fighting corruption and you are on top of corruption and use corrupt people to surround yourself and still claim that you are fighting corruption ? You prevent somebody from seeking medical attention abroad, but you are virtually living in a hospital abroad. Is it not a case of pot calling kettle black? I am ashamed that such a person is my president. He is encouraging nepotism, insecurity and incompetence in managing the economy. In short, he is clueless and still wants to come back in 2019, to do what? He should tell Nigerians and the world why our economy is down, why the naira is devalued and other inconsistencies. This is the opinion of my party, the PDP.
What is the cause? It is the effect of bad governance. The APC government at the federal level has failed Nigerians. It is a shame that the American dollar that the Federal Government inherited at N167 per dollar in 2015 is now tripled. It is a shame that the petrol price was at N87 per litre when the APC government took, it is now N145 and above. It is a shame. I want to challenge all Journalists to go and make research and name one project initiated, completed and commissioned by the present APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is the same story in Imo State. But then we could not hold the APC and its people to account for these monumental failures. It is our duty to checkmate bad management of the economy and our failure to do that is most unfortunate. I want to apologise for our failure to checkmate the bad governments of Buhari and Okorocha.
Hon. Iheanetu
nurture development. In all these, the PDP has failed as opposition because we have not been able to stand firm and ask the governor what has happened to the federal allocations to the local government areas for the past seven years. The governor has not held any local government elections since he came on board, so where are the allocations for the LGAs? We have failed to hold him accountable for all these. What is the situation in the
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House of Assembly where PDP is in minority? In the state House of Assembly we have also failed because we have not been able to keep the Speaker on his toes. We have not been able to make sure the state budget is well appropriated and implemented. We have not been able to account for certain policies of the state which the parliament supposed to have torpedoed. It is failure on our side as opposition members of the House of Assembly.
The APC has provided the worst governance since the return of democracy in Nigeria and we in the PDP have provided the worst opposition. The worst governance in the sense that all the landmarks and all the basic achievements recorded within the 16 years of PDP rule in the country have all been destroyed within three years of APC misrule. So you begin to ask yourself, are we taking two steps forward and four steps backward?
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With all these, can the PDP bounce back to power either at the Federal level or in Imo State? If there is a place the PDP will win handsomely, that place is Imo State. Even if a “goat” is presented by the PDP we are sure that “goat” will defeat any APC candidate in Imo State; not to talk of when a credible candidate is our standard bearer. The party is now more credible, sound, well rejuvenated, well invigorated and repented with a powerful leadership led by Chief Ezekwem. We are heading to Douglas House (Imo Government House) in 2019 and nobody can stop us. What about other states in the South-East, can the party make any in road? How can you defeat somebody who has done marvelously well? Have you been to Aba recently? Doesn’t it look like magic how Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has transformed the town? What about Ebonyi State where things are working well? Have you been to Enugu State? Would you for any reason want to suggest that somebody should go to overseas or Enugu for a holiday? Would you in your wildest imagination think that Enugu is in Nigeria? What else do you call performance other than that? Why would the people
Having been in the House for
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