His suspension long overdue – Okah
JUNE 2, 2013
Okah
A former Commissioner for Information under Dr. Peter Odili administration, Mr. Emma Okah, speaks with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE on the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State
HOW would you describe the current political crisis in the state?
It is normal within a democratic dispensation in Nigeria. In partisan politics, it has always been about disagreements which will eventually lead to agreements or sometimes, agreements will eventually lead to disagreements. As far as I am concerned, all sides in the crisis have their right to express their views and I don’t see anything totally abnormal about it.
But the current crisis appears to be intractable.
Yes! It would seem so, but like I said, in many other places in Nigeria, we have seen things like that. So, it is not as if it is totally new. Things like this happen day and night in the political arena. They also happen in states, even at the federal level, you also see things like these. You also see things like these in other political parties as well. It is not totally a Rivers State thing or PDP thing. It happens all over the place.
The governor of the state was recently suspended from the Peoples Democratic Party. Do you think that suspension was deserved?
You cannot take the suspension of the governor of the state in isolation. You must look at it from the perspective of what has been the issue in Rivers State. The governor of Rivers State seems to have operated in a manner which rendered him vulnerable to attacks by his own party. He has become the ladder through which the opposition is climbing to the roof of his party and as far as I am concerned, that looks like a disservice to the party that has brought him into relevance. But let us even address the specific issues here, which is one of the major reasons which the national PDP gave for the suspension.
They (national PDP) is saying the governor did not do enough or do anything at all to get the reversal of the suspension of the elected chairman, the vice and the 17 councillors of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council. Now, you are arguing: was the party right? Another argument says: was Rivers State Government and the House of Assembly right in doing what they did? Why did the House of Assembly suspend the local government chairman, the vice and the councillors? A high court in Abuja gave judgment, which ousted the PDP exco led by G.U. Ake and enthroned a new one led by Felix Obuah. Instead of obeying that order, the Amaechi government decided that the only way they could get back at Obuah was to imagine that he was being supported and strengthened by Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State for Education, and used that to get back at the Obio/Akpor local government. That was it. Obio/Akpor local government chairman was not given an opportunity to defend himself by Amaechi or by the House of Assembly or anybody. What we heard from the House was that 17 stakeholders wrote a petition. On the strength of that alone, the House swept the entire executive of the council. That in itself is wrong.
Now, those who were arguing that Amaechi was wrongly suspended from the party must argue first whether Amaechi and his government and the House were right in suspending Nsirim (the local government chairman). One evil leads to the other. You cannot get smoke without fire. Amaechi is the person who is causing the problem.
But Amaechi has maintained that he had no hand in the suspension of Nsirm, the vice-chairman of Obio/Akpor and the 17 councillors.
Amaechi is misleading himself. He is deceiving himself when he says such things. Does he really think he is talking small children on the streets of Port Harcourt? The House of Assembly is populated by people who Amaechi handpicked. They are not capable of independent opinions or independent decisions especially when it has a far reaching consequence like the removal of the local government chairman, the vice and the entire exco. It is not possible without Amaechi. Let us even assume for the purpose of argument that he has no hand in it. What has he said since the problem concerning the local government started in the past three weeks? So, is he telling me that as a governor, he has not heard that there is fire on the mountain to enable him to come out with an opinion? If the governor did not see evil, did not smell evil and never saw evil, what kind of governor is he? In essence, Amaechi is the initiator, executor, promoter of that aberration that took place in Obio/Akpor local government. He is misleading himself and misleading the public when he says he has no hand in it.
Again, how come his aides have all been talking in respect of Obio/Akpor local government? How come they have been the ones attacking the police? How come they have been the ones justifying the removal of Obio/Akpor executive? His aides are the ones doing these and he says he is not aware. Let him stop saying that so that Nigerians will not begin to think that he is reducing governance to a laughing stock.
The governor has said he has no power to resolve the crisis affecting the PDP in the state.
He has the power to resolve it. He even said two days ago that while he was about resolving the crisis, the national PDP came up with his suspension. He had admitted that he has the power to resolve it. This is a family affair, but the governor is the one who is behaving as if he has the right to select who will be and who will not be in Rivers State. He is the father of the state; he is the father of everybody and he is the ‘father’ of all the chairmen. He can reprimand any of his ‘children’ that are doing anything that is not right. But he cannot select who to punish and select who to love, even when the facts on the ground do not justify such selections. That is the problem. He is choosing who will be his friends and choosing who will be his enemies. He has all it takes to resolve the problem. All he needs to do is to call the House to order and tell the Speaker that, ‘I give you 24 hours to resolve this matter or there will be a problem.’ Within 24 hours, he got N9bn to buy aircraft. As soon as he presented the position to the House of Assembly, within 24 hours, they gave him N9bn to buy an aircraft. So, he should resolve the problem because the problem is right at his doorstep.
Some are saying that Amaechi’s suspension from the PDP portends great danger to democracy. Do you agree with that?
It does not portend great danger to democracy in Nigeria. The PDP has all it takes to discipline any of its members that errs. Governor Amaechi has been taking the PDP for a ride too long. In fact, his suspension is long overdue. Even after the suspension was pronounced and while Nigerians were still reacting and trying to see how they could reach an amicable ground for the matter to be resolved, he addressed youths on May 27, 2013 and ridiculed his party. He is also the same person who said he was going o set aside N1bn every month and that he was going to give this money to an opposition person; for the purpose of raising eligible voters who would disgrace the PDP at the polls.
But he (Amaechi) did not say the money was for that purpose.
It goes without saying. He said he wanted to use it for empowerment and that he was going to disgrace the PDP people through the polls.
Do you see such a statement as anti-party?
That is more than anti-party. How can anybody be breaking down the house that he helped to build? At the end of the day, what it means is that, what is important to the governor and to those who are advising him is that, anybody who is not PDP has the right to enter into the house of PDP and destroy the house. In other words, he is opening the doors of the PDP and exposing the party to danger and no responsible President, no responsible party man, no responsible national leader or national chairman of the party will sit back and watch one member of the PDP destroy the party. No matter how wrong the party is, these issues are resolvable and reconcilable, but let somebody who has benefitted immensely from the party be humble.
But there are claims that the governor’s suspension from the party did not follow due process?
But Amaechi himself is a primary defaulter of due process. When he got the House of Assembly to suspend Obio/Akpo council, he did not follow due process. The elected members in the local government were not given the right to fair hearing. Amaechi has suspended 10 council chairmen before for not attending a meeting and for coming late to a meeting. Amaechi suspended them on the spot. Did he follow due process?
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