Iwemdi Nwaham’s dissection of PDP, Okowa’s leadership performance

 

By Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi

 

It was Gordon S. Black of The University of Rochester, who in his theory of political ambition; “Career choices and role of structural incentives’’ posited that; as a politician rises to new positions of power and prominence, his motives for seeking political advancement becomes subjected to intense public scrutiny. In most cases, politicians try to promote the fiction that their motives are unsoiled by private ambitions, that all they wish is to serve the public and to pursue the ‘public good’.

 

Likewise, Iwemdi Nwaham, the former Delta State APC Factional Publicity Secretary, who recently led a crowd of APC members/faithfuls to join the Peoples Democratic Party in his ward in Umunede in Ika North East Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State, while in a media interview with Ika Weekly Newspaper, based in Delta state, subjected the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Okowa’s led administration to an objective scrutiny.

 

Aside re-echoing what has been in the minds of Deltans, Iwemdi in that referenced interview used factually backed arguments to establish how the superlative performance of Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa has not only turned PDP to a party that is likely not to be dislodged by APC in the state but characterizes Governor Okowa as the most suitable Vice Presidential material that the nation currently needs.

To copiously quote him, he said in parts; “I think I’ll say he has been a wonderful politician. He has recorded successes far beyond my own and many other people’s wildest imaginations. To know that somebody from a place where I also hail from will navigate the rough and tumble world of politics to be virtually everything you can think of, the chairman of a local government, senator, secretary to state government, governor of a party and vice presidential candidate of a major party that has every likelihood of winning and he becomes the vice president of the country. It is mesmerising and indeed mind blowing.

“Okowa has done so much for Delta State. Like I said, all the other governors put together have not done as much as Okowa has done. And this is for real. I’m not being partisan about it. And so, APC is in serious turmoil in the state. How can they muster anything to get people to come and vote APC? It will not happen. Mark my words. It would not happen now.

 

“In fact, I have always told people, even when I was in APC, that this man uses his brain because we just came out of eight years of Uduaghan’s regime, and when Okowa was barely done in his first term, I began to ask myself what Uduaghan did with all our money because we kept seeing one visible development after the other.

 

“So, my assessment of Governor Okowa’s seven years is that all past governor’s put together, that have ruled the state in terms of developmental stride, in terms of initiatives, looking at his empowerment initiative of the youths across the local government areas of the state, in terms of infrastructural development… Do you know that the Asaba Township Stadium was once far worse than the old Ozoro University Stadium, but look at the Asaba Township Stadium today. So, the man has done spectacularly well.

Continuing, he added; “Well, I’m not really surprised because he is not an Owambe politician, he is not an Owambe governor, he is not a feel-alright person who would like to cruise around with little girls here and there. This man does a lot of thinking, a lot of writing, a lot of planning and then he puts together a team; he now actualizes what he wants. He drives it. He has done very well. I am not just saying it because I am here now; I have always said it even while I was in APC.

 

On the controversy that trailed the choice of Governor Okowa as the Party’s Vice Presidential candidate, he captures it this way; “Let me admit that I am aware that there is so much heat over the emergence of Okowa in the aftermath of the presidential primaries. But people are failing to realize something. Even Governor Ortom who said they were put into a committee to pick the vice presidential candidate, knows that this is not an exam where the man who comes first is declared the winner. This is a political appointment. It’s like the choice of a vice chancellor. The Senate or Governing Council of the school is told to send three names to the visitor of the school who is the president of the country. You know. They send names in an order -1,2,3 and the man picks who he wants to be vice chancellor. The No. 3 man can be picked.

 

“There are other criteria that will go into choosing who a vice president is, and one of such criteria is not to have a rancor between the number one man and the number two man. You’ll want to have a harmonious relationship with your deputy. Imagine if Buhari and Osinbajo are feuding openly now. The art of governance is going to suffer. So, from what we have seen and what we know, Wike has shown his true person. It is not hidden, and his true person has a lot of positives, but he also has a lot of negatives. He is a fighter, he is a boisterous man, he is not afraid to confront; he takes on anybody and takes him to the cleaners. Yes, those attributes are good but when he is in the shortlist of those who would be a heartbeat away from the presidency, you know other things will come into play. Point number 2 here, is that the constitution says that the presidential candidate will present a vice president.

 

“So, if he says help me pick, at the end of the day it is him that is going to present the choice. The consequence of that decision falls on him. I don’t know why people are making a hue and cry over this. They should put themselves in Atiku’s position and with all they know, even Ortom himself, let him show knowledge. If he is the one there and he is told to pick, is he going to say that because a committee met and they scaled the people and he is bound to go with the first choice. They should please concede the right of Atiku to pick his vice, even after setting up the committee. Ortom’s grievance is that if you did not want to work with our decision, why set it up. But it seems he is feigning ignorance of how this thing plays out. He is not supposed to have said the kind of things he said. Having said it, let the party deal with the situation. Try to appeal everybody, go to them, talk to them, bring them back into the fold. I don’t know whether this answers your question.

 

QUESTION: At this point, we begin to broaden the horizon now because of course there are obedient people coming too but the prospect of PDP is what we are looking at.

 

ANSWER: “I tell you that the prospect is very very bright, unless there is a rigging that we do not understand, unless Buhari chooses not to play the Goodluck Jonathan’s good boy. The election will definitely go against APC.

 

“Look at the level of insecurity through out the length and breadth of the country, look at the level of poverty, and look at the level of bitterness and anger, kidnapping, killings, rape, churches invaded. Even in Katsina, the president’s place. He cannot just come out freely. He is going to be stoned. People are angry and people now want a change. And they want to express that change. Like I said elsewhere, two major political parties bestride the world of politics in countries. So, the next choice is the PDP.

 

Then two, Atiku has emerged and people are saying no. Eight years of rule by a Fulani man cannot be succeeded by another Fulani man. Look at the process the whole thing went through. None of them, nobody is saying they were rigged out at any point. They themselves, PDP people decided to throw the race open. The race was thrown open. Voting were done. Transparency counted. And a winner emerged, following their rules. The prospect of PDP is quite high. I know there are other threats coming but the prospect of PDP is quite high

 

On Okowa, my only message for him is just to keep carrying on like he is doing. He is a humble person. He doesn’t get offended openly by hate speeches. He is a human being, he can feel aggrieved and want to get back at one or two persons but overall, he has scored 80% and above in terms of how he has handled affairs. No major scandals. If you look at him, you can think this one will be unforgiving, but no. He goes through the normal process of things and gets things  done. He has done so well. Let him just stay calm, stay focused and continue to pray for God’s intervention. Fortunately, his wife is a wonderful religious person”. He concluded.

 

…Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He can be reached via jeromeutomi@yahoo.com