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| Hon Charles Ekhoetomwen Idahosa |
Chief Charles Idahosa is Special Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole on Political Matters. He celebrated his 62 birthday last week and used that opportunity to speak on national issues and his home state. In this interview,
Idahosa says his boss will dictate the tune on his successor in 2016 just as he dismisses the insinuation that his Bini people are ganging up against the governor.
How has life been with you at 62?
Firstly and foremost one has to thank God for his mercies, it is wonderful to be 62. Life has been kind and I am very happy but the most joyful thing that I am happy about on my 62nd birthday is the change in the country. Change in the sense that Nigeria now has a direction, we now know where we are going and we now have a man who is upright. Nigeria has been able to win the confidence of the world again, the world now recons with Nigeria and most importantly I am so happy that at 62, that I am part of that change. The joy I have today is that the dream I have so many years ago has come to pass.
Your party is in government at the national level. How do you access the steps so far taken by President Mohammadu Buhari?
I think President Buhari is doing very well and I think he is on course. One thing most Nigerians don’t know is that this is the first man who has become president in Nigeria who wanted to become president. This is the first time we are having a Nigerian President who prepared himself and said I want to be president. He tried three times and got it the fourth time; so he has his blueprint and knows what he wants to do, he is just taking his time and we all believe in him that he will resurrect this country after PDP collapsed it for 16 years.
Before now, we always hear of pipeline vandalization, oil theft, several illegalities, but you no longer hear those things any more. The change has come already and it will be sustained. But you should expect that the PDP will make noise so that Nigerians will believe they still exist. Like in Edo now, they no longer exist. They are aware they cannot win any election in Edo any more.
Before the coming of Oshiomhole, the state was in a mess, yet you had eminent people in the PDP that produced the then govt. What was the problem because you were there during the formation of the PDP?
Yes, I was there in the beginning where I worked in the National Publicity Committee of the PDP. That committee was led by the former NDDC Chairman, Onyema Ugochukwu; I was there, Emeka Ihedioha was there among others.
In the PDP in Edo at that time, Anenih will talk, Gabriel Igbinedion will talk and Ogbemudia will talk; so Lucky was trying to manage these people at the same time and that affected a lot of things he wanted to do.
But are you not surprised that PDP members are criticizing Oshiomhole even after what happened under their regime?
What do you expect? What I will call those criticisms is what you call the last kick of a dying horse. The PDP is finished. We knew how the state looked when he came and at the end of the day he has turned it around. What does the PDP have to criticize him? It is only people that want to be mischievous that will criticize Oshiomhole. I am in this government; I am the political adviser to Oshiomhole, we have been together for the seventh year running and, by the grace of God, by next year, we will be handing over to a new government and, as he is leaving, I will leave. I will retire with him; after that, maybe I will still be in politics but in the background. I just want to stay by him for the eight years. Oshiomhole is not as close to me like Lucky Igbinedion was but the governor is a greatman.
As Oshiomhole’s tenure comes to an end next year, there is this rumour that some powerful Benin people are plotting to frustrate his effort from installing a successor of his choice. How true is that claim?
I don’t think that is correct, that must be a rumour that there is a gang-up by some Benin leaders. There is nothing like that. I am a Benin leader and a state leader; I have been in this business for long and, when it comes to meeting or taking decisions, there is no level of decision taking in the state that I will not be invited. So I don’t think there is anything like that. The governor has said it publicly many times that he owes the Binis a lot for the support they gave him and that he will try as much as possible to make sure that a Bini man becomes the next governor.
But as we speak today, the Esan people are agitating for the governorship, and their argument makes sense, that they have not done eight years, while other people have done eight years, and demanding they equally be given the same opportunity to do eight years. Some of their leaders have spoken to me and I said yes, there is no difference between the Benin and the Esan man; the advice I have given them is that we are all one; in fact, there is no difference between any Edo man, every one of us can trace our origin to the Benin palace. So, what we need to do is to sit down and negotiate.
As for Binis ganging up against Oshiomhole, that is not correct. I think what the people are saying in consultation with the governor is that they will pick a Benin man that would represent the interest of everybody; there is no way a governor of this state can emerge without his predecessor’s input. One, what are we going to campaign with? It is Oshiomhole’s work; second, Oshiomhole will lead the campaign and let nobody deceive himself, all the elections we have won in Edo was because of Oshiomhole, his credibility and integrity. The ordinary people believe in him, so he is very important in the whole arrangement. Because when you go to the rural areas where I come from, those uneducated old men will ask if this is Oshiomhole’s own because they don’t know APC or PDP but Oshiomhole.
Anybody saying Oshiomhole will have no say is a joker. There are so many candidates in the party now, we are going to look at all of them; when I say we, I mean leaders of the party and rate every person and there is no way we will not have some people in mind and the governor will also have some people in mind. I think that is where the conflict is coming from; but if he says this is the way we should go and we have any reservation about that person, we would tell him and he will give reasons why it should be the other way because as a governor he has a lot of information we don’t have.
And one thing we must be very careful about the governorship will be very dicey, I understand the PDP has zoned its ticket to Edo South, what that means is that if APC gets a candidate from Edo South, you must look at the caliber and quality of the person, what the person is bringing because people this time will vote for the man they know best that can deliver the goods like Oshiomhole.
Dr. Ogbemudia is searching for a governorship candidate. Will your party accept whoever Ogbemudia’ committee picks?
Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia is a great leader. He has invited me more than twice to his house and we have talked about this search for governor and the rest of them. I told him it was a very beautiful idea and that we all respect him, but I don’t want to fall a victim of anti-party activities. As we speak, Ogbemudia is a member, Board of Trustees of the PDP and I am in APC. I believe like the governor said recently, our father, Dr Ogbemudia, should tear his PDP card like Obasanjo did so that this search will be better appreciated; so that people will not fear that he wants to put a PDP man while we are in the APC. That is the fear but his move to search for a credible successor is a good move.
Vanguard
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