The Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ned Nwoko recently, had a chat with journalists at the All Progressives Congress, APC National Secretariat, Abuja. Nwoko, elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, defected from the party for the ruling party.
In this interview, Senator Nwoko bared his mind on his defection and political issues in Delta State.
Excerpts:
You are here in the ruling party, APC, what are you bringing to the table?
It is a new dawn for me, because I am looking for a place where we can have a governor who is answerable and accountable to the people. A place where the senators and all the elected people are also answerable and accountable to the people. I tell you, henceforth, APC will take over Delta State. There is nothing that will stop that.
I believe in the people and we have the people. Whatever my former party did to make us to continue winning elections in 1999, I know. I know what we were doing. So, whatever it is that was done in the past, we still do it now for APC.
How are you holding your present position as a Senator of the Federal Republic?
I wasn’t elected just to answer a senator. I was elected because I felt I could make a difference. And I wasn’t allowed to make that difference in Delta. Conversely, over time, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shown me that we can work together.
For example, I’m sure you guys know about my bill to stop the use of foreign currency in Nigeria, and one of the ways to do it is to stop the sale of crude oil in dollars. So, Mr. President agreed, but he said he will introduce it gradually. He mandated NNPC to sell crude oil to Dangote in Naira. For me, that’s a good beginning.
I also have a bill to do with social security. This is a bill that will seek to establish an act that will enable government contribute money and pay to the poor people. Anybody who is poor shouldn’t go to bed without knowing where the next meal will come from.
It is done in other countries, in UK, in America, in Russia. Governments protect the poor, the vulnerable, the weak. In Nigeria, why not? Again, the President voted for this. I wrote him a letter. He also, sent a letter to the National Assembly acknowledging my bill. So, this is just one of two of such examples.
So, when I have a President who is willing to work with me, listen to what I want to say, and knows my pedigree. He knows who I am. He knows where I come from.
As a Senator, you ought to be among the highest ranking political leaders in the state, are you restricting your role to that of a senatorial leadership of APC in Delta?
I am a peacemaker. I have come into APC to bring everybody together, especially those who want to be brought together. I have visited Omadike, we are talking, we are working together. Look, there are no issues, really, that cannot be resolved. I have visited many of them. And we are largely on the same page. So going forward, you will hear that APC in Delta is one.
If the incumbent Governor, Oborevwori indicated interest to join the APC, will you welcome him?
No, I will not welcome him. How, Why, I have just told you that he doesn’t have the capacity to be a Governor where we are. He has not delivered to my expectations. We have projects that I told him, we needed to execute for the interest of the people. Let me give you two examples.
I told you we are very great. We can power Delta. We can power Abuja from Delta. But Delta is not powered. lWhen was campaigning, I met with the hotel owners in Kuala. Kuala is just a stone throw from where the power plant is.
All businesses there, said they are running at a loss because there is no power, no light. Now, Federal Government agreed that they will step down 120 megawatts that will power the entire Delta North. Do you know that this has not been done?
I have had meetings with TCN, Minister for Power. I have had meetings with the Minister for National Planning and Budget. And the cost to do this step down, at today’s rate, is about 35 billion Naira. Now, it might sound a big amount, but for government, it’s not a big amount. Okowa never thought of that as a governor for eight years.
And now this governor, I have tried to impress upon him the fact that, it has to be done. He said there’s no money, but that the Federal Government should do it. I said, no, it’s not. This light is not being done for the benefit of Federal Government.
It is being done for the benefit of Delta people. So do it. If you don’t want to pay for it, can I arrange finance from UK for it to be done? I really, did arrange a company to do the finance. All they asked, is a guarantee from the government that they will allow them in peace, to collect their money back for the next 20 years.
The governor said no, he doesn’t want to enter into a liability. But remember that in the state, we earn over 50 billion a month. So, he can afford to pay for it, if he wants to. But he tells me that he is paying back loans taken by Okowa. Those loans were approved when he was the Speaker.
He understands the history of those loans. But you know, that was just one project that I told him to do. In the Senate, we have a Committee on Local and Foreign debts. Practically every week, we have Senators presenting requests for refunds for money spent by governors in addressing some very important projects that are largely Federal Government’s jobs.
So I told him as well, you can spend the money, give me the bill, I will get a refund for the state. He wouldn’t even think about it. The same story with Ogwash Ukwu Dam. A dam that was built so many years ago, over 15 years ago. The dam hasn’t been completely built.
What is left now is for the government of the state to build what they call a water treatment plant, and then get the distribution to homes and offices, as well as for irrigation. In fact, on Ogwashiukwu Dam, the Minister of Water Resources has written to me that they have done their own part, and that it is now left for the state government to complete the water distribution. But he doesn’t understand that.
This dam can supply clean water, treated water, not boreholes. All the years I spent in England, I never heard of or seen boreholes. Boreholes are not done. How many people can treat borehole water? But if you have a public water system that is functional, people will be happy.
Light, water, are basic things. But you can’t do it. So, you want me to sit down and keep quiet, for another two years, and then my tenure is up, and you tell me, oh, I’m going to tell my constituency you couldn’t do it?
My first concern is to make sure that there’s enough time for me to get those things done through the Federal Government. I am tired of being in Delta State and in opposition, I tell them what to do, they don’t want to do it, I keep telling them. The other side is, we have been fighting, in fighting, I am not asking them for contract, I’m not a contractor.
I would never ask them for contract, never. And I would never ask them to give me anything. I don’t need it.
He doesn’t think that we can agree on what to do for the people. That is not what I’m begging for. We know, I know Sheriff, he knows me.
There are issues, but I think that an APC government will reverse all those ills.
Would the party in your state trust you with the governorship ticket In 2027?
I am a senator and, more than happy, being a Senator. I have no interest in contesting for governorship of Delta State. So, even if Anioma State is created, which I’m fighting for, which is another reason why I am in APC today, those in APC, those who make things happen, have given me that assurance that Anioma State will be a reality, once I join them. And you know with Anioma State, there will be two states solution.
There will be New Delta, then Anioma State. Isn’t it? Yes. And I have no interest in being a governor either in Anioma State or in Delta State. We will rather, choose the right governor, who will deliver. And if he doesn’t deliver, you know what we will do. Simple as that. But I’m not going to keep quiet. Otherwise, I shouldn’t be there.
My question is about Anioma State. When the idea came up, a school of thought believed that they don’t want Anioma?
Maybe, you should ask them. But let me tell you what I know. You know, the Governor and Okowa are against creation of Anioma State because its creation will mean loss of influence, territory of whatever agreement they have. Do you understand this?
There will be a new leadership and everything but I tell you, Anioma will be free at last. They have tried to stifle Delta State. Of course, that includes Anioma for now.
I can tell you that one of the reasons why the Committee on State Creation, which is a sub-committee of the National Assembly, the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendment, what we have been talking about, all the members, is that, there is a need to do justice to the Southeast.
They are the only zone in Nigeria with five states. So it’s either you make it seven all over, or at least you make Southeast six. And we will qualify because we are largely Igbos. We will qualify.
You know, zoning is not part of the Constitution. So, the President, in his wisdom, will decide whether he will leave a number of the seven states of South-South, like Northwest, or six states of Southeast. The bottom line is that, at that point, he would have done something significant for Igbo people.
Culled from Daily Times Nigeria
