2023: How I’ll bring quality representation to Ebonyi South senatorial district- Sir Eleje

The basic thing is that representation in my view involves a lot of bridge-building and engagement of your colleagues. I didn’t see it in the representation we were having in the last 8 years. You can’t be a representative of the people and you operate as a fringe person. You must be able to stand in public gathering. However, I didn’t just get up and decided to run. My people have been urging me to run for several years and I decided to listen to them this time. Also, the APGA Governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Professor Benard Ifeanyi Odoh, came to visit me on four occasions and I shared his views and visions of what he wants to do in the state. It struck me that this man had clear ideas of challenges in the state and of what I also see as solution. I shared his concerns for the future of the young people in Ebonyi. I said I would like to be part of the solution. I had to travel abroad and consulted with my family. It was when I came back that I agreed to run. I won the primaries and that’s where we are now.

First is that there is a culture in the so called traditional political parties. I have been both a member of PDP and APC and can boldly speak about them. I worked with and campaigned for Senator Emmanuel Agboti. I also campaigned for David Umahi to become the governor in 2015 as it was the turn of Ebonyi South to produce a governor. When he came on board and he had the momentum on his side, we all joined to campaign for him. After he came on board, after some time, we felt he was drifting away from what we felt should be.  Let me use computer terminology to explain. Hardware is good, but software is better. If you build a proper software, the hardware comes naturally. In Umahi’s case, yes, it is good to build bridges, but there must be people who have capacity to buy cars for the bridges to be enjoyed, otherwise only mad people will be using it as places to sleep under. So, there was a gradual erosion of confidence in the direction of governance in the state. In order not to dissuade the governor, a lot of us didn’t criticise him openly, but we were watching, especially as he was in his second term.

Some of us hoped somebody who would change the trajectory will come on board. Having been in both the APC and PDP, I know that the culture there is like a closed club. There are some people that are deliberately prevented from getting a platform because it changes the narrative in the place. You see, primary elections are important in a democracy. But when the processes of primary elections are flawed or skewed to exclude certain people, then you can never throw up your best. That is one. APGA offered that platform. Second, we have seen over the years that it is important for any group of people to have a fallback position in the political situation. The South West has used it very effectively. The potentials the West exude today is their ability to consolidate under AD and AC of those days, because when they have a unified block, others could seek them for partnership. It is not like that in the South East. Some of us are thinking, with somebody like Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo emerging as governor in Anambra under APGA, somebody like Senator Enyinnia Abaribe joining APGA and others in Igboland, we will get it right. Prof Odoh himself is projecting in the direction that people hope can come on board and rescue the people of Ebonyi.

In totality, APGA is an alternate party for the Igbo person. And those who have deliberately been blocked by the traditional parties are finding a platform in APGA. It is important to remind you at this stage that Peter Obi of the Labour Party was produced by APGA. All the credentials that threw him into limelight were as the governor of Anambra under APGA. The difference is that the APGA platform, even as it is, does not suffocate the candidate it brings out. In the PDP, when you emerge as a candidate, the party structure is so overwhelming. They tell you who will be commissioner this or that. The candidate doesn’t have the freedom to exude confidence and direction. But in APGA, there is that flexibility. Obi was able to use it and his own personality showed forth. That has propelled him to where he is. So, some of us think that APGA is a more defining platform for somebody who wants to showcase what he can do.

I don’t see why not. Let’s face it, for now, the two parties are enmeshed in crisis, right from the national down to local levels. Look at the APC inauguration of appointed local government chairmen. You can’t run an election of only one party. It is not an election but an appointment. After the appointment, there was a ceremony in an open field as an investiture. There has been a lot of disenfranchisement and there was a charade in Abakaliki that the people have been sworn in, but that remains to be seen as there are still potential court orders.

Coming to the party itself, you can even see that in the published list by INEC, it is unheard of that you will list a contestant as a court order. It is a disclaimer by INEC. In APGA, we have a purposeful team canvassing for issues and engaging people on contending issues, not on personalities or being cantankerous, but staying on issues that are affecting the people.

Without mincing words, if you look at the Labour Party candidate, who has been in the House of Representatives, Linus Abaa Okorie, who is from Onicha LGA, the candidate of the APC, Umahi, who is on the list by court order, is from Uburu in Ohaozara LGA, the governorship candidate of the PDP, Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, is also from Onicha. So, Ohaozara and Onicha are contentious areas. These people have their own abilities and capacities, but I don’t want to talk about them. I want to talk about myself and things I have done in my personal capacity and resources that benefit the people. I am not looking for a physical empire. I believe that the empire of the future is the empire of the mind. So, I am really trying to recreate what I have in mind for my people, where the young people do not find Okada riding as a job after graduating from the university. So, I will not encourage people by coming to give them Okada. You will be encouraging that if somebody should graduate from the university and all you can think of to do for him is to ride Okada. It is so bad that you cannot leverage your position to bring institutions around your area from where this people can seek the starting point. We know Senators that have put up bills for federal govt institutions to be established in their areas. We know that there are job opportunities, that because of oversight functions of National Assembly members, they have privy and opportunity to put forward. But we know that some of these people, because of want of personal aggrandizement, they trade, exchange some of these opportunities for personal gains. We must rise against that. If you want to run for a public office and you didn’t have your personal house and suddenly you have an estate, what it means is that you traded your influence and office for personal gains.

When I came into Nicon insurance, there was no single Afikpo person. However, I facilitated the employment of many Afikpo there. By the time I left, I had about 9 persons there. Many of them have left Nicon for other opportunities, but it was a starting point. Even at Niger Insurance, I brought in about 5 people. It opened our people’s eyes to insurance. Some of them continued with insurance, some leveraged on it to move on to other things. Locally, you can remember that the Eleje Family commissioned an electronic library in Afikpo in honour of my parents. There is the Good Shepherd Anglican Church my wife and I built for Ozizza people. We bought a land at Oti in Ozizza and built the church. My younger brother, Eddie Eleje, was motivated by what I did and built a bungalow for the priest. Even the house the priest is staying at Presbyterian Church at Ozizza was built by me. We raised the fund that was used in building the church. These are just physical things. Of course, you know that I have a lounge in Afikpo. It was the first standard lounge in Afikpo. If I wanted, I could have built it in Abuja or Abakaliki and make money, but I decided to build it in Afikpo because it gave our people a sense of what social life can be. It is not all the time that you go to drink in Mkpuke, a hole or a shabby place. I have the inclination to develop at home. Of course, you know that I am the National President of the Old Boys Association of Government Secondary School, Afikpo (GSS-OBA). Under my watch, over N100m has gone into renovating that school, both from Diaspora and everywhere. People need to have confidence in you to make that kind of investment because they have their own villages. Whatever you do for Government Secondary School Afikpo benefits those who attend it.

Apart from that, I am the president of the Knighthood Council of the Anglican Church.  When the Bishop came to Afikpo, he met only one Anglican Church. In the period he has been there, we have planted over 45 Anglican churches in Ebonyi. The Diocese is in Ebonyi South. We built a hospital in Ukawu. Now, nobody can say he doesn’t know the Anglican Church. You may look at it as if it is only a church thing, but the church is a vent for social organisation. When people have moral guidance, it reduces social dislocations in the area. Under my watch, the Bishop Akinola Secondary School was built in Afikpo. A cathedral is being built their right now.  We bought a school bus. We sited a water production plant. All these things are happening under my watch, driven by our initiatives. The Bishop sat with me and we flouted a company attached to the church because we have to do it as a commercial venture. It was making bread, we were drilling water, it built the school, so these are things we came out with.

I have said before that I prefer software to hardware. I feel that we can create opportunities for our people who want to develop themselves, who have skills to engage. Beside the vote that comes in every budgeting circle for constituency projects, the greater thing is making laws for the Senator and oversight functions. If, by your position, you attract a project to your area, whether it is an intervention project or something else, you must make sure the necessary things apply. For instance, there is what is called cashment area in every employment. What it means is that a certain percentage of the locals must work in that place. But nobody is enforcing it.

The other day, I went to address the staff of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic in Unwana, alongside Professor Odoh, and I was ashamed to hear that even the incumbent Senator has not visited them to hold a townhall meeting with them. The hall looked so rundown. They said because it is a federal institution. If we repaint the hall, what will it do to us? It is our people that are schooling there. You can’t learn in an environment that is not uplifting.  There are so many things we can do. There are so many things you can attract. I like the King David University of Medical Sciences, Uburu, but I sincerely think the money deployed to construct that could do greater things in the whole of that region. For the about 5 flyovers in Ebonyi South, the cost of two would have crossed Ndibe Beach and the economic impact of the project will overcompensate whatever we think we will gain from the flyovers. If you stand by those flyovers, how many cars do you see that pass over them? If you have that kind of resources, you first use it to create wealth. When you create wealth, it will begin to recreate itself. People can pay their children’s school fees and go to hospitals. Infant mortality and maternal mortality will all decrease. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is ongoing. For a little fee, you can get hospital certification for people. I got about 6 for women in my community.

They attend hospitals for one year free. Our legislators know about it, but the question is, what have they done with it? Are they really interested or are they focused on other things, because it doesn’t put money in their pockets? For somebody representing an area, if you choose 50 women from the five LGAs in Ebonyi South, if you pay N50, 000 for the women to access medical care for one year, what can give you greater joy? That is the way my mind works. I don’t want to have fleet of cars. In our communities, we know that it is women that sustain families. They go to the farm, markets and take care if the children. Our men, after certain age, they become redundant. When you look at a situation like that, you focus on developing the capacity of the women. This is because if they are not healthy, they cannot do these things.

It differs according to eras. We have had sparks of good representation. How has that worked is a challenge. How has that worked over the years? Has it been consistent? It has varied from one group to another. There have also been a lot of interventions. Our democracy has been evolving over these 23 years. There has been undue influence on legislators from the executives. People have struggled to align with what the executives and party structures expect. You can recall the frequent changes in the leadership of the Senate under Obasanjo. What I am looking at is the opportunities going forward.

The incumbent Senator and Governor Umahi are Old Boys of GSSA and I am their president. For a serving Senator, when you are representing people, you must deliberately make it possible to engage the people you are representing. People cannot be surging after you. You must create chances to tell the people you are representing what you intend to do for them. You must also be able to tell them the opportunities that are available and pick their brains, especially people who have had exposures in government circles. That is why I told you he wasn’t engaging. If you don’t engage, you behave like somebody representing only himself. It is not a job that you sat for an exam and you passed because of your excellence. It is a job that you brought out yourself and people voted for you to go. So, you are there on their behalf. It is a position of trust. So, if you are not engaging, people will keep away. They will even leave you. If you behave as if everyone who calls you on phone wants to ask you for money, then they will leave you. It’s simple. Some people may call you just to give you information because you may not know everything. If people suggest things to you, then you will look into it. That is why you have legislative aides. You put one of your aides to find out what is happening and then tackle it. You will learn what the problem is and how to help your people. Sadly, in 8 years, this has not been done in Ebonyi South. People also feel because he was selected by the powers that be to go and take the Senate seat as a placeholder. It wasn’t based on his antecedent or anything he has done. It was just based on because he was perceived to be a loyal person, he was put forward. You can now see the debacle. When somebody tastes power, character must show.  Now, the people that put him forward consider it a lost investment because they are now challengers. It is for that reason that when somebody goes to a position like that, he feels he owes nobody anything. It wasn’t really the choice of the public, but something that was put upon the voiceless public. If the public had the choice, it is doubtful whether that is the kind of representation they would have opted for.

Money plays a role in politics everywhere, but the role of money is usually very limited. It is also very subjective. People have always voted for inducement, but our politics has evolved over the years. So, if people have been voting for money, bags of rice, salt and so on and today they still have the problems they had 20 years ago, does it mean they are convinced that they are doing the right thing? There is a wind of consciousness that is blowing among the young people who are at the receiving end of bad governance and bad representation. That is why we have this surge in people registering for PVCs. We get the information that the number of people who registered recently are much more than the number of people who have always voted. You ask yourself what is the motivation for this surge. They must be something because this is not our first election. In every election circle, new people turn 18 and attain voting age. So, why the sudden urge? There is a factor that has come into play. I think people have come to the conclusion that there is need for a different way of choosing the people that govern you. Yes, you can give people money, but you can’t stand with them at the polling booths to decide whom they vote for. People are also confident that the things that have put in place by INEC will make their votes count. When people vote and the votes don’t count, next time, they won’t go to stand in line and waste their time. But with the off cycle elections that happened in Osun and Ekiti, people are beginning to see that it looks like the views, the opinions of the people are becoming increasingly reflected in the outcomes. In those elections, monies were spent, but it still did not stop the wishes being reflected. I have always believed that the effective influence of money stops at the primary level. At primary elections, you can budget for limited number of delegates. But how can you give money to a wide scope of people? Let me tell you, these people you call moneybags, the people they are going to give money to are people who are already used to ‘chopping’ money. Only 1/5th of that money will get to the intended people. It will still be appropriated by the people who know that some of them may not win the elections and leaving offices. So, it gives a flatter field on which to play.

The processes of campaign are quite clear. Over the last four months, we have engaged in a lot of consultations, which was what was allowed by INEC. In my modest view, we have brought APGA to a level of visibility that stands at par with the so called traditional parties. Now, it’s time for campaigns. I believe that consultation is even more key than campaign. Campaign is the festival of elections. You put up a billboard, you are in a field, there is a massive crowd, you talk to all of them, they video it. I think the impact of campaign actually is if you should go to court and somebody says you didn’t campaign, you bring out those clips and show. It is the same people who will attend the APC rally that will attend PDP rally and they will attend APGA rally. Some people will pay more than the others. The important thing is how many proportion of people actually believe in what these people represent. And that proportion is the people whom you have consulted before these festivals of election. Those people whom you have exposed the challenges that face them. Anywhere they are sharing money or bags of salt, people will line up. But I don’t think that these young people who are struggling to register their PVCs will be motivated by one bag of salt or rice. They are thinking about their future. They will take it when you share, but I think what motivates them is beyond that inducements. The fanfare is good as they will share money when you are going back, but I don’t think that is what will make them vote. I think it will go beyond that. We have consulted widely. We have told people what we have for them. We have told them the faults in going along with the existing thing. When I asked the staff at Unwana whether they have seen their Senator, the whole hall was quiet. I was shocked. This is the highest federal institution in the area, but the Senator representing them has never bothered to meet with them. It was a very telling moment. How can someone impact on you if he doesn’t come to you with your standing as a federal institution?  Will he come to you as an individual? Of course not.

 

Can you speak on insecurity?

 

Insecurity is s result of the failure in governance. Where there is no justice, you cannot have tranquillity or peace. Where people feel deliberately excluded from the affairs that affect them they resort to self help. Insecurity is just non state actors in the process of self help engaging violently. In a participatory democracy, state actors have every instrument of coercion. When non state actors begin to enforce what they expected government to have enforced, then there is problem. Women go the farm in the north and they are raped and killed. So some groups organised themselves and demand for ransom before women can go to farm and stay safe. They have usurped the functions of state actors because government has failed. When you correct the governance, gradually they will be no space for non state actors. It will be resisted. It is happening in Anambra. But gradually, overtime and with determination, perseverance, it will gradually phase out. When there is governance, there are basic provisions. Everybody will go to farm to cultivate what he will eat with his children. You will struggle and pay school fees for them and your child comes out from school after four years. It is a time you think you will rest because your child will get a job and support you, but for failure of governance, these things are not happening. Now, that your child sitting at home everyday watching the mother, one day he gets up and is recruited into a group of non state actors. People like things that define them and nature abhors vacuum. When there is a vacuum, things are created to full it.  Look at what is happening in different states. Everybody is now creating a vigilante group. You have heard of the one in Katsina that they have even approved arms for them. You ask yourself this is a country that has a police force, civil defence, Immigration, SSS, army and others. So, what are these other creations all over the place? If the aforementioned were actually doing their jobs, what is the business of local people carrying weapons? People that cannot be identified? Look at the one they have given to Tompolo in the Niger Delta. A cartel branch protecting oil facilities. Government? Private individuals protecting oil facilities? So, they equip these people with arms to protect oil facilities. What happens when a new government comes in? If a new government comes in and say it cannot run two governments, do you think you will be able to recover half of the guns? They are going to vanish and that creates pockets of problems. What you have done is postponing the problem to the future. That you are getting 1,600 barrels a day, instead of 900 barrels a day, because tour debt profile is so high, you were watching the place to collapse and the people who want to steal money cannot find money to steal again. So, they are ready to do anything for that inflow to come in including stealing it. If you actually equip your army with this kind of money you are paying out as contract, because of the kickback that is coming from that, do you think that the army cannot hold down the issues in the Niger Delta?

Wike tried it. He almost held the whole place down. But the FG has come in. It is FG’s responsibility, the governor is just the CSO of a state, but he doesn’t command troops. In a nutshell, when you get the leadership right, it cascades down. People will voluntarily come and submit weapons. Nobody wants to be out there in the street and running around. If you create the right living opportunities for people, then engage them, they don’t have to stand on the road. But if as a young man you don’t have any job, you are hanging out in the village, after sometime, you will see that your friend who joined a group because they are wearing red, will be able to woo the same girl that ignored you. That will also force you to join because you want an identity. That is what is happening in our country today. The quicker we arrest that, the better for us.

 

What is your thought on state police?

 

I think they should be state police. They should be devolution of powers to the lowest level of government. Every level of government has its own unique abilities and authorisation, what we should try to forge is a linkage between these different levels of government. We can harness the synergy that comes with all of them working together. I think local governments should have their own police. In America, schools have their own police. There is university or college police. Crime is always unique to an area. There is no kind that is uniform across the whole place. It is the people who police that area that will be able to know when a stranger comes into a community. When you bring somebody from Sokoto to come and be a DPO in Afikpo and the moment he comes in and the first people that meet him are actually the criminals. They take him out to drink and give him information, before you know it, he is actually working for the criminals because he does not know the environment. But when you bring in somebody who is actually from that community, a son of the soil, when the criminals come, he will tackle them and they will all move away.

I think the Ebubeagu is misguided. Once somebody has unchecked powers, it is a natural tendency that you will use it for your selfish interest. Ebubeagu is a contraption and the governor gave them powers. Now, if the governor leaves office and another governor from another party comes into power in Ebonyi, is he obligated to retain Ebubeagu? He is not. So, if that is the trend, he will form his own. And when the incumbent governor leaves and doesn’t have state funds to dispense, the Ebubeagu will dissolve into the community and a lot of them will walk away with their arms. So, what you are doing in such a case is that you are creating a monster. You read about the vandalisation of the APGA candidate’s billboards in Ebonyi by Ebubeagu last month and the open declaration that it was order from above. What kind of society is that? It is anarchy? So, it is something that has to be nipped in the bud quickly. Whether Umahi will use Ebubeagu in the election is in the nature of humans with unchecked powers. But I heard the IGP the other day put up an announcement warning vigilante groups against being used for political purposes. I hope he has the facilities to enforce the warnings. Let it not just be another windbag. Let there be a demonstration of resolve to make sure that does not happen.

In Afikpo, we have not had light for years, what is the problem? We got talking about it because the governorship candidate and his deputy and the senatorial candidate in the Central visited me in Afikpo and Professor Odoh put up a call to Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in Enugu and asked why the light only stops at Abaomege without getting to Afikpo and what the actual problem was. They said it is just that Afikpo needed to be connected and the cost required to do it was so much, that they have worked out the return from metering in Afikpo and that it will take about 30 years to recover the infrastructure, so that it will take political will. What it means is that, instead of the governor building flyover in Abaomege, he should have deplored that money to extend light to Afikpo. When you extend it, people will run their own businesses and make money. Any business that depends on energy, you cannot run it and make a profit because of the cost of diesel. So, when you look at such things, you will see that it is a Pandora box. Nobody was engaging. People seemed to be doing whatever they like. But that is not the way to represent people. I talked to you about linkages at different levels. If those linkages were there, the man at the legislative arm of government would have gone to the governor. He is representing the South. He would say, governor, I know you intend well by these bridges, but from my consultative meetings with my people, they need is that we tackle this electricity issue. You have the press. You have a vote for public appearances. You invite the press and tell them that you just came out from a meeting with the governor, a governor who is well-intended. In fact, he has already finished the visibility to build a bridge in our area, but from my consultation, I just related to him that my people are more interested in this energy thing. I know he is a listening governor and I know he is going to take a second look at it, that’s why I am calling you the press men and telling you. The governor’s hand will be tied. His hands will be tied. He has to do what you have suggested. Even if the governor tells you he will suspend a project he wants to do in your community, you can tell him it’s okay, let’s do the power issue first, that you are willing to overlook the other projects. The man will look at you a second time and respect you the more.

Yes, I do. If it can be worked out, I believe that with proper engagement with the executive and proper amplification of the problem in proper places, I believe it can be done. The Afikpo light issue hasn’t been brought to national consciousness. How many people know that Afikpo doesn’t have light? Doesn’t have national grid for the past ten years? How many people know? Which of your legislatures have come on TV and made it a case in Arise, TVC, NTA and other TV stations? Call press interview to say: ‘I am sinking, I am alone, this thing has to be done, that’s what my people are asking me for.’ Who? The man in your House of Assembly, has he engaged the governor on the light issue? The Pontoon in Ozizza was almost taken away, did he negotiate with Ozizza people on it? No? But they came to carry it by fiat. Everything is discussion and negotiations. I will call people and say, give me ideas about how we can tackle these things. I want it done. I want to celebrate my one year or two years in office by saying that this has been done. You set a target for yourself. If you play a match without a goal post, nobody will watch it, no matter how good the players are. You must set targets for yourself. You can’t be an island. I don’t think public office needs people who are islands. You must identify the best minds in your area and work with them.

My advice is that the electorate should encourage the people contesting to focus on issues. The electorate should not, by their own dispositions, encourage the politics of personality. We should encourage the politics of issues. If somebody comes to the platform and is telling you that the man in Labour Party is a thief, the electorate should demand for what the person will do, not about insulting people. Let’s have issue-based campaigns. If you say the right things, let them clap for you. I don’t care. If I say the wrong thing, boo me. Attacking people hasn’t helped us, but it has been encouraged by the electorate. If the electorate don’t react positively, the candidate will stop attacking personalities during campaigns. If you take something to the market and the people are not buying it, you won’t take it there again. If you take nonsense issues to the electorate and they are lukewarm, you will re-strategise and take something better to them next time.