I don’t regret my 2015 governorship ambition, says Sen. Nkechi Nwaogu as she plans to run for Abia Central senatorial seat in 2019

Senator Nkechi Nwaogu is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the first female governorship aspirant in her former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after representing the people of Abia Central in the Senate between 2007-2015. In this interview with some journalists in Aba, she spoke about the war on corruption by the President, her drive to go back to the senate among other issues.

The excerpts:

How has it been since 2015 after you tried to break the jinx of becoming the first elected female Governor in the state?

For governorship, I have tried three times, maybe the fourth attempt like Buhari, I will win. In 2015, my former party (PDP), the impunity in them made them to lose the general election. There was so much impunity, high handedness and lack of internal democracy in the party which affected somebody like me and so many others. I left PDP and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) where impunity is almost like non-existent and I am happy to be a member of the APC.

I joined APC in June 2015 and I have been there. Right now, I am doing consultation, but no longer for Governorship ambition. I am consulting to go back to the senate for Abia Central under the APC. It is the consultation that I am doing right now and in the very near future, I will come up with a decision and a declaration of what I believe that my people have said.

Do you regret your attempt of trying to be the female Governor of Abia State?

No, I don’t regret it because I know that at some point, I will still rule Abia by the grace of God.

I didn’t regret it one bit because I knew that the time was right. I knew that the opportunity and capacity were there. But when I said that the time was ripe, that was my personal opinion. Maybe at that time, it was not the right time for my God to give me a conducive environment. If God had approved of it, those bottlenecks would have disappeared. So, I do not regret it at all.

Why the interest in senate, some may ask if you forgot anything there?

I didn’t forget anything. But I need to continually add value to the senate representation in Abia Central. In the last three years, the difference has been clear. People have seen and noticed the difference between what it was and what it is now. And therefore, luckily, there is no limitation to the number of times you can go to the legislature. I need to go back to the senate to restore the lost accessibility of a representative to our people.

I need to go back there to restore the participation as a senator in the hallowed chamber of the senate to continue to develop the democratic value in terms of lawmaking that has been absent.

I need to go back there to restore the vibrancy and the home touch that has been absent since 2015 till date.

There are so many reasons why I should go back and why I need to go back and why the people are yearning for Nkechi Nwaogu to go back to the senate to represent the good people of Abia Central District in the National Assembly.

How possible do you think it is to win the incumbent senator of Abia Central considering that he was once a governor of the state?

I will defeat him. I won’t say it will be easy, but with God on my side, I will defeat him and it will happen.

Are there strategies that you have put in place to make it happen?

It is not for me to disclose the strategies. I am the David in this fight.

Have you been able to talk to the stakeholders over your journey back to the senate?

That is why my mind has been made up. I have been fortified through encouragement and applaud to go back, that is why I am saying what I have just said. But I won’t say much today, but to keep them on the day of my declaration.

Taking a look at Abia now and what pushed you to becoming the Governor of the state in 2015, are you impressed over the pace of development in the state so far?

Well, like I would not want to dwell much today like I said, what I gave you is just a tip of the iceberg of what to come by the grace of God. Everybody that is living here (Abia) knows that we the least developed state in Nigeria. You don’t need a rocket science to know about what I have just said. All you need to do is to visit Abia and spend a day and transverse the cities of Abia. You will see that what I have just said is absolutely true.

This state (Abia) is in bondage and we need liberation.

Do you think that your party; APC can turn around things in the state if it produces the next Governor of the state?

Definitely! I won’t say much because I am not running for governorship, but as a serious stakeholder and supporter of any of our gubernatorial candidate that will emerge from the primaries, we will have a lot to talk about then and it will be facts on the table. For now, I would say lets hold our peace until somebody emerges as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC.

APC is the change that is expected in this state. APC is the party and the candidate that will emerge will be a person that will not be under any bondage. The person will not be under any guise.

From the time you joined APC till now, will you say that the party has arrived?

Definitely! APC has arrived. Unless somebody whom is deaf, dumb and blind that can say that APC hasn’t arrived in this state. APC is here. People want a change from the shackles that Abia has been under. The state needs to be redeemed, rebirth, restored and collaborative governance. I don’t want to say much. When we have our candidate, we will match the present governor with our candidate.

How do you think that APC can come together and fight a uniformed fight in 2019 even when your party seems to be factionalized?

That incident on April 9 was from a minor irritant that is being paid by the other party (PDP) to come and disturb us because he is hobnobbing with the PDP. One person cannot disturb a party. That incident was quickly put in the trash can where it rightly belonged.

APC is not factionalized. You saw the timber and caliber of persons that attended our meeting in Umuahia who have rejected this other party.

A new thing has arrived in Abia State and that is APC. All we need is to put ourselves together and sweep out this mess in this state.

APGA seems to have more supporters in Abia… cuts in

APGA is a history in the state. APGA is coup d sac. APGA did what they did in 2015 because Abians wanted a change from the PDP and whoever that was leading them. APGA will and can never hold such sway in again. You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that. What will a senator be doing in APGA, you will end up as a senator of your own in your pocket because you are seriously in the opposition and they will not even see it.

I don’t want to dwell on another party, let it not be that I am running down the party.

How would you rate the performance of President Buhari from the time he took over governance in the country?

Under two years and ten months, I think that President Buhari has performed credibly well. I rate him 85percent. For 16years that PDP government has being in power under two presidents, they have never done what the President Buhari has been able to do in two years and ten months.

Look at Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway it has taken President Buhari to begin genuine rehabilitation work the road which is over 70percent done. These roads have been there since 1999 with budgets that entered into individual’s pockets.

Look at the second Niger Bridge which was promised by President Shehu Shagari, Obasanjo and later Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who went to Onitsha to perform groundbreaking and abandon the project.

Second Niger Bridge is over 50percent completion under 2years and 10months. Under the same time, President Buhari has revolutionalized agriculture. For 16years, Nigeria was spending N34billion importing foreign rice.

By next year, we will not be importing rice. This country will be self-sufficient. Under 2years and 10months, the APC led government has been able to complete some of the uncompleted rail lines that were there but never done. From 1999, Obasanjo to Jonathan’s era, today, the railway lines are being constructed less than two years and ten months.

Under two years and ten months, Nigeria’s reserve has increased from $2b to $23billion. You know that the nation’s reserve tells externally of how healthy the economy of the country is.

I think that what is happening in this country is because PDP never knew that they would lose the election. Look at the avalanche of monies they looted before and during 2015 election.

I know that things are a bit hard. Change comes with some stiffness. After a while, there will be relaxation. The economy will run on auto motion after a while.

In 2001 when GSM came into Nigeria, the GSM sim card used to cost N50, 000, but today most companies are giving it out free. But it didn’t happen in three years. It is a process, it is not an event.

I believe in President Buhari’s administration. I know that he is on the right track. When Jonathan was in power, he initiated the TSA (Treasury Single Account) but didn’t have the courage to implement it. Buhari implemented it to begin to reduce corruption which was one of the major essences of having TSA.

I believe in the administration of the APC led government and I know that without politics or rhetoric that we are on the right track. It may be painful now or may look as if we are hopeless now, but I know that we are on the right track.

We just need a time and that’s why we must vote him into power for the second time to complete this mission and set a solid standard for others to follow.

How would rate his war on corruption?

I rate his anti-corruption war very high. In every democracy, there is a tripod; the executive, judiciary and legislature. No one arm tramples on the other. If you see that these cases have prolonged for years and there are evidences that there is misappropriation or mismanagement of funds. It is not the fault of president Buhari. It is not the fault of his anti-corruption process of prosecuting people.

He as executive has done his beat by ensuring that those people that they have identified of having being corrupt have been handed in for prosecution. As a president, he cannot arm-twist or intimidate the other arms of government to do it his way.

These are the things that his detractors have failed to realize. I don’t equally believe that the president is shielding APC members from being prosecuted. When the SGF (Babachir Lawal) was found culpable, he was shown the way out and it is eventually the work of the EFCC to prosecute. The director of NIA (Nigeria Intelligence Agency) was found to be compromising position, he was shown the way and it Is up to the EFCC prosecute.

Somebody like Orji Kalu is a member of the APC. He is going through his trials. So, how would you say that he is not prosecuting APC members, it is not correct.

Are you worried about the ripples the 2018 budget caused between the Executive and the Legislative arm of government?

Yes! As a senator and former legislator, I am worried. In as much as I said that democracy is a tripod. No arm can stand independently. If one arm is found defective, democracy will be defective. The relationship between the current executive and the 8^th National Assembly gives me extreme concern, because with a frosty relationship such as this, I do not think that this country would move forward. For me, I would urge the executive and legislature to sheathe their swords and come together.

You must stoop to conquer. One arm must stoop to conquer, I am not saying which one but it takes two to tango. I think that the executive should also extend genuine olive branch to the legislature to have peace and to let things move.

What should people expect from you if you succeed going back to the senate in and the APC succeeds in winning 2019 in the state and reelecting President Buhari?

By the grace of God, I will be the next senator for Abia Central in 2019. I will do restoration. I will bring positive representation; I will bring about proper and accountable dividend of democracy as I said earlier on to my senatorial district which has been lacking now. I will be the eyes and mouth of my people. I will an accessible representative that they have lost since the last three years.

As Abia will be governed after 2019 by the APC, you will see the real and verifiable change and you will see government of the people, for the people and by the people. We will not run a segregated, factionalized government where you patronize only your people. We will treat Abians equally regardless of any part of the state that they come from. God will give our governor the grace to run an all inclusive government.

For President Buhari, he will continue in developing Nigeria. There is no way we can improve on our GDP (Gross Domestic Product) except by internal industrialization, living more with the things we can do in our home town rather than importing and thereby improving other nation’s economy.

There are few things that we, the party members hope that we can urge him to look into and bring onboard the desired change.