Few weeks to the Anambra election, the gubernatorial candidate of the Young Democratic Party (YPP), Sir Paul Chukwuma, speaks with to OKEY MADUFORO on political activities in the state and his plans if elected
There is this confidence by the ruling APGA in the state that they are going to win the next election. What is your take on this optimism?
You are aware that the governor has been making certain uncomplimentary comments about his opponents. Somebody once cracked a joke that somebody is interested in somebody’s seat and that he is admiring the seat. Somebody came to visit him and was admiring the seat and he told the person: ‘my friend, it is not yet your turn’ and that he has to wait and by the way ‘you are still young.’ That might be correct but with some gaps. Gap number one is that the chap that showed up that was referred to was actually not admiring the seat but he was looking at the position of the seat, because he had already built one seat that he will use to replace that seat.
Because sitting on that seat means that the ills that have been bedeviling us as a people will continue. I am in this race to rescue Anambra State and the question therefore is how and what am I bringing to the table.
What is wrong with the system we have now?
This is because for you to fix a system you must first of all identify the problem and if there is no problem with the system why are you trying to fix it? The Anambra State government of today has not fixed the system and those problems are man-made problems. We shall look into it and interrogate it to find out what is wrong with the system. And what am I going to do differently? I am starting from the problem of insecurity. We all agree that insecurity is a problem in Anambra State and if we have all agreed that insecurity is the problem, it is clear that you only need to know that when you are directly or indirectly affected.
\Every day in Anambra State people are being kidnapped, people are being maimed and people are being killed. And the government that has the responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and property in Anambra State is looking away while innocent Anambra people, indigenes are being killed and being kidnapped and extorted of their hard-earned money and some extreme cases you would part with that money and then you end up carrying the dead bodies of your loved ones. Sometimes, you end up not finding the bodies of your dead relatives. These are the issues in Anambra State and the last time I checked, some people said we have a sitting governor in Anambra State and I ask; what duty do they owe to the people of Anambra State and why is insecurity persisting.
We are having insecurity because we have a government that has refused to apply the resources meant for security. Anambra State every month gets N4 billion as security vote and this is not money that is meant to pay salary, this is not money for the construction of roads, this is not money that is meant to pay pension. This is strictly funds earmarked for security every month but the Police have not received anything from the inception of this government; the military has not received anything, the Civil Defence, the Department of State Service have not received anything.
Even the local vigilante has not received anything and the question is where did the money go? Let nobody blame the Federal Government because they go to Abuja to say one thing and come to Anambra to say a different thing. The Federal Government Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been quite consistent in making sure that it sends funds to deal with security in Anambra State and even the funds we need to deal with ecological issues that has been ravaging Anambra State are being sent. Where has those funds gone? While the Federal Government has been channeling all the funds in infrastructure in the state such that most of the infrastructures being done by the Federal Government are being claimed by the state government as their own projects. The governor is adding all kinds of tinted vehicles to this convoy while we are having problems of insecurity, and that is quite unfortunate to say the least. All these things would be over in the next couple of months when I become the Governor of Anambra State.
The question is how? You don’t solve insecurity by talking; you solve insecurity with a verifiable and empirical security plan?
I am out to do it and I would put together a committee across the communities in the state. We shall respect the rule of law which this current government is not doing. That is why state militia are taking over the statutory responsibility of the real and constitutional security agencies. The security committee would work with the local vigilante groups or security operatives to achieve that. We are not a Banana Republic in the course of fighting insecurity and not to use the militia groups in the name of vigilante to harass and intimidate people. We shall make sure that the security votes are used judiciously to fight insecurity. What are they doing with the votes and since the last three years Anambra had recovered more than N200 Billion as security vote and there is nothing to show for it.
The Governor prides himself as coasting to victory boasting that most candidates do not have qualifications?
Anambra State is not for Professors alone and we cannot allow governance to be a thing for Professors. We own Anambra State because we are Anambra people and this is our state even if you are not a graduate or you stopped at primary school you are part of Anambra State. We cannot sacrifice the development of Anambra State on the altar of elitism; no! Today the local government administration has been hijacked by the Emperors that are in charge of the state. Part of the reason why I am contesting for the governor of Anambra State is to open development of the 21 local government areas and give them their powers to operate and not to take over the duties and functions of the third tier of government. The problem of local government administration is part of the problems of insecurity because the local governments have been denied their roles in ensuring safety of lives and property at the village and community levels. Where is the allocation of the local government? All the statutory functions of the local government have been hijacked by the state government and that is the bane of socioeconomic development at the grassroots level. So, my admission would ensure the independence of the local government system and see to it that it functions optimally.
The last local government election recently has been trailed by complaints about the conduct?
Why not? That thing was a charade and all of us were witnesses to how they used the local militia groups in the name of vigilante groups to molest people and forcing people to vote for their party or you go home without voting. They merely wrote names of their so-called candidates and declared them winners. There were manifest vote buying and over writing of results under the very noses of security operatives and nothing happened. But in this coming election, we shall ensure that it will not happen in the November 8 gubernatorial election. We have made representations before the Federal Government about what happened and we shall not allow this daylight robbery to repeat itself in November.
You talk more of insecurity, is that your main trust of governance?
We shall tackle agriculture and ensure that the operatives in that sector are well equipped and motivated to do the needful. Anambra is an agrarian state and places like Anambra North where I come from are rich in agriculture but there are no roads to transport those produce. In this modern world, agriculture is all year round and we shall make it our first line charge towards guaranteeing food security.
Zoning has been an issue at every election and it appears that with that your ambition has a problem?
It is too pedestrian for somebody that is a professor to condescend so low as to be talking about zoning when the world has moved on. That is the machinations of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which they are using to decide our people and I ask; if I am from the North? Does that make me the Governor of the North alone? Does it mean that the rest of Anambra South Senatorial District and Anambra Central Senatorial District would not benefit from my government? There was never a time when Anambra people had a meeting to seal the issue of zoning and other political parties are not talking about zoning except APGA. What Anambra needs is good governance and provide social security as well as infrastructures for the people and we do not need zoning to achieve that.
