Paworiso Samuel Horsefall, one of the gubernatorial aspirants in Rivers State on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in this interview with MABEL DIMMA explained why some members of the PDP in Rivers boycotted the ward congress; the dangers of rising gangsterism in the state, zoning controversy, his chances at the poll, issues in Rivers’ politics, among others. Excerpts:
What was the reason for the massive boycott of the PDP congress?
The reason for the boycott is very clear- the electoral process. Prior to the ward congress there were issues that were pending which had been put across to the integration committee that was set up by the party; we had put across our grievances to the party chairman, starting from the party structure, the way it is now, how it came to be, the irregularities in it and how it should be corrected, the attitude, behaviour of the party chairman and his officers, the fraudulent emergence of the state party officers; zonal, local government and party. You would recall that the governor of Rivers State was a PDP member and then he defected; when he did, he moved with some persons, party officers, registers and all that. The procedure for replacement of such officers were not followed; the party registers he went with, we needed to have a congress to be able to fill up the positions because as it were, we don’t know who we are. Who are those who left with him and those left, there must be revalidation and also acceptance of new party members and all that; all those were issues that were tabled before the integration committee; and they were still looking into it, delaying until the ward congress. For the congress itself to take place, there are also procedures; new registers are meant to be opened, people are meant to register, revalidation and acceptance of new membership should be done and displayed at least 30 days before the congress. Nothing of the sort was done until we got into the congress. While we were trying to grapple with that, we realised that the membership of the committee was also fraudulent; from the chairman, Gambo is the executive secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). Of course, the law does not permit him to take part in active politics unless he resigns from the office; he is still holding unto his post and in fact, as we speak today, he has been promoted from deputy secretary to substantive executive secretary of UBEC. That is one major flaw, and then the other members were either board members of University council, College council, and then the secretary of the committee is the special assistant to the National Deputy Chairman, Uche Secondus, who is Wike’s apologist, his crony, who has come openly to endorse him, another wrong thing done. Of course, at that point there is no way a level playing field will be made. They came into town quietly, no one saw them, they came with the materials and did all they did and just disappeared. Meanwhile, we were preparing for the congress.
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Wike said the boycott was because you were all not prepared?
Sometimes I lack words to describe statements that emanate from him; I feel that having attained the position of minister of State, some level of decorum is expected, but it is unfortunate, maybe it is his nature; I don’t know how the public or the electorate will take that but maybe it is. It is not acceptable.
It was said that Wike has stepped down from his gubernatorial ambition and picked a senatorial form instead; is that true and what is the implication?
Wike was on air denying that; so one is not too sure. I heard an Abuja-based publication carried it but he has come out to deny it and so all that follows is a complex story on how to manage that. But if he is out of the way, which he should be, the reason being that, in this document, the PDP constitution, section seven, sub-section three and C of it clearly stipulates zoning and rotation, of party and elective officers in order to adhere to the principle of equity, justice and fairness. One wonders why anybody who calls himself a party member would not adhere to its constitution; of course, you know the importance of the constitution, right from the country to the least association; and so, that is a major issue. We were surprised to hear from him recently that zoning is only done when the party is in power and I was taken aback again. How would somebody say that? Because when this constitution was drafted and that provision enshrined in it, PDP wasn’t in power. In Rivers state, when we respected zoning and rotation, an age-long tradition of ours, we weren’t in power to bring in PDP when Odili emerged. It was purely on the mainland and riverine political understanding in terms of zoning and rotation that is how he also came. What is most important here is stating the truth; that alone in itself will make it clear that he is not supposed to. If he says that the constitution of the country allows anybody to contest, but, he belongs to a party and he also agreed to abide by the constitution of the party and that is binding on you. If that fails, then we wonder what the whole document is all about. So rightly thinking, he should be out of it; then we come to a proper understanding of the upland or mainland and riverine understanding of the zoning.
How long will it take to put this process in place?
If they decide today, it is a process that can be over in a week. Alternatively, they could also go into an internal mechanism where when they narrow it down to where it should go to, and then those that are aspirants from there will now fashion out a way to come up with a candidate. My main worry is when we do not adhere to the dictates in the constitution of the party and then we do things unruly
Is that part of the alleged impunity in the PDP?
Oh yes, it is! Because at the time when even the state chairman himself will come out to say there is no zoning, something that is enshrined in the PDP constitution; saying ‘we are facing hard times, opposition party, we need the best material, somebody that can fight’. What fight? The most important thing is to pick the best material from where it is zoned to.
Rivers is likely going to be one of the hot places as we approach the 2015 election; are you concerned about the rising gangsterism in the state?
I am concerned just as anybody, who wouldn’t be concerned? You see, the motto of the party itself is justice, unity and progress. So it must be just, we must do things right; let there be justice. When there is justice there will be peace which will bring about unity and progress. You cannot have one without the other, it is a process; that maybe the simplest and clearest way I can explain what should happen.
What do you think is responsible for the upsurge?
Gangsterism, somehow, for sometime has been, because of poor governance, and then mistrust. Who are those involved in gangsterism, they are mainly youths. How much attention have we paid to them, and how have we addressed these challenges? When I was commissioner for environment, we had a pipeline vandalism seminar; you know, government always says: ‘we are doing this, it is in the pipeline. We are doing that, it is in the pipeline’, and then someone got up at the seminar and said, ‘We had to go look for everything that was in the pipeline’ and in the process they found that it was products. We need to address issues, if we get it right and we are able to redirect their energy to more productive use, it will certainly come down to the barest minimum, also with the establishment of strong institutions that would check those kind of activities.
Of all the aspirants coming out from the riverine area, how bright are your chances in the race?
Mine is the brightest; in fact, I am the solution to all these problems and challenges. First of all, I am a stabilising factor between the upland and the riverine as a result of my ancestral lineage. When my father died four years ago, I took his corpse right from kpeinma mortuary to Etche, Ozuzu because the family members would want to see the body of their brother. In Ozuzu, we are from the Manome family; they are the controllers of the ‘AmadiOha’ shrine. From there, the body was taken to Aluu, where we are from Umuoku, the Odueze’s family; they saw him, they did all their rites. Then I brought him to Obio-akpor, were we are from the Akinniwo’s family in Orazi, before I took him over to kalabari; from Bakana to Abonnema, to Abalama and Buguma before he was buried. This is because in his will he asked that we give him a befitting burial and he has always been proud to have traced his ancestral lineages. I am the first son, so I felt one way to give him a befitting burial is to establish his roots, which I did. I have a daughter from Ogoni, so you can see, if I am from Etche, Ikwerre, kalabari and then linked to the Ogonis, you can understand that I am the beautiful bridge between the mainland and riverine; a stabilising factor. More so, I have the ability, capability, including the capacity to unite the state, all warring factors. When I declared, 127, 000 decamped from APC to PDP through me, a show of political strength; an accepted character by the people, a clear indication that this man has integrity and we want to follow him.
Governor Amaechi appears to be very popular in the state despite all allegations from the PDP against him; will it be a surprise if the APC wins the state in 2015?
It is not possible when for instance I bear the flag of the party. I can tell you that even he himself knows and whatever fears he has will be put to rest because I am not a vindictive person by nature, I will carry everybody along, irrespective of party inclinations because as soon as you become a governor, you are not just a PDP governor, you are a state governor and thus must be able to carry along everybody that resides within your state and they know that I have that kind of power to do that; so they will be at rest. It’s just for the leadership to understand that Paworiso is the solution to the problems in Rivers State today.
What if the ticket is given to Ajumogobia or Dagogo Jack?
Well, they know better than that. They are both my brothers, but if they do, if they decide to, I know that I will play a major role to do what I have to do to keep the state in the manner that it ought to be, provided they will accept my input. But I know that because they know I am the solution, they are better off making me the choice.
What amount of influence does President’s wife exercise in the politics of Rivers State because her name keeps recurring?
She is our mother but the truth is that the way and manner she has meddled in this game is not proper. She should ordinarily be neutral; it is like a mother having many children and suddenly she picks one as her favourite, what do you think the other children will do? She goes out of her way, even leave the presidential villa to the house of an aspirant in the person of the former Minister of State, to endorse him and hand him over to the former governor, Peter Odilli to deliver him. Is that right, proper, fair or just? It is not and because of her position as the first lady of the country and a daughter of the state, of course, you know the impact that will have. But this is a democratic dispensation where we must play it according to the rules; and so it should be the people, not herself; government of the people, by the people and for the people. The president himself has not said anything, he is a ‘Port Harcourt boy’, cool and calm, he was my senior in the university, but my worry is the delay. I plead with him to step in now at this time as the leader of the entire party and a son and in-law of the state to look into the matter and call a spade a spade.
It is alleged that politicians have got ready their thugs for the forth coming elections. What is your take on it?
I am an advocate of peace; from my profile you would see that I am a Justice of the Peace in the state. I am also a United Nations Peace ambassador and one thing I desire to have in life is a Nobel Prize for peace and so I keep advocating peace. Peace is inevitable; it is what we need as a people to do anything, to progress, to develop anything. If there is peace, there will be security. I have never heard that anybody won an award for fighting or for war. So before, during or after the elections, peace is it. For Christians in particular, don’t forget that our mentor and Saviour is the Prince of Peace, so they should have a Christ-like life and be an advocate of peace. If the allegation is true, I beg them to sheathe such swords and stop such activates. They should realise that they also have children; you want another person’s child to be your thug, how about your children? I have children so why will I want to encourage someone else’s child to be a thug? I beg such people not to partake in such retrogressive, obsolete and unacceptable act.
What are your agenda for the state in case you win the election?
I have taken the pains; put together a team that have come up with a blueprint. This blueprint is a 66-page document; it has a seven-point agenda and it has a copyright, it is registered because I know that other people will copy from it, but let us keep the record straight, so we know where it originated. In it, the first point agenda is to return the state back to God, this is important because we need to inculcate godly values in governance and when you start doing such things, you cannot go wrong. Then you have the security issues, conflict resolution; this is an area where I have some expertise. It was part of my portfolio as an environment commissioner and I have also obtained some certificate for that; so we need to respect the legislature. You know how it is today in Rivers State, if you go to Moscow Road, the hallowed chambers have moved from there to the Government House, but that’s not how it should be. Judiciary, you know how it is in the state, and then human rights. The third one is job creation; if we create jobs, a lot of the youths will be occupied. There are some industries that have shut down; for instance, my late father was general manager, West African Glass Industry, and Rivers Golf Fishing. where are the companies now? They are dead. Let us revive them; you see over-dependence on oil is causing problems now, you can see the drop. Reviving them will be a way to empower youths and women. Then you look at sports development and Agriculture. This should be one of the alternatives to our oil and gas. The health care, proper and affordable one; educational development, transport (not this monorail kind of transport), water, roads, housing, urban development, environment, tourism, recreational development, power; all these should come in before the economic reform. This is my agenda, detailed fully and we have even gone further to put a time limit on each of them for easy evaluation and it gives a proper framework where you can still accommodate more ideas because it is not going to be sacrosanct. For me, I have been physically, spiritually and mentally prepared for governorship. I see myself as the one who will take the state to the Promised Land.
MABEL DIMMA
