Chief Ken Nnamani, former Senate President and a formidable voice at the just concluded National Conference in Abuja, in this interview, is optimistic that President Jonathan, against all odds, is a candidate to beat in the 2015 Presidential Elections. He also speaks with NNAH DOUGLAS about politics in his home town, Enugu and other issues of national interest.

Recently, Nigeria celebrated its 54th Independence Anniversary (though in a low key), taking a look at Nigeria’s democracy then and what it is now, can we say that the country is progressing in error?
I believe Nigeria is progressing in the right direction; we are going through the learning curve in some areas, in some areas we have gotten it very right. You can appreciate Nigeria better if you have the privilege of travelling to other African countries or even countries outside the African continent; you will find out that we are not as bad as people think. Not only that we have natural endowments but we also have rich human resources, Nigeria is gifted but our challenge is the ability to harness these gifts and make the best use of it, there are countries that does not have as much as we do but because they are better organized and they are more focused. I will give you an instance; Nigeria has more natural resources than Korea. In the late 60’s Nigeria has a higher GDP than South Korea, Ghana also had a higher GDP, today South Korea consumes more than 79,000 Megawatts of electricity and not generation, they generate by far more than that.

We are still battling with 5,000 Megawatts and it is not constant, today again, South Korea has more than four reputable multinationals, when you see KIA on the road, you will also see Samsung, you will see Daewoo and even Hyundai, these are multinationals competing in world market. I am not too sure of any of those trans-nationals here in Nigeria and it is just our getting ourselves organized. But it looks to me like the present administration in the country is repositioning Nigeria not minding the security challenges which is supposed to be the responsibility of all Nigerians; it has nothing to do with political affiliation. In a time as this, it is expected that all political activities should have collapsed into one in fighting the insurgency; it is not a PDP fight neither is it an APC fight, it is a Nigerian fight, if there is no Nigeria, and the political parties will not thrive in a vacuum. My take on this is that anybody blaming any political party for the misfortune of Nigeria in terms of security, such a person is getting it wrong unless we are untied as one people, no one single government can handle it. We cannot bring outsiders to come and fight for us; we have to do it ourselves. To answer your question specifically, I have taken an overview on the matter, we are moving in the right direction. Once we realize that if anything happens to Nigeria, it is not just PDP, it is also not to APC and any other small party, so, it’s all about politics.

Are you insinuating that the fight against insurgency has recorded some progress or is it the contrary?
Yes, the fight against insurgency has recorded some progress, remember the insurgency we are talking about, they were able to make some inroads because our people were thinking that it is a PDP affair, now that everybody has realized that it is not a PDP fight alone or Jonathan’s fight alone although he is the leader, it concerns everybody and it seems to me that now that people have realized that it has no political colouration or overtone, I am not sure that the insurgents are gaining more ground than they gained before. There is no way they can defeat a sitting government of Nigerian size, it is not possible!

No doubt, your party the PDP is the largest party in Africa, I could recall that you were one of the persons agitating for a reform of the party that it even led to your suspension, looking back, will you say that with all your efforts viz a viz, the development in the party now will you say your agitation has paid off particularly since the change of baton from Bamanga Tukur to Adamu Mu’azu?
Well, some of us who talked about G-21, PDP Reform Forum can call it any name. I played an active role in that, that I even went on suspension for advocating for the party to be transformed, when I talk about transformation I am talking about change to better ways of doing things or avoidance of imposition of impunity, taken arbitrary decisions in the party. Some described it as ‘Garrison Politics.’ Yes of course, there are lots of changes that have taken place in the PDP, PDP is going through what we may call a rebirth and I think we are going to be better off for it. Rebirth in the sense that the acts of impunity which characterize some of the activities in the past appear to be on the declining side and no more on the increase, we popularized the concept of internal democracy in the party because we figured that yes, we answered ‘Peoples Democratic Party’ and if we are not democratic ourselves then we are answering a wrong name, We also figured that if there is no internal democratic process in the party, we cannot give Nigerians what we don’t have. We started that movement in this very office here (his private office) and it caught fire, many of us were sent on suspension but we were able to stop a PDP NEC meeting through a court injunction which we got, it was a battle within the party, we never left the party, those who thought we were saying the wrong things have seen that it is now yielding fruits. Some of them who jumped out from the PDP, I do see them and laugh, when we were telling them that we should reform the party, they were the people at the helm of affairs and they accused us of trying to truncate the party’s democratic process, but now they are the ones complaining that they were edged out from the party, I am afraid if they are better off doing that, only time shall tell. Those of us who have stayed back in the PDP, I think there are tremendous changes in the party.

I am happy to say that the present administrator whom have been described variously by people as ‘the game changer’ being Adamu Mu’azu. People are beginning to see hope in the party, members are beginning to see a need to be loyal to the party and that party loyalty helps a lot because every member will now work for the interest of the party knowing that the question of imposition of candidate as the new chairman maintained in all his public comments that “candidates will emerge through the party’s machinery. And it make a lot of sense to know that we like to go wherever is possible and we try to ensure that popular candidates emerge to reflect the views and opinions of the members of the party and not two or three persons staying in an air-conditioned room to impose candidates or change results after primaries, i don’t think such can happen now, we are now a changed party in fact, you can call it a ‘New PDP.’ We are happy that these has taken place because it has restored the confidence of members and our party is gaining more strength than ever before right now as you will experience in the forth coming general elections. We are going to wax stronger than we have ever done because of this new hope, there is nothing as good as hope because if you don’t have hope you will act in a desperate manner, any desperate person tends to make too many errors. Our party I can confidently tell you is now on the right direction more than ever before, I must be honest with you, that is where I commend Mr. President and all the key stakeholders, people you describe as ‘Super Delegates’ I am happy I happen to be one of them by virtue of the position I held in the past, we are happy that we made a good choice and our party is now moving forward.

Prior Mu’azu’s emergence as PDP National Chairman, were there scepticisms from any quarter over his ability to reshape or rather reposition the party?
You know Mu’azu is from the North East but while he was governor of Bauchi, he demonstrated capacity to deliver, then I was the Senate President and I had the opportunity of visiting Bauchi a number of times, I stayed in the Presidential Lodge which was built by him. From my own stand point I thought he did very well for the state, he left a very good impression and that is being translated now to national politics. I have watched his progress from his gubernatorial race to now and what he has been able to accomplish in so short a time, I am very optimistic that he will lead our party to victory in the forth coming general elections and that is my take on that.

Away from the PDP to Presidency, many power strata in the PDP at separate times have unanimously endorsed President Jonathan to run as a sole candidate for the PDP. But on the other hand, many people outside the PDP have said that it is a mockery of democracy, and does not give other contenders a level playing ground do you agree with the notion?
I don’t agree with the notion, Nigeria can said to be a country at war, what President Jonathan has going for him is that he is leading the country through a war situation, it will be unheard of to even contemplate changing President that is in the midst of a battle because what is happening in the North East is a clean state of war and anything that happens to any part of the country trickles down to other parts of the country. On party level, an incumbent President, unless he has done anything abominably bad, will a party even contemplate changing a team that is performing or flying the flag of the party. Once he was elected, he becomes the President of Nigeria and not of PDP. So, our party will be making a serious error of judgement if we even anticipate or contemplate altering the scenario at this stage, if that happens, we will end up creating crisis at the party that will give the opposition a lot of leverage over us. Usually, it is not peculiar to Nigeria,
what the endorsement is telling you is that you are either on the side of those contesting to see if they will fail or on the side of those contesting to see if they will succeed and that is what the party is trying to do. So, putting semantic differentials aside, our endorsement of Mr President is no way denying others that participatory aspect of democracy, if you want to contest for the Presidency, feel free to buy the form, the dates are already known and has been publicised, in a matter of days all the forms will be available; if you want to run for the governor of your state and if you think you have the war chest to take it, you are free to do that, if you want to become a Senator, there is no road block, buy your form and meet other requirements and that is it.

Sir, in September 2014, over 8,000 support groups from within the country and abroad convene at the Abuja Eagle Square to declare their support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, are you not a bit worried that President Jonathan was yet to declare that he will run for re-election?
No! I am not worried at all because according to the Bible, ‘for everything there is a season’ if President Jonathan was elected to serve for four years and there is a time table already issued by INEC, it is not yet time for people to make certain public utterances. I think the President is busy with governance at the moment, he has not directed his attention to politicking because there is time for that and when the time comes, he will make his intentions known and those groups who gathered at the Eagle Square are free because what they did goes a long way to show you the beauty of democracy, we are not in military era. People are allowed to form all kinds of association and as far as such organizations are not subversive of government activities, it should be encouraged. People came there socializing. it is a way of partying thereby increasing the economy of Abuja,

Specifically and similarly, the major opposition party the APC has criticised the actions and activities of TAN, as they have been accused of breaching the electoral law, what is your take on this?
Well, I am happy that we have a party like APC, and the reason I am one of those who feel very happy about this is that to have only one party will lead to complacency, it is good there is healthy competition, I wish APC will be stronger than it is now, it does not weaken PDP, it can only make us to be stronger or to work harder, I don’t want us to take things for granted, it is good to have an opposition party but it should be based on principles. I am not sure the PDP have any control over TAN (Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria), it says it is an NGO, and that again is another freedom of speech, I don’t see how their action is against APC or PDP, any other group could have answered any other name but I am not sure TAN is acting on behalf of PDP, it is not a registered political party. For instance on the 6th of December we will be having our national convention, I am not sure TAN will have a stand, every member of TAN will melt into their own local government or wards and delegate level. TAN is not a political party, it is playing its own role, creating awareness but not a publicity division of PDP, I am not aware that PDP delegated them or pay their bills, what they are doing at the moment is their business and we have no reason to get a court injunction to stop them from expressing their views in a freely democratic state like Nigeria, if we do that our party will be accused of becoming a dictatorial organisation. We have neither criticised nor praised them as PDP, we are just as observers as APC, I don’t see How PDP can lord it over them to stop them from expressing their fundamental human right.

The international community applauded the Nigerian government over its ability to contain the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)… (Cuts in)
I left the United States (U S) recently, I was in Washington when the first case of Ebola was reported, and I listened to a commentator from Atlanta, Georgia, he said: “if Nigeria can control Ebola, the world can be rest assured that America can do it”, for once I felt so proud, we were around a place called K-street, downtown DC, I was very happy that for once Nigeria has been recognised to have done something well. I am one of those who feel our government did a fantastic job in fighting Ebola. In fighting the scourge nobody blamed party, APC did not talk against PDP, PDP did not talk against APC. It seems to that if we can work in unity the way we fought Ebola or we are fighting Ebola (because I am not too sure it is over) against the insurgency without blaming parties or individuals, maybe we can achieve more on greater success, it is a plus for Nigeria and it is like when we won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) not too long ago. We played as a team, we went to South Africa, and not that we produced the best team, of course I watched that game, we were playing ‘jam-body’ in some areas, you know what is called ‘jam-body,’ even the guy who scored the goal (Sunday Mba) played in an attempt to find the net played both the opponent’s leg with the ball and God helped us we scored, that is ‘jam-body’ proper (laughs), but the important thing is that they played with determination and Nigeria worked with determination in fighting Ebola as one country. Every Nigerian should be very proud of that and be happy with that type of practice and we should extend it with other activities by working as a team that is all I can say.

Trickling this interview down to your home state of Enugu, it was gathered that the PDP caucus had adopted one Mr Ugwuanyi to run as Governor on the platform of the PDP, were you part of the endorsement deal?
We did an excellent job, my state has done wonders, and we have set a good record that was democratically done. The build up to that endorsement has taken more than a year, there are so many contestants, the incumbent governor and the PDP caucus invited some of the aspirants and we asked them separately that if given two ballot papers vote who will they vote for to become the next governor of the state? We made them understand that the first vote will go to themselves because they are interested, they agreed and we asked who the second candidate the vote will eventually favour, at separate times they mentioned a name, and this discussion was going on for a long time, and one name kept on occurring, there must be something in it, it is a new strategy; a new formula, you may call it ‘Enugu Formula.’ It will cut down on the cost of electioneering and bitterness as well as post-electoral victimisation. Such things will be taken care of, if people go into election with almost unanimity of mind. Some people will say it is totally undemocratic and they even say ‘Nnamani and others participated in that undemocratic process’ fine, but Enugu is known not to be a very rich state, we don’t have the type of money to waste in electioneering where we know certain candidates are just trying to see if they will fail, we don’t want to help such candidates, we want to help those who want to try to see if they will succeed, it makes it easier and after elections people are still friends, but we did not say that people should not buy form, in essence if anyone feels that what the caucus did was inappropriate, feel free to buy the form, it will start on October 10th, anybody from Enugu can buy including yourself. I don’t know if you are from Enugu (laughs).

It is no more news that the clamour for women participation in governance in Nigeria has reached a crescendo, based on this, should we say that Nigeria is ripe to have a female governor?
Of course, Nigeria is ripe for anything that has to do with gender participation. We have seen some women in governance in various strata of our government and are performing creditably well. I don’t see how they cannot perform well in gubernatorial seat. Many of our women are highly educated and even more educated than some of their male counterpart, I am not too sure that gender has anything to do with that. We are talking about exposure and ability to deliver as well as thinking independently by thinking outside the box to come up with new ideas. These are may be results of the Beijing Conference but it has been overtaken. in a country like Brazil, two women are slugging it out now over who becomes the next President of the country, there is a run-off, it does not mean they don’t have husbands or that there are no more male in that country, even in Argentina, a pretty lady is the President and may be that is another attribute. Some of them in
Nigeria who think they are presentable enough should go ahead but it is not just beauty alone, the woman in question is expected to have something upstairs, isn’t it?

Finally, as the 2015 general election draws closer, what message do you have for Nigerian electorates?
They should vote wisely, days are gone when people sit in the comfort of their homes to write results and announce. People should be vigilant and make sure we elect the right people especially in the legislative arm because that makes a lot of difference.