Chief Hope Erute is a PDP chieftain from Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State. He has been around in politics, especially in the PDP right from 1998 even though he has not benefited significantly from the party in form of appointment. In this exclusive interview with Omuvwie Etakibuebu, the Uvwie-based politician bared his mind on the forthcoming 2023 governorship election in the state, among other salient issues, and advised that in the interest of harmony, the zoning arrangement that has been on since 1999 be adhered to so that Urhobo will take the next turn. According to him, the unity of the state will be jeopardized if the zoning arrangement is compromised. Excerpts:
2023 is still three years away from now but the polity appears to be heated up already about which senatorial district or ethnic nationality is to take the next turn for the governorship of the state. Not a few Deltans from Delta Central and Delta South have kick-started state-wide consultations. When you look into the future what do you see in 2023?
Well, you didn’t tell me those who have come out already but, let’s assume that we know them, especially those that have come out doing consultation. They are only raising the stakes so that the perceived young lads who can challenge them, who have the capacity to take us to rule Delta and take us to promised land, will not be able to come in. One of the tenable reasons behind parties raising the price of forms to N20 million, N50 million as the case may be, is because the young men who have been adequately trained and who have the capacity to run a government fairly will not have the chance. These old politicians, even though you will call some of them young, those who are already approaching sixty but they have been eating money since there were 25, so they are old people – these are the people we hope to change. So, to intimidate any of the young ones that are willing to come into the race, is to start early, as early as four years away. In fact, immediately Okowa won election, they started to do consultation for 2023. So, all of that is just for them to make it difficult for the young ones and make them cave in and leave the stage for them. But we are saying no, we have our strategies. It is really too early for them to come out but we know why they have come out. We are not intimidated. That is what I can tell you now.
Granted that the 2023 governorship for the PDP has been zoned to Delta Central, there have been arguments that it should be the turn of the Uvwie, Okpe, Sapele federal constituency to produce the governor in PDP. You are an Uvwie and Okpe man. Assume the governorship is zoned to your federal constituency in PDP, which of the three local government areas do you think should take the slot to produce the governor?
PDP believes in zoning. That is why it will be coming to the Uvwie, Okpe, Sapele local governments area which form the third federal constituency. Of course, I agree with anybody in this zone that is fighting for the governorship to be zoned to Uvwie, Okpe Sapele federal constituency. I’m with them 100 percent and that is true, equity is what we are looking for. But by extension, equity should be done within the federal constituency. In fact, Okpe and Sapele local government areas are one as they are Okpe people. So, it is between Uvwie and Okpe. Uvwie is one. The fact that they have two local government areas, is not enough for them to think that the governorship should be left for them. The argument does not hold water. Then again, if you look at the current government from 2015 till date, the Uvwie man is just holding a nominal position. Only one commissioner there. May be because Okpe have two local government areas, their slots are always doubled. So, our brothers in Okpe have been commissioners, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Special Advisers, father of government and all of those things. May be if the only position left is the governorship, then it should be left for the Uvwie man so that we can have that feeling of belonging. If an Okpe man is in a place it is also an Uvwie man that is there. Also, if it is an Uvwie man that is in a place, it is also the Okpe man that is there because we belong to the same ancestry. So, what I’m saying in earnest is that they should consider conceding the governorship to an Uvwie man.
Generally, what do you think are the qualities that you will be looking for from anyone who will become the governor of the state in 2023?
First, I’m looking at somebody who is not enmeshed in the systemic arrangement that has tended to slow down the rate of our development. The speed has been slow because there is a system, especially one that takes everybody to Oghara as a Mecca. That system is where we will not want to be, where no matter how much work you have done, those who claim to be in charge have sat somewhere to decide where it should go and it goes there. So, we want to look for a candidate who is not exactly in that system, who will be fresh and also ready to work for his future.
A story was told of Nigerian ministers who went to China on an inter-ministerial meeting and they saw some young boys lining up down there. They didn’t imagine that they were the ministers. So, the Nigerian ministers asked: where are your ministers now and they replied ‘we are the people’, thirty years and below. And when they asked the elderly there, they said that the future belongs to them. So, let them now do the work and lay the foundation for their future. For the old people, for instance, if they are already sixty years old and he is planning for the next fifty years, is he going to be alive to witness it? These ones who are thirty now will still be alive at eighty. So, they can blame themselves if they failed to make plans for their old age. So, that is why they are the ministers – 25, 28 and at most 30. Our ministers came back. And of course, the youngest minister among the Nigerian team was 55 years old. So, let these old people give way and let’s bring in young people…We don’t want those who distribute money, we want people who create institutions, who create infrastructural development, those are the people we want. If we have a well-equipped Teaching Hospital, we will benefit from medical tourism. In those days, people used to go to University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan. But do people still go to UCH now? We now run to India for medical treatment. With all the kind of money we hear that are planned to be repatriated, that alone can give you a fantastic world-class hospital.
These days Nigerians fly medical experts to handle serious cases here if we don’t go to India. So, where is our medical facilities? Where are Nigerian medical experts? Even the Delta State University Teaching Hospital is going down.So, we want to bring a governor who is free from all these encumbrances. The system has been bastardized. So, we really want to come out and talk to the youths to show interest in the governorship. I want to see somebody below forty years or thereabout, as governor in 2023. Let’s -back him. Let him know that he is coming to plan for the future of himself and his age bracket and those below. Don’t come to say your allegiance is to the outgoing governor or that big minister somewhere or the traditional rulers. Forget that. This is because nowadays people ask: have you gone to consult with your traditional ruler? Have you gone to Oghara? We don’t want these things anymore. People like me should have nothing about contesting for governorship and all of that. Anybody who is smelling 60 and above should forget that. We want to project the youths. I’m even ready to project a woman for the governorship because research has shown that women are better leaders. Never mind Diezani and co, they belong to the system.
Talking about the system in Delta State, do you think your suggestion will favour Delta Central without the zoning arrangement, considering the fact that there are some PDP stalwarts already gearing up for 2023 governorship race?
It is not the system that will ensure that Delta Central produces the next governor. There has been no governorship election from 1999 till date where aspirants have not emerged from the three senatorial districts. Even the 2015 PDP primary was contested across the state. It was in 2019 that we in PDP emphasized that, at least, we should allow the zoning be. Because of that, nobody came out from Urhobo and Ijaw. So, we left Okowa to do his second term. And if you had listened to Okowa while he was campaigning, he emphasized Delta Central will be next. In fact, according to him, he will work to ensure that the zoning is adhered to. But stories filtering in now show that the Delta South are bent on producing the governor, come 2023. Their argument is that zoning by senatorial arrangement has gone round and has ended. So, it is now going to be by ethnic nationalities. These are all parochial and selfish tendencies. So, if you now insist on zoning according to ethnic nationalities and for each turn of an ethnic nationality the governor will go for eight years (because that is the secret pact for the zoning, once you go for one term, you must go for a second one), then the eight ethnic nationalities in the state – Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ijaw, Isoko, Ukwuani, Ika, Aniocha and Oshimili multiplied by eight years each, will give you a total of 64 years. So, when it is the turn of one ethnic nationality now, before it gets to its turn again, it has to wait for 64 years before it will produce a governor. So, those angling in Delta South should not trouble the water. This idea being nursed by the Ijaw people, they are just trying to trouble the water. It will not bring harmony in the state. Let Delta Central pick it this time around. When next it gets to the turn of Delta South next time, they (Ijaws) may be, automatically be the one to pick it. I say may be because they are not alone in Delta South. Even though you are clamouring that the zoning should be by ethnic nationality now, what makes you think you should be the one after all you have the deputy governor in this very regime. So, those who have got neither governor nor deputy in the South, why shouldn’t they take it? They should let the sleeping to lie. They have had their fair share. In fact, the Jonathan government favoured them alone. It didn’t favour the Urhobo man. So, they should relax and let Delta Central go in. Thereafter, Delta South will come in.
Assuming the Ijaws, as it were, continue in their pressure to have the next governor and then the zoning arrangement is jettisoned, what other option is available for the Urhobo to clinch it?
Take note that zoning is not actually a constitutional matter. It is an in-house thing. So, if they say, they are putting away this in-house arrangement, then they are opening the gate for all sorts of things to happen. Sometimes when we say things as they are, we are accused that our loyalty has been divided. I have been in the PDP since 1998. But I have not held any political office just because I don’t believe I should force myself on people. If the Ijaws say they no longer respect the zoning by senatorial arrangement, so be it. They have so much money in their vaults. In fact, one Ijaw man can pay the whole of Delta Central. But they will be disappointed. That will bring division in the body politic of Delta State which Okowa is attempting to build and make strong. Perhaps, Okowa holds the aces now, to begin to warn that the subsisting zoning arrangement must remain sacrosanct. And any of those who will be threatening this arrangement now should be sanctioned.
Now looking at the scenario from the angle of opposition party. Although the APC performed poorly in 2019 election, should the PDP throw away the zoning arrangement, what will be the chances of your party against the opposition in the State?
Honestly, Delta State is PDP and PDP is Delta State. But unless PDP sticks to their zoning arrangement as it is now, they may not be able to make it in 2023. If we stick to the zoning arrangement and we give it to Delta Central and thereafter to Delta South and to Delta North as it is now, then there will be no place for the opposition to penetrate. But if you dare to destabilize and discountenance this plan and tell us you have so much money, you will be inadvertently breaking down the house in such a way that our opponent will have an incursion into the place. You can’t have more money than the federal government. Buhari is just pretending not to spend money, people under him are spendthrifts. Like somebody said, that the fish gets rotten from the head. But in the present Buhari regime, the head is not rotten but the body is. The success of the PDP will depend largely on how we respect the zoning arrangement. Otherwise, it is not like before 2019 when there were no alternatives. Whether or not, you like it, there is a ruling party at the national level and there is a ruling party. PDP is now in opposition. The ruling party wants to take Delta State. So, we really need to keep our house closely and one of the signs that we are keeping our house closely is our respect for the zoning arrangement. If not, should Delta South say they will challenge the zoning, it will be disastrous. Nigerians are getting to be more aware, nobody is voting along ethnic lines anymore. People will want to vote for progress.
Now, you were talking about an existing system and given that the PDP leader of the system as we know it. If that zoning arrangement is respected and the governorship comes to Delta Central and the leadership decides that the governorship should go to Ughelli North for instance instead of Okpe, Uvwie, Sapele federal constituency, how will youreact?
I can tell you that if he does that, he will be reckless. And any such reckless arrangement will diminish the fortune of the party. Like I said, we are not really voting along ethnic lines anymore. Everybody knows what to do with his voters’ card. So, those people who think they must go to Mecca are those who don’t have any moral strength to stand an election. That is why they go there. Are they actually loyal to Oghara? They are not. They just use it as an umbrella. Those who are going there now are not loyal, especially the young and educated hopeful people. They just go there; they are playing along so that they will get there. When they get there, they will assert themselves.
You were also emphasizing the effort of the incumbent governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa at trying to ensure the sanctity of the zoning arrangement. If the arrangement works as expected, who do you think will be his choice?
The first thing, like I said, is that he is very concerned about Delta being strong even after him. One of the things that will negate his desire of making Delta strong, will be allowing people to plunder the zoning arrangement. In fact, I have emphasized earlier on that anybody who is going to trouble the zoning arrangement should be sanctioned. He should waste no time on that. Perhaps, he still looking at it that 2023 as if it is still very far away. This is the time to warn because we know that Delta South people are already doing consultation. Some of them, members of the National Assembly, are going round now doing consultation. They held a meeting a few weeks ago inside the Ex-army settlement here (in Effurun). Are they meeting to choose who to support whereas the names have not come out? So, they should wait to see and try to join us. But if they say no, then the governor should think twice, start to prune them, start to sanction them because what they are doing is capable of destroying the PDP.
Several times, the governor has been quoted as admonishing the Urhobo in PDP to put their house in order so that they can elicit the support of the other senatorial districts. Is it possible for the Urhobos in PDP to actually resolve all issues and put their house in order in readiness for the 2023?
Whatever the governor meant by that, these are some of the loose statements that are made to allow for intrusion. To be specific, is Urhobo in disarray? If they are in disarray, how did it come about? It is under your watch. You are not an ethnic governor. You are the governor of the people. So, if you identify there are some issues somewhere, you know the people to call. He is the chief security officer of the state. Every security information is at his disposal. He knows those he is directing the statement to. He should come out forthrightly to deal with such people. Nobody should give the impression that Urhobo are disunited, and meanwhile they are fanning the embers of disunity from Government House. So, whatever such statements amount to, you are taking a reckless position which I know will not stand the test of PDP unity. So, every Deltan should look up to the zoning and respect it, if you allow me, make it sacrosanct.
Taking a holistic view of the country as it is today, what would you say is the state of the nation?
Okay, the latest one that is trending now is Amotekun, the South West Security outfit. And I want to praise the effort of the Yorubas. For once, they have shown us that they are forerunners in education. You may ask me, what will education do to you? It is to enable you find solutions to problems. I praise the Yorubas, people like Oyebanjo who saw it clearly. This is because there is truly an existing danger looming in this country. There is no bush in this country that has not been occupied. These kidnappings, banditry and terrorism are designed. Let’s say the truth to government. And the way we are using kids glove at the federal level is dissatisfying. But if you watch, I think education is helping us. In the North today, they are getting divided because insecurity is insecurity. You are killing people every day and exploding bombs, and someone would open his mouth to defend it that the explosion of bombs today is less than when Jonathan was the President. Is that a language? Why should there be bombing at all? So, what has been making it difficult to fish out the Boko Haram in the so-called Sambisa forest? Your forest is not a mangrove forest, it is savannah. So, what is there? What are we doing with the fighter jets that we have. You have failed to deploy technology to solve the problem in the North East and other troubled area in the north. But it is the same technology the Yorubas are prepared to deploy. They have all the statistics, pictures and locations of flash points in the South West. They have not disclosed their strategies; they have only told us that they have formed their own security outfit to protect their people.Successive governments in this country have been ruling with some level of deceit. Nobody tells you exactly as it is, otherwise the chief legal officer of the country has declared something illegal, only to change position after the meeting of the South West governors with the Vice president. He must have been shown some statistics. So, these Yorubas who have detected and found a solution to the problems of insecurity in their area, I give them kudos. The Yorubas are now deploying their education. I think that is what we should be doing now .The next area is our judiciary. Our judiciary should be more forthcoming. They shouldn’t do things that will shake our hearts about the judiciary being last hope of the common man. Honestly, things are gliding down to where everybody knows that it is wrong to run a federal system in a unitary manner.
Recently, the President of the Senate constituted the Committee for Constitutional Review, with our own Senator, Ovie Omo-Agege as the chairman. In what area do you think the Committee should tinker with in the 1999 constitution that will positively impact the lives of Nigerians and, indeed, Delta State?
Let me say and advice that attention should be directed to the 1963 constitution. They should go back to that constitution in which derivation was 50% and we had peace everywhere – whether it is oil, groundnut, cocoa or palm oil, 50% derivation. If you do that, we won’t have all these problems. As at then, you pay back a portion to the federal government. But now the federal government takes everything from you and say that, because of the degradation of the environment, you take 13%.
They should go back to the 1963 constitution. And they should also pay attention to the electoral Act. What is it? You have won and you have taken everything. You now sign it into an Act now. Instead, in one vein, you are saying INEC should device any method that will ensure free and fair election. And then INEC came with the card reader. The language spoken by the judiciary of the card reader is different from the intendment of INEC. Now, the judiciary is saying the card reader is not part of the laws of the nation. And so, many of these people who should be relaxing in jail are in government houses now, further limiting the chances of the best materials we have to make it to government. They should do more.
Nigerians voted massively for President Buhari both in his first tenure and second tenure because of the conviction that he is going to deal a final blow on corruption. Before then, the regime of former President, Goodluck Jonathan was classified as very corrupt. Can you draw a line now between corruption under Buhari and under Jonathan? Are we winning the war against corruption?
Today, we are looking at corruption as such as limited to stealing of money; you embezzled money, you misappropriated funds, etc – that is not corruption. The greatest corruption on ground today is nepotism. How can all the service chiefs come from one side of the country? Mr. President should purge himself of nepotism. It is a serious and debilitating corruption. National Orientation Agency, NOA, what are they doing? They are not reaching out to anybody. You came to campaign that INEC should use the card reader, then you withdrew. There was no way you could orientate our judges to respect the card reader. So, loyalty in this country is to individuals and not the country. And that is why we have failed in fighting corruption. Don’t show me those you have jailed for embezzlement. Show me those you jailed for disobeying federal character. Federal character is dead.
So, let’s take the new immigration policy of visa at the point of entry. You want to travel to the U.S, and you face the rigour of getting the American visa in Nigeria before you can travel. But you want others coming to Nigeria to come and when they get here before you give them visa.
