Recently ordained as an Elder of Qua Iboe Church, the former Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State, Director General, DIVINE MANDATE ORGANIZATION, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (Rtd), shared with AKANIMO KUFRE the numerous reasons Akwa Ibomites should have faith in PDP and vote Deacon Udom Emmanuel come 2019 governorship election.
The former Presidential Airlift Group commander believes Nigeria is ungovernable because of fundamental issues like restructuring.
Why should Akwa Ibom people trust Gov. Udom Emmanuel for re-election?
In 2015 that question was relevant when we didn’t know Gov Udom’s background so the issue of trust could have come in there. By that time he was just somebody doing well in his area, in his industry (Banking) and we brought him in. And thank God for what we did, because immediately he came was when Nigeria went into recession. He was able to continue working, paying salaries, commissioning projects not because he was a governor but because his background gave him the capacity to do that, his signature was known in that industry. Today he has been able to do this much and so the question of trust does not even arise. You know we are the ones now that should be pleading with him to do this work for us at least in the next four years before the nation takes him up for higher responsibility because I am sure but it is yet to come. So it is not whether we can trust him, it was whether he will even be ready. We pleaded with him and thank God he has accepted to continue in the next four years to consolidate on what he has done already and even do more.
Udom’s administration has recorded 12 industries in the last 3 years, what should we expect in the coming years?
If he could achieve this 12 within the last three and a half years, I will not even guess what he will do because what I do know is that he is going to do much more because the kind of things he did during this time was the most difficult part of it because the investor that comes in wants to be sure of his money is going to be safe, his return of investment. He is going to look for source of energy. Already Gov. Udom has been given approval to take up to 650 megawatts of electricity which is a major problem in the country. Ikot Abasi IPP is giving out 191 megawatt even though what we need here is just 65 megawatt and with the unbundling of PHCN towards the end of Jonathan’s administration, we believe the issue of transmission and distribution will not be as it is now. So energy he has assured, with communication that is on, we do know that communication is good with the telephone, the roads he is tarring are not just roads for the sake of it but they are commercially viable roads. They are connecting roads that will bring raw materials to the industry and finished products out of it. So that one is a thing of assurance for an investor. And then not too long ago, maybe about a week and a half or two, the General Officer Commanding 6th Infantry Division did tell us here that from all the areas under his jurisdiction, Akwa Ibom has the lowest level of crime. Security is very important to an investor. The Emir of Kano came the other day and he said the primary reason he is coming in to invest is because there is security in Akwa Ibom so that his investment will be safe. He is bringing a company that will invest about $1.2 billion and that’s not small money. And many more are coming, so for the next four years I expect that this would be the destination for investors. It is not out of nothing, in Akwa Ibom for the last three years, has been the 2nd most attractive place for foreign direct investment primarily because of security. Lagos is 1st because of the infrastructures that are already there. So what I expect for the next four years is that this place will be bubbling with industrialization. He has done it methodically and I do not see it getting worst rather I see it getting much more better, because when you have something on ground it is easier to build something on it.
Talking investment, the Ibom Airport MRO (Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul) was conceived to generate huge revenue, what is the situation of the MRO under Udom?
The process is not something you pick off the shelf. We needed operators, and operator is not just anybody. We have been talking to a few of them, we need somebody that knows how to operate and ready to put finance because we are looking up to an investor as well. Yes we are meeting some level of success. The MRO itself will be alive and not just the MRO by the grace of God even our airlines too will be up before the end of the year. The MRO has not been abandon by any reason. We had finished about 85-90% the rest is now the finishing and how to get the operator who is able to work with us. We already have a lot of people that are trained, so we need an operator that has a name that will give us the expertise and all that. So it is important to this administration especially now that we are talking about having our Airline operational before the end of the year.
As a Military Administrator you left indelible landmark achievement within 9 months, what makes you believe Udom Emmanuel can achieve similar fit?
I expect him to do much more, and definitely he is going to do much better. The problems we had then he wouldn’t have now, it’s a building block, some of those blocks were laid. His achievements are going to be in geometrical proportion. You know, I expect him to do much better. He is going to do that and I trust that he is going to do so. We had problems, we believe some of those fundamental problems had been solved, so he should move faster and better, I have no doubt in his capacity or in my mind.
Is this assurance certain because you trust in his team of advisers?
The buck stop on his table, he has the final say on what to do and what not to do, his adviser can only advice hoping their advice could be well intension so I believe he can take the advise in line with some other information that the advisers don’t have then look into situation better. But I think looking at him he is a very intelligent man, he is a very godly person he is a very focus person. At least he has all the credentials to make him do better; I have no doubt in my mind that he will leave a very strong mark when he vacates this place.
How would Divine Mandate deal with the norm that Udom Emmanuel doesn’t give freely like his predecessor, Godswill Akpabio?
As a matter of fact I spoke with him (Godswill Akpabio) and told him that if he was in charge today he will be in trouble because that attitude is not supported by a third world economy of lavishing and throwing away money. Fortunately at that time there was money to throw away and hide somewhere. Here you are having a prudent manager. I don’t need to convince the people of Akwa Ibom, they should know what is happening in other States under the recession a lot of them up till today they can’t pay salaries, they cant tar roads. Is that what Akwa Ibom people want? But we have somebody that is a prudent manager and was able to do all that so it is not a matter of throwing away money or lavishing money, am not sure that is what I Akwa Ibom people want. They want good governance, good roads, good hospitals, they want all those things and he is giving it to them so I think if our mentality was that people should be throwing money and we collect, it is now that we should even tell please don’t throw money, do what you are doing. So I don’t need to convince them on that, we are lucky to have him.
You just finished a meeting with elders of Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, is there any of the three senatorial district that Udom re-election may suffer any setback?
Well I don’t foresee problem in any senatorial district, I have spoken to Uyo, and Eket senatorial district and had discussion with Ikot Ekpene senatorial district today. Each one has its own peculiarity. I started with Uyo, why should Uyo have any challenge, they are going to vote en-mass for Udom Emmanuel because Uyo wants power to come back to them come 2023 so they don’t want to compromise on that. I don’t need to convince them on that, and that is their peculiarity. They know by law Udom must vacate the seat for them in 2023. Eket senatorial district I spoke with, Udom is their son, why should I go and ask them to support Udom. He is their son, they won’t want to throw the opportunity away and they have seen how well he is been doing. Above all these, there is something higher than Udom in this country, eket might say the ‘other one’ is their son but the point ther is that the issue of restructuring of this country, it is only udom’s party that wants to do that. The other party does not support restructuring at all. I use to struggle for crumbs under the table, my children cannot struggle for crumbs under the table anymore. There must be restructuring in this country so on that basis Udom passed. Look at the issues that has been coming up, can you imagine that we are struggling to benefit from the oil and then somebody is bringing a bill to take away the inland waterways. Nobody from the other party can even say a word. Can you imagine that two years ago, Akwa Ibom got the least in Capital Expenditure, 1.9billion while a state somewhere else had 30billion and contributed nothing to it. Is that the party I will want to secure the future of my children? For Udom, PDP has make things very easy for him in terms of direction to go. We had already taken a decision that nobody in the Niger delta region will vote for a party that does not support restructuring. Udom is in a party that support restructuring. As a matter of fact Atiku was elected candidate because of his support for restructuring. So also did Afenifere, in South-West, Ohaneze in South- East, Middle belt Forum. So this is a decision that has been taken. If you saw the people that came today fro the Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, they came in full force and am pleading with them, they don’t have to be guilty about anything because there are saying that the person that defected from Eket supported their son for 8 years, so why should they not come and support now. They don’t have to feel guilty because I know it is just an individual that is pursuing his personal agenda. And they have come out in full force and they said they want to support Udom, that’s true off them. Where should I now look for challenge so there is no challenge.
At the national politics, what makes Atiku distinguished for 2019 presidential election?
As a matter of fact, the leaders of southern Nigeria and middle belt met with 16 of the presidential candidates. We screen them, I remember one newspaper that said, ‘we grilled them!’ we grilled Atiku for 3 hours. When Saraki came to us it was 10:30pm and we didn’t finish until about 1 O’clock. When you see somebody like Ike Clark, a 92 years old man sitting till 1am to go through that, Ayo Adebanjo started so we took it very seriously. About 16 of them in pdp and some outside pdp also showed up and our number 1 issue had been restructuring of this country. We had rally in 2015 at Ibadan, we had in Yenogoa, we had in Awka and Makurdi. We are in clearance on that, so Atiku when he came we noticed had talked about restructuring even before it became a national discourse. When he finished talking to us he presented a book he had written about restructuring, we had reason to believe that, he had an edge over the other one. Not just because of the election so I think that is what gave him advantage. That is what we all talk about. Nigeria is a 3 storey building standing on a bungalow foundation. And if we don’t change that foundation which is in the restructuring, even if you bring in an angel he won’t succeed as a president.
Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat makes your name ring bells to every young and old in Akwa Ibom and so does Obong Victor Attah who earns lots of people’s respect. Has Obong Attah endorse Divine Mandate candidate, Udom Emmanuel?
Well we have been discussing, his own take is that he has left politics at least I have heard him say that so I don’t expect him to belong to any political party now. If he had, he has not told me. He is very strong on the issue of restructuring. In fact he joins force with Southern and Middle Belt forum. He is a member of Pan Niger Delta Forum, which I am the chairman so he is very strong on restructuring and to that extent I can say where his leaning politically will be. So the Divine Mandate is an organisation that has sympathy for a man that is one of the pillars for restructuring. I think he will be a very strong supporter of Udom Emmanuel because of Udom stand on restructuring.
You were recently ordained an Elder in the church, how significant is this to your role in managing the campaign for your deacon?
The church is Christendom, I think that is significant and I thank God that spiritually I have made supplication to my God and creator in the presence of people of Akwa Ibom state and for me to lead this campaign for Udom speaks volume. The other party carries guns, here we carry Bible. So we believe that God is going to do things and win for his people throw Divine Mandate through Deacon Udom Emmanuel. If you depend on your horses and chariots, we depend on our God that is going to liberate our people. We cannot go about with slave mentality anymore.
