‘Why we voted for Dogara’

HON Emeka Anohu (PDP), rep­resents Ihiala Constituency at the House of Representatives. In this interview, he examines the lead­ership squabble that is tearing the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) apart among other issues. EXCERPTS:

First of all, for every law maker, I will rather speak for myself. I had in mind that I am coming to a type of Represen­tatives that will give me the platform to be able to discuss issues, represent my people very well and exchange ideas so that collectively, we can move the country forward.

But, surprisingly, coming into the House of Reps, we are confronted with peculiarities that were beyond the control of the ruling party, the APC.

We looked at the scenario and the PDP as a party, decided that we would support somebody who is liberal, someone who would carry the lawmakers along in its entirety. As a party, we decided to pitch our tent to a certain laws to lead the 8th House of Reps.

That was what we did. And obviously our fears have come to play. If we had gone the order way, it would have been a differ­ent ball game entirely.

We are looking at APC Reps, we are watching to see what they will come out with, bearing in mind that leadership is not an easy thing. They’ve been in opposition for a while, they’ve been clamouring for change, and change is at their door step.

What you are saying is that APC is yet to come to reality as regards com­porting themselves for governance?

Yes of course, very well. From all angles, you can see even from the Senate down, you can see the issues that are facing them are leadership challenges . So, if you have been in the race for power for 16 years, and you do not have a template , that is unfortu­nate. As soon as the power got to them, we thought they should have hit the ground running. They are grappling with who to satisfy, and what to do.

Our problem is not about APC, our problem is that we need a House to move forward and do the business of the day which is why we were elected,

But the problem of the APC is slowing down the activities of the House, it is stunting the progress of the House. It is af­fecting the debates and issues we are supposed to be dealing with. And that is a problem; it is a worry for some of us.

How do you think APC caucus should handle the issue of principal officers-follow the recom­mendation of the party or elect those they want on the floor of the House?

I do not think I have any busi­ness with that. I am not a mem­ber of the APC, so I would not be in a position to tell them what should be done in that regard. PDP is ready with its principal officers. I believe so, and I know so. I cannot speak for APC.

My interest, collectively as a house, is that they should put their house in order and come to the floor of the House. Let’s do the business of the day. We are retrogressing because APC cannot bring out their principal officers. That’s funny as far as I am concerned.

There are insinuations that PDP lawmakers vot­ed against Gbajabiamila because they felt that he would be controlled by external forces, how true is such claim?

I can speak for myself and probably speak a little for my party. I am sure that the hierarchy of the party took a good look at the structure of the Assembly and putting the two candidates side by side decided that the party, PDP would sur­vive under somebody who would not be encumbered from outside . We are going to be in the op­position for the first time and we needed to protect our interest and also the National assembly collectively. We decided to vote for Dogara for the purpose of keeping all other political par­ties alive in the same way. We wanted somebody who is free minded, somebody who is not encumbered and somebody who would not have prejudice against those outside his party.

I think that was the reason we voted for Dogara. Dogara as far as I am concerned is a liberal -minded individual. He will not allow outside interfer­ence to dictate the path the As­sembly would take.

But there are also fears that the PDP after back­ing him , may want to dictate to him; is this not supposed to disturb APC lawmakers?

The Speaker you are talking about is a member of the APC. He is not a member of the PDP. So, I believe he has some crowd in the APC who believe in his manifesto when he came to vie for the speakership. And PDP having looked at all the agenda of the two candidates and looked at the interests surrounding the APC’s candidate , the ones sur­rounding Dogara decided to take a stand.

Politics is all about interest, PDP has gone to protect its own interest and there are no apolo­gies for that.

The South east where you come from is com­plaining that no substan­tive office was zoned to it in the National Assembly . Do you think their com­plaints are justifiable in view of the APC’s poor performance in the zone during the last general election?

Well you see, sometimes in life, you need to give and take. That is what life is about. As far as I am concerned, if I may speak on behalf of or about what is happening in the House of Representatives, I believe South east has one or two APC Reps. I feel they should be given a posi­tion. But it is obvious from what we are seeing that the APC from South east is not in the calcula­tion. To a large extent, how APC manages itself or shares its key positions in the House is not my business . My party has lost out as a lead­ing party. We are now in the minority. But we will produce people from the South east, peo­ple to representative the minority interest. That I can assure you.

Collectively, all of us are hoping to have a good House , bearing in mind that both APC and PDP lawmakers supported Dogara who is a member of the APC. We did that because we want our interest protected. I believe the South-east and every zone would be protected under Dogara. Strictly speaking and restricting my answer to your question, APC has short-changed the South east bearing in mind that the zone has some APC lawmak­ers.

What is your dream, what is that thing you intend to achieve in this House?

Of course, like every lawmak­er, I want to effectively represent my constituency . It is the pri­mary objective of every law­maker. But I am of the opinion that I have gone beyond certain things. For me, I believe if you put structures on ground that would help your constituents and the society, you will be fulfilled. I have looked at a situation in the House, and most of our people have no access to good drugs, to instant medical care. Many can­not even afford basic health care system. So, these are my areas of interest. These are areas I intend to bring bills that would help address the situation. I intend to bring bills and motions that would help my people.

For example, if you fall ill in England , they ask you questions after they have treated you. It is a reverse case here. You have to deposit some money before you are treated, that is not proper. As medical doctors, you save lives first, then you can ask questions later.

So, in a nutshell, I am looking for health programmes, I am looking at health bills. My mis­sion in the House is not to con­struct boreholes and other things that don’t matter in the life of my people . I believe, if a man or a family is healthy, he would be in a better position to pursue better things of life.

I give you another example, the last medical treatment that I did in my community, we were sitting and talking and an elderly man in his late 60’s, came in and was struggling to see a doctor. I had to go personally to bring that person to see a doctor and on taking his BP, it was almost 190 plus. That is instant coma. God forbid that the man falls and drops dead there, being in the village, they’ll say someone must have killed him, they will start blaming juju. But the problem was high blood pressure. And this man walks around everyday. So, we are looking for situations where they could access these medicare easily.

At what point did you feel that you should be focused more on health, what developed your interest in that area? If you are in a rural area, our people are not conscious of their health. We have had too many deaths occurring in our villages, not because it is their time but because they are not aware of it. That is a striking balance for me. Why don’t you make them become aware of their illness? Why don’t you make them realize that their health is more important? Why don’t you create awareness? Another example; an elderly man was hit in the village, there was no hospital to administer first aid on him, at least to stabilise the man. Before they gathered round, people were crying and wailing.

Anambra State has been protesting the re­cent relocation of some Boko Haram members to prison in the state. Are you concerned about that or you shared the argument that the issue is being politicised?

I made a public statement to that effect. It is unfair in my own opinion. It is unjust as well to relocate Boko Haram terror­ist to a state where, first of all, does not have maximum prison. Two; even if you decided to do so, which every living resident of Anambra State has refused to accept, is it right to relocate criminals that have committed crime in other parts of the coun­try to a state in the East where they are alien? You are relocating to the East where there is nothing like terrorism, no bomb dealers of any kind. You put 48 terror­ists in a prison; what is the guar­anty that they would not convert those other people in the prison to begin to bomb innocent people? That is our fear. You are not inside the cell with them. It is alien to our people, we are not terrorists and I believe Nigerians are not terrorists. So, if you catch them in Sokoto State, why do you have to transfer them to Anambra State? It is of huge concern for our people. Do I commit crime in Anambra state and you put me in prison in Jigawa state? I have never seen that happen.

Recently , the Presi­dent named new service chiefs but some people and organizations from your zone are accusing the President of neglect­ing the zone, do you share their position?

There are two things to it. For me, we look at the ranks of these officers appointed. There is something we call federal character in appointing people. Time will tell if he has made the right choices and done the right thing. Time will equally tell if his appointments were based on fairness. That is all I can say about that at this point in time.

Credit: Sun News