Imo promises to be hot in the build up to the governorship election in the state. With the People’s Democratic Party trying to take over power from the All Progressives Congress, the battle line has already drawn. In this interview MECKSON Innocent Okoro, director general, Martin Agbaso Campaign Organisation, tells FUNKE OSAE-BROWN, Deputy Editor, about the organisation’s plan for the people of the state.
What informed your decision to go into politics?
I am known for real estate business and I have been in practice for over 25 years. One will be wondering why I went into politics? You will agree with me that if you have a very poor representation at government level, even as a councilor, as state or federal House of Representative member, local government chairman, governor or any other position, that poor representation will affect every facet of our lives. It will affect our quality of living, education, food consumption, food supply, transportation and everything about life. Some of us have been working, we also keep complaining and hoping the country will be better but the country is not getting any better. It does not hold a vibrant hope for our children, particularly the mothers. So, I asked myself, what shall it benefit me if I make all the money in estate and my children do not have any future? What will it benefit me, if I make all the money and feel comfortable when our villagers are suffering? Some of them look unto you as their ‘messiah’ and when they expect you to deliver; they find out that you don’t have enough to deliver. The only way you can positively impact on the people is through quality representation and good governance. For instance, Lagos State, someone who has not been in Lagos for about 8 or 10 years ago, if he comes back, he would not know Lagos because it has metamorphosed into a better place. I give credit to the drivers and economist of Lagos State and governance and this is the kind of thing you get where you have good representation.
However, there are other states of the federation, where good governance is lacking. The reason we said civilian government is better than military is because we believe that good governance can only come through democracy, which is government of the people for the people and by the people. These days, less-privileged people are used to get to power and the moment they get into power, they shut their doors and they don’t see them again. That is why we are saying no to this. It is even a big risk for me to leave my vibrant business and comfort zone and come to do this. I have decided to pay the price so that the less- privileged will live and my children will have future. That is why people like us have decided to go into government and in going into it, coming from Imo State. There are two principle factors one must consider, which party will guarantee us access and what are the qualities of the person, if I am personally not contesting for anything? The quality of the person I want to follow and the person who is about to become the governor matters a lot to me. If the government is going well, people like us will go on with our own businesses, instead of going into governance.
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Why have you chosen Martin Agbaso?
We decided to follow Martin Agbaso because he is prepared. He is well educated and is an economist that has made his mark. He is also better focused and is ready to know what to do. So, his main focus will be job creation, if our people go to school and they don’t have employment, then it is a waste. This is a challenge. He is well prepared.
What are your plans for Imo?
So, as soon as he is elected into power as governor of Imo State, our focus will be job creation. We plan to make sure that within the first three years, we will have created about 250 thousand jobs for Imo State employable youths. Martins said that if he is unable to achieve this within three years, he will resign. We will go back, call you and remind you of this day.
We are going to be looking at housing and in creating the jobs; it cannot come from the vacuum. We will be looking at industrialisation. We will use the goodwill of the government to attract foreign investment under PDP arrangement, so that we can begin to encourage the industrialisation of the state, so as to create the needed jobs for our youths. About 65 percent of people that travel to Asia, US, India, Dubai to import and sell things are mainly from the Eastern region. Why will our funds be moved to these foreign countries? When the state is properly industrialised, there will be demand for housing and we will begin to develop large housing estates and focus more on social housing so that people will benefit.
What other sectors do you plan to develop in Imo?
Apart from housing, we will also look at mechanised agriculture for the state. Since oil came, nobody is laying emphasis on agriculture again. When we focus on agriculture, people will feed well and our institutional value will increase. The potential and the materials are there, but the problem we have is poor representation. What most of them do is that when they get the grant, instead of giving it back for the benefit of the masses they use it for their selfish interests. They have estates in London, US, Dubai and other states. That is why people like us are worried. If we don’t do this, it will continue to recur. When they take all the money abroad, they create jobs for people over there.
Who really is Martin Agbaso?
Martin Agbaso was the one who made sure the present governor came into power. Martin had one time contested in 2007 and succeeded, he was elected in Imo state and for obvious reasons in Abuja, and he was not allowed to become governor. He was in court for more than three years and without succeeding, he still went back for election again but this time around, he was the one that brought the present governor and gave him APGA structure, made sure he used his structure and in less than one year Rochas schemed him out. It is only a man that gives someone power that will be able to wrest the power out of the person. An adage says it is only a person that knows the dog that can touch the dog’s tail, otherwise he will bite you. That is why, having seen that good governance is lacking, people are doing things with total disregard to rule of law, the man that put the present governor has decided to wrest the power out. This time around, he decided to go through a popular party, PDP. Imo people cannot stand out as an opposition state to the rest of the country. If you are in the ruling party and the state is being governed by a PDP person, it is expected that it will be better off because they desire development to come to the people. We are using the opportunity to appeal to the conscience of the Imo people to know and do the right thing. I am not going there because I want to get what I have not got before. The only thing I have not got is for my state and unless we do something, our people will perish. That is why we decided to do this. If we check the profile of the entire aspirant, none has the kind of profile and campaign organisation Martin has.
What is the focus of your campaign team?
In Martin Campaign Organisation, we look for credibility, track record and those who want change and functionality. We are all core professionals in the campaign, even the woman leader is a professor of Agric Economy, FUTO, Edna Mattew Njoku, and others are too. The day we don’t see those qualities in Martin again, we will resign. We have put our feet down on certain issues. It cannot be business as usual. It is going to be difficult, but we must achieve it.
On incumbency issue, there are a lot of factors to consider. For instance, the present governor is a beneficiary of incumbency factor during the time of Ohakim. It was Agbaso that made sure the present governor was elected even when Ohakim was governor of Imo State. Because the people of Imo were not seeing what they expected, they are waiting for the ‘messiah’. The fact that someone is an incumbent does not make any difference because today, the people are looking for any government that can improve on the standard of living of all the people.
For instance, can you imagine the governor of Ogun State joining APGA, incumbency does not work that way. If Amosun joins APGA, I doubt if he can win. Rochas Okorocha betrayed the mandate Imo people gave him. APGA is supposed to be our traditional party just like APC is in the West. Unfortunately, a man that benefitted so much on the platform of APGA, he kicked out APGA and brought APC, that was not the mandate the people gave him. So, this alone has scored him less. So, his incumbency to us means nothing. Mandate belongs to the people. We believe that Martin Agbaso will not derail from our policy. We have a covenant to work together and deliver to our different constituency. So, by the time we get there and he begins to champion a different course, we will still call the press together and tell our people that what we promised you is not what we are seeing. We will resign as soon as we discover that a different course is being championed. We promise to better the lives of our people through agriculture, industrialisation and 250 thousand job creation within three years of ascension to power.
In terms of business, Agbaso is highly rated internationally and in Nigeria. If you come to where Martin lives in the village, there is no government house that is as good as that in this country. We are going to work with the press until the election is over. This event started in the Catholic Church, where Martin Agbaso made a covenant to God that if he ever touches government money, may his children never be successful. On the day of declaration, we started with God and he dedicated this course.
What is the relationship between Martin Agbaso and APGA?
He came for me to help him deliver this project because he knows what I stand for. Peter Obi came for a purpose, which he delivered under APGA. It was Martin Agbaso that created APGA in Imo State. APGA was not the same APGA when it started. In recent times, there has been a lot of crisis within APGA. This same Peter Obi has joined PDP. There is nobody now in APGA that is quite progressive and looking beyond Imo State. They want to go to the mainstream. Lagos State can withstand any kind of weather because this is a special state with enormous resources, but these other states still depend on Federal Government grant. Within APGA, when the house is not in order, there is no way they can win election.
