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2019: It, is a tall dream for APC to govern Delta -Oru

Chief Andrew Oru is a chieftaincy of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State and he also a force to reckon with in Delta State.In this interview with Isoko Mirror,he x-rays the politics of Delta.

Excerpts:

Sir, a lot of people say Oru has been silent over national issues specifically in Delta State.What is responsible for such silent?

Well, it is the same way they think I have been become silent that I have always thought that most of these people have never tried to talk .

Erring views on national issues and issue that concern us especially as a people in Delta State is not the responsibility of myself and a few others .

Chief Andrew Oru

Everybody has the same responsibility to talk in order to be able to shape up the polity properly.

Be that as it may, my being kind of silent for a while now is because of the way things have turned out to be as in major disappointment not only on the part of those who are governing but also principally on the part of those who are governed.

I am angry with those who are governing for misgovernance and I am also angry at those who governed for reticence and that is the bane upon which all these issues of corruption and all of that remain solidly built.

A people deserve the kind of leadership they get.When you are not ready to stand up and talk, what do you expect?

When you begin to throw stones and missiles at those who are speaking on your behalf because you want to be able to get one or two little favours for yourself which has no way of impacting on your future, then, who is that person that has time to waste?

But,I can assure you that I have never  failed to give myself a stop every now and then to think over and over on the state of our people in terms of the debilitating poverty that you read on their faces anytime you happen to be around that environment.

It is a pity and a shame. I tried to keep quiet and see what I could personally do to ameliorate the condition of those who come around me specifically.

But,I came back with the conclusion that it wasn't just the direction to go because I am just one person and my resources are also limited.

There is a saying that individually we can fight alone but collectively we conquer.

I am happy with the current trend of events that are beginning to shape up in terms of the awareness being created now from the national discourse which I believe will trickle down to the politics in Delta State in particular.

Politics in Delta has more or less been a politics of gangsterism ,clannishness and exclusion.

But,there are certain national issues now that appear to be wanting to galvanise every nook and cranny together to have a common position on national discourse and which will definitely affect the way forward politically for Deltans .

Can you highlight some of those national issues that will trickle down on governance or Deltans that you envisage?

You see, as you are very well know,I am an unrepentant personality within the enclave of the party.

But, as all Deltans and Nigerians also know,I am one person who is excluded from this talk of anti party.

You know me very well,whether you are  in PDP or APC,if you are a bad material,I will shout .If you are a good material,I will present you irrespective of my personal political leaning .

I remain steadfast within the PDP not because the PDP has done well in Delta or because it did well nationally before now.

I am aware that politics in Nigeria has no foundation in ideology. If you call all the respective chairmen of the political parties in Nigeria together and ask them to name the other political parties, apart from their own political party, they cannot.

How do they know that the other political parties ideology is different from their own?

So, it doesn't make sense to shift from one party to the other .What I have seen about Nigeria politics is that people shift not because the party has breached the ideology or the purported ideology of the party. The people shift because they are unable to have their individual way within the party.

They are unable to fulfil their individual dreams, aspirations and political ambitions within the same party. So, they jump and that is why you can see somebody of the PDP today, tomorrow he is jumping to APC, next week he is back in the PDP. It,s all nonsense to me. It doesn't make sense for me to mess up myself by jumping to another party and that is why I am still in the PDP.

As for the APC, I don’t want to say there is APC in Delta State because they have never be in government. The APC nationally has been a collosal failure, it has been a disaster .

I was not among those who was fooled to think that the APC was going to do anything.

However, I was quite certain that there would be a little departure from the past in terms of impunity, personal aggrandizement and all that nonsense.

Unfortunately, the same people who did the nonsense when they were in the PDP ate the ones who are now in the APC.

So, I lost hope but I didn't talk. I said let me give them (APC) a chance, after all, Saul became Paul in the Bible, maybe, they are now going to be changed.

But, today, the story is different like you know. Because of the woeful failure of the APC at the national level now, it is going to trickle down to the politics of different states and certainly, you can't take it away.

One of the major issues upon which the APC purportedly rode to power was the lack of good security for Nigerians.

I don't need to tell you that the APC has performed worse than the former president, Dr. Goodlick Jonathan, Most saddening is the fact that bad performance of (APC) is not because Nigerians didn't give them all the co-operation. It is not because the infrastructure upon which to tell the people is not there .It is cheekily a matter of a section of this country, a religious section of this country in particular to foist their beliefs and ways of life on other parts of the country.

They have chosen to use the instrument purportedly nicknamed Fulani herdsmen.

What are you talking about Fulani herdsmen? Is this the first time we are seeing Fulani herdsmen in this country?

The answer is no. Why is it (Fulani herdsmen) suddenly a big issue? Why are we suddenly talking of colonies and all that? The agenda is very clear, they want to Islamise Nigeria. What happened in Kwara State where you now have an Emir of Ilorin in a Yoruba environment is that what we want to enact all over the country.

I am happy that the issue (Fulani herdsmen) has brought all Deltans and the individual statesmen in unison.

They now see a common enemy .The issue of ordinary clannishness is going to take a back stage and that is why I said issues at the national level will definitely affect issues at the state level.

When the so-called Fulani herdsmen are coming with the AK 47 provided by the Federal Government (FG), it's agencies, the tacit encouragement and the cover given to them (Fulani herdsmen)they don't discriminate among an Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri man.

They (Fulani herdsmen) just come, kill, everybody and take over lands from everywhere. It has become a kind of unifying factor and which means that the APC coming to the national level has been the problem of this country. This was not the situation under Jonathan, the PDP government and I doubt, if it would be the same if any other party comes on board other than this parochial Buhari that we are seeing, this wicked man call Buhari that we are seeing is the man who has destroyed Nigeria on the platform of the APC.

The APC has a lot of work to do in Delta Central or anywhere. I do not think that the PDP government in Delta State and other areas may have performed excellently .If the APC in Delta State wants to do anything, they have to prove seriously that their line of thinking is different from the way APC at the national level is thinking in terms of security, poverty alleviation, infrastructural development is the problem. There is no reference point for the APC in Delta State and other States now. The only reference point they (APC) would have had was that look at us at the national level, we are doing serious infrastructural development and there is electricity everywhere now.

But, there is no such reference point for them (APC) anymore because they have never been in government .So, they(APC) have no reference point and it is a pity.

I know some of the individuals in the APC, they mean well and they are good people. But, they (some APC individuals) have a problem on their neck and that is the national leadership which is above them.

If they (some APC individuals) can remove themselves from the APC and go and join the coalition that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and others are talking about, that may be an escape for them.

But, to think that they (some APC individuals) want to come to power on the strength or the back of APC in Delta State, it is a tall dream and that is the way I see it.

You ran for an elective position few years back, are we expecting you to run for an election this time around?

Let me tell you, that time you are talking about, you know exactly what happened.

It is not as if I woke up and say I was running for an elective office. You remember very well the circumstances that brought me into trying to to get the PDP ticket.It was simply because in 2011 elections ,when the former Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and I met, it was a common knowledge.We tried to agree on who we should recommend to be the Senator of the Delta Central.

We had a disagreement because he(Uduaghan) wanted to impose certain persons and I refused. We (I and Uduaghan) had a kind of bet that if he(Uduaghan) should try it, I would sabotage the PDP. When he (Uduaghan) tried it ,I nominated and sent out text messages that the people should vote across party lines for the Democratic People's Party(DPP) candidate at that time, late Senator Pius Ewherido.For the first time,the PDP lost their Senatorial district because of what I did. Unfortunately, when Ewherido died two years later, there was a lot of pressure on me. My traditional ruler and everybody wanted me to come into this and I reluctantly went and I said okay, let me go and complete his(Ewherido) tenure.

Unfortunately, Jonathan with his two left legs as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria felt that election was a do or die thing for him.

He(Jonathan) came and oppressed Uduaghan based on what Uduaghan told me that it was the ex-president that ordered him(Uduaghan)that Chief Emmanuel Aguariavwodo must be the Candidate. You know every other person withdrew and I refused to withdraw and the rest is history.

It wasn't as if I was angling personally originally for an elective office.

Really speaking, I have never believe that going into an elective office has been the issue. I thought I could guide the process from outside. At the time I made that try, it was just okay. 

Let,s face it, at this time now that we are talking of the youths coming into national politics and all that ,will it make sense for me at this point  now to go and start contesting for any election? I am about 60 years old already ,if I add eight years to my age ,I am heading towards 70 years already.

So,when am I going to retire from politics and business?When will it be the turn of the younger ones? I have sons who are already old enough to contest for those offices.I know younger boys like you and others who are strong and old enough to contest for such offices.

I would rather support you from behind.

I would rather project you if I find you worthy than for me to go for that right now.

Really speaking, there is a lot of pressure on me even right now to come and run for elective office.

I can tell you that the pressure is much and till date,I am resisting the pressure and that is the truth.

Will you yield to such pressure at the end of the day?

I doubt it very much. I have a lot of businesses that I have to attend to right now and I have a busy time. Particularly, I want the youths to come on board now because our generation is on our way out right now. If we remain till the time we will go out, who would be in charge thereafter without any experience? Nobody. We won't have anybody with any experience on board and this is my fear.

There is going to be a lacuna and I don't want to be part of that charade. I don't want to be part of that nonsense and that is why I am staying away strongly. Unless there is a situation where I find out that a horrible character is emerging in my Constituency again like it almost happened that time, and I find out that it is a challenge and I am the only person who can handle it, I may reluctantly go for it. You know my coming stopped that person Uduaghan was recommending .I think I am in the position these days to help to ensure that such things don't happen even without personal contest.