My critics constitute hobgoblin of little minds – Joe Igbokwe
Posted by admin | 9 years ago | 5,364 times
Over the years, Joe Igbokwe, Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, has shown himself as a man who is not easily cowed by any form of “media mob”. In this interview with Emma Maduabuchi, he describes those who criticise him as people who least understood the issues at stake before they begin comment on them.
What do you think about the way Nigerian politics is going at the moment?
Igbo business men should mind how they follow Jonathan at this moment in time. Buhari (Muhammadu Buhari) is coming; the man is coming, they better leave now. Those who left their businesses and are driving Jonathan all over Nigeria, especially Igbo traders, who are neck deep into this, should get the message that Buhari is coming. Many of them have shown that they are not learning anything; you cannot see Mike Adenuga doing what they are doing, or Dangote. But the way they act is to put their head, put their feet and put their whole body. They behave as if they do not know that tomorrow is coming. They must be mindful, Buhari is coming o! I am advising them as my fellow Igbo people. Go back to your businesses; if you want to make donations, use your brain in doing that, because the system will see you as a saboteur when Buhari comes, and power changes hands.
Your boldness in dealing with certain issues appear to astound a lot of people who often wonder where you are coming from. What would you tell such people?
That I have been there for a long time. I did not start today. We fought for this democracy. I wrote “25 year after Biafra” 1985; I wrote Heroes of Democracy; I co-authored the IBB option 2007; and the new work is coming, which is my collection of articles written over 30 years. I have written thousands of articles to the national discourse. I am no longer a small player in this business. I am 58 years. I am not a small boy.
If you want to know where Joe Igbokwe is coming from, go back to history. I have been very active in matters of Nigerian politics, and the issue of justice because I believe that the only way you can have progress in this country is justice. When you have justice you have peace, and when you have peace, then there will be progress. Until justice is seen to have been done, there will be no progress.
I was actually going to ask you whether another book is in the works, but you have affirmed it.
I will show you a copy, it is a collection of articles written over 30 years. It will be out any time from now in the public space.
It would appear that All Progressives Congress (APC) has suddenly broken the back of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the recent defection of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal into their fold. Is this the thinking within the APC?
The Presidency is for APC. See what I have just posted in the net “Buhari’s dignified appearance once again in the public space has put confusion and trouble in PDP. The end of political madness in Nigeria is just in sight.” You just wait and see, JMB (Muhammadu Buhari) is the next President of this country. Somebody just confessed to me; a journalist came to me and said that the third or fought coming of Buhari has destroyed all their political permutations, and that is the truth.
The thing (Buhari's appearance) has set Jonathan’s campaign organization almost ablaze that they do not know what they are going to do. And this time it is going to be total. If you call for an election now, Jonathan will be defeated mercilessly.
So are you expecting more defections?
Ah! Once it is obvious that this President is the candidate of the PDP, Jonathan will not get one singular vote from the North. I have my reasons, Jonathan’s appearance on the political space in 2011 destroyed all the calculations for the unity of this country. We had expected that after the death of Yar’Adua that what Jonathan should have done is to complete those years, and leave the space for a Northerner to complete so that they can have their eight years.
This we said was for the sake of the unity of this country. You cannot say that you do not know how we struggled just to get power to the South. But Jonathan came and spoilt everything because he contested. But if the North had taken up the remaining four years, by now it would have come to the east - it would have been coming to the South, and where it would go would be in the east. Now he is talking of going again and assuming he wins, it will end in 2019, Southern Nigeria would have been in power for 18 years. Is that what we struggled for?
Do you know that 5000 people died from 1985 to 1999. Do you know that that struggle led to the fall of IBB (Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida), and led to the fall of General Sani Abacha. May be if I open my “Heroes of Democracy” I will show you. May be people have forgotten. That democracy in 1999 was achieved through heavy price!
But before you know what is happening, interlopers seized the centre-stage again, became ministers and became governors – people who worked against democracy. I cite Orji Uzor Kalu as example. All these people you see today that seized the centre-stage were enemies of democracy. I can call their names because I wrote “Heroes of Democracy” and “Enemies of Democracy”. Ojo Maduekwe is one of them, these were the people that seized the centre-stage. But they never raised a finger against military rule.
So what you are telling me now, is it that this move now is somewhat a gathering of pro-democracy groups a second time?
Yes, we have to salvage this country and it is working now. The Army of Nigeria that was rated high in Africa; the best in Africa is now a shadow of itself. Today you hear of mutinies; you hear of soldiers abandoning their places and running away to Cameroun.
So there is what is called decimation. If I want to be too strict, I will say that we have rendered the Army of Nigeria useless because of weak leadership. So, if a president cannot guarantee the protection of lives and properties, that President should be shown the way out.
Seeing the zeal with which you have often pursued politics and activism, is it possible that you would be going for higher office?
Have you seen my poster anywhere? I am an activist. Asiwaju called me to come and serve as a professional here, before I knew it I was drafted into being the Publicity Secretary of the party in Lagos. That’s how I entered into politics. On my own I wanted to be docile, showing people the way.
But you know sometimes some things happen and you see things the other way. I remember when Gani Fawehinmi cried the day Onagoruwa joined Abacha, and when 1999 came, we wrote to him and said look, if you don’t enter the system and salvage the system, you will continue to cry. That was what informed his decision to form National Conscience Party (NCP).
If out of annoyance you throw your cap away, mad people will start playing with it. This nation is what dying for. See, only good people will bring good governance; only intelligent people will bring good governance, not mediocres. The best minds should be in politics. The problem is that we left the space for charlatans, interlopers. "Pay me and I do anything for you" – they don’t have the vision to do anything. The space should be for great minds. As it were, just now, I am just working. I believe that it is God that gives power. What I want now is just a change. We want quality somebody at the centre and if that somebody is there, it is going to filter down. That is what I want now.
See how we are pushing for Buhari to come back. I know that if he enters office today many people will take their bags and run away. Even this elected Fayose – elected quote and on quote – will take his bag and run away. That’s what we need. Investment funds are inside pockets, inside people's pockets. That should not be.
You seem to be popular in Lagos, in the Western part of the country ( among other people) but among your own people you don't seem so popular. What can you say to that?
When you are popular in Lagos you are popular everywhere because it is the hob. I go there (South-east Igbo land) to offer advice to them.
In other words, you are not bothered by what they say about you out there?
You should know what I stand for. You should know that even if I die today, and I am not talking now, you should know what I stand for. You should know that once I stand for something, unless you kill me, I will continue to express it. So who are those people? Do they have history? Do they have antecedents.
I have just told you my pedigree. I am a product of the best University in Nigeria, University of Nigeria (UNN), an engineer by profession for that matter. I write, I speak, I take decisions, and I stand by it. You cannot stay in Nkwo Nnewi market and start writing anything because you have access to the Internet.
I am listening to you because you are Emma Maduabuchi. If it is this stupid constituencies that we have here, I don’t talk to them. I call them foolish constituencies. It is hobgoblin of small minds, I don’t engage them, because in Jankara market, Ebute Ero, and all such places, you have such people. They may have access to Internet with their small phones, so if someone from there says Joe Igbokwe “Anuofia” - speaking from his stall where he is selling matches and spare parts - you take him serious? They have not even read what you have written.
You can’t be in the market and be in this place. Here we read and write, we listen worldwide and make sensible analyses, but they cannot engage you. If you are looking at them you cannot do anything. They are not our equals.
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