Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) is a ranking Senator from Cross River state. In this interview with SAMUEL OGIDAN he cleared the air on the alleged issue between him and Hon. John Owan Enoh. He revealed how he served on a federal board during the administration of former President ShehuShagari at the age of 24 years. He also addresses some pertinent issues regarding the contest for the Cross River Central Senatorial seat in 2015 and other national issues.
What actually happened during the New Yam festival in your village because it’s alleged that you instigated youths to bar Hon. John OwanEnohfrom participating in the ceremony?
Well, I was not there. This is one New Yam festival I missed in many, many years. I wasn’t there because I had arrived from the United States to Abuja on a Friday evening in the first week of September, so, it was practically impossible for me to go home but I remember getting a call on that morning from the clan head to the effect that there was an issue that some youths blocked the road because the Honourable Member representing Etung/Obubra Federal Constituency wanted to go for New Yam in my village and I told them: ‘why should that be an issue’? It shouldn’t be an issue because, one, it is his right, he has freedom of movement; it’s his right to go anywhere he wishes. I asked that the youths be persuaded that the peace was not breached; that every Nigerian has a right of movement and it was his constitutional right.
I’m a lawyer and I respect our laws. I immediately put a call through to a few people; and persuaded them to make sure that there was no breach of the peace and after that he was let in. Now, if anybody tried to stop him, that was unfortunate, it was regrettable and I condemn it. So, for me, it’s a development that shouldn’t happen, that shouldn’t be encouraged. But having said so, in this our business, being stopped on the way is normal. I remember that I was going to a community in Southern Etung and to stop me, the youths removed the bridge! Yes! To stop me from reaching there, they ripped off the bridge; just to stop me from going. In another community, there was a bonfire across the road. I’ve been stopped three times: one in Abi Local Government and twice in Etung. It’s part of the game. They are seeking your attention and so, you give them that attention and on each occasion, I negotiated with them and they let me through! It’s normal in politics. In politics, there are different strategies, different methods. So, it’s not something that should be blown out of proportion. Now, in my community, we have eight villages and for major ceremonies like the New Yam festivals, they rotate it. For this year’s New Yam festival, they were to go to Onoku, officially. That was where the New Yam festival was to hold. It was even to hold or be celebrated as such in my village. For those of you who also celebrate New Yam festivals in your communities, you know there’s the community celebration and the individual celebration. So, the community celebration was to hold in another village and not my village, Akparabong. Two, when you invite somebody to a New Yam festival, you are inviting him to your home; to say, ‘come to my home to enjoy the new yam with me.’
The initial interviews that my brother the Honourable Member gave, he absolved me of any complicity. Now, the story has changed. He has now tried to link me with that incident. Anybody who knows me know that that is not my style. I’m not given to violence; I’m not given to controversies. But I’ll also ask him; the people who invited him for the New Yam festivals in the village, do they own houses in the village? Or, there was another motive for that invitation? I’ll leave the issue for now.
If, as you say, you were not in the village when that incident happened, are you not puzzled that he tried to link you with it?
All I can say is that, that is a very cheap move. I’m too big, too big to get involved in situations he put out. I arrived Nigeria on a Friday and you know that when you travel with children, it’s even more exhausting. I travelled with my little daughters; 16 hours from the US…What Enoh described or tried to ascribe to me is not my style. I’m a man of peace.
But it’s alleged that you are not even popular in your senatorial district. Enoh also alleged you were booed when Governor Imoke raised your hand in his village in 2011.
There was no such incident. He never raised my hand in Itigidi. It never happened. So, it’s a figment of Enoh’s political imagination; there was no such incident. And then, when you talk of not being popular, let me just by way of introduction tell you a little about myself. I became a graduate before I was 21 years, I became a lawyer before I was 22 years, I served on a federal board during the administration of former President ShehuShagari at the age of 24 years, I built my first house in my home town at the age of 24 years. I became Commissioner in the Old Cross River State which is, today, divided into present Cross River and AkwaIbom States at the age of 27 years. I was Commissioner for Works and Transport and that ministry is today, divided into eight ministries. We were seven civil commissioners and four military commissioners in the Exco. The whole exco had only 11 people. I ran for governor of my state in 1992; I practised law for an unbroken 26 years across Nigeria. If you check the Law Reports, you’ll see my cases there; they use my cases to teach students in the Law School. I’m a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I’m a member of the Body of Benchers. I was a three-term Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association, Calabar Branch. That’s unprecedented. I was a three-term President of the Calabar Chamber of Commerce. I say this because today, they want to re-write history as if some people made me. I was made long before they all ventured into politics; long before them. I was a successful legal practitioner; known across Nigeria. I just thought I should give this background and I had choices; as a young man.
We graduated at a time when jobs chased you, you didn’t have to go chasing the jobs. I had an option to work anywhere in the world but I chose to work amongst my people. I practised law, first in Ogoja. I practised law with KanuAgabi in Ogoja! I could have practised in Port Harcourt; I could have practised in Lagos but I opted to serve my people, through my profession. After Ogoja, I relocated to Calabar where I’ve lived all my life until I came to the Senate. So, to answer your question, I’m a home boy; born in Ikom, Cross River Central, grew up in Ogoja and attended higher school in Ogoja, which is Cross River North and I settled in Calabar, Cross River South. So, I’ve always lived among my people. When they talk of popularity, back home in the state, John Enoh was in Calabar; when I’m in the state and I’m going home, for instance, my convoy keeps increasing because when they know that Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba is around, they just join; even without invitation. If popularity is moving around with government officials and government vehicles, yes, he is popular. But, if popularity is being with the people, I am the one who is with the people. He is the one who is with government officials. He says he’s popular yet you are popular and you are contriving and changing caucus lists; anybody who’s perceived as not being a supporter is just removed from the caucus, is that popularity? You tell me. He’s just desperate and as I said, for Heaven’s sake, at the risk of repeating myself, I wasn’t made by politics.
Do you see this as a smear campaign?
First, let me say that I regret the tone of Hon. Enoh’s interview in Daily Sun of last Friday. The family is a decent, polished, educated family and cultures as well. But, then, you should know that in every situation, there are exceptions, deviants. I think he’s just carried away by his luck. He’s a young man who’s been lucky and he’s pushing his luck too far and he shouldn’t take God’s mercies for granted. The tone of that interview, ordinarily, I would have let it pass because I don’t join issues but that tone in that interview is dangerous for the politics of Cross River. We have, so far, played politics of decency in Cross River. We are very cultured in how we address issues. I’ve been talking to the media and I’ve never mentioned names. I address issues; I state my facts. I went and inspected 41 projects I attracted to my constituency, out of 76; including the road to his village, including his wife’s village. I never mentioned his name. I’ve inspected the projects, I went with the media. That tour was widely televised; showing my projects. I stopped at 41 because I believe that it was a challenge for others to also take the media and show their projects. That has not happened. So, I was waiting for them so that I could go and do the balance of the remaining 35 projects I was yet to inspect. He has not inspected one project that he has attracted to the constituency. I challenge him to deal with records; not propaganda. Let him deal with records. He’s been in the legislature from 1999 and I came in in 2003…
You stand accused of doing things for your people only when you saw Enoh doing projects…
(Cuts in) I’ll get to that in a bit. As I was saying, I have 39 bills to my credit. I also publish a constituency magazine called The Report which has been published since 2003 and there, I publish my bill, projects, scholarship beneficiaries, with their names. The only thing that is not in this magazine is charity! I don’t dramatise charity because the moment you do that, it’s no longer charity. So, if he wants me to dramatise charity…and they accuse me of being stingy, that I’m selfish, well, my driver lives in his own house in Abuja. Every staff I have owns a plot of land in this same Abuja, paid for by me. A lot of my staff live in their personal houses. I send people to India for treatment. Let him show me just one person whose life he has touched. Must I go and dramatise that? Must I make that public? Hon. Enoh should name his own projects. The very first car I bought for somebody was in 1979…There are many people in my constituency who, today, drive cars bought by me. There are many people in my constituency whose children I have trained. I have over 600 students today in my scholarship scheme who are now graduates which started in 1981. It got bigger when I got to the Senate in 2003. I set up a formal scholarship scheme in 2003 and it’s well publicised for them. The names are there. If Enoh decides not to see it well, that’s his business. I have 10,000 beneficiaries of my free computer programme. They are not limited to my constituency. I have empowered people all my life; in ways that touch or change their lives. I don’t believe in the dramatizing the giving of N10, 000 to N20,000 to young men to go and drink beer. I’m not an actor. I’m not competing for attention. The records are there and I challenge him to bring out or mention those whose lives he has touched. I have the names of those I’ve helped with federal jobs. Their names are mentioned in The Report. It was 120 but by the last count, it’s grown to 179. I’m not saying I have jobs to thousands. By nature, I’m not the kind of person you’ll find at a beer parlor. I’m sorry but that is my nature. When they say I don’t spend, well, sorry, I don’t dramatise charity. It’s something between me and my God. Let me also say this, in politics, everything is a weapon. Truth is a weapon. Lies are weapons. Half -truths are also weapons. Propaganda is a weapon and I conceded to Enoh that he has propaganda. I make that concession to him. I have facts.
Well, Enoh specifically said he’s attracted several projects to his constituency and by implication, it means you’ve done nothing. Can you be specific about what you’ve done?
When the flag-off of the Trans-African Highway for Enugu-Abakaliki-Ikom was being done, the Minister for Works, Engr. Mike Onolememen, in his address, stated categorically that the people should just give me thanks for my persistence in getting that project. I was in the Ministry of Works almost everyday from 2003 with John Ode, who was the minister from Cross River. We started work on that project when Cornelius Adebayo was Works minister and my role in attracting that project was publicly acknowledged. The road to his village, the Ikom-Etime-Agbokim Waterfalls Road was built by me when I was Works and Transport Commissioner. For the first time that road was built, I built it and because I built that road then, his community and the Etomi community gave me chieftancy titles in 1987. The road went bad and I went to Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) when TimiAlaibe was Managing Director and got them to take over the project. EkpoEkono, who used to be our state party chairman and who was our representative in NDDC, is still alive to bear testimony. When they were going to award the project, I was the one who took John Enoh, with me to Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to say, let us insist that this project be awarded to a contractor who is already mobilized in Cross River State because I had information that they were going to award it to just a contractor and that was just what happened.
The road was awarded courtesy me. The road in Ajaso, where his wife comes from, if you go to the town now, it is asphalted. I did it. The Calabar-Nsan-Okoroba Road, that is in the budget, you can ask GodsdayOrubebe, the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs…In fact, the alignment was to take the road to Okum, it was at that point I invited Hon. Enoh and told him that, ‘look, this is your immediate constituency, come with me let’s go to the ministry and let us change the alignment. I have letters written to the minister, copied to the Cross River State governor, asking them to change the alignment because there’s a bridge already between Okum and Ikom, to take the alignment of the road through there, it’s like to have two bridges. But we said no, take it let it connect the Trans-African Highway in a place called Ajaso where Hon. Enoh’s wife comes from. As I said earlier, I went round 41 projects, major and minor projects.
What is the position of Governor Imoke in this and on your re-election bid?
I can only tell you what I know from my discussions with my governor. I had gone to him on March 29, 2014 in his house here in Abuja. I told him of the proposed return of Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu to the Senate in 2015 and he confirmed to me that, yes, he knows. I now told him of my intention to return to the Senate as we are all part of the same leadership and he said, ‘it makes sense so that we consolidate what we have.’ That was what he told me. He has not told me anything different. On October 7, I was with him in his house and I mentioned this. He never told me he was against it; that he was more interested in the processes and that the process should be open and that there should be a level-playing ground. I’m not aware of any public comments against my return. I’m not aware of anybody quoting him in public that he’s opposed to my return to the Senate. I’ve also drawn his attention to the fact that Hon. Enoh moves around in a convoy of government vehicles and government officials.
