Chief Mathias Omeh, Enugu state coordinator, Field Operations Buhari-Osibanjo Campaign Organisation, former Commissioner for Agriculture and later for Commerce and Industries in Enugu state, spoke to EMEKA NZE on reasons the Igbo nation should support the present government among other issues.
You are a member of the All Progressives Congress. How can you assess the Buhari government so far?
Buhari should be assessed by the promises he makes or made during electioneering campaign, and what he met on the assumption of office. Buhari’s campaign stood on tripod of fighting corruption, job creation and security. It is clear to all and sundry that the fight against corruption by the present government is non-negotiable and Buhari is winning the fight. For the first time in a while, an average Nigerian realizes that corruption is bad. Before now, every Nigerian, especially, the youths felt corruption is the norm in the country and that it is pretty impossible to get anything on merit. Hitherto, the trend was to bribe your way through, or have somebody in high places before one gets something in this country. Merit was sacrificed on the altar of who one knows or how much one can offer.
This trend has changed. People now consider the consequences of engaging in corrupt practices. Money recovered and loots exposed are enough indicators that things are changing for good, and Nigeria is changing positively. Comments from the international community indicate that the Nigerian dignity is being restored as Nigerians are treated like other nationals in international airports and other entry points. Before now, Nigerians travelling overseas were subjected to inhuman scrutiny because of their identity. The integrity of the Buhari government has changed this abnormality.
One complaint against Buhari is that he is only claiming to be fighting corruption and leaving other sectors of the country unattended to. Is that true?
That is not true. The fight against corruption is not a mere claim but real. The seeming slow pace in other two areas is a result of corruption which permeates all areas. For instance, the successes recorded in dealing with the Boko Haram sect are a result of the discoveries of the arms gate scandal. What of the discovery of ghost workers in the federal civil service, which translates to 34,000 new job openings? A successful fight against corruption, as we are experiencing, will give rise to a more secure Nigeria and increase employment for youths.
You are from South East, which is an APC-disadvantaged zone in terms of followership. What is the philosophy behind your staunch support for Buhari?
I will agree with you that my membership of the APC overtly means my support for Buhari. My support for Buhari is not a coincidence, rather it is share philosophy. It might also be a coincidence. When I was in the university, during Buhari’s first outing, I belonged to the then War against Indiscipline (WAI) brigade founded by Buhari. I think it is the APC that met the requirements I look out for in a political party. The APC made my day following its strong anti-corruption and indiscipline stance. For me it is fait accompli. If Tinubu, Atiku, Amaechi, Okorocha, Ngige among others could come together and forget their differences, and swallow their pride; if different political parties could surrender their certificates to merge, and if some PDP governors could jettison their party to remedy the wrought in Nigeria, I couldn’t have seen myself outside that group.
These are the things that informed my decision to join the APC abi nitio. Since year 2000, I have been in the opposition. It was not easy being in the APC in a PDP-controlled area, especially in the South East. We looked up to patriots like Governor Rochas Okorocha, Senator Chris Ngige and Chief Ogbonna Onuh for motivation. If these core Igbo patriots were in the APC, I should also find myself there. At a stage, they were calling me Boko Haram. They called us all sorts of names, but we stood our ground because we knew where Nigeria was headed for. Now the change has come. Unfortunately some people refuse to agree that change is a process. Otherwise they would have known that change is going on in the Nigerian state.
Many Igbo leaders have been negatively passing comments on the Buhari government. Is that the best way to approach it?
No way. My advice is that those commentators should be able to draw a line between campaign and governance. Campaign encompasses all efforts to win elections. But immediately after the elections, leaders will emerge.
In government, especially in a developing country like ours, everybody looks forward to attracting amenities to their respective areas. But this cannot be achieved through antagonism. Surely you will get what is statutory, but any other thing that is gratuitous will be at the mercy of the leader. This calls for loyalty, and positive contributions to the development of the system. Some of us are very uncomfortable over some of these comments because they are not playing opposition the right way. Criticism should be constructive. You don’t just keep condemning everything for no reasons. It is like saying that for the while that former President Jonathan was in government that he did not achieve anything. For anybody to say that there is nothing good in the present government is to be unfair. We should pray for the leader.
We have to educate our people to review their approach to opposition and learn how it is played in other climes. We have simply refused to even see the funds the present government is recovering from looters. Some people being prosecuted have not even denied stealing funds. Others have pleaded guilty. Surprisingly some people still claim that the change has not come. The change starts from the mind, and unless corruption is reduced, nothing can be achieved.
One cardinal goal of an Igbo man is to produce the president of this country one day for the sake of equity. Do you feel the APC is the best platform to realize this?
Yes. I feel so and very strongly too. We were saying it during campaign, and even now. Let me repeat it once more. There are two major political parties in the country: the APC and the PDP. The PDP has zoned the presidency as it were to the North for the 2019 elections. But in the remotest imagination that the PDP wins the presidency, it will take extra eight years after this four for the Igbo man to ever think about the presidency. However, in the APC, my feeling is that whenever the presidency leaves the North to the South, the South-East will be the natural choice.
