Group Capt Sam Ewang served as a military administrator for three years in Ogun State and another one year in Rivers State all during the regime of Gen. Sanni Abacha. Now a member of the Board of Trustees BoT, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, he is also aspiring to govern his native Akwa Ibom State on the platform of the party. In this interview ,he speaks on his aspiration and highlights the positive sides of one of his party’s leading presidential aspirants, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Excerpts:
What is your inspiration for this contest?
Yes I looked at the fact that people who have shown interest in becoming governor have not really said things I want to hear. One is about Akwa Ibom and its problems and what solutions they are ready to apply to the problems . Some six, seven years ago when this government came into power and Barr Assam Assam walked into my house and requested for my manifesto and he told me the government wanted my manifesto and I gave my manifesto to him. I gave a carton full.
Today, not even one has been implemented. It is not enough to talk about Independent Power Plant, this and that. Eight years is gone, we are still lighting our streets with generators, we are lighting Uyo with generators.
No jobs have been given to people, no wealth has been created and distributed, whereas in my manifesto the first thing in that manifesto is that I am going to create wealth and distribute same wealth to enhance life and sustain life within three months of my entering office and I am still saying so today.
Why are you throwing your weight behind past Military Head of State, General Buhari?
You see there have been a lot of sentiments, there have been a lot of funny statements and positions by people who are not very interested in Nigeria but themselves. When you are truly interested in Nigeria you look at the problem of Nigeria and truly tell yourself who can now solve these problems. The basic thing is corruption and it is the basis of all our problems. If you look at the oil companies in Nigeria, no president has been able to tell an oil company this is what has to happen, and we are still refining our oil outside.
I believe if a man like Buhari is voted into power he should be able to say this is what is going to happen and you cannot bribe him. What do we want for our future generation, our children? I get worried about my future generation and that is why probably I am in politics, I would have packed my bag and baggage and gone to sleep.
But my wish is to see that things improve. Look at the issue of the Chibok girls. How can we play politics with that kind of thing? Please anybody, any sane man should tell me that if you kill one American anywhere in the world, one person, even a mad American, America will go all out. But over 200 future mothers and we are playing politics with that and people are still laughing and smiling, sometimes I can’t sleep when I listen to this and that is why most times I don’t listen to Nigerian news.
And you believe Gen Buhari has answer to Nigeria’s problems?
I just told you that he will earnestly develop Nigeria; he will earnestly put Nigeria on the map, because I know him, I am not assuming and I don’t believe in talks like that he is a religious bigot, that is a lie. And one thing I must tell you is this if anybody will call me tribal, then that person should be sick. My reason is this. I was a military man, I was trained as a military officer, I was exposed to commanding Nigerians, not my person. And I know that I commanded and was able to manage Nigerians and make them something. Boys I managed became generals and they are all over the country, not from my tribe and that is the situation of Buhari. If he were tribal there is no how Buhari would have been able to manage, to command from here because in the military you are not commanding your townsmen, you have range of Nigerians and you look at them as one person and you bring them up as such, so when did they find Buhari to be tribal, what did he do that he is now branded a tribal man.
But the opinion of many Nigerians is that he has been there before and he was not able to change Nigeria situation, so why is it that he wants to come back?
He changed Nigeria but there were people who were not happy with what he was doing, for one, about indiscipline.
Changing Nigerians
To change Nigeria you must discipline Nigerians and he did that, so whosoever did not see him good then, definitely has no good thing for Nigeria.
The fact that in Akwa Ibom state, PDP is considered the predominant party what is APC chances of occupying the number one seat in 2015?
I disagree that PDP has been the dominant party and my reason is very simple. I am a scientist and that fact has not been tested and proved. Like I said before there has never been election in Akwa Ibom State and of course once somebody is in an office everybody rushes because there is no industry in Akwa Ibom State, everybody is a politician, so they rush to where things are and they begin to clap hands. And it is only when you have left office then you now know that you are not popular. Now the whole world is saying Akpabio is very popular, isn’t it? I was called, I was a military governor in Ogun State and when I was there I was not too popular because I worked on principles. It was years after I had left (I left in 1999), but in 2005 I was called back and honoured in Ogun State.
Could the internal wrangling in the state chapter of APC not affect your party’s chances in 2015?
I agree with you completely and that is why we are calling on the national body to come in. There is no wrangling the only thing we want is open up the party, restructure the funny structure that is on ground. We know what happened, how it came to be and that is why till today despite all that happened many people come to this house and I beg them please go into the party, it will open up, but they have refused.
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