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The Managing Director of the Lower Benue River Development Authority, Engr. Ada Chenge is the only female Benue state governorship contender for 2015. In this interview with select journalists, the astute politician stated that she is not intimated by the male dominated political arena and those defecting from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are mischievous.
You are contesting for governorship and there has been a lot of problem in your party, the PDP at the national level in recent times. Don’t you think this will affect your chances?
Let me say this in a very simple term. For us in PDP, it is just exit of those who were never there. They actually came and disrupted the PDP. It is just like talking about yourself now, today you are wearing a long sleeve and tomorrow you wear a kaftan which has not changed you. The people that have come to PDP have done a lot of mischief and then they wear another shirt, move out to call themselves another party. To me, it is a change of shirt which does not change the human being. We are talking about somebody being a two time governor of a state, somebody who has won the ticket twice in a legislative house from the same place and then, simply one day removed his shirt and wear another shirt to deceive Nigerians that he is a change person? Can they do restitution for what they have done? Can they handover the mandate and explain to Nigerians that they actually did wrong? Can they say they were wrong using the party to win election by handing over their mandate and now beg to go away so as to start afresh? Can they do that? They are not change persons. I call them people that are just changing shirts and Nigerians should be aware of somebody who pulls over the kaftan to wear a T-shirt. That has not changed them, so, their moving out would only make the party stronger. Some of them came in to use the party to win election, they came from different parties actually and they have gone back with the same shirt. That is why my President Goodluck Jonathan has said there is no shaking; the newly elected PDP national chairman and my governor Gabriel Suswam have also said there is no shaking. The party is not shaking. We should not be scared but watch out for those who change shirts. They should be bold enough to do what the Christians calls restitution by starting from the scratch because the party won the election, not the individual, so they should drop our mandate, then go with their shirts as ordinary citizens to re-contest their elections.
You contested for the office of governor in 2007 but lost to the incumbent Governor Gabriel Suswam. What is the target that you want to contest again?
You set up a target for a purpose. When I contested to be the governor of Benue in 2007, I did not contest to empower myself but I did to render service. I’m a born Idoma lady, fully married to a Tiv man. I grew up in Benue State and I discovered that the cultural differences have brought a lot of setbacks in the development of the state. Benue has a lot of intellectuals, political gurus and much more, everybody in the state has great potentials. But, the cultural difference between the two major tribes has actually militated so much against developmental strides in the state. If you want to know that that the nation is aware of the difference in the culture which has brought a lot of division in Benue let me give you a good example that Nigeria is harvesting a decultural differences in Benue. The senate president is an Idoma from Benue and yet Nigerians were not scared to give the minority leader to yet another Benue son, Senator George Akume because the cultural differences have played a lot of politics over the years. So, I came in as one, who grew up in the state to render my engineering solution to the developmental problems in Benue and then to bring in my marital experience of the two tribes to bear. So, until that is achieved, my target has not been met. That is the reason why I’m here again after being a good sportsmanship to stand by Suswam who won the election until now that he is finishing. And by the grace of God, my people are clamouring that I should be the next governor of the state.
Your party is known for imposition of candidate, if you go in for the primaries and you are denied…?
(Cuts in…) I have lived by example that a party is an association for people to come together to think as one and then forward ideologies. For instance, if five persons come together and all of them wants same thing, if they reason together, then come to agreement to pick a particular person, I think the sportsmanship in others should be able to respect the decision. For me, the word imposition used against my party should be withdrawn. My party don’t impose candidate. The party usually come together to weigh people’s opinion and then the majority of the opinion becomes the peoples’ decision. If I feel that I’m the best and five other people feel not so, then I shouldn’t see myself as the best. I had a similar experience in 2006 when I contested the PDP primaries and lost the election in the field, I gave my manifesto to Gabriel Suswam who eventually won the election. We worked for him throughout the election. I’m a woman of a lot of respect and believe in the resolution of crisis. I don’t believe in walking away because I have an issue. That was why I stayed behind at that time and by the grace of God, Suswam is now completing his tenure. I have already lived the example, so I can now only appeal to those who may lose the election on my own candidature that when they lost out, they should kindly do what I have done for somebody else.
Do you see yourself standing a chance to win a gubernatorial election in a male dominated world like ours in Nigeria?
I will answer this question with a question; is it also very easy for a fellow man to hand over power to another man? Power is not handed over to people, if the people you are leading accept you as their leader, whether you are a male or female, you take it. Even the male folk as well don’t get power easily. It is always a contest. It is not strange. And once a contest, the people decides who is their leader and that’s a quality. For me, it is not strange because I’m the first female Mechanical Engineer of Benue state origin. Mechanical Engineering is purely a male dominated world but I made that record. I was a student of commercial pilot school in Zaria as far back as 1998. I have been in the male dominated world all my life, so I don’t think sex is an issue in terms of leadership. I believe that if you are able to make your mark, both male and female will vote you. Don’t forget that the women vote even more.
If you eventually achieve your desire to become governor of the state, what would be your priorities?
The first thing that drives behind development is lack of unity, be it unity of purpose or unity of ideas. So, my foremost priority would be to have a united Benue. Immediately, a united Benue is achieved, what follows is what I call the Industrialized Benue. Most products in Benue are in the raw state and you know the difference between a process material and a raw material. My solution is to industrialize the state. When it is time for my manifesto, I will speak on each product in Benue. I will tell you exactly how much Benue state will earn by getting the raw products processed. At the moment, the state has nothing in the stock market and you don’t develop a place without foreign exchange. At the right time, we shall talk about it.
You sound so optimistic about your chances in the coming election. Don’t you think the zoning system may likely affect your prospect considering that you hail from zone C by birth?
That is if everybody throws tradition away but you can’t throw it away. I’m from zone C by birth and the tradition of Idoma people says that the woman still remains a property of her father irrespective of her marital status. That is why you see that the likes of Maria Aikolola whose husbands are Yoruba picking a two-time House of Assembly ticket from her birth place. Also, late Mrs. Abeda picked the PDP’s women leader ticket from zone C despite the fact that her husband is from Vandekiya local government. And when you come to the Tiv people where Iam; originally for now, the Jechira people are the most favoured in terms of zoning. This is because the zoning where you have not finished from one section and then moving it haphazardly to a second section is not solution to a problem. Late Moshood Abiola was to be president but when he died, Nigerians unanimously agreed to give the presidential slot to the Yoruba nation. Even Alex Ekwueme tried in the primaries because he felt that the east also need to come up but Nigerians came together and voted chief Olusegun Obasanjo to power based on the fact that the then elected president who was never sworn in was a Yoruba child. So, Benue state cannot deny Jechira people their mandate in the truncated Rev Fr. Moses Adasu’s reign. Adasu had the mandate to be the governor of the state but the soldiers truncated the administration. So, in 1999, when democracy returned, originally, Benue was to return to Jechira and that was justice denied. That justice denied is what the Jechira want restored. When that is done, they can talk about the new people yearning for it. Every person yearning must have justice as it ought to be, that is what Jechira is asking for and I’m from Jechira by marriage. My husband is from vandekiya, the headquarters of Jechira nation. On that basis, you can see why both the Tiv and Idoma people are yearning for Ada because the zoning favours me above all other aspirants. The name Ada Chenge is a marriage of the two tribes. I schooled in Makurdi local government area. I had my first and second degrees in Makurdi. I have resident in Makurdi for over a decade, so you can see that my interwoven nature is beyond what party politics can separate.
How capable are you to fund your campaign as running election in this country is very expensive?
As I earlier said, if you look at the entire zone C, look at the Jechira people and then you look at my friends in MINDA, you will realize that election is not a one person affair. The people who are yearning for Ada Chenge are always there to give the needed support. Barrack Obama ran the most expense election in the United States of America but he did not do so on his finance. He ran the election based on the fact that the whole of the black nation yearned for a black president in a white man’s country; he ran on the basis that the Asian country felt that if America had a democracy, let them see how the country would get a black president, so they Asians came in with donations. Individuals as well sent in their donations to him. It was later quantified that Obama’s election was the most expensive. So, to me I don’t think I have stress about the funding of my campaign because the people including youths, women who are actually yearning for unity will support me. I represent the symbol of a mother and every fighting person would lay down their arms as long as a mother is there. Everybody will support me as a mother. Funding of the campaign would not be an issue for me.
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