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MARCH 19, 2007 VOL. 20. NO 23

An Amicable Divorce

**Governor Achike Udenwa of Imo State**

Despite opting to run as a vice-presidential candidate on the platform of another political party, Deputy Governor of Imo State, Ebere Udeagu, insists that all is well between him and Governor Achike Udenwa
By Eugenia Okpara, Owerri
For State Deputy Governor, Chief Ebere Udeagu, a seasoned water engineer, the story is not that he has parted ways, politically that is, with his good friend and boss, Governor Achike Udenwa, but the ripple effects of the decision. The development had taken many political watchers by surprise because no one expected that the duo would part ways, least of all in the fashion it happened.
Unfolding events in the state, coupled with the reaction of the state government through the Information Commissioner, Sir George Egu, in fact, made it quite obvious that the Government House, Owerri, was not very comfortable with the turn of the table that saw the humility-personified Deputy Governor opting to operate at a higher level. Apart from this development, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, the acclaimed winner of the primaries conducted by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seems unwilling to let go his ticket.
For one, the reaction of the state government to the carpet-crossing of the Deputy Governor surprised most indigenes of the State who wondered why the Information Commissioner usurped the function of the state executive of the PDP whose duty it is to condemn or ignore the dumping of the party by Udeagu.
Egu, convienently forgetting the 1999 constitutional provision as it concerns freedom of association, had told newsmen that Udeagu had no cogent reason to leave the party, except that he failed the PDP primaries, stressing that the state government would take appropriate actions on the issue.
Confirming his exit from the PDP during an interview in Owerri, the Deputy Governor explained that, he joined the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), in order to better the lot of Imo people and the Igbo race in general, adding that when the people being served decided that they did not need his services again, the best option left to was to move ahead.
Udeagu: “The news that I am no more in People’s Democratic Party (PDP), my former party is correct as I am now a member of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP). Personally, I do not think that there is much to explain other than when you are in a position and the people you are serving feel that they are through with your services and some other person(s) feel he needs your services, I think you will willingly oblige, moreso if the offer is what one feels is attractive”.
On the uproar which his leaving the PDP caused in government circles, going by the utterances of the Information Commissioner during his press briefing in Owerri, Udeagu said there was no need for such as his decamping was not the first time a deputy governor would leave his political party, adding that it has not affected his personal relationship with his boss, Governor Udenwa.
His words: “Yes, I have left PDP but it is not the first place that a deputy governor is leaving his party. I hope you know that Femi Pedro of Lagos State is not in the same party with Governor Bola Tinubu, but nobody is making any noise about it. I do not want to go into what I do not fully understand – and that is the problem between Obasanjo and his deputy – but I will tell you that the relationship between my boss and myself is fantastic”.
Reiterating that he does not have any sour relationship with his boss, he revealed that, “why I refused to accept any governorship ticket in the State was due to my respect for him. He has been my boss for seven years and nine months, we have not quarrelled. If anybody thinks that we are going to quarrel because of this, it is not going to come from Achike. I know my boss, Achike is a humble person and leader, and he does not like violence”.
He elucidated further: “I will tell you that so many political parties’ including the DPP had come to me to pick the governorship ticket for their parties but I objected, I did not want to do that because I did not want to confront anybody. But this time around, for me equally to be in my house and a whole party will send delegation to me, without my soliciting for it and at a level that it is being mentioned, a vice presidential candidate, I think it is an opportunity not only for me alone, for the State, for the South east and for Southern Nigeria”.
Continuing he said, “If Achike should quarrel, he knows those he should quarrel with, those who have been making things difficult for him in this place, which I know I am not one of them. Like I said, this is politics, if people should start using his name to do funny things because they are in government, I am still in government”.
Udeagu stated also that he has nothing against his boss as he gained a lot from him during the more than seven years that he has worked with him, noting that Governor Udenwa should be proud that one of his flock is recognised and called upon to occupy such a position.
“When I was given the best Deputy Governor award, I dedicated it to him because he exposed me. This is because the truth is, I do not have anything against my governor. I will tell you if there is anything I have gained, I think it is through him. I think Udenwa himself should be proud that from his stock the whole North, par se have come to pick somebody to assist in governing this country. He should be very proud. If it works out, he stands to gain more than anybody else, it is a statement of fact”, the Imo deputy governor said.
Regarding the possibility of being victimised for opting out of the ruling party, particularly as the administration has only two months to wind up, Udeagu said. “So, if because we have two months to go and I am here trying to see how to better the fate of the Igbo race, of the Southerners and you think that I should not go because of people trying to intimidate or trying to fight me, I mean anybody fighting me is fighting God, not me. So, the issue of whether somebody is going to victimise me, what for, what are you victimising me for?”
On whether the absence of the usual security presence in his residence was indicative of a whitt-led-down security, the deputy governor explained that they went on an assignment, pointing out that the fact that he is on leave does not mean that he is not entitled to security.
His words: “On the issue of my security, they went on an assignment, they are here with me, and they have not gone anywhere. That I am on leave does not mean that I am no longer the deputy governor. They were not sent to me because I am the running mate of a presidential candidate, rather because I am the deputy governor of Imo State. And as far as I am concerned, I think I am still the deputy governor”.
Concerning the packaging of his new party, DPP for the forthcoming general elections since Imo State is an acclaimed PDP State, the Presidential running mate said that strategies have been put in place to convert Imo to DPP, and urged people to look at the situation from the positive perspective and join the train for the betterment of the citizenry.
According to Udeagu, he rejected all offers made to him by many political parties including DPP to fly their flag because he was supporting the PDP as well as the candidate that emerged, maintaining that he has not done anything to undermine anybody.
He disclosed that unlike in 1998 when he was asked to pair with Chief Achike Udenwa that he never knew, he has met Governor Attahiru Bafarawa a few times when he represented Governor Achike at the Governor’s Forum, adding that though he was not party to formulation of the DPP manifesto, he will make sure that the manifesto is implemented to the later.
The DPP presidential running mate revealed that he could not inform the governor immediately because he was out of the country when the decision was taken but added that he promptly did so when he came back, stressing “On the other hand, I will equally tell you that when it comes to the issue of leaving a party to the other, this is not one thing you go asking somebody because you are taking a risk”.
He said that he has no regrets leaving the party for a higher assignment as he has in his own little way tried for Imo State, adding that if by the grace of God, he is asked to replicate what he did at the state level for the nation, everybody would be the better for it.
Udeagu further explained that he would have waited and sought the opinion of his boss before accepting the offer if it had to do with the state and not a national assignment due to the respect that he has for the Governor.
“If this thing was another thing different, other than a national assignment... if it were something about the state, I will tell you that there was no reason why I should dabble into it until my governor comes back. Honestly speaking, in my heart of heart, I love Achike, he is a very excellent man. I want to tell you that Achike has developed Imo State, not because he is in PDP, as there is no formula that gives money to PDP-governed States differently or separately. But for the main fact that he has that intellect, he used the funds to develop the state. Achike is organised”, he said.
He advised fellow politicians to view politics as a game, rather than a do-or-die affair, particularly as nobody knows “the womb that will bear Christ.”