From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Captain David Mbamara is a retired military officer. He is aspiring to be the next governor of Imo State under the platform of the Labour Party(LP). He is a founding commandant of the Imo State Orientation Agency, and a former governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Par ty(SDP) in 2015.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, he explained why presidential candidates of the APC, PDP and other parties should allow Peter Obi to be the sole contestant. Excerpt:
Tell us why you want to be the governor of Imo State in 2023?
I’m the Southeast leader of the Rescue Nigeria Project and also a member of the steering committee of the same project. Rescue Nigeria Project is a group of eminent Nigerians who recognised that this country is falling apart ,who do not want Nigeria to disintegrate ,who realised that the discordant voices in Nigeria is as a result of bad leadership. We tried initially to register it as a Rescue Nigeria Party (RNP), but we were set back with time ,we now liaised with other patriots across board to rally round Peter Obi through the Labour Party to give Nigeria a third political party. In a sane society ,neither APC nor PDP has the moral right to demand to rule Nigeria ,particularly APC,and having gone this far to give Nigeria a third political platform and coming from Imo State,looking at the bureau of Nigeria’s statistics ,looking at the pains and anguish in the land ,looking at the level of high level unemployment in Imo State ,looking at the dilapidated roads in the hinterlands throughout the state,looking at the collapsed schools ,looking at the absence of commerce in Imo State ,looking at the enormous security challenges facing the state ,and looking at the type of leadership Imo has had since 2007 and looking at my background,I served in the Nigeria army and have been retired for 21 years ,which makes it 37 years cumulative administrative experience for me ,it would be disastrous and wicked of Imo while Imo moan and looking at the leadership crisis in Imo ,yes,there is leadership crisis in Imo ,there is a very serious leadership problem in Imo ,where those who have nothing to do with governance have been at the helm of affairs and those who are experienced and educated are swept by the roadside. This is why I want to step in to give our people the opportunity to take back their state through me especially the teaming Imo youths who are unemployed. Today, Imo is the unemployment capital of Nigeria, in fact, Africa with about 60 per cent unemployed, according to the bureau of Nigeria statistics ,the Federal Government is APC, Imo is APC ,the Nigeria bureau of statistics told us that almost 60 per cent of Imolites are unemployed, the same bureau told us that Imo is 35 out of 36 in GDP ,both education and health ,they told us that Imo is the sixth most indebted state in Nigeria and Imo is an oil-producing state, the local government system has since collapsed in Imo ,no local government election ,businesses have since collapsed ,how do you do business when there is no security ,just few days ago,I learnt they killed a prominent traditional ruler in the state, Eze Ignatius Asor ,a very good man ,they went to his house and killed him, Imo youths are not violent in nature ,they are very good people, but we have had governments who have no youth policy for Imolites ,Imo every year has the highest number of undergraduates. Imo every year has the highest number of graduates ,Imo every year has the highest number of people who finish youth service in Nigeria and yet their is no youth policy, there are no factories ,no industries and no plans whatsoever, what do you expect, when six out of every 10 youths are unemployed ,the society dies when good men keep quiet and I think Imo has everything, that is why I want to contest,Imo people know me and my family, I know the nooks and crannies of this state. If Imo is desirous of good government, here I’m. If Imo also wants business as usual,they are also in the race ,if we’re talking of rescuing Nigeria through Peter Obi, we should also talk of Imo State ,through David Mbara. Tinubu and the rest enjoyed the profile of former governors in Imo, we also have our own former governors, how many of them can command the kind of respect Peter Obi has in Nigeria ,it’s not their fault, it’s because people get the kind of leadership they deserve ,if you look at former Governor Rochas Okorocha contesting the president, you know the number of votes he got ,if you look at Imo State you will observe that we have had two previous governors who passed through the principles of administration ,who carried files in offices ,who answered people sir and people answered them sir; those two people are Mbakwe and Udenwa ,look at their achievements in power and compare them with the current experiment in Imo. We had about four governors who have no administrative background ,prior to,except that they have made money in business, we have had them,you will now observe those who grew through the ranks and those who did not. Imo has to make a choice. I fall into those who grew through the ranks ,the category of Achike Udenwa,that’s where I’m. Something made our parents to go for Sam Mbakwe and he distinguished himself in the sense that after 43 years ,we’re still talking about him. In 1999, our leaders, Senator Emeka Echeruo ,I.D Nwogu rejected every other person who did not grow through the ranks and went for somebody who was the fourth in the PDP primaries, Achike Udenwa. He was a staff of MCC ,they picked him and made him governor. If you also look at Anambra State ,you don’t just come from the street and say you want to be governor ,it’s not done, so if Imo is looking for somebody who will unite the state back ,someone who will restore peace ,if they want to have a governor they can be proud of ,someone who will restore the economy, security of the state ,salary and pensioners of workers,then I’m the person.
Do you think we can get this kind of leadership you’re talking about in Imo ,as you know most of the parties which are supposed be like a ladder to attain the position are in crisis in the state APC, PDP, APGA and even your own party, LP, do you think it’s releasable?
Of course, yes, the political culture in Nigeria is not static. If Peter Obi did not leave PDP, he may not have been as it is now, and he left PDP because of the level of bazaar and corruption going on in PDP. He refused to be part of that bazaar ,selling and buying of delegates ,he decided to go to Labour Party. You must know that something made Obi and people like me to join them. If the party now decides to leave the Obi way and decides to go back to Egypt and embrace the practices of APC and PDP ,why we left those parties would be defeated. We are aware that the same people that made us leave the party have migrated into LP, it’s now incumbent of the executives of LP to know why those that left the party did. If they repeat the same mistake, it’s now you can talk of crisis. In 2019,something like that happened, Imo people desperate to get their state back all converged on APGA and APGA as a party took Imo for a ride ,they misinterpreted the movement into the party as love ,it’s not love for any political party, but a desperate decision to rescue Imo. APGA misinterpreting it decided to impose a money bag on Imo and till today APGA is going down ,and it’s important the party takes note of this and stay clear to avoid what happened to APGA ,what’s at stake is not just politics,as it is in Nigeria,so it is in Imo ,it’s not a party matter ,it’s about character and rescue of Imo State ,let my party do the right thing and it would go down in history as the party that rescued Imo State.
President Muhammadu Buhari has always talked about allowing a free ,fair,credible election in Imo State,do you believe him?
I think I believe him,I have cause to believe him. For two reasons,one,the 2022 Electoral Act, which he assented to, on the party level will discipline the political parties ,remove their capacities to manipulate primaries by removing the issue of adhoc delegates and empower the people to elect the delegates and it also introduced BVAS, electronic transmission of results and the BVAS is very reassuring ,with all these arrangements, you could see the effect; the number of youths that registered in this election is unprecedented ,it’s like that now because they feel their votes will count. So, President Buhari has a moral right to say that if INEC complies too,I think we would have a fair result.
What edge do you think the presidential candidate of your party has over Tinubu and APC?
Obi has a rich history, he speaks and speaks the conscience of Nigerians, he has been verified and found out that what’s he is saying is the truth. Obi did not loot,we know of some governors who came and looted their state dry. He was very prudent ,those who had issues with Obi were those feeding fat from the resources of Anambra ,Nigerians are hungry ,Nigeria needs a firm hand that can pilot this nation . Tinubu is part of our problems, he brought this curse on us ,he’s the leader of APC that ruled this country for eight years ,they came on board with a bag of rice at N28,000 and leaving with N40,000, yet they have the guts to to say vote for them ,they think Nigerians are fools. Is it Atiku Abubakar of PDP ,everybody in Nigeria know, him. He was the former vice president under Olusegun Obasanjo . Even for morality sake ,everybody knows that the Southeast is supposed to produce the next president. Atiku is a Fulani, imagine if Obi had ruled this country for eight years and when he’s leaving an Igbo from Delta State wants to takeover from him. Will the Yoruba accept,will the Fulani accept ,you see conscience is an open wound and you can’t hide it, according to Uthman Danfodio. Imagine if Buhari is a Yoruba and a Yoruba from Kwara State wants to takeover from him ,what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Recently, the governor of Anambra hit a hard one on Obi, telling him he can’t win,does his utterance bother you?
Soludo has just shown himself as an illiterate professor, he’s analysis of politics is kindergarten, it’s a shame that a man we thought is highly cerebral can display his ignorance ,it shows how petty he is,let him be prepared to hang himself because Obi will win. It’s very sad that Soludo who is four months in office and who we thought his emergence has given us a good Igbo son ,saying that there are only two ppeople running for president. Who? Tinubu and Atiku. What made him think Nigeria is so static ,that Nigerians are not feeling the insecurity ,what gave them the impetus that Nigeria is still behind them. Soludo is an educated illiterate as long as I care .
What’s your reaction to the continued detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu despite his discharged by the court,do you also advise for a political solution?
Yes,I believe in political solution,every problem in the world always end on the roundtable. Buhari should toe the line of peace ,his continued detention does not change anything. Buhari should remember what the former representative to the United Nation (UN), Maitama Sule, said when he led the northern elders to Buhari. They gave him only one advice. They said Mr President number one is justice; two, justice and three, justice. I want Buhari to remember what he said and do justice ,if there is justice in Nigeria,Nnamdi Kanu wouldn’t have cried for justice. Nigerians can even see it that of the three zones the Southeast has tested the presidency once. Naturally, if there is any region that should claim turn, it’s the Southeast. PDP after the near slavery of the Igbo still denied them the ticket. The APC the same thing, that’s the injustice Nnamdi Kanu was crying for. If you want to cancel insecurity do justice ,government should toe the line of justice. It brings peace ,assuming it is the Yoruba that are being treated that way, will they be happy ,that’s why my respect goes to Afenifere for standing by the truth. I salute people like Edwin Clark ,Middle Belt Forum,Niger Delta Forum, who are all on the part of justice. If Atiku has justice in mind he should resign,he should stop campaigning. If Tinubu wishes Nigeria well,he should resign and stop campaigning ,they have to do to the Southeast what they did to the Southwest in 1999 where every other ethnic group supported and and two major parties produced two Yoruba candidates.
There is mad rush into your party because of the OBI-DATTI movement,names like Martins Agbaso,Ifeanyi Araraume, among others are rumoured to be getting ready to contest for governorship under LP, are you in anyway intimidated?
I think Imo people have suffered enough in the hands of these group of politicians ,they know what is best for them. We’re talking of an era where we are supporting Peter Obi because of his credibility to rescue the country, so if Nigeria is rescued and Imo is still in the hands of these class of people ,then Imo has not done well for themselves. I’m sure ,these people are not in the class of Peter Obi ,none of them has the same background with him. If Imo is supporting Obi like they are doing now, they should also support somebody like him to rescue Imo State . l liken what’s happening in LP to parasite host relationship. Most of these people are political parasites, they feed fat on Imo people, as parasites cannot survive outside their hosts,they cannot survive outside politics. If they deceive Imo people again,they should not have cause to cry tomorrow because they have the opportunity now to liberate themselves or fall victims of these people . God has used governor Hope Uzodimma to disrupt the election calendar in Imo,so all eyes will be in Imo on that day.