A former member of the House of Representatives and current Secretary of the African Democratic Congress Committee on Mobilisation and Registration, Dr Sokonte Davies, in this interview, expresses optimism that the ADC has the pedigree to restore integrity and end bad governance in Rivers State. Blessing Ibunge brings excerpts.
What informed your interest to run as an aspirant under the ADC for the governorship of Rivers state?
My interest is largely because I’ve seen governance take a very bad seat, specially from 2015 to today. As a politician, there is a time to politic, and there is a time to govern. After elections, you try to govern. If you are holding an executive position, you try to govern for at least three years plus. They use half a year, thereabout, to politic. But I’ve seen that, especially from 2015, it became more apparent, but from 2012, it has been politicking all through and that has negatively affected governance. Even if you look at the years Chibuike Amaechi was a governor, due to events that came up, first with the party congresses and all that stuff, and the ambitions of Mr Jonathan and a few other people, the issues of governance started taking a back seat. And it became very apparent from 2013, when even the governor of Rivers State, as at that time, didn’t have a free movement in the state as governor.
So, from 2013 to today, 2016, that’s 13 years we have been facing politics instead of governance, and that has negatively affected the citizens. People working and doing business in Rivers State can see that the state is enormously blessed and wealthy.
You cannot mention not even one foreign direct investment, even local direct investment for these 13 years.
And when you don’t see such investments, it will effectively create unemployment, but when there are these investments, jobs are created and hands are engaged. These are some of the reasons why we feel that the current trajectory of development of the state is negative. It’s very negative. Government alone can’t do everything. The government must create enabling environments for people to have confidence to come and bring in their money to invest, and when the investing community sees that there are no such enabling environments, they will not be able to come in and invest. So, these are some of the things that influence our decision to throw our hats in the ring to want to govern the state, to give it a proper direction.
The other aspect is that we are from Rivers State. We have been working and living in the State. You see that there is extreme division among the political class, not only the political class, in fact, even among the ethnic groups. And somebody needs to unite the ethnic groups. Presently, conversations have become a little bit difficult. Not with my friends in the state. And then in the city, you’re easily tagged as somebody, of course, we have better relationships with some people. Some of us also have relationships that cut across some of these borders, which we believe that we can use such platforms to unify the state, because the disunity in the state is affecting the development of the state terribly, and you see that there is no income generated within the state.
The income generated within the state is very small. It’s small because people are mostly concentrated in sharing what comes from the centre or federal location. And then because of our position where we are and by who we are, and by how God has blessed us, we have some internally generated revenue, which you can almost count as statutory. Rivers State is such a state that should be the number one destination for everything, what sustains the economy of this country largely comes from Rivers State. A very good percentage comes from Rivers State and we are so situated that even without oil revenue, we can generate a lot of income from the blue economy. We have the sea, the sand, and the sun. It’s all natural.
We have the environment that can build a deep seaport with very little investment, less investment than it is done elsewhere. But nobody’s thinking about that, even people who are thinking about that, the security situation in the state is not encouraging them. So, we need to tackle security issues too, because the security situation in Rivers State is extremely deplorable, that you cannot see a distinguishable foreigner on the streets of Port Harcourt. You only see them, one person being carried around Port Harcourt in one coaster bus, then there are four armoured vehicles in front, maybe six armoured vehicles behind protecting one person. That’s the level of deplorability of the security situation in Rivers and without security, development can’t come.
So, these are some of the reasons we want to put our hearts in the ring, because we want to govern. We must create jobs for our people. There are no jobs created. Government now is left with no other option than to bear all the responsibilities which it’s not supposed to bear. Government shouldn’t bear more than 20% of the responsibilities it is bearing, and that’s why it’s not been able to meet up, because it can’t have enough of what it has now, which is not increasing, to meet up the needs and demands of the people. And also, we are coming in, to create wealth, and then there will be proper distribution of wealth. And our point if Rivers first, we mean that those who are doing business and living in business, are Rivers people, because they contribute one way or the other to the development of the state, to pay taxes and all that stuff.
But how much tax is being paid? Every tax that is paid is already, like I said, it’s almost statutory, because the companies that pay those taxes, they know they have to pay, and sometimes they don’t even pay the much they could pay, because of corruption.
So, we also want to use our platform to address the issue of corruption. When you address the issue of corruption, you see that there will be more money going around to the people, instead of more money going to the pockets of a few people. And that is the problem we are facing in the state now. The challenge is that one or two persons, the money they are collecting, it’s like it’s reduced. So, they want somebody who will come, that will make them collect more.
They are not looking for people who are coming to bake the cake. They are looking for people who will share the small cake and give them a larger chunk. And we saw that play out in the state, based on what the graduators were telling us.
In the recent happenings within your political party in this state, it is observed that the ADC may be facing some internal crisis because of the emergence of two candidates from the same party. So, clarify us if there is an internal crisis in the party at the State level, and why did the party produce two candidates. Are you not afraid that this can also lead INEC from delisting the political party in the 2027 election as APC experienced in previous election?
What people call crises and factions; I don’t call them crises. The moment one or two persons decide to fight for one office, there are only one or two persons, there are only two factions. When there are three factions, four factions, when there are five, and each of the factions, in quotes, will try to achieve results in one way or the other.
Now, the person that resolves that, achieving results in one way or the other, is the national secretariat. You have said that there are two governorship candidates. I don’t think so, because the national secretariat has not said so. When the national secretariat recognises anyone, it may even surprise you that the national secretariat will publish a different person. As a governorship candidate, you can ask yourself, how? The how is answered in so many ways. In one way is that the electoral act has said there are two ways to get candidates. One is by consensus, and the second way is by direct primaries. What you are talking about is the issue of direct primaries, the party can now go back and maybe look at them, bring out the consensus position recognised by the electoral act.
So, when that is done by the national secretariat, all the so-called factions will fuse into one body, because now there will be the desire to win the election behind one candidate. So, let us not jump into these types of conclusions until the national secretariat announces who the candidates are for the various offices. When that is done, then this question will be addressed.
But as far as I know, there are no factions, but there are various interests and positioning, and I don’t call them division. I don’t call it a crisis. The national secretariat is the only body recognised by law to submit names of candidates to INEC.
How would you have tackled the issue of ethnicity if you had clinched the governorship position in the State given the fact that a particular ethnic group has been dominating the political space over the years?
Well, that is a matter of continuous conversation. That conversation is going on and it will not stop one day. Human beings being what we are, anyhow that conversation is resolved somebody will somehow still feel aggrieved, someone or one ethnic group will still feel his interest is not taken into consideration. But I think that the processes that have brought this so-called anomaly of one ethnic group seemingly dominating the political space will also be addressed.
I don’t believe in playing ethnic politics. I don’t, because like I told you, I grew up in an environment, especially my development years. I grew up in an environment where, apart from our names that are different, just from our head knowledge, we know we are from this place. But we do not behave in that way, to the extent that when something happens somewhere, all of us went to the place and all that, even as small children.
So, these are some of the things some of us have now observed and felt that the reverence of people is being eroded by a few people for personal interest. And we believe that the time to stop that is now.
There appears to be a crack between you and your long-standing political ally, Rotimi Amaechi. What really transpired. It was also observed that you were quick to congratulate Farah Dagogo on his emergence as a candidate, knowing he has been a staunch supporter of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar?
A – You know, I, by my upbringing as a child of God, I have my aspirations, but I’m not a desperate person. So, when the people sent from Abuja announced Farah, and of course you saw the video and everything. I was not at the collation centre. Apparently, there are two collation centres, as it turned out, nobody from the national secretariat had countered that announcement. So, what is my responsibility as a responsible party member is to accept what is being done, and Farah is somebody I know very well. I believe that if the options come and they ask Farah, should we leave this position for this man, I think he will answer in affirmative. And such a person, why wouldn’t I congratulate his emergence? That’s why I congratulated him. The result was duly and properly announced, and no party national leadership member, as we speak today, has come to say it’s not correct. So, that’s why I’m saying that one group, the people also said they came from National.
We know who actually came from the National. Then the next thing they would do, they would ask one other group, how did you come about your declaration? So, that is not for me to decide.
On Amaechi, we are still friends. For me, it’s a choice. I’ll tell you straight away that my friend didn’t support my ambition, and when he had his ambition, I supported him. Must I support his ambition or not support my ambition? So, he had his choice. Can’t I have my own choice? I must have my own choice. If he says that he’s no longer my friend, fine. You can’t force friendship on anybody. But it’s a matter of choices. We are all adults that run our families. If he has freedom to make his choice, does my friendship mortgage my freedom? So, he’s free to make his choice, and I cannot question him. He knows the reason why he makes his own choices. You know, there are so many people you can be friendly with. Indeed, the observation is correct that we are very close. And by the grace of God, I believe that I did all that I could to enhance our friendship. I don’t know if he too can say the same thing. But I believe that let us live at that point that he has freedom to make his own choice, and he did his own choice, I can’t question his own choice. And I’m not sure he’s querying my own choice. If he does that, then I think he’s not being fair to me.
As the secretary of the Mobilization and Registration Committee of ADC, give us a fair idea of the strength of the party across the country?
Our party is very new, and we actually started registration in March this year. And from March to today, we have raised close to four million people, and we are deliberate in that, because parties’ bandy figures left, right and the centre. The party already has real people, we are about four million people. And now, if you extrapolate it in political balance and political calculation, we will get a minimum of 20 to 30 million people that will vote for the party. And for a relatively very new party, I think that that is a welcome development. Some of these parties have existed since democracy started. The other one has existed since 2013, 2012, that’s 14 years, a party in government. And so, even if you have 10 million people as a band, for 14 years, you have 10 million people, and in under one year we have four million people, you can see the direction of growth. You know, as an economist, I can tell you that you can see the tendency of people to join us more than any other person.
Rivers State has experienced challenges in leadership, especially the incumbent government. What is the assurance that ADC can do better?
It’s an aberration. That is why we have thrown our hats in the ring. You know, the good thing for some of us is that we have a name. So, we cannot change in a short while, even if we want to change. We have a name that transcends politics. We have an attitude that transcends politics and that has given us confidence. In fact, people from the constituency are the ones that are encouraging us more. People from the constituency run the moral indices. They have looked at the decadence in the attitude of those in position; the decadence of governance, the abandonment of governance. When I was in National Assembly, somebody, one day, met me, that’s my first tenure. He said ‘Excuse me, I’m surprised that you’re a new member, less than one year, but you are this vibrant. How is it so. Have you been to Parliament before? I said, I have a group of people who don’t expect anything less from me. They don’t want to hear that you are new in the Parliament. So, you’re not visible, and I thank God that I didn’t disappoint them.
The same I have with this responsibility too. There are those who already have their expectation, which I would say is not inordinate. It’s normal. So, I don’t have any option to do otherwise, for me, is not given. So, that’s my confidence, and that’s the confidence of the people that if this man is there, there will be a new direction for the state, which will be appropriate to the direction the people expect.
