Former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim, spoke on a wide of range of issues in this interview, including uncomplimentary remarks made by ex Senator, Chris Anyanwu in her memoir, BOLD LEAP.
Excerpts:
President Tinubu Has Just Presented His 2025 Budget. How Would You See The Budget?
The President has just presented the budget but unfortunately I have not been able to go through it in details. But having seen the pillars of the budget, I am worried that once again, we are going to spend more on insecurity than on infrastructure. The budget for Defence and Security is N4.91 Trillion, compare with N3.52 Trillion for Education, N4.06Trillion for Infrastructure and N2.48Trillion for Health. The latter three are very critical social services which under normal circumstances should occupy pride of place in our budgets. If you go further, you will even discover that the budget for Defence and Security increased by 137.2% from the 2024 budget. Nigerians should be worried that insecurity is still taking a chunk of our national budget, which means that all hands must be on deck in the fight against insecurity.
The Budget is coming against the backdrop of the ongoing debate on his tax reforms. The proposed reforms have generated so much controversy, What is your take?
No reform can be pain-free moreso given the current economic milieu. I commend President Tinubu for initiating the reforms but on the other hand, there is nothing wrong in people wanting to make inputs into those initiatives. Before independence, tax was the pillar of our national economy but once oil was discovered, nobody thought about it again. Successive governments paid lip service to taxation. In spite of the controversies, I have no doubt in mind that the outcome will be for the good of every Nigerian.
Recently, you gave an interview where you harped on the need for peace in your State, Imo, Is peace returning to the State now?
Don’t get me wrong. Imo is quite peaceful. I made that admonition against the backdrop of some skirmishes between some stakeholders in the state and some media aides of the governor over certain developments. Yes, the matter has already died down. Imo has been peaceful so, my concern was that nothing should be done to puncture that peaceful atmosphere. In any case, there can be no limit to which we can advocate for peace, especially at a time like this, both at the national and sub-national levels.
Talking about peace, a former senator, Chris Anyanwu, recently released her memoir which she titled BOLD LEAP. From reviews in the media, she appeared to have been hard on a few leaders in the State including your very self?
It is natural that if a fellow of that standing comes up with a memoir, others would take interest in knowing what the fellow is talking about. Even though I am put off by the quality of the production, I have managed to flip through some areas to educate myself not just on the things she had to say about me personally but about our state and our country. So far, I am worried about the big lies she told about our country, Nigeria as a whole. Apart from outright lies, the book is full of inaccuracies. It is obvious that she did not carry out any empirical research which is the bane of most Nigerian writers. Most books written by Nigerians are controversial because the writers do not conduct research to find out what other authorities exit on the subject they want to treat. Anyanwu did not write as a journalist which is supposed to be her main calling. I have just read Femi Ojudu’s memoir which represents what a work from a good journalist should be. In Anyanwu’s book, she just penciled down her personal opinion on what happened during the 2011 Imo governorship election. In my forth book, Nigerians will be able to read the unbiased truth about Imo 2011, including statements by top military officers who Madam Anyanwu claimed she recruited to stop me from rigging. A very laughable claim..
Was She That Connected?
This is a fellow who rode on the back of the military throughout her career. It was the military boys that railroaded her into becoming a commissioner during the military era and later becoming a senator. When she failed the primary election in her bid for a second term, she went back to seek the help of the same military according to her. Madam Christiana Anyanwu is one of those Nigerians who could not have gone anywhere without the patronage of the military and who quickly go to the military to recruit its personnel to truncate the democratic process each time things are not going their way. Madam Anyanwu in her book failed to mention that she wrote a lengthy letter of apology to Abacha and the federal government and owned up that she told lies in order to sell her magazine. I challenge her to deny that and I will publish a copy of that apology for Nigerians to see the type of person she really is.
Your Excellency, some people may not agree with you but in what other ways are her claims untrue as you say?
Everybody does not have to agree with me but those who know what I have just said are there. Nigerians should just wait for my forth coming book and I will prove that Christiana Anyanwu cannot be a role model for the modern woman. Now, look at this, she lampooned the Nigerian military for bad conduct yet according to her, she used the same military to stop me from ‘rigging’ election in2011. In other words, according to her, she used the military to truncate democracy. Is it the job of the military to intervene in elections? Has that not been the thing Nigerians have been complaining about? We can now see those that are behind the perennial use of the military to influence election processes and their outcomes, which has been the bane of our democracy. Christiana Anyanwu is one of them. There is a saying that he who rides on the back of the tiger ends up in its belly. Madam Anyanwu’s case is quite illustrative of this saying. The aspect that baffles me most is her claim that a sitting president, Goodluck Jonathan, gave her the approval to engage the military in the 2011 Imo governorship election. Nigerians are waiting to see how President Jonathan and his handlers will react to that claim. You can now see why Jonathan failed to show up at the book launch despite the media hype that he and President Obasanjo were going to be there. Why did Obasanjo, who allegedly wrote the foreword to the book, stay away? I am certain that she obtained that endorsement from him before the final output. Obasanjo must have decided to stay away in order not to be associated with such a rag tag book that is full of lies. And Jonathan must have been advised not to have anything to do with a book that defamed him by claiming that as a commander-in-chief, he authorized the use of the military to rig an election. The claim that they used the military to stop me and my party is false. It was the other way round. They used the military to rig me out through the supplementary election.
Talking about the 2011 Imo Governorship Election, What really happened?
Well, this is not the forum to say what really happened. Except that from what I have gathered, Madam Anyanwu might have printed just a few hundred of copies to serve as sovenior since she knew that nobody would buy her book, I would have asked you to go and obtain a copy and read. Then I would also advise that you go and read other fully documented accounts of that election and compare. You will be dismayed. As a so-called intellectual, you would expect Madam Anyanwu to be truthful in telling the story of what happened both for now and for prosperity. But she failed woefully. For example, you would notice that she refused to give details on why INEC declared the April 26, 2011 election inconclusive and scheduled a supplementary election for May 6, 2011. That was the first time Nigerians were hearing about supplementary election. Anybody who wanted to be sincere about the 2011 Imo governorship election cannot fail to give details of why INEC declared the first balloting inconclusive and what really happened on May 6 when the deed was done. But she refused to do that in order to conceal things. So, as far as I am concerned, her book is of no use for posterity. It is a Cock and Bull story to shore up her dwindling image. Well as I said, you wait for my own book on the real account of what happened backed with empirical evidence including now declassified security reports.
But Sir, What was your personal relationship with her before the 2011 elections?
I had no personal relationship with her but I knew her through Mike Akhigbe who was military governor of Lagos state and later Chief of General Staff. She ran for the Imo East senatorial seat in 2007 when I was also running for the office of the governor. She won on the ticket of the PDP but when she re-contested to return to the senate but lost at the primaries, hell was let lose. She attributed her failure to me and dusted her military contacts ready for deployment against me. She used her radio outfit to broadcast all sorts of lies against me and my administration. When they cooked up the lies that I flogged a Catholic priest, she used her radio station to propagate the lie. When I got security reports that some youths wanted to go and burn down the station, I stopped it because I am a democratic. I made sure that the radio station was protected. Even though I was not quite close to her before she came into politics, I respect the family she comes from. Her father, the late Hon. N.D Ukah, was a parliamentarian in the first republic who was highly respected.But today, Christiana Anyanwu is in the junk yard trying to redeem her battered image which she earned owing to her cantankerous nature which she displays beginning from her family to her public life. She even had a big fight with the fellow on whose back she returned to the senate in 2011, Rochas Okoroacha and used the book to also defame him.
You have been alluding to your forthcoming book, when do we expect it?
Very soon. Just very soon.
We have just entered a new year, what is your message to Nigerians?
I would center my message to Nigerians around the youth, mostly out of love and a desire to have our young people turn a new leaf as future leaders. I am worried that the influence of the social media in our youths is having a negative effect on their potentials as leaders of tomorrow. Today, most of our youths have thrown decorum over board. They have no respect for law and order, no respect for their elders including their own parents. Most of them have imbibed an entitlement mentality with little or no craving for hard work. However, I would quickly draw their attention to the exemplary attitude of our president, Bola Tinubu, who has shown a tremendous flair for respecting the elderly and according recognition to those who have made sacrifices and contributions towards the wellbeing of our country. The president has shown that there is reward in serving one’s father land. He has named a good number of public institutions to deserving past leaders. I would like our youths to embrace the culture of decorum because as I said, whether we like it or not, they will one day become leaders. The time is now for us to redirect our youths. Fortunately, the president has approved the convocation of national youth conference. It is my hope that we will make good use of the conference and that it will not be just be a jamboree for young men and women who are connected to those in power. Overall, my desire is that all hands must be on deck to recover our youths before it becomes too late. I am sure that they will come after me after you might have published this interview. And that’s exactly the point I want to make. The elders should not because of fear of getting attacked in the social media, shy away from their responsibility of providing guidance for the young ones.
“I had no personal relationship with her but I knew her through Mike Akhigbe who was military governor of Lagos state and later Chief of General Staff. She ran for the Imo East senatorial seat in 2007 when I was also running for the office of the governor. She won on the ticket of the PDP but when she re-contested to return to the senate but lost at the primaries, hell was let lose. She attributed her failure to me and dusted her military contacts ready for deployment against me. She used her radio outfit to broadcast all sorts of lies against me and my administration. When they cooked up the lies that I flogged a Catholic priest, she used her radio station to propagate the lie. When I got security reports that some youths wanted to go and burn down the station, I stopped it because I am a democratic. I made sure that the radio station was protected. Even though I was not quite close to her before she came into politics, I respect the family she comes from. Her father, the late Hon. N.D Ukah, was a parliamentarian in the first republic who was highly respected.But today, Christiana Anyanwu is in the junk yard trying to redeem her battered image which she earned owing to her cantankerous nature which she displays beginning from her family to her public life. She even had a big fight with the fellow on whose back she returned to the senate in 2011, Rochas Okoroacha and used the book to also defame him”