Emmanuel Iheanacho is a retired Merchant Navy Captain and former Minister of Interior. In this interview with LEO SOBECHI, he explains that the Imo Harmony Project, which he heads, would serve as an antidote to political rascality that trails succession politics in the state.
To outsiders, Imo State is a homogenous entity, what is the basis for the Imo Harmony Project that you are championing?
You know, since the transition to civil democracy happened in 1999, we have had several people who have governed Imo State. And, there are three zones in the state, namely, Orlu, Owerri and Okigwe. So, Orlu zone, for some reason, has indeed had the lion’s share of the opportunities that exist for governing the state.
You asked that, as a homogeneous people, why do we then have to have this division? If we didn’t have to have these divisions, why do we have the Orlu zone? Why do we have the Owerri zone? Why do we have the Okigwe zone?
These are divisions to facilitate the administration of those areas. And really, when you break down from the state level, you see that these people are closer. Owerri people are Owerri people, Orlu people have their own characteristics and traits, and then Okigwe people are alike.
So, we believe that the opportunity to govern the state is something that really should be shared. Everybody should have an opportunity. As someone pointed out, all over Nigeria, it is only about three states that have not had contingency arrangements to ensure that there is inclusiveness in terms of the persons that govern the state.
So, that’s what we have come to talk about. Imo Harmony Project is a very peaceful project. The name is very unique. We are Owerri people in search of Imo Harmony. We are not Owerri people who are looking for Owerri development or Owerri progress in particular. We want to be able to resolve any issues that we have in a harmonious manner to avoid political rascality and curb insecurity. That’s why we convened the Imo Harmony Project.
It is a project that has in its membership people from different political parties. We do not discriminate against anyone. So, you could be APC, you could be PDP, you could be in any of these new political parties, as long as you do not come in on a partisan political basis and start campaigning for one person or another.
All we want is that, given the time that has elapsed since the transition from military to civil democracy, we think that our people really ought to have the opportunity also to showcase what they can do if they become the governor of the state.
From what seems to be playing out in Anambra State, where some are saying that if you are zoning based on geopolitics, you can also zone on the basis of religion. Do you think such an argument will arise in this Imo Harmony?
It wouldn’t arise at all. I mean, people who are members of the Imo Harmony group are political leaders in their own right. Though within the context of what we’re doing with the Imo Harmony group, we are apolitical.
So, this issue of zoning in terms of religion, you’ve taken me unawares there. I never even thought that anybody would say, ‘okay, it’s a turn of Catholics or it’s a turn of Protestants’.
There are so many other bases upon which people wanted the zoning done, if they are agitating for zoning, but religion, I think, is really at the back of those considerations.
What is your relationship with the governor, and how receptive is he to Imo Harmony Projects?
I have a very cordial relationship with the governor of my state. I also incidentally have a very high view of how he has performed to date, because you have to compare people relative to others.
So, when you compare him to the people who went before him, he has done very well. This is not the first time that I’m saying it, and I’m not saying it because you guys asked me to say it.
I have had an opportunity to look at the infrastructure, for instance, that he is developing with respect to roads and building-related infrastructure. And, his approach, the design, the execution, the materials that he puts in there, you see somebody who is absolutely serious.
I once followed a project that he is doing with regards to tidying up the road from Owerri all the way to Umuahia, and he’s done a marvellous job. When you compare it to the efforts of people who went before him, you know that those people wasted our time.
They were people who built roads, and in broad daylight, as you are watching, the roads collapsed. There are those who built houses for even our armed forces. Those houses have collapsed. There are also those who built things that you could really never, ever contemplate.
If you are an engineer, you would be really sad that somebody designs a road and an underpass, and then there is no drainage. And, when the rain falls, then your car is like you are driving into the river Niger, so many things like that.
But, he has taken a different path entirely and has requisitioned the services of very expert constructors, and he has absolutely continued to monitor them. I actually told you that I followed one of his projects all the way from Owerri to Umuahia, because I wanted to see that he didn’t just do one part, so that we could see it.
He did it all the way to Umuahia and stopped at the border, and then the people on the other side are struggling to try and cope with the standard that he had set on this side.
So, he has done those things, and whenever I also have the opportunity to advise him, I would say, yes, thank you very much for what you have done. But, the next thing that we would like you to do is to develop a proper economy, a proper economy that really is dependent on developing manufacturing capacity.
From manufacturing capacity, we’ll have jobs for youths. It is from having jobs for youths that they will have purchasing power. Buying power, the economy absolutely grows, so that is something that really needs to be done.
If you go to Owerri, for instance, there is an area that was set aside years ago as an industrial area. Successive governments will come, and they pay lip service to it. And they just leave it sitting there. It could be a good place for him to start.
If he starts and redevelops that industrial area in Owerri, then that would be fantastic. He would have to then try and get Chinese or those who would like to invest in Imo State to come and bring the assembly plants into those places.
This group is called Imo Harmony Project, but you’re only advocating for one particular zone, the governorship should come from Owerri zone. But we all know that governorship in any state cannot be realised by just one zone. Are other people from outside the Owerri zone members of Imo Harmony Project?
Yes, they are not permanent members, but what we have done is we have a policy of outreach. We are reaching out to our people. We have made overtures to our Orlu zonal chiefs. We’ve been to meetings with them. We’ve made overtures to the leadership of the Okigwe people. We’ve had meetings with them.
As we go along and identify relevant segments of Imo society that we really need their support in this enterprise, we approach them peacefully. No carrying of placards, no fighting. We sit down as brothers and say, well, listen, there’s no problem that we cannot solve if we put our minds to it.
So, there is an issue here. Three zones, one governor. How do we have equity in terms of ensuring that everybody has a sense of belonging with respect to producing the governor?
The fact that this movement is coming two years before the next election and given that there are three major political platforms in Imo State, how do you think political parties can subscribe to the sense and sentiments expressed by IHP?
We set our bar very low. We didn’t set very high limits that people have to pass. All you have to do is to be an Owerri man. So, if we have been doing all of this campaign and you are in the APC Owerri Zone or you have your eye on one particular person within the APC Owerri Zone, you can put him before us. We will accept him because all we need is for him to be an Owerri man, whether he is APC, PDP or LP.
But, of course, if it comes to the real politicking, you know what you need to do to win the election. IHP is not going to be able to win the election for you. You have to go out there and canvass support from market women, students, men; in fact, all segments of Imo society, that could help.
So, if you do that in a very clever way without telling IHP that this is what you are doing. IHP cannot say you didn’t go through us or that you are not fielding whom we wanted, because we don’t have anybody in mind except an Owerri man. So, it could be from the APC, the PDP or any other party.
Aside from the sentiment of being Owerri, Orlu or this or that, what is the way forward for Imo politics?
I have addressed that when I was talking about the quality of the infrastructure, which Governor Uzodimma has committed himself to. I stated that, following that, we are hoping that he will move forward and develop a proper economy.
What do I mean by developing a proper economy? If you know what has happened since 1999 to all the governments in all the states. It is that when you win the election to become governor, you have become rich beyond your wildest dreams. This is because the money given to the state from the centre absolutely belongs to you. Although, officially that is not the case.
But, in reality, governors do whatever they like. And we haven’t seen anybody who has been interdicted or prosecuted for spending money the way that they like. So, what I said was that it would be nice for the governor to move from a situation where he is building infrastructure through monies received from the centre to one where we actually develop an economy.
Developing an economy means developing productive capacity. And from production, you have jobs. From jobs, youths have money to spend. Then we produce things that we can sell, either to our neighbouring states or, we can actually go out of Nigeria itself and sell to the neighbouring countries in West Africa.
When I ran to become a governor in 2015, I went to a place in Obowo in Imo State, which they called Malaysia Market. I wanted to know what was going on in that Malaysian market.
What I saw was so extraordinary. It was a huge area where they set up the market. And they sold predominantly goods that are manufactured in Malaysia. So, the consequence of that is that the job content and the wages that are earned by the workers have been left behind in Malaysia.
What we then bring is the consumption stuff that we consume ourselves. So, I would like to see a governor who will set up a proper economy. A governor who will invest in manufacturing, understand the role of the private sector and attract the private sector.
And the governor himself will understand that his own role is to give support by giving land, by doing sewage, by communications and all of those things. So, if we had all of those things and we started manufacturing, we would become that Malaysia that I saw in Obowo. I want us to be like that.