Chief Friday Nubari Nke-ee is the House of Representative candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency in Rivers State. He recently resigned from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to pitch his tent with the party. In this interview with Port Harcourt Spectator, he gave insight into what led to his exit from the APC and the hopes ahead in his new party.
Excerpts:
Question: Kindly introduce yourself for proper recognition?.
Response: My name is Chief Friday Nubari Nke-ee from Khana local government area of Rivers State, former Commissioner for Sports, former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and one-time Caretaker Committee Chairman of Khana LGA.
Question: Recently, you left the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and pitched your tent with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), why did you leave the party you fought to build?
Response: We go into politics because we want to supply the society better leadership and if you are not able to supply leadership to the people you have demanded their mandate to lead, there is no need wasting your time there. APC became a social club along the line, only to attend burials and birthdays and so the purpose of joining the APC became non-existent so to say. And so, remaining in APC that has no direction due to poor leadership is like wasting the mandate and the trust that the people gave to you, so I decided to step aside from the APC became APC has seized to be the vehicle that can drive my aspiration and the aspiration of the people that entrusted me with it.
Question: Now that you are in SDP and we are aware that you have secured the party’s House of Representative ticket, how do you fancy your chances knowing that the party is a bit new to Rivers people?
Response: Everything about politics is like a football match, the best side will always win. You won’t say because your in Team A and the others are in Team B that you would underrate them, it’s an eleven man thing. Therefore, joining politics and entering SDP, I’m sure the vehicle I have entered now is sound enough to take me to my destination unlike other vehicles that you cannot trust. You only take a vehicle that is sound to go on a long journey. If a vehicle has issues, you don’t travel with such a vehicle on any journey, so I have seen from investigation, from research that the only party that can deliver, that us viable today in Rivers State is the SDP. APC, if you check there are contentions there. A man who was here eight years ago decided to bring in his business partner and there is disagreement everywhere, people are saying we can’t serve you and also serve your friend, we are also qualified to have been leaders or governors of the state, how can you go and bring your business partner particularly when there is a criminal charge hanging on the neck of the person.Somebody who bought the assets of Rivers State and the state government had to pay money to same person without any trace, without any process. So the Rivers people are looking for a viable alternative that’s why we have seen APC as a moribund party. As for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), you know that the P. A to the present governor is the person he has annointed. That man has not been in politics and we are told that he managed to register because of this. Remember his acceptance speech where he said ‘i didn’t know that a day like this would come’, meaning that the man was not even ready and you don’t take a horse that’s not ready to fight to war. So there is internal democracy there in PDP and APC, and we who are democrats will always look forward to internal democracy and I have felt, I have seen, I have tried and tested that it’s very much viable in the Social Democratic Party.
Question: Back to your primary constituency. You have been a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, what are those things that you have done before now that you think would warrant the people to give you their mandate for the second time?
Response: You know that I was on the platform of the All Progressives Congress when I went to the House of Assembly and the government of Rivers State was PDP and the governor was very hostile to us.The job of a legislator is to make laws, do oversight and if given opportunity, you do some investigative assignments, pass budgets, those are your jobs. In the way we were in the House, such opportunities were not given. For instance, common as vehicle that will facilitate my movement as an officer of the House representing my people, we were denied by the government of the day. As common as accommodation in the legislative quarters, because we were APC, we were denied. Coming back to constituency projects, none of us were given constituency projects whereas all PDP members were given and that’s the only thing we can do that will be physical. As for other areas of human capacity development, when I was a member of the house, I paid for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination forms for over fifty applicants from my constituency and ensure that a few of them who passed went to the university. We also made some recommendations for jobs because I believe in human capacity development. So within the period, even though the government was hostile, we had good vision and good intentions for the people but the environment was not conducive for us to implement some of those ideas that we brought to the table. Overall, we have them good representation in the House, even though they didn’t allow us submit our own memos.
Question: So you believe in SDP, the coast is clear for you?
Response: If you see the symbol of SDP, it’s a white horse. When Christ went to Jerusalem, he rode on a horse and horse mean peace, that’s why when he came, he Saud Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! SDP is going to give us Hosanna in Rivers State, that’s where the game is now.
Question: The Ogonis have been crying of political marginalisation in Rivers State, what is their fate in this coming election?
Response: As far as we are concerned, the hope of the Ogoni people lies in SDP. That’s the only party that has considered the aspiration of the Ogoni people. In PDP, the governorship candidate is in Opobo local government area, just close to us and in that government, and should he win, no Ogoni man can be speaker because you can’t send governor and speaker to thesame senatorial zone (Rivers South East) as it has never happened. You also see that the deputy governorship candidate is from Rivers West Senatorial District. And now the only opening is Rivers East which is the Ikwerre dominated zone and that’s why a four-term House of Assembly member has been allowed to go again so that he will be the speaker. So where is the hope of the Ogoni people in that government? We will not be there. We will not be Chief Judge, we will not be governor, we will not be speaker, in the three arms if government, we will not be anywhere. Infact, in PDP, there is no hope for the Ogonis. As for that our brother in APC, you can see what’s happening that a governorship candidate who wants to rule Rivers State does not know the names of the local government areas he wants to rule. He can’t be a governor because for you to be a governor, you must know the people you want to lead and your constituency. Ask Senator Magnus Abe about how many villages are in Ogoni he will tell you, ask him how many are in Kalabari, he will tell you. Now as common as a local government, a gubernatorial candidate does not know, is that man ready for the job? He’s not. So the hope of the Ogoni man is in SDP. We are talking about deputy governor, yes! What’s the role of a deputy governor? He’s like a spare tire, he doesn’t have any function. The constitution does not give him any function, functions are only assigned to him by the governor and if he wants you to only sit down in the office, that would be all. So the Ogoni people have been clamouring that haven stayed for fifty five years in Rivers State, supported every government that has come in place, that it’s time for us because every apprentice must have a graduation day. So the Ogoni people have their hope strengthened and strong in the SDP.
Question: How far are you mobilising Ogonis to get their Permanent Voters Cards ?
Response: Even before this interview session, I was talking with officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that they need to go back to the grassroots. They have gone before but there is massive agitation going on now for people who want to get registered so we are mobilizing them. They have told us that they lack manpower, the machines are very few and the personnel are very few too. Khana local government where I come from is the largest with distance between communities, so it’s not like Port Harcourt where you can sit in one place and people will come and register, so moving them to the rural areas has a lot of constrains because of logistics problem, but we are doing our best to ensure that those who are up to the age and those who have not registered before are registered. Infact by Thursday,. they are likely to be in my own community, Okwale to continue with the registration.
Question: Generally, what’s your advice to the people of Rivers State concerning the forthcoming elections?
Response: For the people of Rivers State, my advice is that we must liberate Rivers State from the hands of the abductors. Rivers State has been kidnapped by two gentle men and we need to liberate the state, we want to go on rescue mission to take Rivers State from a personal yard back to the people. This state is owned by all of us and the only man that can do this, that has nobody pushing him as godfather is Abe. If you check bill boards in town, you will father and son, either the governor
and candidate or the former minister and candidate. But in the case of Senator Magnus Abe, he’s the only one standing, so he has nobody that will call him back to say don’t do this for this, don’t do that for that people. He is an independent minded candidate, somebody that has been tried and tested, somebody that has the capacity and the only politician that wants to rule Rivers State that has structure in all the 23 LGAs of the state. He is a man of the people, humble, credible, unassuming and has the potentials to lead the people and that’s Senator Magnus Ngei Abe.
