Chime is a failure

Barrister Ray Nnaji is both a claimant to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chairmanship seat of Enugu state and spokesman of the Ebeano political family which wholly installed Sullivan Chime governor of the state. Apart from vigorously waging a legal battle to stop the Vita Abba-led faction of the party from ‘usurping’ his office, Nnaji vows that Governor Chime would not be re-elected as governor of the state come 2011. With two more years to vacate office, Nnaji argues that Chime’s government is still grappling with the execution of only one out of its much publicized four-point agenda. Scoring Governor Chime low in performance, Nnaji retorts “The next two years will be a total disaster”. Nnaji says Ebeano is already shopping for Chime’s replacement in the 2011 guber poll.

Former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani recently stated that Ebeano is intact. How do you react to that?
Yes, what do you expect him to say? He is the father of the group. And no father wants his family to be in disarray. Even if the family is in disarray, he will be doing everything not to allow the public to be aware of that problem.

At the moment, what are the operations of Ebeano?
Our operations is that we continue to make sure that Ebeano is moving forward; to make sure that Ebeano is in existence, and that Ebeano is much more noticeable by everybody.

What is your view on the Total Mandate Group of Governor Chime?
The Total Mandate they said they had launched, nothing is happening there. And most of our people who have actually gone to see if anything is happening there have actually started trooping back to our group (loud laughter).

Now that your Ebeano Family does not relate well with the incumbent governor who it installed, do you want to labor to install another?
No. That is not the issue. The issue is that 2011 is far from now, and we have not determined where we are going, but we know quite well that the mistake of the past will actually be corrected. But we don’t know, for now, how we are going to correct it. But luckily God has made it in such a way that we have been able to stand our feet and we are able to maintain the fact that a son is not bigger than his parents. We are the parents of the governor, and the governor, as the son, cannot be bigger than us no matter how wealthy or how powerful he may be. He should understand and realize that his parents are still around. And he should pay homage and loyalty to his parents.

Chime’s tenure will be two years old very soon, May 29. Could you dispassionately assess this government?
If the two years are anything to go by, Chime can only be said to have done something in the area of road rehabilitation within Enugu city. But we find out that most of the caterpillars and other materials bought for the road projects are all refurbished. The caterpillars are not genuine. They have been refurbished and most of them have already broken down even before getting to their destinations. So, these are issues they have actually used to siphon funds. Other purchases they have made have the same problems. Like the graders have broken down. There is no reason why Chime should not have gone for quality materials. Taking into consideration the kind of money the government was getting, Chime’s performance cannot be said to be optimum. In the last two years, I score Chime’s government 40 percent which is, of course, a weak pass. Road rehabilitation is not the only indicator of good government; there are other areas like education, health, sports-all other sectors. I don’t think he has measured well in them.
In the area of sports, Enugu team has performed woefully. Enugu came last in the southeast, and scored 27th position in the whole federation which is the worst ever result achieved. And look at the Rangers team, despite all the money invested in the club, it is having serious problems. The other day, they beat up referees as they were trying to get result at all cost. And you know the disastrous consequences of this. Third, the education sector is nothing to write home about. Because of this, teachers had to go on strike. So many things are not working well in the state.
The only sector where Chime could be said to have done fairly well is road rehabilitation, not road construction, within the metropolis.
But I must have to tell you that he was doing that when the oil price was 140, 145 dollars a barrel. He had a lot of money and excess crude. Now, there is no more excess crude except the one they are going to share recently, and the oil price is now down to about 40 dollars. It is going to be difficult. Most of them are even finding it difficult to pay salaries. So, I don’t see how he is going to continue with the project as there won’t be such huge funds as in the past. If that is taken into consideration, the next two years will be a total disaster.

This government is running a four-point agenda. Can you examine the extent of implementation of these agenda in the past two years?
Yes, the government is running a four-point agenda, but only one point has been taken care of in the past two years. If that is anything to go by, you find out that for him to complete one of the four-points with this kind of allocation coming down, it will be a herculean task. At the end of the day, one over four is failure (General laughter).

But indigenes and residents of Enugu may not agree with you over this assessment because they appreciate the road rehabilitation project a lot?
It is just that the government is blowing the project out of proportion. Members of the public don’t even know that some of the rehabilitation projects are attached to World Bank projects. Some of them are World Bank projects indeed. Though Chime has performed fairly well in the road rehabilitation, but you know that, because of that thing he did, the state had gone into serious debts.

What’s the size of the debt?
I cannot say, but it runs into billions of naira. Billions of naira! And I must have to tell you that from the grapevine, even the resources that were put into the litigation that was terminated on July 11 of last year are yet to be discharged.

Are you talking about the court of appeal verdict?
Yes! Debts procured to get judgment in the court of appeal are yet to be discharged. The debts are much, and this is what is weighing the state down. I must have to tell you that it will be a very difficult task in the next two years.

Could you look at the governor’s relationship with the people?
Ah, Chime’s relationship with the people is zero. That one is zero. Chime’s PR is completely zero, because he is highly incommunicado. You really can’t see him. He doesn’t even attend functions, but that has been Sullivan Chime for you. That was his character from day one. Everybody knows that he does not want to mix up with people.

What does this portend for the state?
That is why the man is championing the fact that primaries should not be done; that governors should be given automatic ticket; that they should be unopposed.

He’s championing that?
Yes, he is championing it-that the party’s constitution should be amended so that there won’t be primaries. That governors should be given automatic ticket. This is because he knows he can’t do it because of the fact that he has his poor public relations and human relations. And in politics, if you don’t have those things, no matter how strong you think you are, you should forget it.

If you say the governor does not relate with the people, how does he run the state?
That is the point. He runs the state through proxy, and administration through proxy has never achieved any desired result. So, that is it, and it has actually been a very big factor, and a bad one for that matter. The state has passed that stage that we have had vibrant people that have actually been at the helm of affairs in this state in the past and people enjoyed their relationship. But now, we hardly can see our governor; we hardly can notice his presence. It is very unfortunate.

Maybe, the situation would have created defacto governors?
Yes, that is what we are trying to say. There are too many defacto governors. That is the consequence of running government by proxy.

Are you saying that Chime’s re-election is not going to be realized on the platform of Total Mandate?
Does Chime have any structure? The man has no structure (laughter). Chime has no structure. And the earlier he realizes that the better for him because it is gradually getting to the point that it will be too late for him. Even as it is now, it is too late for him.

But he has created some structures at the local government level?
Those structures, are they loyal? How many of them can he count on? How many? And can he be holed up in his enclave to know what is happening in the state? It is when you come out that you sample people’s opinions and know how things are moving on. It is very unfortunate for him. The earlier he realizes he has no structure the better for him, though I was meant to understand that he said he does not want to re-contest. Some people were saying that, and if he said so, it would be the best decision he has taken in his life.

So, how fulfilled is the Ebeano Family in installing Chime governor?
We did not know Chime would be like that, though some of us who had the ability to read him very well doubted his loyalty and sincerity in following the policy and manifesto of the structure that brought him to office. Unfortunately, he departed from them and jettisoned every other person. That is why the Ebeano Family is not happy with him. And that is why he had made attempts to proscribe the Family (his parents). I don’t see how one can disown his parents when it is only parents that disown a child. Installing Chime governor is a decision we took in Ebeano that we actually find to be a very bad one, and a terrible miscalculation. Our prayer is that we avoid making such mistakes in future.

Culled from THEWEEK Magazine