BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR
Dr Abel Kprogidi Ubeku, 75, former Managing Director of Gunness Nigeria Plc and Third Republic presidential aspirant on the plank of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) is not happy poor delivery of democracy dividends in the country and wants leaders to embark on tangible projects that will improve the well-being of the citizenry.

He, in this interview in his Victoria Island, Lagos residence on his birthday last Thursday February 24, recounts how he was pushed out of the presidential race in 1993, where Nigeria started derailing and the way forward. Excerpts:

You are 75 but you look 55. What is the secret?

I am taking things easy. I am not competing with anybody. Because of that approach, age has not really attacked me. When, you are relaxed and take things easy on this planet, it helps your physical body, that is exactly what I am doing.

Looking back 75 years after, could you share some of your regrets?

For me, the line the Almighty programmed for me is the line that I followed. In my time, when we were young, people were struggling very hard to have a BA Honours and teach but when I had my admission for that programme, I did not accept it because I had appointment in the private sector. I took the appointment and it did not prevent me from having all the degrees that I wanted. I learnt a lesson from that; things are programmed from on high. Let’s put things into prayers and we will be properly guided by the Almighty.

Ahead the 2011 polls, how do you see the campaign trend now compared to what it used to be in the past?

I don’t know about comparing, I think in this country, we are just our own enemies. Take a country like USA – the most powerful nation, largest economy, when it comes to picking their President, they say ‘who are those that are competing?’ The contestants come forward and they pick. The last time, they picked Mr. Barrack Obama, whose father was a Kenyan.

I was in the presidential race in 1993? The thing that pushed me aside was because of where I was born. What was revealed to me later was that they said: ‘how can we hand over to him? Where are the soldiers behind him?’ They forgot that those that had soldiers behind them in this country, the soldiers have killed some of them. But that is an excuse. How can you use a person’s tribe to determine whether he can run the of the affairs of this country effectively?

With the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, don’t you think that Nigeria is gradually moving away from the scenario that played out in 1993 when you ran for the presidency?

This time, other factors played a role. Suppose we don’t have the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), would they have picked Jonathan? How can you use such system to determine? Look at the person’s background and say, ‘can this person run the country effectively in our own interest?’ We don’t reason like that.

Some observers have linked this problem to the unitary federalism (too much power at the centre)  that we run. What is your take?

I don’t think that is the reason because even at the state level, do the leaders know what priority is? Is it the centre that says tar that road, build a school here, etc?  Any state in Nigeria can decide what it wants to do with the resources available to it. The thing is, for unknown reason, we don’t know what our priorities are.

Let me give you an example. Some years ago, there was a military governor in Lagos State and my wife was very close to the wife of that military governor. I told my wife that I wanted to see the governor that she should tell her friend to link me up. At that time, I was still the Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria Plc. So, she linked me up and I went to see the governor and I said: ‘Your Excellency, I am representing Nigeria at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. During break, we sit by Lake Geneva and I see boats going up and down, tourists are moving about and my mind goes to the Marina. Your Excellency, look at how swampy the Marina is, why can’t we improve it?’ He thanked me and I left but that was where it ended, nothing was heard of it.

However, today, go to the Marina! Each time I pass there, I say to myself, am I still in Lagos or am I in Europe?’ Why is it difficult for us to do the right thing? That is part of my frustration. I don’t know whether it is because of the management background, there are things that are elementary. We play to the gallery and nothing is achieved.

A state that is receiving a lot of money from oil derivation for example, you tell me that they can still have bad roads? Go round and see. Something is wrong with us.

Corruption, perhaps?

Corruption is part of it. Buying houses abroad, what am I doing with them? But that is what they do, playing to the gallery.

How do you see the fight against corruption, is it really catching on?

I think the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is working very hard and we should give them support.

At the beginning after independence, the country was doing well, where did we start going wrong?

The people who became leaders when the colonial masters went away were prepared to improve the nation but the second category of human beings from the same country took over and were thinking of themselves. Look at what Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello did. But those who followed did not learn a lesson.

The military cited mis-governance and corruption – 10 % kickbacks among others for their take over of power.

So, when they took what happened? They wiped out corruption and the country started climbing beautifully up? Something is wrong with us because we shouldn’t be where we are. One example I always give our group of elders in PDP when we are holding meetings if quoting what Isoko elders use to say: ‘if insects are crawling on your body, the first one to remove is the one that is biting you.’ Because the insects are many, you can’t remove all of them at once, focus on the one that is biting you. In other words, focus on priority.

A person is elected into power, he is boasting that he would create employment. The factories today are reducing staff because they are using diesel and you are talking about employment without focusing on energy.

Look at what Jonathan is doing. He is emphasising on energy. We are praying for him to succeed because once you do that, it is not just employment by factories even a welder doesn’t have to buy a generator. Today, if you are going to be a welder, a young lady that is making hair, you must have a generator. That is the problem we have created for ourselves, that is the number one problem the nation should tackle because it will solve many problems.

How would you rate President Goodluck Jonathan in terms of performance?

I think that he has good ideas, good plans and we all should pray for him. From what I am seeing, if he is voted for this time and I know he would be voted for, we will see things physically on the ground.

Could you assess the performance of Governor Babatunde Fashola almost four years after?

From what I have seen, he has done wonderfully well. This our street (Ologun Agbaje, off Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island) that you just passed, was filled with potholes a few years ago. Now the potholes are no more there. I also gave you the example of Marina, which was beautifully done. As Pass there every time, I say ‘this cannot be Lagos.’

Would you  support a re-election for Fashola?

Yes, those are the things that should determine whether or person should come back or not. His work is campaigning for him.

You once wanted to be president and had some programmes. Has any of those objectives been realised by succeeding governments?

I was not the one who initiated the idea in the SDP. Prominent Nigerians brought the pressure on me. At that time, I said ‘I am just on a salary, how can I go round the whole country campaigning to be president?’ They said, ‘you have forgotten that the wealthy people have been banned. So, please come out.’ That was how I came out. I was leading at a time but because of the place I came from, they said they could not hand over to me because there were no soldiers behind me.

If you had been elected, what would your presidency have turned Nigeria into?

With my background in management I would have focused on doing things that are physically available, things that you can see. Not just playing to the gallery, jumping about and after four years you want to go back.

We must thank God for the resources and opportunities we have in this country. Look at the kind of money that we have, what do we want to do that we cannot do because of money? Is it road? If you are going from Lagos to Benin, how long has that road been a bad road? Has it bothered anybody? And that is just one example, there are several others.

After the first attempt, you stopped aspiring to be president unlike others, why?

Ordinarily, in Nigeria, I wouldn’t have come out because you must have a big ethnic group behind you and the money for it must be as high as a palm tree for you to contest. The circumstances, the time that I came out, these things were not impediments. It was later that they said I was a minority man, I should not be president.

What is your take on the issues surrounding preparations for the 2011 polls, from the voters’ registration exercise and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s) decision to drop the Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines and use manual register for the election?

I am not surprised, this Nigeria. Otherwise, why should there be problems because people want to register? We should pray that bigger problems should not arise.

INEC has assured of credible election, do you see the commission doing so?

We have to wait and see. I don’t want to write them off perhaps, they have learnt from what happened in the past. And we should pray for them, their success will be the success of the nation.

What does the blowing wind of protests in the Arab world indicate?

It indicates a situation where the populace is following what is happening in the whole world. A person is a president of a nation, after 30 years he wants to continue. If he dies, will the country die with him? That is the problem of developing countries. Why can’t they learn lessons from what is happening in Western Europe and North America? Something is wrong with our people in the development of the mind.

Former Head of State and Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC),  Major General Muhammadu Buhari said the Arab world kind of violence could occur in Nigeria if the April polls were rigged. What is your view?

Who is going to rig the election? Is it Jonathan that will rig the election? People who had been president of Nigeria are they not in the race trying to come back? What is the new thing they want to do now that they could not do during military time when nobody was challenging them?

Where will series of violence, bomb blasts and raging killings especially in Plateau State take us?

It won’t take us far, it will rather block our way to development. If a person is employed and he goes to work, will he be looking for bombs to throw at people? These are layabouts, they are not doing anything. This is something that has to be discouraged by improving the lives of the people.

Don’t you see the violence hurting the polls?

The government should be prepared to ensure that elections take place because we can’t afford a situation where elections don’t take place.

What is your advice to Nigerians on the elections?

The people that are contesting are the election are not from Planet Mars, they are all Nigerians. If one of them wins, let him stay there. To say that somebody you know or somebody from your village must be winner is wrong. If the people are not behind him why must he be the winner? Do your best, vote for the person you want, if he wins clap, if he doesn’t win, tomorrow is another day.