By Ben Agande and Gbenga Oke

Chief Austin Opara is the former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, a one time associate of former Rivers State governor,Dr Peter Odilli .

He has however parted ways with Odilli over 2011 presidency,  and  pitched his  tent with President Goodluck Jonathan. In this interview,   he spoke on a wide range of national issues including the chances of the leading aspirants for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party. Excerpts:

The shift in 2011 elections date as suggested  by  INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega has been received with mixed feelings by Nigerians. What is your take?

The electoral umpire says allow me some time and I’ll deliver, so we don’t have reasons to doubt him.

I disagree with the fact that there is a North/South divide

So much has been said about Professor Jega and since he is asking for time, give it to him because the election does not affect the fundamental thing which is the terminal day of handover which is  May 29; as long as that is not affected, there is no issue.

The reason why the National Assembly decided that the elections should hold earlier was to ensure that all the electoral litigations are dispensed with before the date ofinauguration but with our experience in the past, even 6months is not enough togive judgment in any case.

So if the election time table is postponed, what will suffer is the expectation that the electoral petitions in the tribunal will be disposed off before handover day.  So, we go back to the system where the elected person is sworn in when he still has a case in court.

That is what will happen but it will not affect the terminal day which is fundamental. If INEC has called for extension of the handover date,  that would have been given reasons for us to worry but as long as it does not affect  May 29 which  by our constitution is sacrosanct, then there is no cause for alarm.

Your party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) is engaged in a North/South divide over this issue of zoning. The North is asking Goodluck Jonathan to step down while the South is saying the issue of zoning has been overtaken by events.

Don’t you think that this is capable of causing division in the party ahead of the elections?

I disagree with the fact that there is a North/South divide in the support structure for the presidential aspirants, I disagree with that. Take Jonathan for example, he has supporters both from the southern  andthe northern part of the country even among the governors and major stakeholders.

The chairman of Jonathan’s declaration rally is a Northerner and an eminent personality, so that divide does not exist. You will also agree with me that in the IBB’s camp, some Southerners are with him and they are prominent.

In fact the Director- General of his campaign is a southerner, so I don’t see that divide and we should not encourage it by any means.

I think what we should dwell on are the issues, what are the deliverables and what is  the pedigree of the aspirants and what are they capable of doing, that is what we should be concerned about.I am for Jonathan because I believe that Jonathan can deliver, I believe that in the few months he has spent so far, he has shown us signs of delivery and he has shown a clear road map for Nigeria on what he wants to achieve I believe that Jonathan can deliver,.

So I am for Jonathan not because he is a Southerner, I agree that being a South southerner is a factor because that is an area that has been deprived for so long and this is a God given opportunity. But beyond that I have confidence in his ability to deliver.

All the PDP states seem to have one problem or the other.  Don’t you think all these problems if not resolved can affect the chances of the party at the elections?

Well, I pray that the matters be resolved. I agree with you that there are issues even in my state, Rivers , we have issues too but one common area of agreement is Jonathan.

Already, there are two factions but we are all inagreement with Jonathan but we pray that all these fundamental issues be resolved but anything that has to do with Jonathan, IBB or Saraki, they are issues that affect major stakeholders in the state.

But as a minority, don’t you think that if the issue of zoning is not resolved amicably, the minority may be the ultimate losers?

You will recall that very early in the day right before the issue became so strong, I had said clearly that zoning is restrictive.  I have made that point clearly that we should be going for the best.

What we have showcased so far is not the best that this country has, we have materials that can really compete with the best in the world but there has not been opportunity maybe because of their place of birth, because of their religion that restricts them, we should throw the doors open.

Our democracy is patterned after that of American democracy where a father was a president, the son became a president and another son was a Governor.

This happened because they are looking for the best. It is the same America that a husband was a President, after that the wife became a very strong aspirant for the position and has a very strong support base, today she is a prominent personality in the government of the United States of America.

It is because we are looking at the best. So we should be looking at the best not where you come from. There is no part of this country that does not have materials and men and women of integrity but it has to do with opportunity. Why not leave it open and let people aspire and compete .

The argument has  been that these positions should rotate in the spirit of fairness and equity so that no zone will be left out at the end of the day.

If we leave it open, it will be left for everybody to market himself or herself but unfortunately so far, nobody has talked about deliverables, nobody has talked about ideology or what you can give to the electorate, we are still talking about zoning, we are still talking about regions and religion.

When you become president is it at that point that  you would think of  what you would do? We should be talking about our problems, providing the amenities and not of zoning.

You have said you are in support of President Jonathan and the argument from the other camps like Babangida is that they have more experience and exposure to govern this country. What do you think  Jonathan has got to offer?

The experience you’ve got 20years ago and the experience of the last 12months are certainly not the same. It is not how long, it is how useful the period is. This man is the current president, the challenges that are facing us today are in different dimensions from  the challenges we had when Babangida was in power.

When IBB was president, he performed to the best of his ability at that time, the situation today is different from what it was then and let us look at one of the problems in our  nation which is power.  I don’t want us to be sentimental, I want to talk of where I live here now, in the past 3months, the rate at which I run generator had gone down drastically and have had cause to ask questions, have you people increased the power generation and the answer is no.

But it is normal that during the peak of raining season, the power generation is always steady and which means there is nothing new which the government has done…..
(Cuts in) What is new is not the issue of power but the fact that a proper roadmap has been put in place and people are keyed into it.

Are you surprised that as soon as Jonathan took over, we heard that the refineries were running?

Why were they not operational, is it  because things are not being done properly at this time? They are using the same people.  I honestly believe without being immodest that Jonathan will deliver and we have seen it, so let us give him the chance.

Some people have argued that the new insertion in the electoral act which stipulates that any party that does not win an election to either the state or national Assembly should be de-registered. Do you think  de-registration of political parties will solve this problem?

I believe that the Supreme Court interpretation to that clause on registration of parties has really set back our democracy because a situation where there is no opposition,  brings dictatorship and opposition is lacking in this country which is not good for the PDP.

I am a PDP man, but the nation should come  first. What we have is a situation where there is  proliferation of parties, parties that cannot even win a councillorship seat, what is the purpose of keeping such parties?  I agree with that clause that such parties should be de-registered.

The fewer the parties, the better for us. We have a strong political system and of course if the PDP has a strong opposition, PDP will also sit up and every elected person on the platform of the PDP will know that you have to deliver otherwise there are alternatives.

Everybody running the party will also know that you have to be fair to all aspirants because if you disenfranchise some persons there are other alternatives but the system today is that in some states, once you have the PDP ticket, you assume you are elected.

So I agree with the clause of de-registration because the fewer the better and that is my position.

How many parties do you think would be good for Nigeria?

If I were in the parliament, I would have voted for two party systems but just to allow for latitude, it should not be more than 5 parties. Today we have over 60 parties but how many are really recognized?  It is a waste in terms of money and time.

Again talking about amending the electoral act. I will appeal to our colleagues in the National Assembly because an opportunity had created itself now for them to amend the few  mistakes they made in the electoral act.

I know that the intendment was to reduce the powers of the governors but inadvertently they added more powers to the governors because with the provisions of the electoral act, primaries will now hold in the states, the intendment as to hold primaries in the state but that would have been after proper registration of members but you find that today, the governors are still in control of the party structure and if the governors are in control of  party structure, some of them had even written out the names even before the primaries.

So there is an opportunity playing itself out now for the National Assembly to really amend the electoral act and give us a good electoral system.

Talking about Rivers state, PDP is divided into two factions  and you are a prominent leader in one of the factions but you claimed you are united for President Jonathan.

How can this be with the division in place?

I want to believe so but my own faction is totally for Jonathan but I cannot say about the other.

With the shift in date for the elections now, don’t you think there is more time for PDP in Rivers  to put its house in order ahead of the forthcoming elections?

When we get to that point, we know what to do but as for now, we are talking about the presidential elections.

Will the division not affect the party?

I am an automatic delegate and my vote goes to Jonathan.  Everybody should say the same about his or her vote but I am talking for myself that I will vote Jonathan.

What are your expectations of the 2011 elections as planning goes on? Do you think we can have free and fair elections because many Nigerians are still in doubt?

The signs are still not very good, am yet to be convinced but I have confidence in Jega, I must give  them that credit over what they have done, they have been very realistic that look I can’t deliver with the time-frame available, give me time if you want me to deliver.

I am impressed with that, at least there is sincerity from the heart, I agree with that but I can’t say the same of the primaries but don’t forget that it is internal democracy in the parties that will guarantee the conduct of  the general elections.

You don’t move to university without finishing primary and secondary schools, so the primaries which we have seen so far are not encouraging especially in PDP.  What we are still seeing is not encouraging because the governors have hijacked the system in most states and that is not good for our democracy.

So what do you think is the way out?

We should open up the landscape, encourage more people to participate because what is happening today is restrictive.  If you are not subservient to the governor, there is nothing for you.

If the party structure is exclusively for one person just because he is fortunate to be a governor, he will leave the seat one day and once the structure is in the governor’s hand, it is at the detriment of others.

Let me tell you this, most of the members of the National Assembly who did not support their governors do not have the chance of coming back to the National Assembly because the governors are controlling their state House of  Assemblies and they  are also determining those  to go to the National Assembly.

Meanwhile the members of the National Assembly are supposed to be working at  the federal level with the president, the governors are in control of their local governments, they are in control of the state assembly yet they want to control the National Assembly that works with the President.

The implication is that the day they decide that the President should go since collectively they own the National Assembly members, then the president will be impeached through their cronies in the National Assembly, that is what it means.

The four major contenders for the Presidential seat in the North are coming together to form a common front ahead of the 2011 elections. Do you see this affecting the chances of President Jonathan in anyway?

Its all about politics, they want to present a common front, I wish them well. Let us see how it plays out but I know that Jonathan will win this election.