Chief Fidelis Uchedike Osammor recently retired as a director in the Federal Civil Service and is now set to enter the jostling for political ascendancy in his native Aniocha South Local Government of Delta State. He spoke in an interview on his plans and prospects. Excerpts:

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

NOW that you have retired from the civil service, what would be your next step?
I always have plans to go back home and say thank you to my people in the form of service, because my people are the basis of my success, that I served for thirty five years without much problems and I have good health, my people were always there, my immediate community in Ogwashi-Ukwu, and the local government, they were always there to help and advice to ensure that my service was sincere in the right direction.

What are the critical areas you will attend to?
When you go to the rural areas, the people are yearning for the minimal dividends of democracy.
There is need to build more primary schools and make them accessible within a trekking distance of two or three minutes and then retrain the graduates to become  good teachers so that they can teach in the various primary schools in the area.

To look into the Ubulu-Utu erosion situation and revive the Nsukka Plantain Plantation and make farming lucrative and enticing so that over young men and women would be interested. That will stem rural urban migration. Get the rural area a bit comfortable and lucrative in living there with their families and earn a living

Under which party do you intend to contest the election?
Of course, the most viable party is PDP, and contrary to what people say PDP is very democratic because it has room, it is inclusive, and has room for variety of opinions.

What would be your advise to the electorate?
My advice to the electorate is to jettison the idea taking five and ten thousand naira to vote.
If you push me to go and borrow and run my campaign, how are my going to pay it back? I am not going to manufacture money. The  only thing I can do if you push me to borrow, is to deep my hands into the local government treasury which belongs to everybody to pay back what I had borrowed. But if you look at what I have to offer and look at my experience and you see that the pedigree is there, okay!

What advice do you have for your co-contestants?
The advice is that they should dwell on issues, let us dwell on issues, let us not rely on secret cults, relying on belonging to associations, not relying on money. Let us dwell and talk about issues, and explain to our people what the issues are and also letting them to know that the issues can be handled and resolved. There are international NGO’s that are ready to partner with us if the right atmosphere is created.