By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Federal lawmaker representing Enugu North Senatorial District at the 9th Assembly, Senator Chukwuma Utazi said the gale of defections pervading the two main political parties was caused by the improper handling of party issues.
Utazi dropped the hint while fielding questions from newsmen in his office on wide range of issues.
On why the two major political parties are losing members to smaller parties he said: “All I know that with the way things happened in the last primaries of most political parties what we are seeing now is not a surprise.
“As far as we are concerned, there is still movement back and forth. So this movement back and forth will not stop now until August when we will finish the electoral act window for change or substitution of candidates not until then.
At the end of the day, you will realise that the parliament is always at the receiving end being the last institution that has always suffered each time you have military takeover. Because they suffer that way, the tendency is that the executive has strengthened itself, the institution is very much on ground, stronger than the parliament. So at the end of the day, what do you do to a parliament that is strong, you whittle it down so that it becomes subservient and then can fit into what the people out there feel.
On whether Okowa is qualified as choice of Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP, Utazi said Okowa is not a new person in political space in Nigeria.
He has been around as commissioner, in Delta, Senate, part of the seventh senate, he left to be governor. He is a man of immense capacity.
He is a man of intelligence. He is big in efficiency though if you come close to him, the tendency is that you will be attracted to him.
It is not a surprise that the presidential candidate of PDP Atiku saw among all of them and then decided to pick him as a running mate.
My advice is for everybody, all the vice presidential hopefuls, it is only one person that can become vice president. If they are interested in seeing PDP take over the reins of power in 2023, the only thing they have to do is to queue behind these two and all of us work very hard to sit down and prepare their manifesto that will speak direct to the issues of the moment.
How do you handle security. Security is not just going to buy ammunition for the Army, or Police or intelligence, security is providing employment.
I said this in the twilight of the 8th Assembly, my motion, looking at the issue of unemployment, where I said if you don’t, it will lead to a violent revolution.
I said it as an agenda setting motion for this administration on second term.
So when you are talking about security, security is not going and chasing people who are in the bush, it’s not about chasing the bandits, it is not chasing kidnappers, the issue is to stop the system that provides, that acts as a feeder to people that are bandits, unknown gunmen.
Security is not buying ammunition, it’s handling the effect instead of looking at the cause.
This is what we expect the presidential candidate, in fact, the PDP as a party that want to take over to look at this issue critically.
The time for primaries has come and gone, any serious minded presidential candidate should go back to the drawing board, get the best of the planning team because planning department of any establishment is the engine room of that organisation.
Nigeria.has thousands of good people that can solve the problems of Nigeria.
Politicians need to speak to the issue of the moment, the security of our people, unemployment is a time bomb.
How do you have a level playing ground for that sector to thrive, if you have a level playing ground for private sector to thrive, they will provide employment in addition to what government will do.
They should withdraw, nobody should be seeing them, people will think they are serious about it.
A serious political party should be testing their policies by discussing issues, they test such policies and see the feedback from the society, they go back and retune it and present it at media houses.
So that between now and September which is the commencement of campaigns, you already know what you want.
Why doing so you are also recognizing the critical hands that can implement such policies for you, it’s not a question of after winning election, you spend months trying to look for ministers.
On why PDP did not zone the presidency to the South East, Utazi said: I’m not taking decision for the political parties where they should choose their candidates, I belong to PDP, that’s my concern.
PDP in their wisdom decided to dezone zoning, and say it’s a free for all, that’s what led to Atiku emerging.
For me, that’s not the best of opinions. But we have gone beyond that.