I owe no apologies to anyone – Dokpesi

Chief Raymond Dokpesi: The truth of the matter is that in 2006, at the height of the agitation and clamour of the people of the South-South which I was privileged to lead as the chairman of the South South People’s Assembly at that time, that there was a resolution on the matter. We had a […]

Chief Raymond Dokpesi: The truth of the matter is that in 2006, at the height of the agitation and clamour of the people of the South-South which I was privileged to lead as the chairman of the South South People’s Assembly at that time, that there was a resolution on the matter. We had a very clear agreement and that was what paved the way for President Goodluck Jonathan to be vice president to Umaru Musa Yar’ adua.
We agreed that we were going to have eight years of the vice presidency and after that in 2015 we will have the opportunity to provide the presidency of the country. We got the north, south and east as a whole to the agreement. The various meetings that we held, everyone agreed that they were going to support the south-south come 2015. It was not a 2011 agreement and due to the agreement, that was why it became possible for Jonathan to emerge.
So, it is those that are trying to challenge the game midway that we have to challenge, not those of us that have decided to stick with the game plan.
WT: How would you react to insinuations by some of the leaders from the south-south especially Edwin Clark, that your support for IBB is because of the money you hope to get from him for your efforts?
Chief Raymond:  Chief Edwin Clark himself sat with Olusola Saraki under the Northern Union at that time and is aware of the agreement that we went into that the South-South was going to support the north to produce the president from 2011-2015. So, I have not reneged on that pledge.
Sir Edwin Clark is an elderly person and I will not punch words with him and others. With his language, disposition and the type of attitude he has put up the rest of the country can judge the kind of person he is. Two wrongs do not make a right, so I do not have to come to the low level that he has decided to descend. But, I’ll just say at the age of 83, we can have a man of his status still behaving like a cowboy.
It’s quite unfortunate but I pray that God gives him peaceful experience he deserves for the rest of his life. The truth of the matter is that the people of the south-south should not be confused and deceived into towing the wrong path. Any step taken by anybody to derail from the agreed course is opportunistic and meant to cause unnecessary tension and wasting the opportunities of the south-south because of the selfish interest of a few people.
On the issue of money or out of my own desire to be enriched or paid by General Ibrahim Babangida, the money we are talking about runs into billions of naira and it would be foolish for anybody to assume that IBB as an individual would be able to pay it. Why should he anyway; these monies are monies being owed me for services rendered to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and there is no way I would have expected an individual to pay that amount of money. If I was motivated by money, I would have paid homage and shone the shoes of President Jonathan and the members of his government. I would have played along so that I can be paid. But, I decided to stand for honour, integrity and truth. I wrote to President Jonathan that it is most unfortunate the way and manner his campaign is taking turns.
People have to be honourable; we are party to an agreement we have to be seen to stand by it. Yes, I agree that we had meetings to produce the next president, but then, what they are refusing to tell the whole world is that after that, other meetings were held and some resolutions made which made it possible for the south-south to come in. Chief Tony Anenih is alive, he is a leader of the party and he participated in the whole thing. When we got the Vice Presidency nobody grumbled, but to attempt to ambush and wish it away is unfair and unjust to the rest of the country. I stand for the opinion that justice, fairness and equity must be observed and adhered to.
WT: Sen. Abba Aji recently said that the presidency was zoned to the north but that as the late president passed on, the presidency automatically was zoned to the south-south. So, the issue of Jonathan not adhering to the agreement does not even arise in the first place. What is your position on this argument?
Chief Raymond: This is part of the fraud and dishonesty that I say we are engaged in. This issue of rotational presidency has its antecedent. There are historical and documented reasons.
You’ll remember that in 1999, there was a report of the constitutional conference which contained a draft constitution which was submitted by experienced politicians. They were supposed to come up with a constitution that would address the problems and challenges that the country was facing at that time and nothing more and they came up with rotation of certain offices.
It dealt with the rotation of the position of President, Governor and Chairman of Local Government Council. It says the office of the president shall rotate between the north and the south, the office of the governor shall rotate among the three senatorial districts in that state and the office of the Chairman of the local government council shall rotate within the local government area. It also says that no political party shall be registered until it has reflected this in its constitution.
This draft constitution at that time was meant to envisage three vice presidents including one from the zone the president comes from so that in the case of death of the president, it is the person that comes from his zone that will automatically take over and become president.
People should not just distort facts and make up stories because they want to benefit themselves or their principals for whatever reasons. We need the unity and stability of this country and for that to be achieved and sustained we must be honest. That is why this country has not realized its potential because some people just decide to change the rule of the game in the middle of the whole thing to the detriment of the larger populace of the country. This has to change.
WT: How serious are the threats you say you have been receiving for your support for IBB?
Chief Raymond: Let me take you a bit back. You will recall that  a group that called itself the South-South Elders and Leaders Forum or something like that was the one that passed a resolution which Chief Edwin Clark signed and released to the media. It took frontline pages for about three days and there was no response from me. Less than 24hrs after passing that decision MEND issued a statement and went ahead to threaten and declare me a persona non grata. I never initiated anything, neither did I discounter to anything. A day after that MEND statement, phone calls and messages were being received by my children and members of family threatening on the kidnap of my eldest son if the family does not prevail upon me. I still have some of these messages stored in the phones from various unknown persons. These remain threats, and you ask how serious are they?
Life and property is not safe in this country; people and even eminent ones have been kidnapped and some till today have not been traced. So, how serious it is? It is definitely very serious! That is why I reported the threats immediately to the appropriate agencies for them to be able to carry out detailed investigation and take the necessary precautionary steps to ensure that no hair of mine is touched and none of my children, dependants or siblings, is made to face any harm by any group of persons.
Even instructing that my business advertorial should be boycotted that there should be no advertorial to be aired on AIT. I owe no apologies to anyone neither do I have to compel anybody to patronize AIT. With or without their support we have always thrived and we will continue to thrive. Whatever song they are singing now is an afterthought as they have started the fire themselves.
WT: Do you not think that selling IBB would be a tough call at this point in time in Nigeria?
Chief Raymond: No, I do not believe so. I think for a very long time we have allowed ourselves to be misled and misinformed by quite a lot of things. Mind you, the media has been very strong in the Lagos axis and most of these people have used their friends in the media to promote these negative ideas and unfortunately most of these ideas are not as factual as they should be. They need to be thoroughly investigated.
People should be allowed to make up their minds on their own. That is part of democracy. The matters these people are raising are not one that could be put straight in the face. The issue of Dele Giwa and co was investigated and taken up to the Supreme Court and the judgement was given against them as even the late Gani Fawehinmi was fined N6million for libel. Nobody refers to that but instead it is a matter of June 12 they are dwelling on. Some people are repeating the same thing today and also committing libel and they can be persecuted for that.
WT: Nigeria is not better off today as it is and most people feel his government paved the way for the negative trend.
Chief Raymond: It is not true that IBB has been part of the rot and the problems of the country. In actual fact, he pioneered infrastructural and monumental development in the country. During his tenure as Military President there were tremendous developments. Aside the June 12 issue he would have been the most knowledgeable and best president that Nigeria has ever had.
June 12 is an unfortunate episode that affected everybody in this country. Since he left office over 17years ago, have we witnessed any proper or significant progress in our nation? Have we moved towards nationhood? The answer is no.
WT: If he has done well as you claim, why is the situation this bad?
Chief Raymond: The evidence is there for everyone to see. We would not have been in Abuja today if it was not for the determined efforts that were put on ground by IBB. The structural developments are all there for all to see.
The situation is different today; there are no jobs, no electricity, no safety of lives and businesses. As the chairman of Daar Communication I know the number of people that have come to me asking that their wards should work with me without salary because they want them to wake up and at least have somewhere to go to every morning so that they do not become a nuisance in the society.
If IBB did not open up private broadcasting, I would have never been involved in Broadcasting. Everybody is talking about telecommunication, forgetting to give IBB the credit for pioneering it and deregulating the telecommunication backbone. He has done a lot for the country from evidence and if given the chance he can offer more.
WT: What will IBB do should he fail to secure the PDP ticket?
Chief Raymond: God forbid him not getting the ticket of the PDP. What we have at the present moment is that IBB is willing to concede any of the northern aspirants that are coming up. In pursuant of the agreement and so forth he would possibly concede to any one of those from the north but not to any other person.
I can tell you from experience and preparedness we are ready to slug it out at the party primary polls to a finished point.
WT: So you are saying you are rest assured that IBB will clinch the ticket?
Chief Raymond: I have no doubt in my mind that he will with the level of work we are doing and from the facts that we have on the ground.
ThisDay newspapers said there are 17 wise men; for the purpose of this let me agree that there are, if they agree on a consensus candidate IBB will tow the line and consent to whoever they so choose.
WT: IBB is challenging an incumbent president and he seems to have deployed a lot of resources in his bid. One would wonder what the source of your resources is.
Chief Raymond: I really want to thank those that have that notion that we have limitless resources to keep the campaign going. But I must tell you that there is no amount of resources that anybody could have more than an incumbent. They have been drawing from those resources for the declaration that took place at Eagle Square the other day; each Local Government Area was given N1million to be able to mobilize and send people down. That is N774 million was spent by Jonathan to be able to run his declaration and campaign.
As far as we are concerned, we can only depend on friends, donors and fund-raising to fuel and oil the campaign as we have it. But the most important thing is that we have the support and understanding of the ordinary people, we do not have to buy them to get our mandate.
WT: People might wonder why IBB is putting himself up for the election; why won’t he groom the younger generation to take over the leadership of this country?
Chief Raymond: IBB is the father of new breed politicians in this country but we have seen what most of them have done over the last seventeen years. IBB is not coming into office because he is looking for money, name or any type of popularity or ambition. It is a sacrifice to continue the existence of Nigeria as one united entity, to also prepare and lay foundation for a new generation of leaders.  I want you to hold me accountable when he emerges as the president of this country, that his government will be made up of younger persons who are going to be quite experienced and trained to lead the country out of the darkness that we are in now. They will have the energy but IBB will have the experience.