Why I merge politics with law -Solomon Ewuga

Then I did Post-Graduate Diploma with the University of Telkom in Sweden in Mass Communication. Later on, I went to read Law at the University of Jos and I was called to the bar in 1988. So I am a lawyer. Along the line I have done quite a good number of seminars and courses […]

Then I did Post-Graduate Diploma with the University of Telkom in Sweden in Mass Communication. Later on, I went to read Law at the University of Jos and I was called to the bar in 1988. So I am a lawyer. Along the line I have done quite a good number of seminars and courses in construction, public relations, journalism and how to manage corporate board. When I was with the TCPC as Special Assistant to its late Chairman, Aminu Zayyad Rafindadi who started what is today known as the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE),we also did a lot of courses with the World Bank. Thereafter, I went to the Harvard where I did a course on board room. In all these across the board, I have obtained lots of exposure that have made me what I am today.

After your first degree in political science and your post graduate diploma in journalism you went back to read law. Do you practice law, because you seem to be more in politics?

No, I am a business man and in politics partially. I started business in January 1992 with an advertising company which I helped start. Then I had a small investment company which I managed. Of course, I do corporate practice, that I don’t go to court does not mean I am not a lawyer. I pay my legal fees in the corporate practice, in capital market and in property. I do all those things that will advance the course of good business. That I do as a lawyer.

So how was working with the government like compared to your private engagement?

I worked with government for various stages in my life. I started working immediately I completed the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). I did my NYSC in the then Cross River State but the present Akwa Ibom State. It   was my first experience of teaching and  it was  good to see the result of my teaching effort as quite positive. Subsequently, I went to work with the Nigerian Broadcast Corporation in Jos which later became Plateau State Broadcast Corporation when the federal government decided to handover all the zonal stations to  the states where they were sited and I left in 1982. I started as producer then later worked in current affairs and youth division. Along the line, immediately I finished the law school, I was made the General Manager of Nigerian Standard  from 1988 to 1989 and then went to join the late Hamza Zayyad Rafindadi TCPC as Special Assistant. I was there till February 1992 when I joined the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund as General Manager Compliant. Before then we were party to the development of the legal framework for the establishment of the NSITF. Our activities at the NSITF was what transforms today into the new pension scheme in the country.

So at what point in life did you decide to join the main stream politics to serve your people?

The very day I left government I started politics. I left government in January 1982 to contest the state Secretary of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and that was the beginning. From that day when I started my politics I also started my business. I was a member of the Constitutional Review Committee that drafted the current Constitution representing my own zone which is Akwanga in Nasarawa State. After the Constitutional Amendment I went back to my business. However, after contesting for the Secretary of the NPN and my participation during the SDP and NRC dispensation under Genera Ibrahim Babangida regime, I virtually participated in all the political parties and development till today.

Under the current political dispensation, people are defecting from other parties to the ruling PDP, but in your case, you left the party for ANPP. What influenced your decision?        

I did it because there was too much injustice and I needed to correct that. I didn’t find it right that deliberate effort was made to transpose the person that was our adversary over those of us who started the party. That is why, it was hurt for me to go and campaign for the person. I aspired to become governor and contested the first election under the present dispensation. In primaries I did very well but I was not pronounced. So in 2003, when the same thing was about to happen I decided to go to another party to try because it was not a failure. It is the fact that there are opportunities. And since I have the intention to serve my people I worked on it and as every one saw I am politically vibrant. So it is good experience to know that you can contest to win or loose. But we were able to provide a credible alternative to the dispensation of politics in this country which I am very proud of. But how that will workout in the next few months is a different matter because there are so many issues on ground.

You served as a Minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, what was working with him like?

It is always a wonderful experience for you to serve your country at whatever level. And I think that is the way I see it. Every president has his own nuisances and his good and bad sides. But the joy is his acknowledgement to offer you to serve him and that’s how I see it. Of course, he had his own style which is quite distinct from the style of the present president. As a matter of fact, this country must continue, the people will be employed and people will be changed but the virtue of providing service to your country is a valuable experience and I never want to give up and that is the way I see it. Let me be very frank to you, it will be very difficult to bring the two together and judge between them. In the other dispensation I worked in a very subsidiary position while in the civilian dispensation in worked in a more high profile position. So it’s very difficult for you to compare which one is better than the other. But clearly, the dispensations under which I was working are two different ones and I cannot compare one and the other and say this is better. But the only thing I can say is that I always prefer to work under the civilian administration.

Is there anything spectacular that you always remember in your life?    

Well, this is very difficult question and surprising. May be I should say the day my wife gave birth to our first daughter. We got married for seven years without a child and then suddenly this young girl changed the way I think and reason because now I am a father.

People experience ups and downs in life, how was your own experience like?

Naturally, for every excitement there exists some sadness at one point or the other. First, it wasn’t easy getting through life as a young man. Life wasn’t the same as before. During the primary school days I attended private school. So I saw how my father always struggled to pay the school fees. It was very terrible whenever your school fee was not paid and you were asked to do one thing or the other. For instance, there was a time when I missed lectures for a week or two which was really disturbing. So that was part of the minus. But in a whole I can tell you that I have had a very exiting and rewarding childhood.

Recently, one of the special assistants to your state governor engaged you in verbal war where he accused you of attempt to cause crisis in the state, what would you say about that?

I just feel that it is a low level person trying to be too excited over the office he was occupying and that is why he took the decision and did what he did. And I am happy the state reacted rightly although I thought the state should have taken a stiffer decision on him because what he said was libelous and absolutely irresponsible.     

What is the nature of your immediate family background?

It is a nucleus family because I have only two kids and no grandchild yet because my eldest daughter would be twenty two by this year’s end. She is still in school but I am sure when she is done she would look for who to settle down with. My marriage as at August this year is twenty nine and like I said earlier it took us seven years to have our first daughter.