The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs,
Elder Godsday Orubebe, in this interview with journalists spoke about
allegations of corruption against him by stakeholders in the Niger
Delta, his relationship with Chief Edwin Clark and the 2015 governorship
election in Delta State. ADELANI ADEPEGBA was there.
What are the challenges facing your ministry?
I think the basic challenge is funding.
If you look at Nigeria, we are coming from long experience of inaction
and President Goodluck Jonathan assumed leadership of the country at a
time when almost all infrastructure in the country were begging for
attention at the same time and so the resources we have as a country are
not enough to go round all the things that we want to do. So funding is
the main problem, but due to the dynamic planning, transparency being
preached by Mr. President and because we prioritise our projects, we are
doing things we need to do to move this great country forward.
Some stakeholders in the Niger
Delta feel that the problem is not funding but that you are just
pocketing the money being made available for the development of the
region?
Today, there is a process of doing
things in this country and the President has emphasised the importance
of due process. Before a project is done, it has to first go through the
National Assembly; it has to be appropriated. So, how do you pocket
money in such a situation? Before you do anything, it has to go through
due process. Contracts are tendered, advertised and people who have
interest tender for these contracts. When these contracts are awarded,
they are awarded to people. So how do you pocket money? People who are
saying that are talking out of ignorance. They don’t know what it takes
for a contract to be awarded. As a minister, I don’t have the power to
sit down in my office and call in Mr. A and say I have given you this
contract. It has to be advertised first and then it will go through the
due process. When due process is satisfied, you will be given a
certificate of no objection and it is with that certificate that you
would forward your memo to the Federal Executive Council. At FEC, we
have 42 ministers, the President, the Vice-President and other technical
advisers who will look at the contract before it is awarded. So, if a
contract will go through these processes, how will a minister pocket
money?
But a former member of House of
Representatives asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to
prosecute you for corruption…
I am not corrupt and cannot be. A former
member of the House of Representatives said I awarded N27bn contracts
that were not in the budget and pocketed the money. He said I awarded
one contract for N1.2bn and then increased it to N12bn and paid it. But I
believe Nigerians are clever and now understand the process of awarding
contracts. The man said I was given N27bn but the contracts that were
awarded were just N6m. He also said I was given the money but mobilised
the contractors with only N990m. As at the time of the accusation, we
were owing some contractors. We even approached some of their bankers to
let them know that truly we gave them contracts and we had yet to pay
them. We had a media tour, where many media houses were invited because
the mischief makers also claimed that the contractors and the
communities where those contracts are were not in existence. Besides,
journalists based in the South-South carried out and published their
findings. So most of the negative stories about me in the media are
fabricated but I am not perturbed and will not be distracted.
There have been calls on Mr. President to sack you. What is your take on this?
I am not bothered at all because
Nigerians, including Mr. President, know that these are people that are
just being mischievous. If you observe, you will see that most of the
times, I don’t respond because I don’t want to be distracted from my
work. Some of those who made these unfounded allegations against me do
so because they expect certain things from me and when those things are
not available, they say ‘Orubebe is a bad man.’ But as far as I am
concerned, that concept of blackmailing people for personal gains is old
fashioned. My concern is to follow the due process and be transparent
so that we can move the nation forward. A lot of them have sought favour
from me and a lot of them have benefited from me in one form or the
other. If you ask them, they will tell you and if they want me to
publish it, I will publish it. Some of them are not credible as they
want Nigerians to believe. They are just deceiving the public.
How true is the news that your are interested in the governorship race in Delta State?
My immediate concern is to work for Mr.
President and support him to enable him to deliver his transformation
agenda for the people of this country. I stand as one of the key
supporters of Mr. President, who will do what he wants us to do to move
Nigeria forward. As far as I am concerned, 2015 is still very far and
it is in God’s hands. When we get to 2015, that is when other things
will come up. I have the right to contest like any other Deltan but that
is not in the agenda for now. It is not my priority.
But Chief Edwin Clark, is one of
those who opposed you and even said you were not fit for the office of
governor. What is your reaction to this?
Well, Chief Clark is entitled to his
opinion. If I want to contest the governorship of Delta State in 2015,
Chief Clark also knows that I have the capability to run. I am not
barred by the constitution and I have the support of people and if I
want to run, nobody will stop me. Clark is free to support anybody but
there are thousands of people, who will also support me if I want to run
in 2015 but today as I said earlier, that is not my priority.
What is your relationship with Chief Clark?
My relationship with Chief Clark is very
cordial. I don’t have any problem with him. He is one of the leaders we
have in Ijawland.
Is it true that he recommended that you should be made a minister?
It is not true that he recommended me
but it is true that he supported me when there was crisis over any
appointment. I know the person who recommended me and at the appropriate
time I will mention the person’s name. I was recommended to the
government by a young man.
What is your relationship with the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party in the state?
My relationship with the leadership of
the PDP is very cordial. Peter Nwaoboshi is my state chairman; he is a
great man and we are blessed that he is doing very well and I am
supporting him and his entire executive so that we can deliver all the
elections in 2015 to the party. PDP is the only party we have in Delta
State. I am very happy with the party chieftains and the way they run
the affairs of the party.
But you have been accused of instigating some members to drag the party to court?
How can I instigate people to take the
party to court? The beauty of democracy is that you have the freedom to
say whatever you wants. If people are aggrieved and they go to court,
are they saying they don’t have the right to seek redress in court? If
somebody is walking and stumbles on a wood, it is Orubebe. I have said
that I am working with the state chairman of the PDP to ensure that we
deliver in all future elections.
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