For me, I look at it from two different perspectives. One perspective is about the people. The other is about those who offer themselves to serve the people, which is inclusive of me.

 
   If you are not lucky to be recruited, it may not be your turn; you look towards the next time. But, for me, it’s about the two groups – the person who wants the job, and the person who is employing the person who wants the job.

 A lot of work has been done and will continue to be done to get our people to actually remove every form of sentiment in our leadership recruitment process so that we can recruit based on a proper assessment of capability.

  Capability, which is anchored on experience, knowledge, and service rendered in the past. That is looking at the records and being able to make a decision.

    So, it is left for us now to keep reinforcing the enlightenment mechanism and political education, so that our people can really look beyond the immediate sentiments and then recruit properly.

  It’s unfortunate actually, because it means there is something we are not doing right. More so, because anytime you are assessing present day politicians and you keep making reference to the past, it shows that we are not making any progress. It shows that we are not doing what is expected of us. It shows we are not living up to expectations. So, there is a need for total re-engineering so that the right foot can be placed forward, putting the round peg in a round hole and the square peg in a square hole. That will help our polity.

   It goes back again to the issue of recruitment. We must create acceptable criteria in the recruitment process so that you can recruit the right people, because the moment you recruit the right people, almost 70 to 80 per cent of the job is done.

  When the right person takes the job, he realises that the first thing to do is about saving his integrity, saving his image. And, the only way to do it is by doing what you say you will do; by not breaking the agreement you entered with the people. Also, by serving them with the fear of God.

   I’ve always said that leadership at all levels is a sacred trust given to one by God, for which you will account for, if not here in the world hereafter. There must be a time to account, because you are holding the people’s trust. Trust given to you by God, believing that you utilise that opportunity very well for the benefit of the people and to the glory of His name.

  So, you must work from that perspective. If you really want to be remembered, like we sit down here and talk about the Ziks, the Awolowos, the Sardaunas, the Michael Okparas, and things like that. For us to reminisce about these leaders of the past, it’s because of the level of sacrifices they made, and the impact they left on society. If their impact was negative, nobody would be talking about them.

  No, you see, you can’t talk about grooming as a front. A lot of us worked under those people. It is not until the person comes out and says, I want to teach you. You can learn by example. You can learn through history.

  Some of us who didn’t even work with the Ziks of this world, we have access to literature that talked about Zik and his level of sacrifice. We have access to literature that talks about Michael Okpara and his agricultural revolution.    We have documents that talked about what Nigeria was, what Anambra State was in the old Eastern Region, when agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. Those documents are available for people to see.

   But, the question for us, the present day politicians, is: What is our priority? Have we prioritised service above self? Or have we prioritised self above service? Have we prioritised what we are going to render to society? Or have we prioritised what we are going to get from society?

  Remember the American President (John F. Kennedy) who said that Americans should think of what they can do for America and not what America can do for them. So, we should all be thinking of what to give to society. How do I want to be remembered?

  Like you’re talking about Zik, Michael Opara, Chuba Okadigbo and you feel goose pimples, because you remember their contribution to societal development. You remember them on a positive note.

   We, present day politicians, should also be thinking in that direction. How we would be remembered. How would history record our activities here by the time we go home, because as to whether we will go, we will go? It’s the date nobody knows. It could be tomorrow. It could be 20 years ahead. It could be 30 years ahead. It could be 50 years ahead. You never can say. But the truth about it is that we must be conscious of what history will say about us when we are no more here .

 The greatest gift to Anambra voters is that they have to be careful and choose the right person. I keep saying it, the worst form of corruption is electoral corruption, because if you corruptly elect a leader, there is no way a goat will give birth to a cow and you can’t give what you don’t have.

  So, if you corruptly elect a leader, you wait for corruption at the end of the day. You wait for bad leadership.

  But if you choose a leader based on experience, based on knowledge, credibility and on character, at the end of the day, he will offer service with the fear of God. You elect a leader who is conscious of the judgment of history.  

  The two of them work hand in hand, because the electorate will be mobilised. We are going to talk to them. We are going to sensitise them. It is not about coming to complain at the end of the day. It is about playing the role, being part of getting the government of your choice. It is not about the one or two thousand naira you get at that moment. It is about remembering that whatever you get as a gift would have compromised your understanding of the process.

   It means that you are going to eat that money for four years, because you are running a process where once elected, remains selected for a fixed term and it is a fixed term of four years.

  So, for that N10, 000 and or N20, 000 you will collect and then compromise the process, that is your fee for four years. So, you have no moral justification or grounds to complain if there is no good service delivery.

  Then moving on to the electoral umpire, they have the responsibility to deliver a free, fair and credible process, so that posterity will judge them right. For me, I see every new election as an opportunity for the umpire to continuously, on a regular basis, redeem their image, improve on their past activities.

  I am looking forward to a time when somebody will say, I can assure you INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) will deliver. We will get to that time. But the faster we do that, the better for us and the better for the electoral process.

This question you asked takes us to the matter in the National Assembly, where they were talking about punishment for those who don’t vote who don’t vote. They were talking about sending people to jail.

  I align myself with the position of the NBA (Nigerian Bar Association) chairman. It’s an infringement on the fundamental right, because sometimes you find that this issue of the umpire is also the reason some people say why do I need to go and waste my time.

   Somebody, as an expression of his fundamental right, can refuse to vote out of anger. It is our duty, the politicians, the political class, the political parties, to keep mobilising the people, to keep begging them to come out, forget what has been done in the past, this next one may be better, or is likely to be better. So, it’s our duty to talk to people. It’s not about forcing them to go and vote.

   Again, the umpire should live up to expectations. The umpire should do what is right. The umpire should make efforts to win back the confidence of the people, because people have lost confidence. So, it is their duty to win back the confidence of the people and not to threaten them by sending them to jail.

The greatest incentive is that the electoral umpire must assure the people that the process will be free, fair and credible. That’s the biggest incentive. The moment the people feel that way, I can assure you, they will all come out, once they feel that their votes will count.

   Don’t forget we got to a point in this country where people don’t feel that their votes count because they vote something else and something else happens and something else is being announced. It’s enough to discourage you from wanting to participate in any process.

  Let them remember the judgment of history. Let him remember that the worst form of corruption is electoral corruption. Let them fear God because every action will be brought to judgment. It may not be now.

  Do your best. Leave the rest to God. Deliver a credible process so that the votes of the people will count. People will pray for you. People will thank God for you and they will remember the time you were INEC chairman.

Two is the platform.
For the person, the decision is about me to make. If I want, I tell my wife or my children. If I want, I tell my friends; if I don’t want, it is about me to say that I want to contest an election.

  The second one is about the platform. In this instance, it’s not about me now. It’s about me, my friends, my relations, my political associates, those who want to work with me and those who believe in my candidacy; those who share the same vision with me.

  So, I found myself in that situation when I now brought this issue to my associates. Don’t forget that I’ve been around. I ran my first election for governorship of Anambra State in 2003. That’s 22 years ago. So, I still have friends. I have a team. I have people I relate and work with.

    And I now told them I want to run for governor. What do we do? They now set up a committee that looked at all the platforms and came up with a recommendation that left to them, Labour Party is the best option for us. And when they said that, because I’m a man who is guided by the opinion of my people, I need to go with them, I need to flow with the tide and that’s why I moved to Labour Party, because I’m looking for a platform that is acceptable to my people.

  My support base is around the people. Ask them, I don’t take a political decision without the involvement of my team; I don’t.
 It’s like this issue of decampment; this is my first time. I don’t have the history of decampment, moving from one party to the other. So for me, it was a very difficult decision to take; trying to do what you haven’t done before.

  I needed to see reason in their judgment. And I saw reason in the suggestions they made. I found myself, if I don’t go in line with the wishes of my supporters, I’ll lose them and if I lose them, how do I win election? Because it is the same people who will go to the field with me to market my candidacy, to appeal to our people, to align their wishes with mine, and trust me.  

    And, if those people come out and say, our brother, our friend, our leader, this is what we want you to do for our benefit, if truly it is about us, because if it is about them, you have to listen to them. But if it’s about you, you take your decision and go back to your house. So it’s about them and I need to go with them.

 A lot is broken, completely broken. There’s a lot of mending to do. Where do you start? Is it from insecurity? Is it broken infrastructure? Is it agriculture? Is it health? Is it education? There are a lot that are broken, a lot!

  And by the time I release my manifesto, Anambra people will see that, actually, there’s a lot. But, principally, insecurity has completely collapsed the state.