‘Jonathan’s good work’ll earn him another term in 2015’

‘Jonathan’s good work’ll earn him another term in 2015’

 Businessman and public affairs analyst and commentator, Chief Joseph Okpala, has said that President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda is positioning the country on the path of development

In an interview with Saturday Sun, the septuagenarian, popularly called Ozua Kampala, from Anambra State noted that by 2015, when the programmes of the president would fully mature, Nigerians would see that there is no need to change performer and would support the reelection of President Jonathan.
What is your comment on the state of the nation?
Nigeria, ever since independence, has been wobbling, from one crisis to another. She has not lived up to expectation. However, if the present government of President Goodluck Jonathan should sustain the momentum of its transformation agenda, there is still hope for Nigeria. The reforms going on in every facet of the nation’s life are commendable. Electricity supply, which was very discouraging, is picking up.
To see that all hands are on deck, the president recently made the ministers sign contract performance bond, which is a sign of seriousness towards fulfilling his commitment to the electorate. In this regard, hope is not lost on Nigeria.
You talked about improvement in the power sector, won’t the resignation of the former minister of power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, retard the progress made?
Unfortunately, that is Nigeria for you. Certain Nigerians seem to be working at cross-purposes and don’t want Nigeria to progress because they are benefiting from the whole mess. Nnaji is a world-class scholar in his field and the way he engineered the turning around of the power sector shows that he has idea of what should be done. Unfortunately, because of funny politics he is out and I pray it does not affect the turnaround of the power sector.
How do you feel now that your state, Anambra, is 10th oil producing state?
This is cheering news. I know this will be our high moment, to be included in the league of oil producing states. Former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, said, at the 20th anniversary of Ananmbra State last year, that oil is not the issue, but it is the brain. I hope that the oil exploration in Anambra will not be a curse, as it has been with Nigeria. I pray the oil will bring good tidings in Anambra and Nigeria. I also hope that Anambra people will be thankful discovery to God for the wonderful and also use it to complement their human resource industry.
What is your position on the crisis in APGA?
What was happening in APGA does not give cause for joy. The executive of the party was at daggers-drawn with Governor Obi. However, the party has started on a new drive to expand and this is a good omen. APGA should be a national party, not just a clannish party.
The governors of APGA states and the party executives should sit down, like intelligent people and sort out their differences, so that the party can move forward and play its role in national development as expected. I am calling on the elite and wealthy South easterners to see the necessity of having outfit to broaden the zone’s information dissemination base.
They should emulate those who have established newspaper houses. They are wealthier men than these people and so should invest in media in order to project our own side of the story. They should copy the South westerners who have invested massively in media.

The campaign for President Jonathan to run in 2015 is gathering momentum. What is your opinion?
I have no problem with Jonathan running in 2015. He is a Nigerian and well qualified. The way he is running his government by bringing on board seasoned technocrats shows that he knows what he is doing and where he is taking Nigeria. It is only some politicians that have issue with him, but the average Nigerians are on his side.  He is a good leader.
He is just barely a year and four months on the throne and if you are judging from the indices of his performance, he is doing very well. So far, he is on the right direction and should be supported. I am sure by 2015, most of his programmes would mature and people would see the reason not to quarrel with somebody who is working. He should be given another mandate. Nobody or zone should arrogate to him or itself demigod to think he is the only one that should rule.
He should not be hounded out; the Nigerian constitution does not confer superiority to any people over others. This smoke superiority exhibited by certain people is just figment of their imagination and symptom of pathological inferiority complex. Just as Olusegun Obasajno ran for two times, Jonathan, should equally run for two times. I am not a politician though I have sympathy for APGA but when somebody is doing well, it is worthy to commend such person. I thumb up for PDP for giving power to real marginalized part of the country.
Why are you not in active politics?
I used to be in politics. I was very active member of National Republican Convention (NRC) led by Chief Tom Ikimi. I worked with compatriots, like Ibrahim Mantu. At a certain point, I realised that politics is a wrong place for me because I sat back to look at politics and the players and I realised it is a way of Satan. It may sound funny. Politics is geared towards the good of man; to achieve good for man but most of the time you cannot expect much good to come of a bad base.
Satan was the first politician. When God created man, He was not dealing with man on political terms. It was a straightforward and honest relationship, but when Satan wanted to usurp power from God, he introduced the system of politics which characteristics are – half-truth, back stabbing, and betrayal etc. Like the Bible says, Satan is the father of lies. Politics is about lying, backstabbing betrayal and contention. You can now see why the whole mankind cannot know peace and cannot know meaningful development because it is on wrong foundation.
The base of all our developmental efforts is on wrong foundation, which is politics instituted by the devil. I sat back to think seriously about this and to know that whatever effort we try to make in the world, the Bible and some other religions have told us the end of our efforts and mankind. We are going down spiral; the world will end up in conflagration. If we were really developing why would we end up in abyss, in destruction. The world present educational system is faulty and on wrong foundation, which appeals to the best instinct of man. It has no God at the center of it and that is why man with all that he has achieved- going to moon, Mars etc, cannot achieve peace that will not cost him money.
Only an atoned heart that will make you see your fellow man as your brother and deal with him with honesty and love. What I am saying goes far away from our rational way of thinking. That is why I opted out of politics but it does not deter me from contributing ideas on the way things should be.
What is your view on global trend?
Man is heading down spirally because the Bible tells us of certain end of man, that is, what it calls the end of the world system; how the world will end. The first world ended with Noah and now we are in church age and it tells us that it would end in fire. When I look at what is going on, you will see that man has spent both civilised and uncivilised about 25 to 30 percent of their resources on dangerous armament of destruction. Is that sign of development? No. It shows that man has not overcome his base elements of hate, jealousy, wickedness etc. If the Bible tells us that this world will certainly end then why do we fool ourselves? Despite this warning, it will come suddenly and people would not be prepared. The Bible talks about a system that would come toward the end of the time, which is called the Beast system or 666.
We are now in the 666 systems. It is gathering momentum. That is what I think when Prof. Wole Soyinka and former Lagos State governor, Tinubu were talking about when they launched their book, “Financialism: Water from empty well.” I have not read it but my common sense tells me that what they are talking about is this 666 system. It is the system of the economy that the Bible talks about, which will envelop and engulf the whole world. Financialism is the way of the world now, which is why every nation is enjoined to run an integrated global system of economy and that is why when the stock market and bank crashed the whole world was in mess. I do not see this world lasting another 50 years. The emergence of Israel as a nation kick started that phase.