One of the most respected Igbo leaders in Lagos State, Chief Charles Ahize, has asked his kinsmen to give their votes on Saturday, April 11, 2015 to the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. The Atlantic Autos boss and Ugochinyeremba 1 of Ihioma, in Imo State also talked about his admiration for the APC. National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and reasons President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan couldn’t get a re-election. He spoke to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AZUH ARINZE, at his office in Victoria Island, Lagos days back. Enjoy…
What has been happening to Chief Charles Ahize?
What has been happening to me is that the Lord has been strengthening me and also I sit down dey look for de politics of Nigeria. More so, I am struggling to position my children.
In this political dispensation, we didn’t hear anything about Obigbo, what exactly is happening?
My brother, mechanics at times would not allow us know a mad man from a normal person. So, in order not to be seen as one, and again pussy cat said he knows that the grass is sweet, but he doesn’t want anyone to call him a goat. That is why he doesn’t eat grass.
We want to know the party that you support…APC or PDP?
My brother, support is just a general word. I belong to candidates. I chose to belong to candidates because I have attained the position of a statesman in Nigeria. As a statesman, you must see beyond political parties. Right now, every Nigerian who wants the peaceful existence and success of this country should see beyond political parties. So, in this political dispensation, I belong to integrity, character and proven track record. These three are my political parties and for this election, I believe that Nigerians voted for integrity, character and a tested leader, and that defines my position.
Recently, you have become a regular visitor at the home of APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What is your relationship with him?
Bola Tinubu is a political enigma. You know they say success is infectious. Honestly, the man has turned from a politician to a magician. So, what you see there is admiration and an overwhelming conviction for a political magician. So, I went there to tap current and anointing. Because according to pidgin English, dis kind thing, I never see am before.
As one of the Igbo leaders who are championing the cause of the Igbo people, where exactly do the Igbos stand in Nigeria?
Igbos dey sleep inside bedroom. We just woke up. If you eventually wake and see people running, you will have to join them by running; probably when you run midway, you can now ask what exactly is happening? That is actually what is happening right now to Igbo people.
So, where do the Igbos stand?
We are sleeping, but we woke up and saw that the country is moving forward. So, we want to follow the country and move forward.
Some people are doing political permutations that ideally, the Igbos are supposed to produce the next Senate President, but from the look of things, they do not even have any tangible senator that can go for the position. Not even from PDP or APC. So, what are Igbo leaders doing to ensure that Igbos do not lose out completely?
Well, I don’t know if the senate presidency will be zoned to the South-East; if it is zoned to the South-East, an Igbo man can be senate president.
What do you want Buhari to do for Igbo people?
The Igbo man has always been a survivor. What Nigerians are clamouring from Buhari is to come and create a level playing ground for everybody. The government of my ethnic, my religious group is gone. Anybody that comes to play it at the national level will fail woefully like the last man. So, what people now want is a united Nigeria; a Nigeria that is not based on ethnicity, Nigeria that is not based on religious belief, Nigeria that is not based on favouritism. But a Nigeria that will affect lives of the citizen; that is the only thing that can still pull Nigeria through. But if you still want to do government of where I come from, me and my family, me and my religion, the same thing that happened in this election will still happen in 2019.
As a political tactician, why do you think President Goodluck Jonathan lost?
He didn’t understand what presidency means, he didn’t understand what he had, he didn’t understand the seat he is sitting on. He thought it was a joke, because he didn’t work for it. He didn’t campaign to be vice president, he didn’t have sleepless nights, he didn’t buy form and at the convention, they just took him and made him the vice president. From there, unfortunately and fortunately, the president died and he took over. Then, in 2011, he cried to Nigerians that he was a child that never wore shoes, so with that passion and pity, in addition to his background, we felt that he will change the course of leadership in Nigeria. Everybody voted him in. He just went in there and tried to tell us that… his message then was just a political message. He was not passionate and Nigerians began to doubt him.
Now, a lot of people have been commending him for accepting defeat honourably, what is your take on that?
What he did was the best he could have done. He does not have the ability do anything else.
Now that he has contested and lost the election, what advise do you have for him?
My advice for him is to tell his children/kinsmen and political allies that leadership is not a pot of porridge, leadership is not for me and my cronies, leadership is for you to take charge and be decisive, leadership is for you to create policies that will touch the lives of Nigerians. Leadership is not all about propaganda, leadership is not about when somebody coaxed you into propaganda and you think you can fool your followers.
What advise do you have for the incoming president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari?
The advise I have for him is that he should please know that he won the primaries of APC on his account as a credible man, a man that is capable, a man that has good intentions, a man that is above corruption and nepotism, a man that will create a level playing ground, a man that cannot fall for propaganda, a man that cannot be hijacked, a man that will not be inaccessible, a man that will open the door and make sure that Nigerians feel him and he feels Nigerians.
Millions of Igbos live in Lagos. Now, the governorship election is coming up on April 11. Between Akinwunmi Ambode and Jimi Agbaje, who do you want the Igbos to support?
Come on! You don’t change a winning team now. Are you not enjoying Lagos and the governance in Lagos? Don’t you see the Lekki link bridge, don’t you see what the government of Lagos State is doing? We can’t leave the known for the unknown. There is no Igbo man in terms of governorship election that will leave Akinwunmi Ambode and vote for Jimi Agbaje because this is a government of continuity, this is a government we know. I want you to know something: APC government, from the days of AD, has listening ears to non-indigenes. Bola Tinubu’s government… in fact, the vice-president elect was the Attorney General of Bola Tinubu when Orji Kalu and I went to beg Tinubu over the Trade Fair Complex, that he should please make a concession for Lagos State Government and Balogun Market Traders to settle out of court and Bola Tinubu obliged us without any condition. Again, Alaba Market road was impassable, and I went to Bola Tinubu. I begged him as regards the road and he went and did the road. This is a government we know has character and vision for leadership.
What is your advice to Igbo people as we move into a new government?
My advice is that wherever you find yourself, whoever is your neighbour is your brother. I come from Orlu, but I live in Lagos. Out of 365 days in a year, I spend 340 days in Lagos and if I am ill or have any emergency in the night, when I shout, it is my next neighbour that will come to my rescue and my neighbour might not even be an Igbo man.
Can you give us a feel of what it means to be a grandfather?
I’ve come to concur with people that say that age is a number. By the grace of God, I will be 56 years by November and I don’t feel the number. In my mind, I see when I was 19, 20 years. Moreover, the most exciting thing is that when I see my grandson, he plays with me; my younger children and I feel that my name will soon enter the Guinness book of records.
Tell us about your daughter’s wedding and where is it happening?
It is happening in America, Florida, on the 19th of June, 2015.
What is your daughter’s name and the husband?
My daughter’s name is Onyekachi Vivian, nee Ahize, now Umeh. My son in-law’s name is Phillip Umeh Junior. He is a barrister.