{"id":413377,"date":"2011-05-01T19:45:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T19:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/01\/nigeria%e2%80%99s-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-%e2%80%94-jim-nwobodo\/"},"modified":"2011-05-01T19:45:29","modified_gmt":"2011-05-01T19:45:29","slug":"nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Former Governor of old Anambra State and one-time Sports Minister, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo,<\/strong> spoke with journalists at his country home, Amechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu in Enugu State on the general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Sullivan Chime and other issues. TONY ADIBE<\/strong> brings these excerpts:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What is your impression of Nigeria\u2019s democracy today especially when you look at the just concluded 2011 elections?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democracy has improved tremendously in Nigeria and this is a very welcome development because there\u2019s nothing as good as democracy; people having the ability to express their views without limitations and it has really come a long way.\u00a0 I think Nigerians should be happy that we have really improved tremendously in our democracy.<\/p>\n

Somebody said that the people (electorate) have taken over democracy, do you agree to this view?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think so , in a way, because the interest shown by the people in this election showed that people have really embraced democracy…they have really for the first time, at least felt what true democracy should be. And you can\u2019t believe it but what is even more interesting is the fact that women seem to outnumber men in most of the polling booths. In fact, you have more women than men in most cases which means that there has been a lot of enlightenment on the need for people to exercise their rights to choose their leaders.\u00a0 And in any case, this is an era of people\u2019s power all over the world… you see people moving on , demanding their rights, showing that truly power belongs to the people.<\/p>\n

Has the leadership style of President Goodluck Jonathan influenced this kind of development in any way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think so, I think so. First he went round all the states of the federation; some he visited twice and some thrice. And he campaigned…as you can see the difference of his campaign and other presidential candidates who didn\u2019t go round the federation. Jonathan went round , met the people face to face and spoke to them…even for his ability to go round the country many times with his campaign train, I think I see no reason why he shouldn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

The riot that broke out after the presidential election, what would you attribute it to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t drive me to that at all…don\u2019t drive me to that because I would rather not touch that area at all…I rather not talk about that, in fact . May be people expected certain people to win and they didn\u2019t win, and they reacted…it\u2019s a kind of …they were letting out their steam and anger and that\u2019s the way I look at it.<\/p>\n

Are you still interested in running for an elective position in future in this country?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, really it\u2019s difficult to say now because you see our party has fashioned out certain things about zoning and besides there is no end in democracy. And if you are in politics… you never know…so there are times you will feel like giving the younger ones an opportunity to try their luck. I withdrew on my own after some time. So that is that. You can play roles without running for an office. You can be very important politically without running for an office. And usually some of the important positions people hold, they get invited; if people think that you have something to offer they can invite you.<\/p>\n

The running of the President in the election, to some extent destroyed zoning arrangement in the People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP). Would you say zoning is dead within the PDP or does it still exist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you listened attentively to what the PDP said …they said zoning remains but because the President was already on the saddle…he was there as an Acting President …he was already there before the other President (Musa Yar\u2019Adua) died…and there are many forms of zoning: zoning in terms of federal character; federal character really is zoning…allowing every state, every part of Nigeria to enjoy development. So I don\u2019t think that zoning is dead because even in states, there is zoning. All the states are into zoning. I don\u2019t think zoning is dead; I don\u2019t think its dead.<\/p>\n

Are there areas you would expect the President to focus more on after he is sworn into office?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think he has already started…for example, he\u2019s very serious about power and you know without power we can do nothing; we can\u2019t achieve anything without power. I think he\u2019s laid the foundation for effective power generation and distribution for Nigeria. I don\u2019t know whether you people are enjoying electricity here. I believe that power is one important thing he should lay emphasis on.<\/p>\n

Secondly, he should lay emphasis on agriculture. If a country is unable to feed its people…is a big failure and I think the President has laid so much emphasis on that …and so much money is being put into that area. And I think another area is employment creation. Unemployment is one of the problems we have all over the country. So if youths can be gainfully employed there will be calmness in the country, all the uprisings in the land will reduce.<\/p>\n

The other thing also is our mainstay, oil and now they have introduced this local content which allows Nigerians to participate in this very important industry. I think also that if he can take one, two, three areas of the nation\u2019s sectors it will be good for Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you did while in power which you regret now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is important about leadership is one\u2019s ability to…eeeem…eeeh…what was I saying before the Chairman of our Local Government came?<\/p>\n

We asked if there were things you did while in office which you now regret?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay…but why ask about regrets? Why not talk about success? (long laughter)<\/p>\n

Some of your areas of success are known to many people already.<\/p>\n

(Laughs) Well, I think occasionally because one was younger one did not eeeeh…during our own time…the people now are very lucky because the state governments are in the same party with the federal government. But during our own time it was more difficult because we were in extreme opposition against the federal government and so there were lots of problems.<\/p>\n

But sincerely speaking, that\u2019s the beauty of democracy any way. We started then and of course there was intervention by the military. I rather won\u2019t say there was any serious regret. No. There was no\u00a0 serious regret because I knew I did a number of things which when I look back I feel very happy. For example, when I took over power I had a list of condemned people in prison, all I needed to sign was for them to be killed but I refused to sign. So what I did was to commute their sentences to life imprisonment during which they were given time to reform and some of them got reformed. One of them is a prominent pastor today. So when you are in power, it\u2019s always better to be very careful when the lives of people are involved because you might take a decision that may bounce back on you in future.<\/p>\n

So I have always been guided by the belief in God that whatever you do, and if you are not careful, it will always come back to you. There are few examples, you know now; where you help people to climb up and they go up and they want to mess you up. At the end of the day, the thing will re-bounce and Nemesis will catch up with them; and it is now happening in our presence, in our life time..just within a few years.<\/p>\n

So my general advice to you people is that when you are in office, you must be humble, knowing that this thing called power is so transient like air…it just vanishes like that. So when you are in power the most important thing is that you must try to impact positively on the people you govern; not writing your name in the newspapers..Write your name in their hearts. Once you do that they will always support you.<\/p>\n

Take your mind back to what happened in Enugu State between 1999 and 2007 under then Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, before the current Governor Sullivan Chime came into power. How would you look at the two administrations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you know my answer? My answer is that one government is darkness, one is light. (Laughter). Yes, one is darkness, one is light.<\/p>\n

Is the darkness in the past government or in the present one?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, you should know. I just said one word: I said one is darkness, one is light. So there was no need going on and on talking. You see, like I said, you don\u2019t talk too much about certain things and you know I\u2019m more mature now; therefore I should talk less. So I weigh my words. I weigh what I say and that\u2019s that. And of course the Bible has not made any mistake. You\u2019re remembered for the good works you\u2019ve done. And the word Nemesis is in the dictionary…that you reap what you sow…You reap what you sow.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

.\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

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\nNigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Governor of old Anambra State and one-time Sports Minister, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, spoke with journalists at his country home, Amechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu in Enugu State on the general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Sullivan Chime and other issues. TONY ADIBE brings these excerpts: What is your impression of Nigeria\u2019s democracy today especially when you look at the just concluded 2011 elections? Democracy has improved tremendously in Nigeria and this is a very welcome development because there\u2019s nothing as good as democracy; people having the ability to express their views without limitations and it has really come a long way.\u00a0 I think Nigerians should be happy that we have really improved tremendously in our democracy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Former Governor of old Anambra State and one-time Sports Minister, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, spoke with journalists at his country home, Amechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu in Enugu State on the general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Sullivan Chime and other issues. 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Democracy has improved tremendously in Nigeria and this is a very welcome development because there\u2019s nothing as good as democracy; people having the ability to express their views without limitations and it has really come a long way.\u00a0 I think Nigerians should be happy that we have really improved tremendously in our democracy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-01T19:45:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\"},\"wordCount\":1593,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\",\"name\":\"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-01T19:45:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/nigerias-democracy-has-improved-tremendously-jim-nwobodo\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Nigeria\u2019s democracy has improved tremendously \u2014 Jim Nwobodo - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Former Governor of old Anambra State and one-time Sports Minister, Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, spoke with journalists at his country home, Amechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu in Enugu State on the general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Sullivan Chime and other issues. 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