Nigeria unfair to Okadigbo, ex-Senate president —Wife

Posted by admin Legislature, Raw Politics, Senate Friday, May 6th, 2011

When the late flambouyant and effervescent Senate president, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, called the shots in politics, not much was heard of his wife, Margery. But she was strongly behind the late senator, who she called the master.
Mrs. Okadigbo, who said she learnt a lot from her husband, recently stepped into the political arena, where she contested for the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Anambra North in the Senate. She won the primary election conducted by a panel constituted by the national headquarters of the party, according to the law. She won the ticket, but in twist of fate, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accepted another list of candidates submitted by the state executives of the PDP.

With elections over and PDP emerging victorious in the Anambra North senatorial election, Mrs. Okadigbo is unequivocal that she’s the senator-elect for the district. Although the INEC has given certificate of return to Mr. John Emeka, she has gone to court to retrieve what she sees as her mandate.

In this interview, Mrs. Okadigbo talks about the elections, her experiences in politics, her late husband and family. Do you know how she and Okadigbo met? She told what you may call her love story.

It’s eight years now since you lost your husband, how has life been?
All the time I keep saying it’s been busy; busy with young, growing children, business, and chasing after children really.

Quite a handful. Are there peculiar challenges?
Oh, well, of course, you know with teenagers. For the girl-child and the boy-child, there are always different challenges. For the boy-child, you know, of course, that raising a boy without a father figure is challenging and the issues that go with it; and trying to instill discipline where necessary. Those are the kind of things that come up.

How old is the youngest of them now?
The youngest one is 18. He was just turning 10 by the time we lost Oyi. So, he’s 18 now; he’s a second-year student in Economics. The oldest one is now 23, and he’s graduated now and is doing the NYSC programme. The second one, the girl, is 21. She’s in her final year, struggling with her final year degree exams. So, by the grace of God, by June, we should have two graduates out of the little ones that Oyi left behind eight years ago. And, of course, as you watch them grow, you see the different characteristics of their father playing out in them individually, both male and female. Of course, the stubborn streak is one thing that runs common with them; all of them. With the stubborn streak, you also have to develop counter-measures of dealing with that stubborn streak. So, altogether, it’s been good; God has been great, very kind; he has protected us and kept us well and happy for eight years.

They’re schooling here or abroad?
No, no, they’re abroad. That’s another issue, and you know what it takes to keep those kids over there. Their father already left us a standard, and I find myself struggling to maintain it. But, like I said, God is good.

Where is your son doing the NYSC programme? Because I was wondering if you had to go through the anxiety that was experienced by parents whose children are serving up North during the recent crisis?
He’s serving here in Abuja. He read Estate Management, they just finished their NYSC orientation camp before the election started and they recruited most of them. It’s just unfortunate when you read about these mishaps affecting the young corps members. I mean as a parent, I know the hopes and aspirations that children have, in terms of watching them talk to their friends about their plans, their goals. And to think that some parents, somewhere, are suffering this tragic loss, I can empathise with them because I have a corps member. After seeing a child through years of schooling and even experience self-denial in order to pay the fees, provide for these kids, and at the end of the day, for one useless reason, you lose your child, I mean it’s not just something you can explain.

In view of what has happened, some people have made a case for the scrapping of the NYSC. Do you subscribe to this?
I don’t honestly subscribe to the scrapping of the NYSC, because I believe that the NYSC is a very good melting pot for the young ones. Much as we have a lot of emotions running now because of the current situation, I don’t think the NYSC, honestly, should be scrapped. I don’t think it should be scrapped because it is an opportunity for the children to get to see Nigeria, experience the Nigerian factor, in the true sense of the word, because as young ones, they are not going with all the trappings of luxury. So, they get to really feel it, experience Nigeria, in its various cultural differences, unlike an executive that is going on a business meeting from here to maybe Yola or Enugu or Abeokuta, who’s going to check into a hotel, from the hotel to his meeting, and from the meeting back to the hotel and maybe from there to the airport. So he doesn’t have the experience. But a young corps member, who is posted there will wake up there everyday. He will probably drink the brukutu or fura de nunu and akpu and the rest. You know the young ones always go through all those motions and adventure. So, it’s a good thing for the young ones to experience, especially for the ones that come from abroad. I don’t think it should be scrapped.

Let’s look at these past eight years, what do you miss most about your late husband?
I miss his sense of humour. No matter how that situation is, my husband will find a humour to inject into the process. No matter how difficult, he must find some humour to inject in it, and that I miss a lot. Of course, as a woman, you miss your husband. And the kids too, there are times when I look at my kids and I feel they have been so denied, because the older ones remember their father, but the younger ones, not so much. I was once talking to a friend of mine abroad; she is a psychologist, and we were saying something about my husband and the youngest one who was just 10 at that time turned around and said, no, daddy would have said it this way. She looked at me and said it was just strange that he could still remember the actual words his father would have used, and she asked me how old he was at that time. I said 10, and she now asked whether there had been any changes in the house, and I said not much.

We live in the same house, you know. And she said that must be it; that a lot of time when you have a death in the family, especially of a parent, that if you stay in the same environment, especially in the same house, same routine; that children tend to remember more. When you move them, maybe you move from that house to another town and all that, you take away those memories. So, it doesn’t linger any more with them. And I find that to be so apt because I remember, during all those years of growing up, they would actually remember daddy’s slippers would be here, you know; those little everyday habits their father had, they would still remember. So we all miss him; we all miss him, one way or the other. And years ago, I remember an aunt of mine who said, stop crying because this crying doesn’t stop. It’s a cry that goes on and on, and I find it to be so, so true.

During the elections, we were in Ogbunike, and for some reason we had to go into his room to get something, and as soon as that door opened, I just broke down, and it took a whole day to calm me down again. So the memories are just there, just little things that can provoke them. Sometimes it’s a mixed emotion thing. There are times when you think about him, and you just laugh, and even join in the conversation. There are times you think about him and you just go quiet because you’re just not in the mood. Any widow will tell you it’s a mood swing, you know.

You just spoke about the elections. Was being a Mrs. Okadigbo part of the consideration when you decided to go into politics?
No. You see, the interesting thing is yes, I am Mrs. Okadigbo, but more important, Anambra North Senatorial District is my place of birth and also my place of marriage. I am from Onitsha, which is in Anambra North Senatorial District, and I am married at Ogbunike, in Oyi Local Government Area. These two areas make up Anambra North Senatorial District. So, it’s something that I do qualify for, even if I wasn’t Mrs. Okadigbo. But being a Mrs. Okadigbo, obviously, the pressure was more for me to run. In addition to that, professionally, I am a lawyer, and what is legislature all about? It’s all about law making. In an ideal situation, the law should take precedent over certain professions in the National Assembly. But we know that Nigeria being what it is, you find people of different professions. Of course, not that they are not welcome, because in the business of legislation you run into accounting, and all kinds of professions, because you have different areas of nation building, but it makes a difference. Yes, being Mrs. Okadigbo is a factor.

Does the Okadigbo name open doors for you?
It works both ways: there are places, where you go to and the gates are opened because they identify you, they recognize you as an Okadigbo. There are places you go, you don’t even want to be recognised as an Okadigbo because you feel you need to get something on your own merit. So, there are many sides to it. And there are places you go, and the people who probably had had one brush or the other with him and just feel, even without getting to know you, and say, wao, this man was this, that and that, we definitely think his wife will be this, that and that. To tell you honestly, when I started this whole politicking, there were people who just felt, aha, here comes Chuba Okadigbo’s wife. But when they got to know me, they said, oh no, she has a different style; there is maternal thing to her; she has a listening ear, she’s very playful. So, there are people I started off with who were not very nice, and these are my best friends now, those are my allies now in the field. These are the people that before you say anything, they’ll say, no, no, no, let’s go to Odibeze (because that is my traditional name). If anything happens they say, ah no, Odibeze must hear, we have to wait for Odibeze to come. So, you win some and you lose some.

Can you share some of the experiences you had on the campaign trail?
As soon as I took that decision, I called a few family members and political allies, and told them what I wanted to do, and everybody voiced their own views, the pros and cons. At the end of the day, we decided that the pros outweighed the cons and therefore, let’s go for it. The first thing that hit me was that I had to go make myself known to my constituency. So I packed my bags, and I left Abuja. And I tell you that in the number of years I have been married to Chuba I had never lived in Ogbunike for the number of months I did this period, long stretches, you know. I got to know the people, and they got to know me for who I really am, and it was interesting. There were a lot of things I didn’t know about my people. I even picked up some of the local parlances, which I never really got to know because they’re from Omobala area. I got to know some of those things you know; in Onitsha we have a different dialect and at Omobala they have a different dialect. I was able to pick quite a bit of that.

And I think the interesting thing also was that sometimes I go campaigning and they will call my name. He was the Oyi of Oyi, and I am Odibeze Oyi, and for all those years, we had these titles from as far back as 1992, my name would just end at Odibeze, and those who are very familiar with me would call me Odi B. but when I started the campaign I now realised the name became its is the full-blown Odibeze Oyi. So, it took a life of its own. It was no longer Odi B, which is the short version; it was now a full Odibeze Oyi. And I would go to some places, and they would actually drop the Odibeze and hinge it on the Oyi, because that is easier for them and it is the one they will identify with faster. And then I would now say to them, wait a minute, aburukwanum Oyi (I am not the Oyi). I am Oyi’s wife. And they would say to me, “okay, we hear you, we hear you, nwunye Oyi (Chuba’s wife) continue what you were saying.” I found that very endearing because for me it wasn’t all about the name; it was more about remembering the man himself, how they could tie him into the whole campaign. And I think for me those were the moments that really made a whole lot of sense. It made me know that this man really was an enigma.

Talking about remembering him now, do you think the nation has been fair to his memory?
I don’t think so; I don’t think the nation has been fair to his memory, no. I mean just today I was reading in the paper, I think Daily Sun where I saw an interview of Senator Gerei. And it really warmed my heart to hear him say the things he said about my husband because they were really quite close, very, very close you know. I used to tease him and call him baby brother, which was what my husband used to call him. And even when my husband died, Gerei was quite shattered. We have friends like that who have over the years maintained the closeness to the family, and it’s been good.

When you say the nation has not been fair to Chuba’s memory, what exactly do you mean?
I don’t think the nation has been fair to his memory; I don’t think so. I think for someone who even, at a young age stated way, way back with the NCNC, as far back as that, straight from school before he realised that he needed to get himself an education. He did a bit party running around in the NCNC, even did a bit of trade unionism. I think for all those years of being in politics and nation building, I think my husband ought to be remembered more. When he passed on, at that time a street was meant to be named after him here in Abuja. We still haven’t seen that.

Who made that promise? The FCT Administration?
Yes, FCTA, the minister, El-Rufai then. One of the children’s parks was meant to be named after him; we still haven’t seen that. One of the complexes in the National Assembly was meant to be named after him; one of the committee rooms or something in the complex, I can’t remember now what exactly it was. That still hasn’t been done; we haven’t seen that. So everything has just been hanging there. But for me as a person, no matter how anybody tries to wish it away, you can’t wish Chuba away; you can’t. The National Assembly cannot forget the Senate President they had when Chuba was Senate president. So, I don’t think it’s been fair.

Has the family, at any time, tried to follow up on those promises?
Well, I tried that, in the first few years of his death, and then I realised, even in those first few years, that some of those factors and persons that were the problem Chuba had in his life time were still very much around and I didn’t see them doing anything, then I put it that for everything there is a time, there is a place, and there is a season, and when that time comes, everything will fall in place.

When Oyi died people were wondering how you would fit into his big shoes considering his wide reach and national prominence. Now in politic, how have you been able to manage that?
You know I married my husband at a very young age, and there was an age difference between the two of us too. So, a lot of times in our marriage, it was a learning process; I was his student; he was the master, and I was a very fast learner and a very good student. Those things you call the reach, the big shoes, I do not feel those shoes, but I keep them clean, and I know how to once in a while step in them and make believe that I am a big girl too (laughter). So, I try.

Your stepchildren are grown up. How are you coping with them?
You know how it is; you have your good days, you have your bad days, but on the whole I think we have good days. And I try to maintain a balance, a fair balance. My kids are the youngest – all those were graduates by the time their father died. So, I was left with the ones who still needed to go to school. So, I think for everybody, there was some kind of silent agreement that the other ones should at least get to where the others got. So, on that score, we are always comfortable. But you know a stepmother is always a stepmother. But we are all mature about it, and everybody has respect for the other.

You married your husband when you were young. Could you tell me how you met?
The first time I met Oyi was when I was a student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. I studied Law. Even at that age when I met him, he was young. For me, it was, what could this man be talking about? He came to me and talked to me and said I want to marry you, and I said, ‘big deal.’ And years later when we started serious dating, he said the first thing that struck him was the boldness I had in looking him in the face and saying ‘big deal.’ So, even in the course of our marriage, anything I said, he would say, big deal. At that age, it was like, what is this man talking about. I’m blunt to a fault. Sometimes I say things or do things and somehow say to my self, oh, you shouldn’t have; but it is done. And that was one strong factor that strengthened the bond between two of us. He was also very blunt. That was one tie that we had; we could really tell each other the truth and take it. And even in telling that truth, you could see what your spouse is telling you is truth. I think that at that early stage that was what he said he admired most in me; that I could look him in the eye and just said, big deal.

So, when did you eventually marry?
When did we eventually marry? We kind of started it along, you know, up and down. I have to, also ,maybe do a quick think, I don’t know if I should say I married him the first time I met him or I married him formally the day he came to Onitsha to do it. We had two dates, which we call our marriage dates – we had our meeting date and we had our formal date, so those two dates. And it’s funny you should ask me this question because many people who got to know Chuba and I later in years always felt that I married him at the time I did. But I met Chuba was way back in 1979, just before he got the appointment as President Shehu Shagari’s special adviser, and I was young student then in school. So, if you ask us, we will tell you that we met each other as far back as 1979. That’s a long time.

Any possibility of remarrying?
It’s difficult, and when I say this, people say, oh you’re just saying this for the moment. It’s not just for the moment. I feel kind of a sense of duty to my children. I feel that my children are still very young and when you come from a home, more or less, what you will call a polygamous home, you don’t just abandon things. My husband, as you know, was married previously, but I am the only legal surviving wife. The other wives have since remarried and moved on. I ask myself, whom do you abandon to? It’s a difficult one; whom do you abandon to? The older kids are not here; so you find yourself playing mother, housekeeper, caretaker, name it, all rolled into one. So, it will be selfish on my part if I just abandon and take off; I feel a sense of duty to the children, not just my kids, but also my step kids. Someone has to maintain and keep the forte. So, that’s how I look at it.

Let’s go back to the PDP primaries in Anambra State. Who actually was the candidate of the PDP for Anambra North in the Senatorial election?
I know this question keeps coming up and I don’t blame anybody for being confused because so much water has passed under. Now, the PDP, as a party, we had the primaries for the National Assembly on January 7 and 8. On the 7th, we had the House of Representatives primaries, and on the 8th we had the one for the Senate. For the primaries, it falls on the national secretariat of the party to send the chairman of the panel and four others, a panel of five to conduct the primaries. The state executive or the state chapter or whatever contraption, does not have any role in this exercise. We have seen the case of what happened in Katsina and Kano. So, it falls on the national secretariat to send the panel to conduct primaries for the National Assembly elections, and that’s what the party did.

That panel was sent, and the chairman of that panel was Senator JKN Waku. He conducted the primaries, and at the end of the exercise, I emerged. I emerged the candidate for Anambra North Senatorial District. As it still happens – I don’t like to call them the state executives because they are not state executives, as far as I am concerned. I prefer to refer to them as the Benjy Udeozor group. They had what you call parallel primaries, where they chose or elected John Emeka as their own candidate for the Anambra North Senatorial District. The PDP national secretariat put together their list of candidates for Anambra State as a whole and sent them to INEC within the time frame. INEC also received a list from the Benjy Udeozor group, sent direct without going through the national secretariat. The Electoral Act is very clear on this. It says that the nomination of a candidate for a party must be done by the party, signed by the national chairman and national secretary of the party, and that the INEC, again, does not have the right to refuse or reject candidates sent by the party. This is very clear. There’s no ambiguity to that law; it’s very clear.

Now, why INEC, for the life of me, decided to pick or work on the list sent by Benjy Udeozor, I don’t know. Subsequently, we went to court; we got an order at the Federal High Court, Awka. We put it to the court that it should be established that the Senator Waku panel, which was the national panel, is the panel duly established, duly authorised, duly nominated to conduct primaries on behalf of PDP. And we got an order to say, hold it right there all parties. The last order we got was on March 25, 2011, which was on the eve, so to speak, of elections. We served it on INEC, but INEC continued to ignore that order. So as far as I am concerned, INEC is a law-breaker; so also that whole group. So, we all went to election, and as far as I am concerned, in the eyes of the law, the candidates of the party are the candidates that emerged from the primaries that were conducted by Senator JKN Waku. Those are the candidates of the party, and that would include me for the Anambra North Senatorial District.

What of the other candidates nominated by the Waku panel for the other senatorial districts and federal constituencies, are they also seeing this from the same perspective with you?
In fact, if anybody has been very vocal about it, I think it is Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu. He is the one from Anambra South District. With the list, obviously, we went for the elections and some people emerged from the elections. Right now, we have two PDP senators-elect for Anambra State. We have Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu for Anambra South, and Lady Margery Okadigbo for Anambra North. We lost in the Anambra Central to Dr. Chris Ngige, and I want to even use this opportunity to say congratulation to my big brother, Chris, for having emerged as the senator-elect.

You now see yourself as senator-elect?
Yes.

But INEC has given the certificate of return to Prince Emeka. So, what are you doing to retrieve your mandate?
I’m in court; I’ve just come out of court – I was in court today. I have been in court from the day after the primaries. And if you look at the pattern of voting in the elections for Anambra North, you will know who is the more acceptable candidate between John Emeka and I. Anambra North has seven local government areas – Oyi, Anambra East, Anambra West, Ogbaru, Anyamelum, Onitsha North, and Onitsha South. When you come to federal constituencies, we have four – Oyi/Anyamelum, Anambra East/Anambra West, Ogbaru and Onitsha North/Onitsha South. PDP won my own federal constituency, which is Oyi/Anyamelum. If you go to the state assembly seats, PDP also won the two seats for Oyi and Anyamelum. Now when you look at the people who are on the other side. In case of John Emeka, ACN won in his Anambra West during the National Assembly election, and APGA took the state assembly seat. I don’t need to tell you who is more popular on ground. And that area, Anambra West, his late father, the Igwe, was my husband’s very close ally. If I had to stand side by side with John, I’m very sure Anambra West will give me their votes, which they did for senatorial election. And you know this time one pattern that we all noticed is that it’s not all about parties; a lot of people voted for individuals. People voted because they believe in you and because you will represent them well.

What do you want INEC to do on this your matter?
For me, the party has nominated its candidates. Those names were given to INEC, and INEC did whatever it did. Those same names went to the election, as the nominees of the party. Fortunately, some of us won the election; some could not make it. Those of us who won the election should get our certificate of return. We are the elected persons for the party; we should get certificate of return; we should be sworn in. I think this is the right thing to do. Don’t set rules for a game, and midway you change the rules. And I don’t see why of all the 36 states of the federation, Anambra State should be the one that INEC decided that the party gives you name and yet you decided to choose from the state executive and maintain it. It begins to give the impression that something sinister is going on.

What is the position of the NEC of the PDP on this?
It says that the candidates we nominated are the party’s candidates. And for every time any of us has been in court in this matter, the PDP has come out and maintained its position, that this is our candidate; it is not shaking on that.

Let’s look at the election generally. Your husband was a critic of the nation’s electoral system, especially the 2003 edition in which he was a vice presidential candidate. Do you think things are changing?
To be honest, if I didn’t have this problem in the case of Anambra State, which is my own state of origin, and for me I wear that shoe right now, and I know where it pinches… I cannot understand how INEC can turn the law on its head and go completely against what the Electoral Act is talking about.

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Posted by admin on May 6 2011. Filed under Legislature, Raw Politics, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry