Chief Andrew Orugbo is our Weekend Guest. In this interview with our crew of Andy Akeni, Etu Moses and Christy Aboghe, he spoke on issues bordering on politics, governance, development, 2027 general elections, the APC in Delta State, among other concerns. Excerpt
Please tell us more about yourself
Firstly, my name is Hon. Chief Andrew Orugbo. I’m a legal practitioner but also a politician. I have the privilege to serve in some key positions in government at the local government and state levels, I’m privileged to serve as Chairman of Udu Local Government council. I also served as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in Delta State and later served as Honourable Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Delta State and presently I’m the Chairman of the Governing Council, Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara. That’s what I can say briefly about myself.
As a one-time Chairman in Udu Local Government, what is your take as regards local government autonomy and its impact on local government governance?
There’s no argument that local governments need to be autonomous, that is to say, you need to be free in running the affairs and in terms of funding and administration, and you should be free from the excessive control of the Federal and state governments. That makes it autonomous. So it’s a good thing. And with proper funding and autonomy, any local government chairman that wants to deliver, can do a lot for his people.
During your tenure as the Chairman, what were the most significant challenges you faced and how did your experience shape your approach to state-level politics today?
The major challenge that I had as a Chairman of council was the paucity of funds. That was the time I had this phenomena of zero allocation and what the allocation meant was that the salary of primary school teachers comes first and that means the money for the payment of primary school teachers within the local government was first deducted from the allocation of local government council. Sometimes you can even have a negative balance or zero balance so that is the meaning and that was the phenomena of a zero allocation. So it was a major constraint as compared to what we know is available to the government councils right now
But by the grace of God, we were able to serve our people with the little that were available. So we were able to do a few things that stand to our credit today.
You have just been appointed the Chairman of the Governing Council, Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara. Can you speak on the impact you have made as the chairman, especially on corecting the HND/BSc dichotomy?
I have been Chairman of the Governing Council of the polytechnic for about six years now and then by the grace of God, we have given maximum support to the management headed by the Rector and we have been able to achieve much within the limited resources available to us.. As we speak, we have full accreditation of all programmes and we have secured new programmes which are fully accredited. Also, we have been able to make existing programmes fully accredited and then we have enjoyed peace in the six years now. We have never had any major disagreement between management and council that requires a third party intervention.
What is the secret behind this success?
First, I think it’s by the grace of God. But as the Chairman of the council, and as a lawyer, I am able to define my limits and the first thing I told myself, when I was appointed Chairman, was that the Council was constituted to enable management deliver. So we needed to give management all the support. It is not to go and contest for executive powers . Therefore, we have been able to define our work within our limits and management has also respected our limit as policy makers and power of oversight, God has helped us and our enrolment is also encouraging.
On the HND/BSc dichotomy, the polytechnic education lays emphasis on skills, while the university emphasis is on theory. Those who go to university will be boxing those who have acquired skills, and attended schools but the quality of education and the duration of the programme is neck to neck. So there is no reason why there should be discrimination. Well, another thing is some polytechnics now award degrees, they award technical degrees. So, I think the government is trying to encourage more schools, try to enable more schools to award degrees. And if you attend a polytechnic and you have a degree, there is no barrier when you work. So, there is no discrimination. So, you run neck to neck with a degree holder in terms of career opportunities.
If you say there is no more technical education, what you have is universities, no more polytechnics, then of course, the development that we are asking for, we will not get. We attended a retreat programme recently in Abuja, and we were shocked to find that some advanced countries are actually converting their universities to polytechnics, because what counts in the world today is what you can do. It’s your skill that you can deploy and not certificates. So it’s a shift from certification to skill. So the reverse is the case. In advanced countries, they are asking for more polytechnics and less universities.
So you cannot be asking that we scrap the polytechnic education and settle for university education. Who will give us these skills?
Few days ago, the governor warned the Judiciary against erosion of public trust, and as a former attorney general of the state, when you look at what is happening in Rivers State and other states, would you say the judiciary is doing well?
Well, the governor is apt in his admonition to the Judiciary. I cannot say that the Judiciary is not doing well. The Judiciary is doing well. But the point is, the decision made by the governor is apt. If cases are decided on the merits, speedily, but not based on pecuniary considerations, and the people know that that’s what they get when they go to the courts, then of course, people will not have confidence in the Judiciary. But now, because of issues – issues of corruption and favouritism – people raise concerns; mostly in political cases, it is the reason for the erosion of confidence in the judiciary. If we lose total confidence in the judiciary, what will be the alternative? It will be jungle justice. That is to say, people will take the law into their hands. You cannot have a society where people will now do whatever they can do to either settle their civil differences, or where they are wrong. I think it is for the good of us. So it’s for the good of us all that the judiciary should sit up and there should be discipline; there should be no corruption
Justice is blind. That is to say, justice does not consider anything other than the merits of the case. So when we scale, we determine where justice should decide. But not based on pecuniary considerations, such as money, trade, gratification, personal relationship, and political considerations.
Delta State has been a PDP state until recently, when the politicians embraced the APC. Do you think it is a blessing to the state?
Well, there is no argument about that. It is a blessing to the state, but the way I look at it, Delta State has always been a PDP state and it remains the PDP state till tomorrow. It is just the same PDP that is now named the APC. That is my own understanding. It is a matter of change of name, and if you look at it all, the notable politicians, members of APC have been members of PDP at one time or the other.
Now, those who left before, and those who did not leave, have now agreed to work together, this time, in the name of APC. So it is still the PDP. And the blessing, the major blessing is that we have now keyed into national politics. So when resources are now shared at the federal level, Delta State will get her equal share. It’s not a matter of we are here, and the federal government is there – different parties. And when things are done, we are not duly considered, because we are seen as an opposition. So we are now in the mainstream of national politics and so it’s beneficial.
Udu Local Government has always been in the opposition, so what do we expect in the next election?
I think it is a matter of the mobilization of all political interests in Udu by the APC. The problem has always been the leadership of the party in Udu, so the party need to address the leadership of the APC in Udu because a bad leader in the PDP will not become a good leader because he is now in APC
And for the leaders in Asaba and I’ve always maintained that you need to understand the Udu situation and give it the right political medication. It should not be taken for granted that we are now all APC so as such victory in Udu is guaranteed, that’s not the case at all.
Once the leadership can change tactics in Udu and every political factor is carried along, victory is sure. I’m sure APC will readily win in Udu this time. There was never a time when the PDP loses the election in Udu because the opposition was stronger in Udu. No, it is the party that works against itself that leads to losing of the election in Udu. But we are just hoping that this time that APC, which no doubt is the strongest party in Udu today, can harvest its strength in the next election to enable it win, otherwise, the opposition that is always less potent, will be taking advantage of the failure of leadership.
Now we are preparing for congresses, people who are not in touch with the voters in Udu, those people who do not have credibility, will they run away with the party structure during the congresses? If they run away with the party structure during the congresses, then they are working for the party to lose. They should not impose unpopular candidates on the voters in Udu.
People should be allowed to participate in the congresses, even if you have a candidate that is agreed on, let it be truly a consensus arrangement, not an imposition in the name of consensus. But once it is imposition in the name of consensus, then I’m afraid Udu will be surprising us again.
Recent APC stakeholders meeting canvassed for unity. Do you think the old APC and new APC are united?
Yes, if you ask me, going by the faces at the stakeholders’ meeting, I think we are united. There is really one leader. The governor is acknowledged by all as the leader of the party. All the governor needs to do is to carry everybody along. He has the yam, he has the knife.
So, we are united. And I believe in the capability of the governor to drive the unity. We don’t have another face of APC outside the stakeholder’s meeting which the governor convened.
Our dear governor is doing exploit in the saddle. Can you rate him for us?
He is generally acclaimed to be doing well as the leader of the government. Yes’ Our major achievement is that he is giving us quality, standard infrastructural projects, especially the roads, the bridges and I have always personally admitted that government business is not only about political patronage, awarding contracts. Political parties should take the back stage.
Quality or standard contractors and consultants should be brought for us to deliver quality projects. And you can see the ovation when our governor, for the first time, engage Julius Berger to be building bridges for us, and you can see what they have delivered. That is good of him. I am sure in other sectors; we are going to also be doing such things. For instance, if you see what happens in our secondary schools, primary schools, every year , once they are built, by the second, third year, they are dilapidated. Can you just imagine what satisfaction we will get if, for instance, you ask Julius Berger to build classrooms? There are other good hands. So, all the major routes should be given to good hands.
Road construction is a capital project, it’s not a recurring thing that you start maintaining one route every year. Do a road that will last 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and 30 years. Look at the Warri Sapele road that was made by the military government of Ogbemudia, It is still there till today. So, what government has started is very good and it should improve on it by extending it to other factors.
2027 election general election is getting closer and as I said before, Delta has been a PDP state now an APC state. What are the challenges that may deny the party victory?
I’m not a prophet, as to know what will happen tomorrow, but so far, I think INEC have not released the time table for political activities. Parties have not also done so. That means nobody has indicated interest in whether or not they want to contest for all the positions. House of Assembly, House of Reps, Senate, Governor or President, nobody has indicated interest. So there’s no way I will be able to answer whether or not there are other contenders. But what we know is that in most cases, the governor, the sitting governor, will always want to do a second term. So that’s what I think we know for now. So if there are contenders, I think as we will progress, we will know but for now, nobody has indicated interest.
Even the governor has not indicated interest, but we just conclude in our mind that he’s going to run.
What is the position of Udu people as regards House of Representatives position?
Outside personal interest, the things that we can play with now is the issues of rotation of political positions, the issues of equity, fairness, justice in the distribution of political positions. You can play with such issues.
Yes. So to that extent, I can say that in the UDU, Ughelli South, Ughelli North Federal constituency, the 3US, the situation is that since 1999, the Udu local government has done four years. That’s one term, late Chief Austin Ogbaburhon did four years. That’s all UDU has had since 1999. The Ughelli North has done eight years. That is two terms of Four years by Rt. Hon. Solomom Awhinawhi. He did four years first, there was a break. He did another four years. So for Ughelli North, he has done eight years.
The first person from Ughelli South was Chief Emmanuel Aguariavwodo who did four years first, and then Rt. Hon. Chris Ogenechovwen did another four years, that’s eight years. The incumbent, Reverend Francis Waive did four years earlier, making 12 years of Ughelli South and it means another four years. So by the time you complete these four years, Ughelli South would have done 16 years.
So, if for a position that belongs to three local governments, who are supposed to enjoy it on an equal basis, one has done four years, and another has done eight, and the other one done 16, It is only fair that the one that have done only four years will be considered. and there’s no magic, there’s no calculation there’s no reason why the one who has enjoyed it for 16 years would want to go and have another four years to make it 20 years. It’s only a man that is morally bankrupt and overtaken by greed and is not considerate for the interest of others that will be asking to add another four years to 16 years. The Udu people are agitating, that they should be considered which it is logical. At the federal level, the argument is that Tinubu has to do eight years before it goes back to the north; these are issues of fair distribution of political offices.
For example, in Delta, when it was the turn of the Urhobo or Delta Central to produce the governor, the sentiment that supported Okpe was that they have never produced a governor.
Such issue of fair distribution of political offices is always there and nobody can argue against it. There are some funny issues of ranking.
The question is for whose interest and when will the ranking stop. if the question ranking remains, that means it is going to be a life position, because the person will like to be ranking until he dies in the office or is there a time when it will be said that because you have rank enough, don’t rank again.
People are also raising the issue of performance; we don’t want to join issues with anybody over anybody’s performances, in any case, you were elected to perform. So if you were elected to perform and you have performed, it is now time to try another hand. Who says there cannot be a better hand in terms of performance? The Udu people are urging Ughelli North and Ughelli South to support them, this time.
Any other message for Deltans, Nigerians at large?
Democracy remains the best form of Government. The people are allowed to participate in congresses, even if you have consensus arrangement, let it be truly a consensus arrangement not an imposition in the name of consensus, both in the Congresses and primary, but once it is imposition in the name of consensus, then I am afraid Udu will be surprising us again
We should not encourage civilian dictatorship in the name of democracy. Democracy ensure that power reside in the people. That gives the people the right to choose their representatives. Democracy is not imposition or dictatorship in the name of consensus. We should be very careful with the democracy that we are practicing, so that this democracy will not fail. If this democracy fails, all of us will suffer the consequences.
