I got stern backlash campaigning for Tinubu in South-East- Onuoha, House of Rep member

The member representing Okigwe federal constituency of Imo State in the National Assembly and a frontrunner for the speakership of the 10th House of Representatives. Princes Miriam Onuoha, speaks on the All Progressives Congress (APC) much-talked about zoning formula of the NASS leadership positions as well as intrigues in the just-concluded general elections, among other sundry issues, in this interview on Channel TV ‘Politics Today’ monitored by Linus Aleke

Do you think a woman can be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives?

Yes, I think that a woman can be the next Speaker and invariably that I can be the next Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives because I have prepared myself, I had followed through with the right knowledge and enablement of the requirements to be the speaker of the House of Representatives. I had been an active member of relevant committees of the House of Representatives to tutor myself with the requisite ideals and tenets to run the House of Representatives. So, yes, I am qualified, I have the requisite educational qualifications to make the House of Representatives in the first place, and don’t take it for a ride that I am a woman. I survived the tsunami in the Southeast. I fought men and I defeated them and I would do it again here. I am not coming from a point of weakness, it is just that I am a woman that does not take away my strength.

You asked your male opponent to step down and support you, do you mean that?

Yes, because I had stepped down for men over the years. In my journey through political the ladder, I have consulted with leaders of political parties. By the way, I had contested elections in 2011, seeking this same office. I ran and lost three times, not that I was not strong enough but in some instances, I was mandated by the system to step down. It was not, however, done with the hammer, I was persuaded to do that, in the interest of the party. So, I paid my dues and it is all about give and take.

So, being a speaker is about paying your dues?

I am coming from a private sector background. By the way, I had my BSc in Estate Management from the University of Lagos and I ran a private logistics company. It was male dominant business at the time. Everybody who knows about couriers can attest to the fact that it is only men who run that business, but I survived and I made it until I moved to the facility management business. So, it is not a new trend for me. On coming to the House of Representatives, I assumed the office as the pioneer Chairman of the House Committee on Disabilities and this office allowed me to be the one to design the framework for the implementation of the Disability Act, working with the Disability Commission and you can see for yourself in the investigation I carried out on alleged discrimination against passengers with disabilities. The case in point will be Chike Okogwu who was harassed by Dana Airline. If you go to major airports today, there are disability desks. I also investigated their rights, especially as it concern, financial inclusion for persons with disabilities, and a whole lots of others. I had also chaired the Ad-hoc Committee on the alleged breach of procedural requirements of the sack of NSITF staff, where my leader Ngige was brought in as Minister of Labour and my committee worked around it. You could recall that there was a faceoff between my guest and the honourable colleague, James Faleke, where this joke came up, I am a Mushin boy and you are a VI boy. That was my committee, I was able to conduct those proceedings with the utmost sense of dignity and responsibility and make sure that I got the real information needed to get the report for the house working. That assignment was given to me 6 months after I was a member of the House of Representatives. I also became the deputy chairman of the ad-hoc committee on the investigation of the relocation of town farms in residential areas.

You have some bills to your credit as a parliamentarian, how many of these have been passed into law?

I have three bills that have been passed to my credit, they had just been concurred by the Senate, so they are awaiting presidential assent.

The Federal Character Commission Act Amendment that you proposed, what is about, what part of that act do you propose to amend?

Well, I thought that act only talked about inclusivity by way of geopolitical zones. There has to be a balanced in the share of opportunities in openings, employment, and appointments. I thought that was not enough because there was no inclusion for the person with disabilities and by the provisions of the disability act, a five percent employment quota must be reserved for persons with disabilities. So, I thought that it will be a good idea to infuse that also in the federal character act to make it all-inclusive.

Federal Medical Centre Establishment ill in Okigwe is part of your bills, tell us about it.

Okigwe is an old provisional headquarters of the eastern region. I am sure you have had FGC Okigwe, some of your friends may have graduated from there and it is still backward. This is because the school lacks basic social amenities as well as a federal presence. But owing to my being elected in the House of Reps, my people said that I had raised the bar of leadership and improved my capacity in governance by trying to draw the attention of relevant government agencies to fill in these developmental gaps and that is one of them. There was an incident shortly after I was elected, a security detail attached to one of the guests shot his principal, and that led to my motion on the need to ban indiscriminate shooting by security personnel in a social gathering. You know our job, and that is why the legislature is handicapped because our job is to make laws and pass resolutions. So, coming as the next speaker of the House of Representatives means that I will increase legislative-executive dialogue and relationship to ensure that the resolution of the house does not just become a shit of paper or tissue paper in the drawers of the executive because there will still be need to establish this. So, when that incident occurred around my vicinity, we lost that young man and it was very painful. I came to the house in tears, then the next two days I was sworn in and I said that part of what I will use to solve the problem is to deploy legislative tools to cure it. I thought that this will be a veritable platform to do that.

What is your vision for the House of Representatives, if eventually you are elected the speaker?

Like I always say, my vision to be the Speaker of the 10th Assembly is to present myself to the people with fresh ideas and innovative solutions to tackle Nigeria’s overlapping and ever-growing challenges, such as dwindling economy, threats to our national security, the widening gap in our national cohesion, so that our designed legislative agenda will be workable and implementable, proactive and prompt to deal decisively with the challenges as they emerge. So, that we can create an environment and a Nigeria where we will help to formulate workable ideas.

You want to digitalise the processes in the House if given the opportunity, what do you mean by that?

With regards to the listing of bills and motions in the house, my goal and outcome are to have a perfect and effective record management system to ensure that we have less friction amongst members because we all represent 360 federal constituencies and everyone is thriving to ensure that their constituency has a voice and in doing that sometimes we have bills and motions that cut across and if we have an effective listing and business management system, it becomes, a lot easier. I will run an open governance system, where I intend to give back the assembly to the Nigerian people. It belongs to them and we would have an open day where Nigerians of all shades and professions will come and send in their opinions, because, law making is about taking the interest and opinion of your people, citizens, and the nation to put it into bills that will solve the need of the people. So, that is what I am doing, feedback mechanisms will be set up so that Nigerians will own the process.

If you are elected, you will be the second woman to lead the House of Representatives after Patricia Etteh, how do you feel about that?

That will be the fact and that will make me become the jinks breaker, and ultimately, it will spur more women to participate more actively in politics.

How do you convince your members that you are the right person for the job?

I have offered myself as a bridge between the old and new members, and I have been talking to new members, as well as the new members and I have got their buy-in. You see, election and voting processes and the campaigning and lobbying are things you don’t do in the open. I have my strategies on my chest. I have the strategies which made me survive the Labour Party tsunami in the South-East, despite all odds, I have come through many tough situations and I had won. If I set my mind on things, I achieve them. I am a target-driven person. I am highly focused and meticulous but also, but I am an inclusive person.

If you don’t get the speakership, will you opt for something else?

Well, I am in the race for the speakership of the House and I need to change the narrative on the wrong perspective about women. I need to inspire young women who are studying to become the best of what they can be in their careers. If I don’t do this, then it might just be that you study and graduate from law school and because I am a woman, I would not own a chamber. If the Constitution has not put a limit on what a woman can do, then society should not do that.

What about the zoning principles that favoured the South-East for now?

I think what everybody is saying about the zoning of the speakership position is just a speculation, and I am not in the race because of the zoning factor, I am here and I have offered myself to serve the Nigerian people and offer them robust and dynamic leadership that answers to the current reality of the times. Nigeria needs policies that will put food on the table.

What has your region offered APC to deserve the position of speakership?

That is a very wrong question to ask. The southeast has remained solidly within the APC. I had been a solid member of the party. We in the southeast have been working, politics is local, and we have been driving the affairs of the party in the region. I put my billboard in the southeast and ran a campaign alongside Tinubu for instance, I know the backlash that I got from the people, yet I was able to garner 44,000 votes for myself and the president-elect.

But your state lost in the presidential election?

APC also lost in Lagos, it is not about my region or state, my federal constituency won. I delivered and I have the evidence. My people love me and they voted for me, they didn’t want to take a chance of voting for another party. They expressed love toward me because I had raised the bar of governance. They believed that I had re-defined legislative engagement. I had brought participatory governance to my people. Politics of inclusivity. South-East is not the only zone that did not deliver to the president-elect, the north as well did not deliver as expected. The NNPP showed a lot of strength in the north, but I think it is about building the nation, collectively, irrespective of these tags from you, which is aimed at setting us apart. These are some of the things I will work against, I am of the new generation, I am of the new wine, I am of the new order. We don’t want to bring tribal or religious sentiment and these talks that tend to divide us. I am a woman, I come in peace and I bring that warmth that comes with the heart of a mother to cheer the nation. It has worked for me.

Politics sometimes is war, don’t you think so?

When it is time to do war I bring out the war part of me and that was how I get into the house. When it is time to be a woman, I will be the woman.