In this interview, the Action Alliance Candidate for Afikpo North/West State Constituency, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, in the 2023 election, Mr John-Prince Osmek talks about part-time legislature, his experience, why he wants to represent his people, among others. Excerpt
Tell us about yourself, Sir.
My name is John-Prince Osmek and I'm the candidate for the Afikpo North/West State Constituency in the 2023 election. I'm from Amasiri in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
What have you been doing until now?
I'm a businessman and I'm also a politician, too. I started my political carrier in the Northern part of the country, where I served the likes of Babangida Aliyu; Atiku Abubakar; David Mark; and the Maradona himself (that's IBB), by the grace of God.
Little or nothing was heard about you until recently. Have you been hiding or what?
You know at the point of rendering services, you don't need to shine. This is because you don't outsmart the people you are serving, you will rather be in the background giving diligent services until when you have been received blessings to launch yourself into the wider world. It was on this basis that when the time came, I was asked to go home and get to serve and deliver my people, because, according to them, I have learnt so fast. They said go and be a blessing to your people in Ebonyi State. Consequently, I came down to Ebonyi State in 2020 and since then, I have been watched the terrain and have been built businesses and have joined the political arena.
You are running for the Afikpo North/West State Constituency, under the AA. What boldens you to run?
It's very simple. When I came down to Afikpo North, I critically watched some political actors and the way they move politically. And because of the sort of advise I got from the North, I was told I would see three categories of leaders when I get to Ebonyi State. The first set is the kind of people when you follow, while they are succeeding, you won't be succeeding and when they expire, you will expire. The second kind of leaders are people you follow, while they are succeeding, you will be succeeding and when they expire you expire; and the third kind of leaders are the kind of people when you follow them, when they are succeeding, you will be succeeding and when they expire, you will continue from when they stopped. And I was advised to look for and be part of the third kind of leaders and serve them politically. And when I came down in 2020, I watched out for these kind of leaders that will help me maintain political relevance, even when they retire from the game, I will continue from where they stopped.
Sir, the Afikpo North/West State Constituency where you aspire to represent is currently represented by an APC man. An you bothered about losing?
Humanly speaking, I am bothered but it has long dawn on me that power comes from God. And in politics, when you come to a place where you do not have a name, then come up with a style. Power is taken , it's not given. You don't need to be in power to retain power; you need to be relevant around people to retain power. This time around, you will appreciate the magic, which the Buhari administration has done for Nigerians, through the 2022 New Electoral Act. By the Act, he has just taken power back to the people. And I make bold to say that power in the people is greater than the people in power. This alone gives me the courage and I'm sure I will peacefully take the power, because the people have not really benefited from dividends of democracy since the current APC man mounted the shaddle as a consequence of poor leadership. We are coming with something unique, different and sustaining. This, we are sure will help us succeed at the pools.
Your community (Amasiri) parades sound and outstanding men and women in various professions. But this has not translated to development of the area. Why?
Sincerely, in life who you follow, determines what will follow you. It's my belief that those who initially held sway here, never had real political mentorship and business foundation. Their perception and picture about politics always makes them fail, politically and otherwise. Politics is leadership and leadership is service to humanity. The problem is when people come to power, they believe that people should serve them. It's wrong. That brings about limitations, because they have this understanding that everybody should work towards their comfort. This will bring about pushing away what should have legally belonged to the people, from the people. They want to be the lord of the game. Leadership is work. Leadership is pains-making everything humanely possible to ensure that the people are comfortable at the expense of your own joy. We have not really had leaders with this mindset and that's why we don't go far , but remain at a particular point in life. They don't go further and they don't come down, just because they don't understand the essence of leadership. It's the people your build that will in turn, build the city you desire. It's until they understand that when you are given an opportunity for leadership positions, that it's an opportunity to build people (what we call human capital development). We can never be fulfilled as leaders until we do that. No wonder when you get to meet some of our leaders when they are out of power, they will be worse than they were before they came to power. This is because they do not invest consciously to human capital development.
EBSU is currently referred to as a "glorified secondary school", because of inconsistent and slashed salaries and other alleged unfair treatments meted towards ASUU members in that higher institution. What are your suggestions to return the school back to its past glory?
This is interesing, because I believe that before now I have had that the Law Department of the institution was the binross the entire country. If that was the case before now and something, never imperfect is happening now, I suggest we should check where we got it all wrong. This is because everything rises and falls on leadership. It could as a result of administrative reasons deviling the institution currently, thave has caused its erstwhile glory to go down. It could also be that staff welfare is no longer encouraging. You know at times, when you don't take adequate care of those who run your business for you, they will no longer manage it well for you. This automatically kills the ownership mindset and poise within your workers. It's my earnest belief that the welfare of the lecturers there are longer taken care of. I am aware that the institution used to do well academically and so, the administration of the area should be checked. The leadership should be checked. And staff welfare ought to improve because there must be something that has gone wrong that makes it difficult for the school to rise above its current alleged poor state.
Sir, score the current Ebonyi State Government under Governor David Umahi's watch.
Ebonyi State has had three governors, namely Sam Egwu; Martin Elechi; and David Umahi, who is also handing over power by May this through. By my training, we do not speak ill of leaders, but we look at the area where individually they have performed excellently well and we idolise them accordingly. I will say that these three governors have given their best. A man cannot give what he does not have. Yes, because Egwu came from the background of academia, he was a masterpiece in building education in Ebonyi State. Elechi came in and because he was coming from the civil service, made laudable reforms and successes in the civil service and under his watch, the sector enjoyed tremendously well. Umahi came in a wildly different style-Ebonyi now is an envy of the world because of his infrastructural impact on the state. You will see that these three governors or individuals have performed excellently well in their different areas of comparative advantage. I believe that Ebonyia is a work in progress and it's our prayer that the next governor will be holistically perfect. And having studied all of the governorship candidates, my prayer is that when my governorship candidate, Engr. Chuckwuma Nwandugo,.comes in, Ebonyi State will receive tremendous, rapid and massive development in all the sectors. This is an Ian I have listened to and I believe any to redesign and reshape this state. These three governors have done excellently well and I'm proud of them. I celebrate them. But Engr Chuckwuma Nwandugo, the Governorship Candidate of the Action Alliance in the 2023 election, for Ebonyi State, is the finest wine that's coming.
You are currently clamouring to represent your people of Afikpo North/West State Constituency. What's your take on the part-time legislature?
It depends on the reason why people are clamouring for a part-time legislature. But as far as I'm concerned, anything that's part-time will have part-tresultssult. I was thinking people shouldclamouringring for competent legislators - I mean representatives, who have the interest of the people at heart, people who understand the place of leadership in society, people who are willing to lay down their lives and give dividends of democracy to the people legislation on process talks about lawmaking for the people and the legislator is someone collectively chosen by his people to represent them in a chamber, where laws are made in favour of the people in the land. When you say part-time it means people will definitely engage themselves in their varifieldsield of endeavours and come back once or twice a week to make laws for the people. When peohave not committed tied 100 per cent, to a process that will take care of or go on how people live, whatever input they make will be in a haste. And remember rashness in any undertakingdisastrousrous. This is the reason: when a legislator is not given enough time to rest, articulate and ponder on issues that bot on his people, he won't make legislation that will stand the test of time. I do not believe in part-time legislation, because it won't help the people. Now, can you equate the efficacy and effectiveness of a part-time pastor a and full-time pastor? No. They can't be the same, and this is the same thing between part-time and full-time legislation.
