2011 INTERVIEW FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION[WAS PUBLISHED]
HOPE 2011
PEOPLES NEWS MAN OF THE YEAR
PRINCE FRANK UKONGA ;SDMP SENATORIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2011 ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA, SPEAKS TO PEOPLES NEWS ON HIS PLANS TO MAKE NIGERIA A NUCLEAR
SUPER POWER NATION IN HIS HOPE 2011 CAMPAIGN.
Peoples news: how do you feel been awarded the Peoples Man of the yrear 210 by the peoples Newspaper National Peoples News?
Prince Ukonga; I feel elated. I am happy and i am grateful and thankful to all the editorial crew of National Peoples News for awarding me this exalted position as the peoples Man of 2010.
I am a member of board of National Peoples News and in the past 14 years of your existence.
Your Awards have virtually always gone to highly achieving personalities and issue oriented and specific. It is different from all other Awards that i know of you have never awarded any member of board this honor before. I think last year 2009 the award went to president Yar Adua. And i know you have given to President Obasanjo in 2001 and President Vladimir Putin in the following year and to Gani Ifawehimmi as well as to other highly achieving personalities but to give me the award is to say that you appreciate me to that status quo and I am highly elated..
Peoples news: We appreciate the fact that you know that our awards are giving to highly achieving world figures, but suddenly we gave the award to you. What do you make of this?
Prince Ukonga: My opinion of this is that you are arming me with this award as a sent fort to go to the world and conquer. To reposition myself to play a better role in Nigeria and Africa in liberating the Nation and the continent from the grips of Neo colonialism and Black on Black Imperialism where more than 90 percent of Nigerians live below poverty level and cannot afford one meal daily. Nigeria has a large percent of homeless PEOPLE, Double digits inflation, epileptic electricity and decaying infrastructures Diminishing standards of Education. This year more than 80 percent failed west African School certificate Exams and our best are checking out in droves being used as beast of Borden to empower other Nations to greatness as in Brain and manpower Drain.
Lastly i believe you gave this award for me to step out boldly to begin to defend the poor people of Nigeria and Africa as those defending us are transiting gradually to eterl world through death and attrition like late Gani Ifawehimmi, Fela Anikulapo kuti, Beko Ransome Kuti,Luky Dube, Maria Makembe, Sunny Okosun, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Comrade Tai Sholarin and a host of many others are departing to eternal world so i feel you are arming me to stand up and take the bull by its horns and decent the rights of the Nigerian Masses and that of the Black Race the world over.
The award is a simile of the Wole Soyinka’s translation of Fagunwa’s “forest Of A thousand Demon” where the Seven great hunters were given awards and eulogized as sent fort to go and conquer all the evils that bedevil’s the human Race.-- One of the greatest books ever writer in the soil of Africa.
I am indeed grateful for the exalted award and promise not to let you down as by this award you have re awakened my soul in the simile of improvised by one of the greatest writer of the human Race Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Soul as the environment is gradually deadening our souls in mundaness, passivity, cynicism and indifference. Gogol captured the scenery expertly.
And this kind of situation we find ourselves as a Nation gradually promote mediocrity and the dangers of supplanting ingenuity with mediocrity unwittingly as rightly capture by Tolstoy another celebrated icon of the 19th century genre in his classics -” the power of Darkness where he warned of the dangers of cynicism, non resistence and submissiveness to the powers of bourgeois irridentist and impervious leadership and its contradictory course of historical development.
And Gogol supported his views in another classic called The Revisor’ [Russian] Translated as “‘the Inspector General’ in English Language. Gogol in this classics wrote specifically of the Inspector General of the security network of his fiction state who parades himself as a learned intellectual and esoteric in understanding but who in reality was a double barrel headed buffoon. Prof. Wole Shoyinka also had something like that in the Jero Play s and glorification of Area Boy.
And this finally leads to what Tolstoy improvised in his second celebrated works XOLSTOMIR[ Russian]- Stallion - English translation. Where the Stallion Horse was expelled from the Staple of the master just for reason that it belongs to the slave and savant of the land lord and because it could trot [Run] faster than all the master’s hundred of horses And that is why you now find in Nigeria lots of good, qualified young men [expelled] roaming the streets without any job nor are they patronized by the system.
There are many young lads and ladies that could be as good as Dangote, otedola, Babalakin Adenuga,, Rochas Okorocha, Atedo Peterside etc roaming the streets for lack of patronage. And i am one of those lads unfortunately and by this award you have positioned me to begin to take giant strides into the future by what ever means possible . And I shall not let you down..
Peoples News; But talking about patronage of the young breed, Prof. Pat Utomi was patronized in Volskwagen as well as Mr Esegiele in Transcorp Corporation and the result may not be the best there could be. What do you have to say about this ?
Prince Ukonga:Yes this boils down to the question associated with ingenuity. The art of genius is to get it right at the first attempt all over the world as failing will be very costly that saddles them with the responsibility of taking great risks and making costly decisions in order to excel and at times such decision may not necessary work out and as soon as their strategy hit the rock many begin to view it as failure.
Like for Prof. Pat Utomi he adduced reasons of SAP which derailed the purchasing power of Nigerians to ill afford the products of the Automaker Volkswagen and his decision to diversify into areas of comparative advantage in making at least one component of the vehicle - the Tyres [because we produce rubber lattice in Nigeria] and supply all Volkswagen plants worldwide hit the rock but if his strategy had worked he would have been an instant celebrity like Lee Icocca of Chrysler, Honda Horacio of Japan, Jose Ignatius Ariotua of Daimler Benz etc. But Esigele’s case in Transcorp was an exception.
Peoples News: Are these the reasons why you have joined politics and the Presidential Race; to give hopes and patronage to the denigrated and dispossessed .?
Prince Frank Ukonga: These and many other premisses inclusive are tenable as adequate, justifiable and acceptable, reason de entre into politics and governance of any polity.
Peoples News:Like what other premises motivated you into politics?
Prince Frank Ukonga: George Elliot, one of the most celebrated writer of the Elizabethan Era once improvised in her celebrated classics- The weaver of Ravelor- the coming into being of disillusioned wandering men and women who are semblance of dispossessed, disinherited Race and the anxieties and vulnerability that beclouds that decadence and degeneracy of mankind wallowing virtually into a disdainful labyrinth.
And that she was peeping into time and space and predicting our contemporary situation is to say the least. The situation is despicable.
But the solution to this problem came from another classic writer of the last century Feudorov Dovstayevsky who noted that if the good and intelligent people will not participate in politics and governance of their polity they will pay the price of being denigrated and disinherited by the crooks who would take advantage of them . He further said that Power belong to those who have the courage to stoop down and pick it up
The Yoruba Levis and structures , Moore and parables also provides for this situation in its advanced esoteric superlative essence that “ Are pe o , o l on di “ifa. Bi Ifa ba fo re ti Are taku nko?” This simply translates to the fact that - The Prince is calling you , and you replied that you want to consult the gods[ Oracles] first... What of if the gods say yes to your volutions and the Prince say no? What will you do and what can you do?. Nothing. The gods will not come down to force the Prince to do your bidding.It has never happened in the affairs of men except in the miracles of Daniel and those of Shedrack, Mishak and Abednigo and these occurs few and far between.
And these are part of the philosophical stronghold of my reason de entre into the schemes of things in this polity. To liberate the poor and lowly from the shackles of exploitations as well as to dominate my environment.
Peoples News: Your entry into the schemes of things seems to becloud itself with some deep animosity and the contextual aspects of guilt and self pity. We do not want to sound provocative nor Subjective?
Prince Frank Ukonga:You are only doing your job and no matter how provocative the questions might be i have to be diplomatic. And to tell you the truth, you are right partially in you judgments because according to Karl Max Human being determine consciousness which brings into being socio economic enterprise from whence industrial production emanates and its subsequent fundamental questions of political economy and philosophy manifests- which basically is the questions of production relations: in this context we are talking simply about how do we share as citizens of a polity the fruit of out collective labor and production.? Do we allow and continue to allow some people to loot this wealth away and leave the rest in poverty , want and penury? Why should a few ravel in the primitive and mundane accumulation of wealth by looting our treasuries at the expenses of others?
Or would this act of wanton larceny of our wealth and violations of our birth rights not enough to provoke animosity in the minds of anybody.?
Then it means i will only be conservative with the truth if i do not reply your question in its affirmative.
Peoples News: Could you be more explicit on the question of economic larceny and violations of our birthrights?
Prince Frank Ukonga: A few weeks ago the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria cried out that the Senate was taking about 25 percent of our annual Budget to make laws this generated much controversy but he stood his grounds and he further warned that if this trend continues our situation will end up in a national bankruptcy like the cases of Greece, Spain and Brazil even Argentina is facing the same situation. And besides he called for more investment into the real sector, generate electricity ,create jobs and begin an industrial revolution .]
Malam Sanusi Lamido is rightly guided but will anybody listen to him?. As Prof. Wole Shoyinka will tell you in his celebrated classics The Man Died- that those that will face the wrath of the Gods [Songo and shopona] first go mad and will not hear the lunch gong that the party is over.
AGAIN mRS Farida Waziri of EFCC is saddle continually with the problem of bringing looting state and federal executive to book over wanton looting of the peoples treasury. Nuhu Ribadu did his best while others like Col Abubakar Umair, Barrister Festus Keyamo, Barrister Femi Falana, Late Gani Ifawehinmi nand a host of others including my honorable self are very vocal on how to curb this hydra headed monster called corruption and looting that is the most dangerous bane of the Nigeria Society.
Peoples News: How about the violation of our birthrights you mentioned. Could you Explain?
Prince Frank Ukonga: Anybody who loot your wealth either by act of commission or omission has violated your birth right. For Example the Privatization exercise where most companies of Nigeria were sold off in exchange for peanut to some select few is another violation of the peoples birth rights as those companies sold are our collected properties. In other Countries where privatization was done along with ours almost same time in human history they evolved what is called Participatory Capitalism as in Russia, Poland, and all central European states like Bulgaria etc. What they did was to group together all these companies in to one big share holding company of very large share capital and shares where aloted to each citizen of the country and everybody living in those countries as citizens were enriched by this.
So if Mr A wants to own controlling share of a particular company he has to ask his brokers to buy shares from the people directly who the Govt have allotted these shares. And if Family B wants to raise working capital they will ask their broker to sell to Mr A their allotment of shares and with this money they made selling their share they can start a private business. So in those countries today a strong middle class has been created on which the economy and Nation can now be crested for greatness. And through these so many Millionaires like Ramon Ibramovich and billioniires has been produced. In the forbe Book of record today more than 40 Russians are among the top 100 Richest Men in the world. But in our own case it only impoverished further the middle class and it virtually disappeared.
So we now have the super rich class of less than 1 percent of the population of Nigerians and the poor masses of 99 percent
And this is now the most dangerous phenomenon that will threaten out collective unity and democracy in a short while when all the chips are down parhaps less than 10 years time as Malam Sanusi Lamido has predicted as the Yoruba Adage goes “Olowo kan Lerin Oto shi Mewa .. Oun lo lori oshi won’ meaning one rich man in the midst of ten poor people is also a poor man.
History of Democracy the world over has proved beyond reasonable doubt that all democracies and economic giants of the world survived because of the existence of a strong middle class. So if our economy and democracy is to survive we have to do all humanly possible to bring back the middle class by deliberately empowering Nigeria Youth through medium and small scale industries on which the American and German Economies and democracies use as the solid foundation on which these Nations are crested as anchorages
In our own case the foundation has been eroded by erosion into the sea through greed , corruption and indiscretions and you know what normally happens to such buildings whose foundation has been eroded by a torrent of flood, it begins to evince symptoms of failure through structural fatigues.
Again Prof. Soludo consolidated the Banks only for a few cabals to loot away the money through director related borrowing and connections. Where as the R and D conducted by our Newspaper revealed that the elites and super rich has less than 20percent of the money in the Banks. The bulk of the Money in commercial Banks in Nigeria belongs to those that save less than100,000 naira, in fact almost 85 percent of the money in the banks are kept there by the poor and needy who never enjoy any facilities like loans and are treated with scorn and disdain by the bank staffs .
So the looting of the Banks is another violation of our collective belongings by a few. We also know that over 75 percent of Bank branches are located in the poor and low income earning areas of any town in Nigeria. So it is the poor and lowly that are really saving for the rich to come and take away the money.
Peoples News: So who is Prince Frank Onaivi Ukonga?
Prince Frank Ukonga:I was born in 1959 to Chief Gabriel Omo Onaivi Ukonga the Okomayin of Igarra and the Head of Eshinogu [warrior] Rulling roral family of Igarra , Located in the Kukuruku Province now in the northern aspects of Edo State. We are not Benis. We are a diffrent tribe that migrated from southern Egypt [Nubia] first to Wangarra in the upper state of Fulani’s Futa Jalon near Geanie and we owned the gold fields of Wangarra in the Mali Empire of Sunni Sundiata.The Fulani under the great warrior Samanguru toppled the govt of Mali and rule for more than 100 years until it was invaded by the Almoravids who established the Songhai Empire forcing the Fulani and their allied to migrate southwards.[Our Tribe Igarra [Meaning- civilization- Enlightenment was an ally of the Fulani Nation].. Actually the Fulani toppled the Govt of Prince Abubakadir whose father was a Mandingo and Mother was of the Wangarra tribe[He was my great grand father] who later abdicated to America with 2000 ships. It was him that discovered America not Christopher Columbus as it was claimed by History Books.Blacks were in America before the Whites came. We migrated down alongside the Fulani to Nigeria and we came down to the savannah belts. . We were formally settled in kungarra[ Now Niger State] and we were part of the Jukun/ Nupe Empire until Queen Amina of Zauzau forght a war that we lost and had to move southwards to the present location. The Zuba people, Kotonkerifi, Egbira, Sulaija , Lokoja are all part of our larger tribe Nation in the days of old and our languages are similar.
My birth was a fore told one. Just like a covenant child. My mother said she went to fetch water from the stream of a great god called Ori Ofu which is the leader of the gods of Kukuruku lands equivalent to Obatala, Zeus, Olympus,, Osiris and Amon Ra of Egypt and the Priest called her and told her she was going to bear a Son that will be great and that the child is the son of the great deity Ori Ofu. She took in by my father Onaivi Ukonga and after nine months i was born. I was unable to suck her breasts nor drink water until when i was about to die when another priest told her to take me back to the god of Ori Ofu
She took me to them and immediately i became well and began to suck breasts and after that they told my mother that she must bring me to greet the gods once a year with thanksgiving as she was only the earthly mother of the son of the god of Ori Ofu.[Obatala]
I developed rapidly and throughout my primary school I was always in the First position in my class. In my secondary school days i was always at the top of the class either first or second. I made distinctions in all my papers in WASC Examination and in my A levels iI
I got admission into the university of Lagos reading computer sciences and Systems Analysis.
Later i traveled out to the former Soviet Union to read Highways, Transportation and Strategic Engineering on Federal Government/ Soviet Government Scholarship.
This course was a strategic courses and I attended the Oldest University in Eastern Europe. Ukraine Highway And Automobile Engineering University where i read Highways and Strategic Engineering.
It is a special field reserved only for the children of the Soviet Elites and my schools is an elite school not just like other schools in the Soviet Union. They called it IVY schools. Just like Yale,[USA] , Oxford [England] , Harvard [USA],Etton,[England] Sorborn [France], Catholic University in Leuven-[ Brussels] . My school group has 4 autonomous campuses in the Soviet Union. One in Moscow called MADI, One in Kiev called KADI, One in Odessa CALLED TADI and one in Kharkov[ Former Capital of Ukraine called XADI and it's the Main Campus where i attended. Most of the top Soviet Diplomats and elite are from my school group- Even The Chelsea Club owner Romah Ibramovich attended my school group in MADI.
It is not an ordinary university . You must be very brilliant and intelligent before they admit you into such schools. And our lecturers are top Soviet scientists not just any lecturer and top Soviet Military brass. My school consults for many Governments of the world including the United States, and the United Nations.
Xadi build Racing cars and engines for all types of vehicles including Rockets, planes, trucks and the arm s/’ Military industry.
They build airplanes engines, ships engines just name it. And we are thought virtually everything under the sun..... Philosophy, world history, dialectics, classics, war and methods of war. Construction of tunnels, metros, bridges, highways, geodeziar, Artificial intelligence, lateral thinking aerogeodezier, geography, mathematics.., Structures, strength of materials, material sciences, XBK, etc its fantastic and very interesting.
Any product of XADI group of IVY universities [Only 4 campuses] can stand and defeat any other graduate from Oxford, Yale, Harvard. Sorborn or Leuven in any field. Why because we are encouraged while schooling in Soviet Union to go to other IvY schools on holidays to interact with them. I have been to Catholic University in Leuven Brussels, and imperial college in England and other schools in Germany as well as Sorburn[ Best school for France Elites] and i will tell you that they all fall short of the standard of XADI.My school is to the former Soviet Union what Barewa College is to Nigeria. Our former President,Late Umar Yar Adua is a Barewa Product. Prof. Jubril Aminu is a Barewa Product, El Rufai Former FCT Minister is a Barewa Product , many top military brass in Nigeria and leaders and shakers of other fields are from Barewa..I think Dr Orji Uzur Kalu the former Governor of Abia Ste is also a Barewa product.
I also attended the university of Belaruss in Minsk,
I an an author of the Book -REPARATIONS AND THE BLACK RACE- A functional Approach published in 1993 and most of the ideas Proff. Soludo was implementing like the Banking Consolidation, the African Monetary fund, the Regional Bank ,Finance Corp as well as the internationalization of our Banks , assets and liabilities and how to get out of the debt trap. He must have a copy of the book because all what he was doing seems lifted out of that book. It was widely reviewed by Tlell Magazine and virtually all the Newspapers in the country and the Lunching was chaired by the former Chif of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Oduoye.. The book was a hot cake in the market.
Peoples News:What do you think is the problem with our Education and how can we inprove on standards?
Prince Frank Ukonga :The main problem with our Education is cognition. By cognition it means the process of Caznznia [Russian] that is Knowing [ENGLISH] and the processes of knowing. The problem is not inadequate funding but that of basic problem in the growing up and development of the brain of our children. Pascal Leone second theory of Cognition states that a person will first cognitize in his or her mothers native language in the brain and it is later translated in spilit seconds in the secondary language he is using to communicate. So in our case we have our primary native languages of Yoruba, Hausa, Ibo Egbira,Kanuri Ijaw etc this is the first language by which the brain will grasp everything and then translate to English as a secondary medium. So most of our children unfortunately to say do not learn nor understand properly our native languages, even in some homes when you speak native language to children they will tell you to stop speaking vernacular. Some parents do not teach their children their native language any more . They speak only English language in many homes and this begins to create problems of cognitizing properly in the children and they grow up with this deficiency and begin to perform poorly. The solution is to grow our native languages to standard level by bringing in more words and vocabularies and then make it compulsory for all students to lean our native languages in schools.
As soon as that is done you would see improvements in the WAEC/ NECO results. Parents should speak and teach their children their mother native languages not English. At home the native language should be spoken to the children often and this will improve the process of cognition and once they can cognition properly , they will pass exams and do well all over the world .That is why you find all European nations using their languages as lingua franca no matter how small their population is.Most of these novel concepts i will bring into being when I become the President of Nigeria.
Peoples News: But a number of people feel that your first entry into Politics could have started from a lower ambition of either House of Representative, or the Senate in order for you gather experience of leading such a great complex Nation like Nigeria. Starting from the Presidency as an entry point don’t you feel its rather a tall ambition?
Prince Frank Ukonga: . These are the same question journalist pose before Prince Nuhu Ribadu all the time and his reply are some what similar to mine.
I am 51 years old and have the basic qualification to contest for any post as provided for in the Nigeria Constitution , which is a minimum of School certificate which I have and not been a convict. I have never been convicted in my life before, so with all this I am qualified to enter into the contest.
And besides most of those who have ruled as Governors like Chief Gbenga Daniels, Chief Rauf Aregbesola, Chief Mike Adenuga, Chief Orji Uxzor Kalu, Senator Mondi Sherif etc are my colleagues, Proff. Pat Utomi, Chief Lucky Igbinadion, Atedo Peterside, Malam El Rufai, Bala Yesufu, Saraki Dr Wale Babalakn, Prince Nduka Obiagbena etc in the secondary school or university though not necessarily from same university but those days we had only 5 universities in Nigeria and most of us who were upward mobile knew each other from which ever university you attended and some of them are my friends. And my Father use to tell me that the day your age mate marries then your should know that you are also ripe for marriage.
And besides I have also been contributing my quota in moving Nigeria forward in my own little ways unsung.
Many of the ideas you see been implemented in the country as projects, some of them you may not know do originate from people you may not likely ascribe it to . I don't want to go into too much details here but as Nikolai Gogol wrote in one of his classics about one of his personage
‘...He was always among us, but only wearing a different caftan but people are so short sighted that they view those wearing a different caftan as separate different people[ outsiders]’
As outsider it means that in recent times my family and myself have not been patronized by the system . That is why you do not know my background as i became an impoverished Prince of great, heroic ancestors as Niccolo Machiavelli categorized persons of my condition and proffer solutions to how to get about grabbing the mantel of leadership back.
And I am well schooled in the philosophy of Machiavelli and his teachings of the methods of Chiron De Centurion.
I am not actually an outsider as I am from a Royal elite class and my father was the Controller of Accounts Nigeria Army in the Obasonjo’s Military era. My uncle Chief E.S Ukonga was the Minister of Land and Housing in the first Republic and My grand Father Chief Ukonga was a rich cocoa and produce merchant and a big sponsor of th Action Group in the days of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as well as my great grand father chief Ogbodo was the king of Igarra and ruled the Kukuruku Province in partnership with the Colonial District Officer in the Provincial Level.
And the Father of Ogbodo was also a ruler in the Kukuruku before the white men cane to Nigeria.
Also right from Nubian Egypt from were we came my ancestors were the Rulers up to when we migrated to form the town of Wangarra in the Mali empire and we controlled the wealth of the Mali empire as we were the owners of the goldfields of Wangarra as well as the great sea port of Walata until the fall of the Fulani Rule of Mali Empire who were our allies and we migrated along with them and the Yoruba also allied of the fulani to this part of the globe. We are like the Ghandi Family of India leadership flows in our veins.
Again Abraham Lincoln became the American President without holding any previous office in Government until that particular victory.
And history replete of such examples like Joseph of the Bible who from Prison rose to become the Prime Minister of Egypt a world Supper Power in his own days. Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Prison in Elba and formed an army and conquered the world in 100 days.
And lastly we have seen in Nigeria and in other parts of the world where people less than 40 years old rule very fine as leaders of their Nation.
To this I have to add that I have a very high opinion of all Nigeria leaders as... From Lord Lugard to Azikiwe, Gen. Yakubu Gowon. Gen Murtala Mohammed, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen, Mohhammadu Buhari,Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Mko Abiola, Gen, Sani Abacha, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Alhaji Umar Yar Adua, and President Goodluck Jonathan,
They all performed quite excellently well in the scale of categorization of leadership and the highest standard is to protect the sovereignty of the Nation and give it to the next person intact. And in this context which is the highest of all measure of performance of leadership they all scored above 70 percent each of them. The other problems of nation building and all others aspects of it is secondary category of measure of leadership which in this aspect all of them tried to be as good a President as the circumstances around them would allow.
Therefore since some of these great leaders of Nigeria are still alive with us I will bring them together under one umbrella and govern the country together with their experiences when I become the President of Nigeria. Don’t make a mistake, all of them have very good intentions for the Nation and to leave great footprints in the sands of time.
Peoples New; You are aware that President Goodluck Jonathan is in the Presidential Race and suddenly you also show interest in the same Race and you are from the same zone of South -South, it would have been logical to reconcile your interest with his and unite into one big political block rather than seek same mandate at same time dividing the votes from that Region , .Are we making any sense?
Prince Frank Ukonga: Yes you are making good sense in terms of strategy of winning elections. Of curse united we stand , divided people fall..
I am quite cognizance of that aspect and in due course we shall look at that proposition.
But remember Prince Goodluck Jonathan is a Prince of Yenagua, I am a Prince of the Kukuruku Province and it is customary for Princes to aspire to positions of leadership even if of the same parents..
Dr Ikoku contested against his father in the same constituency and defeated his paternal father but that is not to say that your beautiful idea is out of consideration. If His Excellency is ready to assimilate my group and our programs into his own ideologically framework it will be fool hardy for me not to support and campaign for him
But most importantly my reason de entre into the Presidential Race is to herald my entry into the schemes of things and announcing to the whole world that I am ready to serve this great Nation Nigeria and the world in generality in what ever capacity that I am called to serve
And as a true student of Machiavelli the point of entry and point of disengagement must be heralded as he emphasized that Princes should and must lead great campaigns and this was further straighten by the German Philosopher Von Goethe that Princes should not fall into the syndrome of critical realism as “ small dreams. does not motivate the populace to greatness nor can you mobilize their support with small dreams.”
Secondly I have always been supportive to the Government of President Good Luck Jonathan. When the Senate were foot dragging in making him the Acting President I went to Abuja to give the infamous interview through public opinion to the AIT television about the danger of not transferring power to him immediately.. I was emphatic that Nigeria may disintegrate and anarchy will become the order of the day as in the Hobebian State where life will be short brute and nasty. I was very harsh on the Senate in the interview and you can trust AIT Television, they were showing me almost every hour with my harsh words in support of President Jonathan Presidency this was on the 10th of February and on the 13th of February he was made the Acting President by the Senate. People were Phoning me from ,Lagos, Ibadan ,Aba, Kaduna and the whole country that they support my arguments in support of President Jonathan in AIT broadcast.
I did this in defiance ,as I was part of the Editors and Publishers that ware earlier arrested that period when President Yar A dua was in Hospital. In Fact Six SSS officers came to Arrest me for a certain publication and I was taken to their headquarters in hand cuff and later the Director of SSS warned me that I should be careful and tone down my writings and publications as the President was in hospital. They said they do not want and will not tolerate any sensationalism that can incite the people of Nigeria .
And I agreed with them as they were fine gentle men and perhaps the best Nigeria intellectuals are in SSS i respected them and they returned the respect by releasing me to go home..
So I have been doing my best IN support of President Jonathan and I stood by him openly and publicly at the hour of need.
And till today I have not hard a word from him to say thank you Frank nor did his Press Secretary and spokesman Mr Niboro ever said a thank you. AIT Televison is as big as ALJAZEERA and perhaps could rival CNN and virtually all Nigerians are addicted to AIT so they cannot tell me they did not see my contributions.
And that is why some people are rooting for former President Ibrahim Babangida to come back. If it were IBB I went out to support at his hour of need he will say a thank you.. If it was MKO Abiola or former Vice President Atiku Abubakar he will say a thank you , if it were late Gen. Mortala Mohammed he would say a thank you.
But make no mistake about this diplomacy of one Prince coming out to support and allied with the other. Chief Obafemi Awolowo believes that we should be princes of our various Regions and meet at the center. That is True confederacy and I am an Awoist just like my forerunners but then as the Russian saying goes ‘ “nahasdenie yaziku obshevo moshna i neabhodimo’ “meaning that we shall continue to seek for ways of finding and creating a general language of understanding and cooperation”.
Peoples News; What are your chances of winning in this election and the options you are considering afterwards?
Prince Frank Ukonga: First I am a member of the PDP party in Ward , Constituency 2 of the Edo North Senatorial District. And obviously it is natural and logical that I contest under the PDP lather. But after the primaries who ever emerge the favored candidate of the party becomes my flag bearer in conformity with party discipline.
But if my People feel they have any other platform that will adopt me as candidate it will as be given adequate consideration as we have more than54 political parties and even one can contest as an independent candidate.
And to that effect I have made ovatures to a number of political parties and still awaiting result.
Again I have written a letter to INEC on the possibility of contesting as an independent candidate and I am awaiting their reply.
Peoples News: Why are you considering the issue of contesting on the platform of independent candidacy?
Prince Frank Ukonga; My research into the Political Parties in Nigeria reveled lots of starting revelations. Of the more than 50 political parties that are registered by INEC I found out that only about 10 of them really have political structures on the ground. And i can tell you that the Media, each Chapel as we call each Media House, has better structures on the ground and followers ship than many political parties in Nigeria..
Great National media like THISDAY of Prince Nduka Obiagbena, The Guardian, The News of Prince Bayo Ononuga, Newswatch, Tell, Daily Trust, AIT etc have formidable structures on the ground that if they decided to register this structures and follower ship as political parties they will be a candidate to beat in any election in Nigeria. That is why you find that Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Hubert Macaulay, Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe, Bashorun MKO Abiola are all Publishers and came from the Media consistency to rule Nigeria.
I am the Publisher of National Peoples News and a host of sporting papers and Fashion magazines and educational books I found out that if i improve on my structure on the ground where we have representatives, agents and offices in various parts of Nigeria marketing our print products they could also market my image properly and win votes on a National basis and may do better than some political Parties. Inadvertently what I have on the ground now is bigger than what some political Parties have and yet they parade themselves around as credible parties. Of course some of them like PDP, CPC,ACN,ANPP,Labour,,PPA,APGA ,DPP, MEGA PARTY have good structures. But some big Publishers in Nigeria like THISDAY GROUP, PUNCH, GUARDIAN have big structures on the ground that can match and pull surprises and if they decide to convert these structures into Political structures to market their images to win elections they will be a party to beat. That was why i phoned the President of THISDAY GROUP Prince Nduka Obiagbena asking him when he will flag off his Presidential campaign because he enjoys a large readership and followings in the country. But he told me that for now he is not interested in contesting any public office but in future if he decides to contest he would let me know.
And since he was not contesting I decided to flag up my campaign but if he was contesting I would have joined his campaign team as a volunteer , because I believe he single handedly had done a lot to move Nigeria forward to greater might than many public officers of this era in human history.
Peoples news:What are your programs like? What do you offer Nigerians?
Prince Frank Ukonga:I am out to consolidate on the gains of all the proceeding leaders of Nigeria. You must realize that most of the former Govts aside from propaganda have some good programs on the ground. So we shall lok into the past legacies and bring out the legacies for continuity. Like in Buhari -Idiagbon regime we had the WAR AGAINST IN DISCIPLE this was a very good program that really began to remold Nigerians to dump the culture of the Nigeria factor and move to the new culture order of discipline, orderliness, neatness and comportment addressed to raise the behaviors and ethical standards of Nigeria . This program will be introduced with all vigor and vitality and credited to Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as his legacy.
Also the legacies of Gen. Murtala Mohammed of the 35 year rolling plans to develop Nigeria into a world super power will be revisited and most of his Legacies like the Ajaokuta steel plant and the great dream he had for the industrialization of the Niger-Benue trough like the River Volga industrial belt of Russia, the Great lakes St Lawrence Sea way industrial belt of the USA, The Mississippi River industrial belt of USA, the Hudson river Basin industrial belt of Canada/ USA. He had very fantastic plans for Nigeria until death took him away. We shall implement all his programs to the letter. He is the greatest leader of Nigeria that ever lived. May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. Amen. What I am trying to say here is that we lack continuity in Govt. When a new leader comes he dumps the projects of the former and begin to implement his own we are not going to do that.
Again the VISION 2020 of President Yar Adua which started in the dying days of OBJ will be implemented
The Tran saharan gas pipeline project signed with the Russian President and also the Nuclear energy programs Yar adua signed with His Excellency Dmitri Mevedev will be implemented with a patriotic Nationalistic zeal and be given maximum interpretations .The Russian Energy Giant Gazprom will be empowered to begin and complete the project within the fastest possible time frame.. Thes project will almost double our foreign exchange earnings. And from this we shall be able to raise capital for rapid developmental purposes.
Unknown to many Nigerians the Vision 2020 has been borrowed by the Russian s but in the context of grooming the internal economy. It is a great vision
Secondly we shall now emback on an industrial and agricultural Revolution. To achieve this we need electricity. I will embarrass Nigerians with the capacity that i will generate electricity. I will generate and reach the t 20000 MHZ of electricity needed in year 2020 within the first 2 years in office. For me it will be a do or die issue to give Nigerians electricity 24 hours daily. I mean a non interrupted power supply It is a task that must be done by whatever means possible in the heavens , principalities and under the sun.
Once we can provide 24 hours electricity investments will flow in to Nigeria in drove, because you are either in Nigeria or you are out of business on a global basis. We have the market of almost 300million people living in Nigeria and another almost 300Million of the ECOWAS States making a regional market of above 500Million people . It is indeed a large market that every country and companies of the world want to be but we have not created the necessary enabling environment for business to thrive. And this we are going to create. As son as investments move into Nigeria unemployment will disappear and the question voluntary and involuntary redundancy will be a thing of the past.
We shall next invest in human resource development , which is the greatest asset a Nation can ever have. We shall invest in education, training and manpower development etc.
Next we shall take on infrastructures that are virtually decaying now and emback on a gangantic National reconstruction of Nation building of Road, airports, seaports, hospitals, dams, reservoirs, schools, universities, theaters, research institutes , museums and create the greatest Black superpower Nation on the surface of the earth. Our civilization shall be second to none in the entire human history. We will make Nigeria great and you will be proud again to hold the Nigeria passport.
Those who scorn and laugh at us now will eat back their words and beg Nigerians to visit their country without VISA as it were in the days of Gen. Murtala Mohammed.We do not obtain VISA to travel in his days, you only take your passport and travel to any country in the world and it is at the borders of those countries they will stamp your passport and they will give you the length of time you want to stay in their countries. Those days other Nations beg Nigerians to come and study in their country. And when i traveled to l London in the days of Murtala Mohammed ,the Customs and immigration officers at Heathrow Airport were begging me at the airport to transfer my school ing to Britain and they where so hospitable that they carried my luggage to the vehicle that carried me from the airport to the Hotel they booked for me. This happened to me in the days of Murtala Mohammed and I know and believe resolutely that we can bring back those glories and even more.
Peoples News: But where will you find the funds to achieve all these greatness. It is not a pipe dream?
Prince frank Onaivi Ukonga: The Philosophy of Confucius and Lao Tse tells us that “Once there is a will ,there is a way”
The holy Bible also tells us in Habacock to tarry not, to have faith and to believe it can be done. Once you can dream it then you can achieve it.
Its only doubt and laziness that stops men from achieving great dreams.
And lastly, we are going to have a nuclear power industry to generate electricity and to make Atomic and Nuclear bombs and War arsenals.
I am aware of the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to the Nuclear non proliferation agreement of the United Nations.
But then there are so many White Nations with Nuclear bombs and Atomic Bombs , there is no single Black Nation on earth with such potential and we are over 1.5 Billion Blacks on the surface of the globe which constitute about 15percent of the human race . So we are a significant minority and it become imperative to protect that significant minority by what ever means possible.
And also we shall have one of the largest and qualitative Military on earth.
If USA with a Population of 300 Million peoples can have a Military strength of 5 Million standing army, and Russia with a population of almost 200 Million can have a Military strength of above 4 million standing men and women ready to defend their Father land and the entire Slavic Race on Earth ,then what is wrong if we also have 3 Million standing Men ready to defend the interest of the Black Race all over the world.;..these will be part of my premises of arguments to the United Nations, as what is good for the geese is also good for the gander. May the gods help the human Race. Amen.
Conclusively my era will herald the emergence of a
BLACK WORLD SUPERPOWER IN ALL CALCULATIONS.
Peoples News: We wish you good luck in your dreams to make us a great proud Nation once again . And we pray that may the almighty God make use of you in mighty ways and shower you with love and protection , to give you long life and prosperity.
Frank Ukonga: Than you. I wish you the same in your endeavors. Happy news year. May the gods be with you. Amen.
N.B. For more information on prince Frank Ukonga campaign organization visit
www.facebook/Frank ukonga
Www.All Africa/Frank Ukonga 4 president
