Deacon Parker

Deacon Akuro Parker
was the governorship candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP), in the 2015 election in Rivers State. The architect turned politician is also the leader of the Coalition of Governorship Candidates in the 2015 Election in Rivers State. He bared his mind on the final resolution of the 2015 governorship election in Rivers State and sundry issues in this interview with Opaka Dokubo in Port Harcourt, Excerpts.  Your impression of your own performance in the 2015 election?
I appreciate God that I was part of it because my involvement in politics since 2003 is very unique. I don’t have the mentality of a politician, somebody to become a big man by occupying a position, rather I see what is lacking in the society and stir people to think right so that we can advance our society. For that purpose I have contested four times and this last one, I perceived a gun battle, and I was not ready for that. So I did what I could do. Where I made serious progress was in the area of counseling the pastors to know that this is the work of God and not the work of a political party. And I had a lot of seminars with a lot of churches and church leaders to know that the failure of society is the failure of the church.
Did you then contest that election with no intention of winning?
Of course, I had intention of winning the election, but we did not carry guns and the electorate themselves were looking for somebody who will give them money. But for me to say that because I don’t have money I will not contest would have meant a great failure. My position was to stand firm and see if by chance it turns the other way round. We all know that what we observe now is not the right thing I had intention of winning the election because if the people reasoned properly they would vote for the right person.
Did the people vote for the right person at the end of the day?
With the result that we have, we all need to clap hands because the Bible says ‘give thanks for whatever you have’. We all need to appreciate God and I am not in a position to say this one is right or this one is wrong. No. And so I believe that the person that is declared the governor must be supported in the interest of the society. What I am saying is this: whoever emerges the winner, it is not about the person. He has a very serious responsibility before God to keep the society for the better. So, we must recognise the person’s victory as the victory of the people and I want everyone to start reasoning that way.  That is why when I see those who did not succeed trying to fight and do all sorts of things, I feel worried because  it is about the people and not personal.
Nobody owns Rivers State and if its about the people, we must quickly set our minds right and to support the person that has been declared the winner. We must think right and advance our society.
What kind of opposition are you and your coalition promising the government and Rivers people?
When you talk of opposition, you have a ruling party and every other party out there is deemed to be an opposition party.  The political parties don’t own the state. How many people are there in the parties in terms of population? So, what is expected of political parties and their leaders is to come together, share their ideas with the person that has won and see how we can use them to develop the land.
But if you say robust opposition, it could be in the positive sense of it. That is calculating properly, analyzing and coming up with something that is positive. But any opposition that will distabilise the governor, that is negative opposition. If you must oppose him, you must not do it in such a way that you don’t allow him to set the place ablaze.
We of the coalition, our mindset is to appeal to the governor and his team. We’re saying “look we’re ready to contribute our ideas. Things have to be done in a different way to advance society and to support you”. It is not enough to declare that you have won.
You remember what happened when Amaechi came to power, in fact, Amaechi emerged in a more  dramatic way than this man but see where we have ended. So, if a man thinks that he can do it in his own way, he will fail more than any other person. So, the coalition thinks that we should quickly come together and reason properly and for them to tap into our own ideas immediately so that we can move this state forward.
I am not desiring to be in a position because I want to be a big man, I am a super big man already by God’s special grace but I have ideas to help the people who are suffering, who are dying.
Do you believe in the place of opposition in a democracy?
We are not the originators of democracy. We have societies that are practicing democracy and doing very well. For example, I studied in France and I was there for over ten years. You have those several parties but they all come together in the interest of the people – people of various parties come together and work together. It happens even in the United States of American. So, time has come for the ruling party to have this understanding and identify liberal minds that can actually work. We ‘re asking for opportunity to be involved and freely contribute ideas that will favour the man himself because if the government succeeds he will be happy.
In what specific area would you consider appropriate for you be of service in this government?
I desired to be governor but I am not the governor of the state and even if I am the governor, I won’t do everything. I leave it in the hands of the Lord and it depends on the person who want to engage me because if I am to work, I must be engaged. It is the person who will look at my track record and say look let’s engage you in this capacity to help. For instance, if they say I should go and clean gutter, I have to clean the gutter in such a way that they would say if you can clean this way, take up your material and go and clean roads. In that wise, I can’t be very specific but as I said earlier, I’m an architect by training and I know my work. Not only that, I’m in a position to mobilize those who are in the opposition to come together and work.
There is a position I would be, I will make everyone realize that this is service unto God just as we are serving in the churches. Do you know that the people that are in opposition are serving in the same churches? So, first of all, we must know that this is service unto God and not service unto political parties. I have quite a lot to discharge.
Why were you so excited about the supreme court judgment as a coalition?
As I earlier said, whoever is declared winner, you just have to align with the person that is why from the beginning we aligned. Now it went from tribunal to appeal and to supreme court.
From the beginning we appealed to many to come and work with us, and now the Supreme Court has affirmed our position. That means we were right. But that we are right does not mean that we’re more intelligent than any other persons, rather our position is to say come let’s work together. We’re not saying you should leave your party but if you have ideas, bring them and let’s see how we can advance Rivers State.
Right now Nigeria is experiencing an unstable situation, we’re not able to control many things including the value of our currency. Look at what happened the other day when an IDP camp was attacked. Ordinarily, that is a very protected area and if these people could penetrate such areas, then nobody is safe.  In the midst of these, how can you mobilize soldiers to come and conduct elections in Rivers State?
Look at Bayelsa, one local government area, they could not control, the attention of the entire nation was on Southern Ijaw local government area and yet INEC could not control it. Even for that reason, God could direct the Supreme Court justices to give the verdict they gave. Clearly, it was an act of God. Why should we kill each other to achieve what? Because one man wants to become governor?
Do you have any apprehensions about the forthcoming national and state assembly rerun elections?
That will be on a lower scale compared to the governorship. In the governorship, the tension is more. You can even see that campaigns for the election are not as robust as that of the governorship. It appears some places are hotter than others. I believe God will help us to control it. I can tell you that a lot of people will not even go out to vote because they can’t see what they’re going to vote for. I see a very low turn out. I perceive a very low turn out because a lot of people are stressed, they’re tired and they don’t understand what is happening again.
But whichever way it goes, my prayer is this: Let the church in particular appreciate its responsibility and teach us the truth so that those who are serving and the society generally will now have a new mind set for us to work.
Ordinarily, their going to Senate or the House of Reps or the State Assembly is to serve the people. But right now they’re going to serve themselves that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Is your ambition to be governor of Rivers State still alive?
From my presentation, you can see that my worry is about the state of the society and so long as the state of the society is not improving, then my desire to serve should be much more heightened. What I’m after is a better society. if the society is better, I may not even think of it again. If you have the love of God in you, then you must desire a better society and whosoever desires a better society must be ready to serve.
I repeat; the issue is not about the governorship. As far as I’m concerned, it’s nothing to me. It is nothing to me because my ambition is to influence lives and there are men of God who influence more lives than the governor. I pray to God for the opportunity to contribute to the development of the society.
What do you make of the allegations of possible compromise by the Supreme Court Justices?
The reaction of the APC, the way I look at it is the typical politician’s attitude to leadership affairs because they find it difficult to accept the reality. I am not blaming them because that is what they’re used to. But I am saying that if the intention of becoming a candidate is to serve Rivers people, of course, they need to let go immediately and anything that will distabilise the governor, he must not do it.
After all, you ought to think about anything you’re going to say in the first place and if you say anything that is counter  productive, are you intelligent? Because what he said cannot change the Supreme Court judgement. You’re abusing, insulting people who probably are right or wrong, you cannot judge. But if you’re more intelligent, you will take a position that will cause them to correct themselves, if at all they made a mistake. So what I see is a display of stupidity, trying  to show bigmanity. It’s unfortunate.
On the part of the winner himself, time has come for him to say my brothers let us come together, this is not my victory, it is everyone’s victory so let’s come and work together.
There is an attitude you put up with a mad man, whenever he sees you, he will smile at you. In fact, you can cure a man by your attitude. In the interest of the society, all of us must think right, both the winners and the losers.