Oron Fed. Const.: I will be next Representative - Mista Xto

We know you as an Artiste,  When did you develop interest in Politics?
I became an Artiste by starting to sing. I got a platform to be entertaining as a member of the dramatic and debating club while I was at Hope Waddell. I was their best actor two years ago for them and I was singing alongside. Some People thought I could do it so they took me to the night clubs where I also performed and made money, so that was how i started until i got to this level. 

How and when did you get your breakthrough in Music? 
Well,I came to Akwa Ibom in 2003, after having done a campaign song for the former Governor, Arc. Victor Attah. I came to make the song see the light of day. The song gained acceptance and when the new government was formed, I got close to the then Commissioner for Information and Culture, the former Deputy Governor, Engr. Patrick Ekpotu whom God used to develop my talents. I became useful in a lot of orientations and because I had things doing here, I also saw a vacuum. Then he was the Commissioner for Information and Culture so I always advised him on cultural aspects.  I then had access to the Ibom Plaza where I started bringing musicians together alongside doing my music. It was a deliberate act to promote my album in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states because I was calculating the tribalism I saw in the music industry back in Lagos. In 2001, I won the Best Radio Album Nomination Award so I decided to come back and build the base in Akwa Ibom and Cross River since I was sure of getting more patronage from my people than outsiders. Thus, my album was launched and I kick-started.

Having gone this far, can you tell us how many tracks you have produced so far?
I have done over seventy songs recorded. I have an average of twelve songs on my CDs when I do an album. And I have done like 5CDs that I have released and there are some other ones I have recorded. I have written over a thousand songs and for other people like Icekid, godfather Newskool, Fatherking and many of them.

Have you been able to groom some musicians?
Yes. Most of those I’ve recorded and written for are people I groomed. A lot of them have been empowered by me. I’ve given most of them platforms to perform as an events manager, others got signed on in my label (south central records) and others, finance to release their jobs. People like Newskool, Fatherking, godfather, and King Soloboy were on my label.

How many hit tracks have you produced in summary?
I started singing in 1987. I was in J.S.S.3 then. I started recording in 1992. My first album was released in the year 2000 after having my songs recorded for a while. So from the release date till today will be fourteen years and from the day I started performing till today will be close to thirty. 

We understand you are aspiring to become the next House of Assembly representative candidate for Oron Federal Constituency, what prompted the decision?
Yes, I am. The same thing that prompted me to music is that which is directing me into politics. I knew I could succeed as a musician. I came from a marginally comfortable background where my parents could pay my school fees but I choosed music. Then I was doing Sociology in Unical but I told my mother they were not teaching me what I needed to know. And today everybody is proud of me, even my mother who is now late. I also think I have come of age, with my exposure, experiences and capacity to contribute to the development of where I come from and my place in general. As a musician, I have never told anybody I am from Udung Uko. I kept telling them I am from Oro. I am a patriotic person. There are things that happen around you that make you know that the reason for the disconnection between Oro nation and the centre is deprivation and marginalisation. With leadership being a calling, I prayed and began the journey. I think that we will begin to build a new generation of policy makers from Oro nation with time and I want to lead that chain.

We understand the present member representing the constituency, Robinson Uwak, is running for a second term, what are your chances of winning?
Yes, he is our representative at the moment and he has the right to run like an Oron son. But he also took over from somebody, Hon. Peter Linus and at the time he took over from him, he had never been to the House of Reps. The grace to win an election is divine and every auction is a function of time. I believe it is time to showcase what I have for Oro and I am going to win the election this time. There is nothing like hook, crook or money. The main thing you need is the anointing which is the total package; the source of power which I have. Everybody may have power, money and other things but I think I have the fear of God and that will help me win the election.

So how would you assess Robinson Uwak’s performance?
Every Oron leader has done well with their time within their ability and their given environment. The existing House member has also done well as far as representation is concerned within his capacity. Like we know, politics like life is dynamic. We are pushed with him to a point that we need something new. We need a different style of leadership. We do not need just performance on the floor but we also need a connect between the leaders and the led and I think I am better in that aspect. I articulate very well. Presenting my issues on the floor of the House would not be an issue because I have the articulation, education, boldness and godliness it requires and I am an expert Public Relations person. I can connect with the system, my people and my constituency. It’s not how many bills or argument you can sponsor or hold that matters but how you relate with the system, the government of the day and the people you are leading. When there is a disconnect between those things, there will be a marginalisation like the case is now and I am the best person for the job at the moment.

What do you have in your package for Oro nation?
My mission is to rekindle the spirit of Oro, to reposition Oro and to reconnect Oro. When you rekindle the spirit of Oro everybody who comes to Uyo and goes to Abuja will be thinking of Oro first; how to pull Oro from the dungeon and darkness which seem to be hovering over it. That thing that is not allowing Oro pride. Inspite of the location and economic strength, it is still a dead end. We need something that would make other people want to come to Oro and develop it because it is not a transit town like Uyo or Ikot Ekpene, yet Oron main town is the cultural capital of the Oro nation. So what are those things that would bring people to Oro and make them stay back to contribute to the development Oro? It is that spirit that got us full of ego, it is about re-establishing the education we used to have and having the confidence that we have what it takes to succeed. It is redirecting the perspective of the people from just Uyo as politics and refocusing them on the God-given resources we have which is water. All the water resources that most people are running away from which foreigners are coming to take over is to reinvest in those areas and redirect people and make them see that Oro can still be rich again as a place. When this is done, and with that confidence they have, they are repositioned already. The next thing is to reconnect them by coming to the centre and opening the eyes of the government to things that can be done in that area to benefit those living there. Not just infrastructural development but empowerment programmes as well through the God-given resources that we have. That is what I want to do.

Under which platform are you vying?
I have been a PDP boy. I have been a card-carrying member of PDP for the past years even as a professional musician. I have been a unionist for close to twelve years now. I have led unions and I am a member of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) patron. The union I led is a member of the TUC and I represented that union as the Chairman of all Governors’ forum of PMAN and so, I have always been in politics. Unionism is not orientical. It is politics. And I have held so many other ranks. I cannot, having done so much as PMAN’s governor and a PDP candidate. In my area, I have endorsed and branded almost all the Chairman, Federal House members and Senators that have gone to be in my area. I have always been a PDP boy, contributing to the party how be it, underground.  If I begin to come from another party, having seen that the government of the day and the entire Oro nation is PDP, what will beat me up if I continue in the train? APC is not an Oron party but PDP is. I am running and vying inside PDP and I will fly the umbrella.

There is the rumour going round that you are into this so that you can be settled, what can you say about this?
That is an insult to my person! To be very sincere. What do you call settlement? To be given money? I am sure that is what you mean. This is my office and I have been running it for four years. I have built a lot of musicians in this town and even plenty politicians have come to meet me as a well-made guy. I have forty six boys working with me in my team. You come here and see people sitting here, they are earning salaries. Did I have to contest an election to be made a board member? I was still growing politically in the state. Being settled by appointment as a Commissioner when I did not contest any election, I became a board member because my profile was rising. I could still have become a commissioner if I so wanted. Everything in politics is about loving. I have a pedigree so why would somebody think or how much do you think I’ll be given? For what? By whom? If the incumbent or whoever offers me any money, I would know where the money is coming from because so many of them didn’t have money when they were running, so why don’t I go and get it myself? It is not about that. I was having a thriving profession. Infact, the stress and everything that has gone into the whole business is not something somebody will come and give you settlement. Anybody who will assume that I’m running an election with all the responsibilities I am carrying should look further. The whole generation and future generation of Oro nation 1is looking up to me. Stakeholders who are yearning for change are looking up to me, the Industries that I belong is looking up to me and you are telling me that I will wake up tomorrow and step down for anybody? No. I didn’t come to the elections to step down for anybody. I came to win and I cannot fade out what I know will regret.

What are your chances of winning this election? 
Very bright, I’m the man to beat. Everybody knows that. People think the position is something very big so they are saying “why don’t you start from chairman or from the state House?” every state House member can be a Federal House member. Representation and legislation is not something you sit or are you telling me that only nonentities or starters go to sit in the House? So when people start telling me ‘you need a lot of money’, I don’t need all of that. What I need is God. So when you are looking at my chances, sometimes I tell people to go and ask those representatives how they feel about it. You may think I am joking because you are not the one running against me. If you are, you will know that it is very difficult to run against Xto. I am not just a musician; I am a well-read man; very learned, highly exposed. I speak French, English; I have lived in fourteen countries. You don’t just throw that into the wind and think I don’t have capacity. I have been managing people. I am a board member who sits down and make policies and take decisions that affect certain aspects of this state. So don’t think that because some people carry offices, they...its not about office. Everybody knows I am a musician and an entertainer and in my industry, I am a colossus. I have my pedigree which some do not even have. So what are people going to put together that is better than me in this office I am vying for? Don’t be afraid, for the first time musicians will have a professional in their field who can be a voice for them. For the first time, Oro nation will have a voice that liaises with them, listens to them, hears them and presents it properly either in Abuja or in Uyo. That is what we have been missing and that is where I think is my strongest point. Everybody knows that Mista Xto is a name like a Reverend Father or a Medical Doctor because Xto can represent everywhere. I dint come to frighten anybody or takeover from anybody except people who think I should not. If I have a right to vote, I also have a right to be voted for. That is the law of Nigeria and nobody defines a profession that should go and should not go! If the entertainment profession or creative industry was to be of no use there would be no Ministry of Culture and Tourism and if there is such ministry in the government and a committee on culture on the floor of the House, then those committee would also require technocrats. And by every standard, I am a technocrat of that industry.  I came here fully prepared for the election. I am going to run that race, I will stand out and I will be carried shoulder high from Oron Stadium where that race will be held and finish it.

What is your assessment of the Governor’s performance?
Well, the governor has a lot of things on ground that people can see,he has done well. But of course, even God does not place everybody the same thing. So you can also look at some areas and say it has not been well done in this particular aspect because you cannot say everything is completely done. Government is continuous so you will always go to certain places where people will say ‘we didn’t see anything here or he didn’t do anything here. But as a government, himself and his team sat down together and maybe as at the time they came in, what they have given to Akwa Ibom is what Akwa Ibom needed most. Like in the house, if you buy shoes for your children today, tomorrow they will need a sweater because rain is falling, and when you do that they request for sunglasses because they want to go out in the sun. So they want something new all the time and government will only do things within its resources, but the thing is that everything in Akwa Ibom the governor has decided to do has class. So based on class and the things he has done I think he has done well. It is important that he didn’t do those things shabbily. Whether he has done everything that should be done, nobody can do that. So that is why we are rooting for a good governor next tenure. But for this government, the class he has put in everything has given him a pass mark.

Governorship has been zoned to Eket Senatorial District, which Federal Constituency, would you support from the trio of Eket, Oron and Ikot Abasi?
I am an Oron man and the Oro demand is the legitimate one and it would be very wicked of me to aspire to represent my people and I do not share in their collective desire. So when you give me a choice of the federal constituency I prefer, I would want and Oro man to become governor. But beyond wanting and Oro man, I also want a very good governor for the state. If by the grace of God, an Oro man becomes governor, I thank God and if a good governor comes on board, I’ll be in cloud nine. Because it is more important for the overall welfare of the state but, if that overall welfare of the state is manned by an Oro man, I will be a proud Oro man walking around because a lot of people will not even remember that I am there in the Federal House. But it is very difficult when you have to start lobbying with a stranger who is not really close to your own people to come and do something for them but, if you go, you can also blackmail your own brother but most importantly, we need a God-fearing leader and we need somebody who will keep the state as a state and look at developing every aspect that can work for Akwa Ibom people and if that person is an Oron man, we will thank God.

What is your word to your supporters?
My word for my supporters is that they have a good brand and they should not be afraid. What we must keep doing is to pray, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which will definitely come to pass in 2015, come what may.