Why I Decided Never To Fly First Class Again - Prince Tonye Princewill

 Why I Decided Never To Fly First Class Again - Prince Tonye Princewill

.... Explains why he’s producing a movie on Boko Haram

Prince Tonye Princewill, a former governorship candidate of two political parties in Rivers State, is a man of many parts. He is a Petroleum engineer, a businessman, a philanthropist and a movie producer. The chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), who hails from Buguma, the headquarters of Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, spoke with our Southsouth Bureau Chief, BISI OLANIYI, about his political career, the security situation in the country, the performance of the Buhari administration and his motivation for producing movies, among other issues. Excerpts:


You are the only child your mother had for your father, His Majesty Theophilus Princewill, the Amanyanabo (King) of Kalabari Kingdom in Rivers State, but you have

stepbrothers and stepsisters. How were things at the early stage of your life?

My mother had five kids, before my father married her. So I am the first child of my father and the last of my mother. My older brothers and sisters brought me up like there was no difference. It was when I was a lot older that I realised that we had different fathers. My benevolent father brought them up as if they were his own children. I was happy to be in a loving household. We were in the United Kingdom. I was seven years old when we came back to Nigeria.

When we returned to Nigeria, my older brothers were in the university. But whenever they were on break, they would come back home. I can still remember jumping on my brothers whenever they returned home. Now, I am about 6ft, 2 inches, while the tallest is 5ft, 9 inches. So, I cannot jump on them again (laughs).

Were you lonely as a child?

I never felt lonely. You know what life is like in an average Nigerian home with house helps and cousins. I was so excited when I arrived in Nigeria from the United Kingdom to see brothers and sisters. I made the best of my company. A quiet petroleum engineer now into politics, but my priorities are still very different. When I was a student, I had no interest in politics. When I came back to Nigeria, I was having fun, but a lot of people were not. I became less comfortable about where I was and I became interested in assisting others to also have opportunities.

You are a politician, and at different times the governorship candidate of two political parties for Action Congress (AC) and Labour Party (LP). Why are you interested in producing movies?

The connection between politics and movie production is all about the image of Nigeria. I am not in the business of complaining. With my green passport, I want to be proud to be a Nigerian whenever I am in any part of the world. The movie, ’76’, is Nigeria’s ambassador. ’76’ is one of the most successful Nollywood movies in recent times, which was produced in 2016, around the unsuccessful military coup of 1976, leading to the assassination of the then Head of State, Gen. Murtala Mohammed. ’76’ became available to global audience on the streaming giant, Netflix, on August 4, 2021.

We have been to some festivals with ’76’, but being on Netflix is a different league, which is much higher and bigger. We are happy with Netflix, because it is a global platform. We were given our dues, without being shortchanged. We are considerably better off and happier as a country and as a production team. We did a lot of research for ’76’, in order to make sure that the brands that were on display in the movie were valid, authentic, original and available in 1976, when the coup took place. It was a lot of hard work. In 1976, the lager beer that was available was Star. Maltina was not available in 1976, as its production started in 1977.

When the movie was finished and ready to go to the cinemas, I had four Generals of the Nigerian Army in my house. They watched the movie and took notes. When they finished, I asked of their opinions, but they declined to comment, promising to get back to me. They wanted to be sure that we had everything in place. There was no point where they asked us to remove anything. We collaborated with the military but we were critical of the Nigerian Army. I am proud of the ’76’ movie team. We are happy. Global audience now gets to see the movie.


We are doing another movie, which will be about Boko Haram insurgents. We also have a movie titled ’77’. The script is being put together. ’77’ is the sequel to ’76’.  It is imperative to state that ’77’ is completely different from the movie on Boko Haram. ’77’ is a continuation of ’76’, but a movie that will stand on its own. And It follows the life of the lead actor as he confronts a new set of challenges, this time outside the military. We want to produce authentic movies, which sometimes do hurt.

We will start casting the Boko Haram movie before the end of this year. The script is ready. The movie is about the lives of common people within this Boko Haram madness. In ’76’, we looked at the women and the family. No one looks at the family, with people looking at the protagonists/the coup plotters and their victims, but not about the coup plotters’ affected wives and other family members. The same thing we want to do with the Boko Haram movie, thereby going into the day-to-day lives of the Boko Haram people before they opted for insurgency, especially the human factor, thereby getting people to connect to the reality of the problem. We should be telling our stories, as Nigerians.

Your political journey has been quite challenging. How are you coping?

If I was vying for the governorship of Rivers State in 2007 and we are now in 2021, what can I say than the journey has been quite enjoyable? There had been disappointments, no doubt. If Rivers politics is not that difficult, I probably wouldn’t have been involved. I do not support people being killed or injured just to win elections. Like a football analogy, if you want to change the style of play, you have to change the players. If people who mean well, abhor violence and are interested in peaceful development do not step up, then things will not change for the better.

To be in elective office, I made my attempts. I have not been in elective office, because I am not prepared to kill, maim and steal. No apologies. I will not change my style or approach, in order to get into elective office. I believe very strongly that the style and approach will get me somewhere. If you win elections by maiming and killing, you will ultimately govern by the same method.

Anyone who thinks that there is a huge difference among political parties in Nigeria is just deceiving himself or herself. The people who lead the political parties make the difference. Alliances need to be formed. I am not acting holier than thou.

You are a chieftain of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC). With President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration being on its way out in 2023, what are your expectations?

Political appointment is a possibility, but that is not what I live for. I am currently doing a lot to ensure the success of the Buhari administration. Tomorrow, something can come up. We are actually looking towards the next administration now, for those of us who are in politics.

It is an open secret that you intend to vie as the governor of Rivers State in 2023 on the platform of the APC, in spite of having earlier contested for the same position twice as the governorship candidate of Action Congress (AC) in 2007 and as the standard bearer of Labour Party (LP) in 2015. As a riverine person, will you be able to match or defeat the Governor Nyesom Wike-backed governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Ikwerre man from Port Harcourt city, bearing in mind their war chest and access to state’s funds and the fact that Chief Wike, an ex-Minister of State for Education, recently declared that nothing would stop him from vying for president on PDP’s platform in 2023?

I am flattered that the secret is open and my name is being mentioned among those who have money to do what they want. Unfortunately, my only asset is Rivers people and we can only rely on God to make miracles happen for us. My focus now is on improving the lives of the people I meet and in helping my friends in any way I can. 2023 will take care of itself.

I have made no secret of the fact that if the support is there, I will run. I have not seen it yet. Some of us can do wonders with four years and the state’s resources, while some persons cannot, even with eight years. The people who know, know who fits into which category. But often times, our kingmakers prefer to support supposed “loyal” people instead of those who are loyal to the people. Let us see what happens in 2023.

Your bosom friend, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Transportation Minister, is being speculated to have presidential ambition in 2023. Is that a step in the right direction?

My friend, brother and leader is focused strictly on the job that is in front of him. He still has a lot of work to do, as you yourself know. It is the rest of us that are troubling him to consider vying for president in 2023 on APC’s platform, because we know the field is void of enough good men and women who are mad enough to dare to make progress out of chaos. Look around. Name them. I can do that on one hand. Apart from President Buhari, you have the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Amaechi; Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai; and his Borno State counterpart, Babagana Zulum.

Buhari is going. Tinubu may not vie. Atiku is in another party, the PDP, and el-Rufai says it is the turn of the South to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023 in view of Presdient Buhari’s two terms of eight years; while Zulum does not even want a second term as Borno governor.

APC and PDP’s leaders have internal works to do, for 2023 to come and go in peace.

The South is going to make a valid claim for the Presidency in 2023 and the North will be wise not to ignore it. In the end, it is not by force, because force is not a language that will be good for any of us. We need one another.

Why are you into philanthropy, through the Princewill Trust, and launch of other initiatives to empower people?

It is really important to give back to the society in order to lift people. What annoys me most is that I am not able to do enough and it is frustrating. I said I would no longer fly first class, because the difference between flying first class, business class or economy can actually pay for major healthcare.

I decided to go into politics, because I cannot do enough myself. So, I need to get into government. I need to make a change from within government, which controls the resources and the environment for businesses to thrive.

I am in politics, because of the desire to help and support people. I am now 52 and I have seen a lot. At this stage in my life, I can sit back and watch, but I want to make a difference in the lives of people as much as possible so that they can also see the good things that I have seen.

Would you say you are stuck in the mud now, having tried twice to become the governor of Rivers State without success?

I do not see myself as being politically stuck in the mud. I find myself politically in a very strong position. I am a valid member of my party, the APC, and I love people. I have the ability to rouse the crowd, if need be. My future is pretty bright.

Maybe if I was a bit more pliant, less controversial and not so ready to speak truth to power, I would have been somewhere else. But I would have been unhappy. Right now, I am very happy, because I can speak my mind.


You have been sponsoring Nigerian youths to Dubai and Ghana to learn about entrepreneurship, good governance, leadership and self development. How do they manifest during the tours?

In Ghana, what I wanted to show the young people was orderly transition of government. Not incumbent to incumbent, but incumbent to opposition. Ghana’s election had just taken place and I wanted the youths to speak with top officials of the electoral body, the equivalent of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Nigeria. I also wanted them to see how local governments were being run. Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a very clean city.

In the case of Dubai, the city was nowhere 30 years ago in terms of development index. Dubai was then somewhere at the bottom. We wanted the young people who I took to Dubai to see government in action and to speak with leaders and opinion formers of the city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who championed the transition in order to hear about their ideals and their vision. It was indeed mind blowing.

Did you take the same group of youths to both Ghana and Dubai?

In the case of Ghana, I took 33 young people. From the 33 youths, I selected the best 10 and I took them to Dubai. We intend to do something slightly different. We are going a bit lower by considering the younger generation, consisting of persons who have just rounded off their university education or still in the higher institution of learning. We will be taking the group to Dubai to see similar things but on a grandiose scale. I want to be doing it every year, God willing. I may as well increase the number.

The objective of the foreign exposure of the Nigerian youths is to get them to see what I have seen. What is burning inside of me is because I regularly travel overseas, thereby making me to see the world. Some of the beneficiaries who are graduates or undergraduates can easily get postgraduate admissions into universities abroad, especially in countries I earlier visited. The youths will also be able to get to places where I had the opportunity of getting to after about seven visits to Dubai, thereby getting to see the places on their first attempt. We have consolidated everything in a week of full-packed activities. I would have wanted it to be longer but because of limited resources and time. I know that as we continue, it will get a lot better.


stepbrothers and stepsisters. How were things at the early stage of your life?

My mother had five kids, before my father married her. So I am the first child of my father and the last of my mother. My older brothers and sisters brought me up like there was no difference. It was when I was a lot older that I realised that we had different fathers. My benevolent father brought them up as if they were his own children. I was happy to be in a loving household. We were in the United Kingdom. I was seven years old when we came back to Nigeria.

When we returned to Nigeria, my older brothers were in the university. But whenever they were on break, they would come back home. I can still remember jumping on my brothers whenever they returned home. Now, I am about 6ft, 2 inches, while the tallest is 5ft, 9 inches. So, I cannot jump on them again (laughs).

Were you lonely as a child?

I never felt lonely. You know what life is like in an average Nigerian home with house helps and cousins. I was so excited when I arrived in Nigeria from the United Kingdom to see brothers and sisters. I made the best of my company. A quiet petroleum engineer now into politics, but my priorities are still very different. When I was a student, I had no interest in politics. When I came back to Nigeria, I was having fun, but a lot of people were not. I became less comfortable about where I was and I became interested in assisting others to also have opportunities.

You are a politician, and at different times the governorship candidate of two political parties for Action Congress (AC) and Labour Party (LP). Why are you interested in producing movies?

The connection between politics and movie production is all about the image of Nigeria. I am not in the business of complaining. With my green passport, I want to be proud to be a Nigerian whenever I am in any part of the world. The movie, ’76’, is Nigeria’s ambassador. ’76’ is one of the most successful Nollywood movies in recent times, which was produced in 2016, around the unsuccessful military coup of 1976, leading to the assassination of the then Head of State, Gen. Murtala Mohammed. ’76’ became available to global audience on the streaming giant, Netflix, on August 4, 2021.

We have been to some festivals with ’76’, but being on Netflix is a different league, which is much higher and bigger. We are happy with Netflix, because it is a global platform. We were given our dues, without being shortchanged. We are considerably better off and happier as a country and as a production team. We did a lot of research for ’76’, in order to make sure that the brands that were on display in the movie were valid, authentic, original and available in 1976, when the coup took place. It was a lot of hard work. In 1976, the lager beer that was available was Star. Maltina was not available in 1976, as its production started in 1977.


When the movie was finished and ready to go to the cinemas, I had four Generals of the Nigerian Army in my house. They watched the movie and took notes. When they finished, I asked of their opinions, but they declined to comment, promising to get back to me. They wanted to be sure that we had everything in place. There was no point where they asked us to remove anything. We collaborated with the military but we were critical of the Nigerian Army. I am proud of the ’76’ movie team. We are happy. Global audience now gets to see the movie.