By Chukwudi Nweje
President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prof George Obiozor, in this interview monitored on Arise TV, spoke on restructuring, state policing, possible amnesty for Nnamdi Kanu and other national issues.
President Muhammadu Buhari has granted two major interviews this 2022, where he opposed the clamour for restructuring and described the agitators as noisemakers despite the fact that restructuring was a campaign promise of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015; he also opposed the idea of state police, what are your thoughts?
The reality and imperative of restructuring were emphasised in the 2014 national conference. What is important in restructuring is that Nigerians need a federation that will resemble the one bequeathed by the country’s founding fathers and that yearning was almost unanimously accepted at the 2014 conference. Restructuring is not a threat to the federation in any form, it is a very dynamic thing where you grow new things and you adjust. Every country that is wise and progressive takes restructuring into account as they grow. The truth about restructuring, like in the case of Nigeria is to build a more perfect union where conflict will be less and cooperation will be more. The honest situation that arose, which I feel is unfortunate is that all parts of Nigeria resolved into what late Claude Ake called and felt very strongly about that every issue in Nigeria is over-politicised like the country but under governed. If we had taken time to look at restructuring, we should have taken more from the 2014 national conference to lessen the conflict we have in this country, whether it is in our physical federalism or any political division, particularly in the revenue sharing. It is a problem that federations solve very easily by the concept of taxation and deductions through the Federal Government, the state governments and the local government where they have three tiers like Nigeria. Restructuring is in fact a national blessing, not a national tragedy.
What about the issue of Nnamdi Kanu and the state police?
The president said the Nnamdi Kanu issue is in court and you cannot fault him on that when he said he will not interfere with the judiciary. We have separation of powers where the judiciary is as independent as other arms of government, so he is right in thinking that the judicial process which is already on is there.
But, we as the Igbo are asking for something different from the judiciary. What some of us are asking is actually that he should consider Nnamdi Kanu with some prerogative of mercy, which is his prerogative as the president; we are also asking that he treats Nnamdi Kanu with mercy as a son and citizen. What we want is compassion, we are not talking about the judiciary, we are talking about some form of amnesty.
The president also rejected state policing but what is the status of the South East regional security outfit, Ebubeagu?
Those things have been granted permission a long time ago. It is already in existence in some parts of Igboland but it has not been launched. The regional security of the South West is there and they are working in cooperating with other security agencies. It is helpful at that level of policing in assisting the Federal Government and other security agencies to penetrate the communities better and talk to the average Nigerian. The need for state police and the formation of outfits like Ebubeagu or Amotekun is imperative in a federation like ours. Imagine sending a policeman from Birinin Kebbi to Oha Ozala or Ohaofia in Abia State and asking him to be Commissioner of Police for that state and he becomes Chief Security Officer in terms of crime detection and crime-fighting. The man may not have been there in his entire life, so how does he operate? If we are imitating other countries, we have to look at how they succeeded and not how they failed. The reality of the Nigerian Police today is that the police is too small to police the country. You may not have to call it state police, they could be called state guards or any other thing, but they should be trained to detect and reduce crime. As societies get more sophisticated, crime increases and nobody can say that Nigeria is not developing; it is developing, no matter how slow. What I am saying is that state police has become an argument because it has been politicised like everything in Nigeria; once you politicise them, you will lose them in the cacophony of political debate and opposition; otherwise, what is wrong with state police other than politicising it and the danger that it will go out of hand and become a challenge rather than a solution to a national problem. I have come to a conclusion and I have made it clear that no amount of all these side militancy or revolutionaries is a threat to Nigeria’s unity because none of them has the capacity to defeat Nigeria, not even Nnamdi Kanu or Boko Haram; we saw Boko Haram in the North East and overcame it. Other crises we are facing today will take the same course and pass; Nigeria is like an Iroko tree, it stands firm and strong enough to defeat all the problems we face today. When I went to school in Switzerland, it was the local police that handled every issue. We need the local people to police their area to the best of their interest. It is important to have levels of policing because that is how to be effective in controlling crime, if it doesn’t come now, it will come in the future.
Are you suggesting that the ongoing case against Nnamdi Kanu should be discontinued?
No, I have not said the President should stop the legal process. The president is observing correctly the separation of powers there. The truth is that when you are making an appeal for somebody in the situation Nnamdi Kanu is in, you are not going legally or political. We are asking Mr President to apply his power of prerogative of mercy and do something. We expect the president to have a second thought. The president has granted amnesty to some people before; he has a large heart. The president has the power to apply what you read in the Holy Bible by saying my son, go and sin no more.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that the Nigerian national anthem should no longer feature in schools in the South East and that goods coming from the North, particularly cattle should not come to the South East. What is the position of Ohanaeze on this as a Northern group has also said goods and services from the South-East should not be allowed in the North and that politicians from the South East should not be supported?
I will tell you this and it is the right statement. IPOB does not speak for the Igbo and to be candid, the IPOB anger is accumulated anger based on perceived or real injustice against Ndigbo for so long. We understand their anger and the anger of many youths in the country. However, IPOB is not mandated to speak for Ndigbo and it is unfortunate that the Northern group made their statement because Ohanaeze Ndigbo does not respond when youths in their exuberance make certain comments like they did before that all Igbo should leave the North. The fact that some responsible people in the North can take the position that they did shows that it is predetermined. For me and many Ndigbo, the statement has been made a long time ago that Ndigbo are not at war with Nigeria. Wherever you go across Nigeria you will see the Igboman struggling with his fellow Nigerians to build a nation. What the Igbo are talking about is not about cattle, we have more serious things to discuss. We have to state to the public to know that the Igbo do not speak like IPOB. IPOB is an organisation whose leader is facing some major problem and when they speak, it is erroneous to think that Ndigbo has spoken. There are some people who think that when people obey IPOB like when they started their sit at home, it is not because Ndigbo support it, there is the fear factor.
Ohanaeze has said it will visit other zones of the country to seek support for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023 and also get the political parties to zone their ticket to the Igbo; who are some of the people you are putting forward?
If I do that, what is left for us to do, but I can tell you that a president from the South East is an idea whose time has come; it is politically justifiable and morally defensible; it is indeed logical and in all sincerity, justice, equity and fairness have come home to Nigeria. What is important for us is to promise Nigeria that if they give us that opportunity, we will bring a leader who is a patriot, who will rule with humility and work hard for the progress, peace and unity of the country. I can tell you that the Igboman is unique in sharing. One of the greatest problems of Nigeria is power-sharing; this power-sharing is the greatest source of all the conflicts in Nigeria and the Igbo presidency will resolve that.
You said that IPOB doesn’t speak for the Igbo, so who does?
I do, I’m elected to speak for the Igbo.
