By Daniel Kanu
Elder Umah Eleazu is the chairman BOT, Anya Ndigbo, an umbrella body of all town unions in the Southeast and the Diaspora.
He is also member of Imeobi, the highest decision-making organ of Ohanaeze-Ndigbo worldwide.
The nonagenarian elder statesman, economist, political analyst, and strategist had once ran for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and thus is familiar with the country’s politics and democratic process.
The 94-year-old outstanding icon told Sunday Sun that leadership has failed Nigeria and Nigerians.
He also said that blurred vision, greed, poor commitment and personality issues have made it impossible for successive leaders to deliver on their social contract with the people.
Elder Eleazu spoke on other issues, including the need to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), giving verdict on the performance of the Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti. Excerpt:
There is this discourse in most political circles that it is not leadership, but the Nigerian political structure that is the bane of our problems. How will you react to this?
I have spoken about all these issues and I advise you to read them up in my book: “Nigeria as I see it: Reflections on the challenge of leadership.” No matter the way you look at it, leadership has failed Nigeria and Nigerians. That has been through blurred vision, poor commitment, individual greed and personality issues. All these made it impossible for successive leaders to deliver on the social contract of wellbeing of the nation and its citizens, safety of lives and property and engendering equal opportunity for citizens.
Do you still have confidence in our electoral system as we are approaching another off-cycle election to be conducted In some states?
We do not need to be told of the massive rigging, malpractices and all that in the electoral system. A good system is measured by its ability to produce good leadership, while one that produces people with questionable character or those lacking leadership qualities is not desirable. So, who are those that the electoral system is producing? Are they the choice of the people or were they imposed on the people? Has the people’s votes counted? These are questions that must be answered. It’s sad, but the reality is that Nigeria’s electoral process is faulty. The candidates that emerge after elections, most times do not show that the votes count. You know what I am talking about. You saw what happened in the last presidential election, for instance.
Looking at the way the country is today, what do you think is the way forward?
I have made my position known at different fora and I still have the same view. Well, in the past, I have written a very long article, published in some newspapers. My view is that we should go back to the drawing board and restructure this country. There is so much concentration of power at the centre that the centre cannot manage the country. The centre is too powerful. We should go back to self-governing regions. Maybe we keep the geo-political zones as the new region. Secondly, we do not yet know what democracy is all about. We need to retrain all who want to go into politics about elementary principles of honesty, integrity, probity, and so on. Presidential system of government is complex; maybe we should return to parliamentary system right from the local government level. If we break down the governance of this country into manageable units the coordination will be better and the governance and outcome of government policies will reach the citizens faster. So, I think, what we need to do now is for us to restructure this country. Let me tell you my view on restructuring. There is aerial restructuring i.e. geo-politics. The North has more states and more local governments than the South. Secondly, the Federal Government during the military regime took all the sources of income and put them in what they called Federation Account, from there they now give what they like to the states and to the local governments. No one goes to check what they do with the money. When we were young, when the British ruled this country, there were only 27 provinces in Nigeria, the South had more provinces than the North even though the North had a larger area. The census, the British conducted in 1951 (because we were not yet independent) showed that there were more people in the South than in the North. When we got another census in 1961 it showed the same thing, that there were more people in the South than in the North, but the North rejected it and it was a disputed census, so every region just claimed how many people they think they have and that is why till today, we don’t have a credible census and we keep on estimating that we are 200 and something million people. Probably, if we really get down to a proper census, we may not be up to 180 million. So, there is so much self deceit in governance in Nigeria and we all need to sit down and restructure the whole thing, restructure our geo-politics, restructure our economic management systems and restructure our security system, restructure the financial system, etc. In fact, there are so many things that need to be restructured and the simple way of doing politics. Let’s go back to where we started in 1954. There is so much injustice projected in the present system, and it is part of the reason Nigeria is not working.
Are you worried about the sit-at-home in the Southeast foisted on the people by IPOB, its impact and the continued detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu?
What you see in the Southeast is what some people want. An agenda to neglect and put the region down. Have you forgotten the comment of a president that said the region is but a “Dot in the map.” The present leader said he will continue the good works of his predecessor. So, what do you expect? The courts at different levels have given the verdict that Nnamdi Kanu should be released, but the powers that be, who want to play god don’t want to obey. The truth is that the way things are in the Southeast is the way they want it. There is no reason whatsoever to continue to detain Nnamdi Kanu.
How will you assess the performance of Southeast governors?
I can’t talk about other Southeastern states as I have not visited most of the states to know what they are doing. But I can confidently tell you that my state govenor, Dr Alex Otti (Abia State) is doing so well. You can see his footprint, in all sectors. You don’t need to be told, when you visit the state because the evidence is there. Even the people will testify to it. So, I will say kudos to him. My governor is on the right track. Abia is working, God’s Own State, is taking its pride of place. I sincerely commend his good works.
The issue of state police has continued to generate robust debate and now that the National Assembly is addressing whether to adopt it or not, let’s know your position on the issue and if it can provide the needed solution to increasing security challenge in the country?
Well, left to me, what should be done is to regionalize police and the security system. We need to set up a police academy. Police is a profession and we need to professionalize the police institution. When I was a lecturer in the university and I recall that people used to come and take a degree in sociology or psychology and take police administration and policing as an elective, but in Nigeria this is not so. Here you can see people looking like armed robbers carrying guns and it should not be so. Police works from intelligence, information. So, my advice is that every region should set up a police academy where they train people in proper policing. There are some aspects, department of police that specializes on students’ affairs and when they finish they are posted to secondary schools, the universities, and they are experts in that area, handling security issues and policing such environments. It is their area of specialization and they tackle issues in that area with great competence due to their training. It is not all the police that carry guns because they have different specialization. There are those trained for such. Of course, with the information technology, there will be experts in that area. There will also be a creation of an ombudsman. Let the regions employ officers from the region who can speak the language. Each region will have their own Inspector General of Police. The truth is that we need to restructure the whole country politically and that will also involve restructuring the policing system because what we have today cannot give us the desired result.