From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
With barely two months to the second anniversary of the Bola Tinubu administration, an Aba, Abia State-based legal practitioner, Ebere Uzoatu, has urged the president and members of his cabinet to walk their talk by making deep sacrifices and tightening their belts just as they have asked the already pauperized populace to do.
By drastically cutting down on expenditure and being more prudent in utilizing available resources, Uzoatu argued that funds would be saved and channeled into areas that would meet the needs of the generality of the people.
In this interview, Uzoatu joined the growing demand for political solution of the case of Nnamdi Kanu.
He also commended former Abia State governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who is representing Abia North in the 10th Senate, praising him for employing the present Abia State Head of Service, an indigene of Edo State, after he completed his national youth service in the state and then rose through the ranks to his current position.
What’s your reaction on the insistence of Nnamdi Kanu that he would not allow Justice Binta Nyako continue his trial?
Nnamdi Kanu was 100 per cent right in saying the Judge has no jurisdiction to try him or to continue to handle his case because in law, you don’t place something on nothing and expect it to stand. Once the judge had earlier recused herself from handling the case, it meant that she had lost the jurisdiction to try the case notwithstanding the fact that the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court later remitted the case file back to her. An order of the court must be obeyed and she made that order herself. At best, a party should have gone on an appeal to set aside that order. Once that order is still pending, there is nothing the Judge would have done in such a situation because you can’t blow hot and cold at the same time. Given that she recused herself, she lost the moral ground to handle the matter from that point onwards.
What the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court did, was like an internal memo directed at the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako. It was wrong in a way, because you can’t use an internal memo in a judicial process to set aside a judgement or an order of court, that’s the position of law.
What do you think is the way forward in Nnamdi Kanu’s case?
Well, the way forward is this, if not for the power play manifesting left, right and centre, I wasn’t happy that somebody of the caliber of Chief Mike Ozekhome, a senior advocate, was dropped from Nnamdi Kanu’s legal team. No matter what, that man is a legal colossus. His coming in brought a new lease of life in that matter whereby he made some counts to be dropped. They should have allowed him to continue with that matter. So, this is part of the obstacles in the trial. It is better to err on the part of caution than to err on the part of expedition. That’s why many of us believe that it is okay for him to do anything he thinks will protect his rights.
Many have called on President Bola Tinubu to adopt political solution and release Kanu. Do you align with that?
That’s the proper thing to do in the present situation because Nnamdi Kanu’s case can never be isolated from what has happened in another ethnic jurisdiction. We had the case of Sunday Igboho. Today, he is a free man. In the North, there was a time the leader of the Fulani was set free. May be he committed another infraction for which the DSS is holding him now. Why should that of an Igbo man be an exception? There should be a political solution to it. God forbid, even if Kanu is convicted today, it will be difficult to implement the order without incurring the wrath of the Igbo. There will be political upheaval, so, the best is for him to be released and let there be sanity in the South East.
During the public presentation of his book, General Babangida declared that the January 15, 1966 coup was not an Igbo coup. Please comment on this.
In the first place, I will salute the General Ibrahim Babangida for having the courage to come out, to say so. At least, that would go a longer way in healing the nation. It takes a man of courage to admit that he made mistakes. Whereas he took the blame for the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election, he pointed at Generals Sani Abacha, David Mark and others as people who stood against Abiola becoming the president.
I salute him for that courage and for equally coming out to say that the January, 1966 coup wasn’t an Igbo coup, and stressed that participants from other ethnic groups were involved in the planning and execution of the coup. He said that Chukwuma Nzeogwu was Igbo by name only; he was more or less Hausa by orientation, he was born and bred in Kaduna, spoke fluent Hausa more than he spoke fluent Igbo.
Notwithstanding that he fought for Biafra by accident, when he was killed, the Federal forces gave him a befitting burial in Kaduna. That will show Nzeogwu was a pan-Nigerian, he wasn’t an Igbo jingoist.
How do you analyze Tinubu’s economic policies in the face of the present hardship in the country?
Yes, Tinubu has impoverished a vast majority of Nigerians. If you ask him he will tell you he is trying to effect some changes. The essence of governance is the people you rule. How can you be governing people and by the time you finish with your governance, majority of them have died, what’s the essence of governance again? So, he should brace up. Tinubu is not inspiring people as far as his economic policies are concerned. As it stands now, Nigeria does not have a middle class any longer. It is either that you are poor or you are rich. Before you can call yourself a rich man in Nigeria today, you must have up to US$1m which is about N1.5b. If you have N1m, what can it buy in the country today?
So, a good leader should make sacrifices. Even if you ask people to tighten their belts, you should equally tighten your own belt. But in situation where you are living in opulence and grandeur, it is not the best. Last year, they bought a presidential jet for the president and renovated the Vice President’s official residence with N15b. What do you want other people to do?
How do you think the country can overcome this?
Tinubu should put round pegs in round holes, not round pegs in square holes. Let him jettison his tribal tendencies and his nepotism by getting in technocrats into his government. That’s why till tomorrow, I duff my hat for General Babangida and President Olusegun Obasanjo. These men are pan-Nigerian leaders, they never considered where you come from, provided you were a technocrat, they would bring you into the government.
Check IBB’s regime, he brought in technocrats who helped to privatize the economy, carry out certain revolutionary changes in the polity and Nigeria was good for it, the same with Obasanjo. Majority of the technocrats Obasanjo brought into government were of Igbo origin and they performed creditably.
What would you say about the claims and counter claims by Abia State government and pensioners over payment of pension arrears?
There is an ongoing disagreement on the issue pensions. We must bear in mind that sometimes, some of these people want to shortchange the government by inflating the payroll. So, Otti is trying to stop all that and the people who benefit from it are not happy.
I wrote a petition to the Abia State Head of Service on behalf of my client, who served this state meritoriously for 35 years. A powerful cartel hid her file. She go no pension of gratuity. Even at the time she was in service, the cartel was receiving her salary and paying her what they felt like paying her. I believe my petition will receive due attention because it is one of the ills Governor Otti is fighting and those who have held the state down for years are not happy with him.
What is your general assessment of Governor Alex Otti’s administration?
Governor Otti has done well in many areas. Take for instance, the appointment of an Edo man as the Head of Service (HoS) for Abia. Otti doesn’t care where you come from, this was a guy who did his youth service in Abia years back and the administration of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu retained him, today he is HoS in Abia. It’s a good beginning for all of us. That’s another area I give kudos my governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo. His Chief Press Secretary is from Edo State, just like one or two other appointments he made.
That’s how it should be; the Igbo should stop discriminating among themselves based on the state one comes from. If there is any problem, all of us as Igbo will fight it together as one, so, let’s de-escalate this issue of statism, it does not argur well for the Igbo.
Again, Otti has done well for the state in the area of infrastructure. Last year, lawyers in the state went to Ohafia to meet the Brigade Commander there. I was surprised, we passed through Omenuko Bridge, in fact my heart was in my hand, I told myself was that how I would die that day, one tiny bridge like that. So, if the driver is tipsy, any slightest thing, all of you will go and meet your Creator that very day. Today, he has flagged off re construction of that bridge.
He is also doing great in reconstruction of roads as well as tackling environmental sanitation. Aba for once has cast off the odious toga of the dirtiest city in Nigeria.
The opposition stridently argues that Otti is not doing anything. What is your view on this?
Anybody that says Otti is not doing enough should go to Aro Psychiatric, Hospital for his head to be examined. Thank God you said the opposition. What do you expect from the opposition” The opposition wants to win the next election. Because of this, they will concoct facts and figures, even manipulate documents to pull you down and that is exactly what they are doing in the state.
Before, these people that are talking now were telling us that ‘Nwa Aba g’aru Aba’ (Aba must be fixed by an Aba boy), they failed, but now Otti is fixing Aba and those old foxes should rather cover their faces in shame instead of attacking Otti.
Recently, there has been this backlash from people against Aba Power’s billing system they believe is high. What’s your reaction?
Let me give you my own personal experience. I have been crusading for Aba Power and commending them for making power somehow constant in larger part of Aba. That’s the point, Aba Power is trying, but recently, they wanted me to have a change of mind against them when they gave me a bill of over N72,000 for a residential building, some of my neighbours were given close to N100,000. That thing rankled my mind in the sense that I’m aware NERC allowed them about 50 percent increment in tariff. If that is the case, I used to pay N16,000 in the near past, even at the 50 percent tariff increment, it shouldn’t have gone up to over N72,000 per month.
So, some of us are considering taking them to court solely on this their jumbo bill which is not in consonance with what was allowed them by NERC. Other than that, many of us will not have problem with Aba Power.
How do you assess Abia’s lawmakers at the National Assembly?
I duff my hat for Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, although role the senators hey are primarily there to make laws, but Kalu has gone beyond that to attract so many democratic dividends including roads for his people of Abia North. He has done very well and I will like others to emulate him.