By Dickson Okafor
Abumchukwu N. Okoye, National Coordinator, Take Back Nigeria Initiative (TBNI) said only a brain reset can renew the mindset of Nigerians to elect competent leaders in 2027.
He said the crisis in Rivers State is as a result of conspiracy of leaders in the state and in Niger Delta who, he noted, are the beneficiaries of the fallout of the endless crisis in the state.
He also spoke on other issues.
The declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu has been condemned by many Nigerians. What is your take?
The state of emergency in Rivers State is orchestrated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the People Democratic Party (PDP) and some Niger Delta leaders. It was as a result of the conspiracy of these leaders. However, by way of explanation, the disloyalty of Governor Siminalayi Fubara was too soon. And the insistency of his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on compliance with equity of the jungle was also too soon. It shouldn’t have been localised because of the circumstances of the politics of oil. Finally, the beneficiaries of the fallout between Governor Fubara and Wike were not imaginative because they expunged the real history of the politics of Niger Delta, hence in this matter, normal is abnormal.
So, the development in Rivers calls for serious attention because it became obvious that every attempt to resolve the political disagreement between Governor Fubara and Wike had hit the rocks. President Tinubu had no option but to declare a state of emergency. And the climax was the threat by Ijaw youths to blow up oil pipelines if Governor Fubara was impeached, which they carried out. And that was when the cookie crumbled. Their annoyance was sparked by the way Wike spoke in response to their threat by saying that it was not only the Ijaws that knows how to blow oil pipelines, that Nigerians in the other parts of the country can do so too, which the Ijaws perceived as an insult. So, President Tinubu took the right decision by declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State and ratified by the National Assembly to prevent complete breakdown of law and order.
What do you think can be done to elect credible and competent leaders without godfathers?
Nigerians need a brain reset because if we reset our brain, our mindset will be renewed. Then Nigerians can elect competent and credible leaders in 2027. Brain reset is the first thing required to do away with all manners of sentiments. Otherwise, we will continue to make the same mistake. When it is time to elect competent people, tribe and religion will take the centre stage. Tell me what will prompt our so-called leaders in this period of acute hunger, bad economy, hardship and insecurity to be debating about sexual harassment? Sen Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan even took the complaint to the United Nations Forum, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York, United States during the Women in Parliament session. And we gave it front pages in the national and international space. Who did this to us? That is why we must Take Back Nigeria not through violence, but through brain reset. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is busy working so hard to rescue Nigeria from economic backwardness, with the support of the National Assembly led by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, to ensure that there is unity and cohesion in governance. There can be no development without setting aside sentiments. Meanwhile, I commend the National Assembly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Diaspora Commission for their efforts to bring back Nigerian detainees and prisoners in Kalite Prison in Ethiopia. The government of that country has reached an agreement with Nigeria for us to come and take them back because the Ethiopian Government said they can no longer cater for them.
Is the 10th National Assembly up and doing in the discharge of their legislative responsibilities and making laws that can transform Nigeria?
Yes, the present National Assembly and its leadership are doing their best through making adequate laws that can improve the living standard of the people. But are we the people doing our best to hold our representatives accountable? Rather, all we are interested in is pull him or her down if the person is not from our tribe, ethnic or religious background. One would have thought that the energy spent on this sexual harassment allegation, if the effort and vibrancy is used to tackle the challenges we are facing in Nigeria, we would have been liberated. If we had applied the efforts by pushing for the wellbeing of vulnerable people in the rural areas, things would have got better. The people who concentrate on less important issues are those who claimed to be our leaders. Rather, these are recycled self-interest seekers. The question is, are we ready and prepared to elect credible and competent leaders in spite of his or her tribe and religious background in 2027? Only when we do this can we see true leaders in action in the country. That is why I’m agonized and angry with most Nigerian leaders for abandoning the actual things that can make us great and chase after shadows.
Do you believe that if the planned coalition and merger of the opposition parties become fruitful, APC will be dethroned in 2027?
Merger of who? This political arrangement called merger is a cacophony. It is activities without action. Those behind the coalition are spent forces who are looking for a way to be relevant in Nigeria’s political space in 2027. So, what the former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai is doing is called activities without result and that is the end of it. Look at the character of those who are involved in the coalition. Look at the persons you are talking about. Who will surrender to the other when it comes to sharing of position and who will be the presidential candidate? Again, the leadership of this country must be in the South till 2031. So, if you look at the leader of APC, the master politician and a true game player, President Tinubu, do you think it is an easy plot to dethrone him in 2027? That is a child’s play.
What has the government done that would warrant Nigerians to re-elect President Tinubu?
They have done wonderfully well in less than two years, but they still have to do more. The first thing the government did was telling us the truth. There was nothing in the purse of the Federal Government when Tinubu took over from former President Buhari. That is why Nigerians believe in him and supported his reign in spite of the challenges we face. Today, the market forces are at play. Again, in terms of ideological standpoint, we can say this is where Nigeria is headed. And the Federal Capital Territory is being transformed to become the real capital of Nigeria. in terms of road construction, you can see the ongoing coastal road from Lagos to Calabar. How many years has President Tinubu being in power to achieve all these? In terms of rule of law, I give kudos to this government. Why are we making noise? Is it not because of open door policy of this administration? Who did it under former President Buhari? Nigerians were afraid to speak against wrong policies and decisions of that government because they didn’t allow us to value our freedom. Buhari administration didn’t allow us to decide who and what we want to be because he caged us.
In Anambra, the new security law has affected operations of both orthodox and traditional religious practices. Isn’t that against the constitution of Nigeria?
This question is being raised now by those who didn’t experience what happened before now. Before now we were condemning Governor Charles Soludo that he was not interested in the security of Anambra people. And this hooligans and criminals were killing innocent people anyhow, such that most people could not even travel to their villages. They have the effrontery to even challenge the government and they divided Anambra State into camps, thinking government could not do anything. I said it in my last interview that this is a step in the right direction and I warned that they should not go beyond the boundary of human rights. On the effects the Homeland Security law has on religion and native doctors in the state, the law is against obtaining by false pretences.
If somebody who has been collecting for Okiite (ritual pot) all of a sudden wakes up early in the morning and said there is nothing like Okiite, he should refund the money he collected. These so-called native doctors collect up to N10million to prepare this ritual pots called Okiite and because government has asked them to prove their spiritual powers, they now said there is nothing like Okiite. That means they collected money without consideration or under false pretence. The answer is either he will refund the money or replace the goats and cows he collected. So, the so-called Okiite has no potency. You will see a young boy doing nothing to earn a living. They will sell their father’s land and take the money to a native doctor to do Okiite, thereby creating nuisance, kidnapping people and killings for rituals. If any native doctor associates with kidnappers, and his name is mentioned by the criminals, he should be arrested and questioned. If it is true that you do juju for somebody to disappear, the state government under the homeland law will register you at the local government level, headed by the Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs and a licence will be issued to you.