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• Insecurity: Tinubu doing the right things, but it seems he’s being frustrated
• Why I can’t work with Atiku, El-rufai, Amaechi, Aregbesola in ADC
By Adesuwa Tsan
The last gubernatorial candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Sen. Athan Achonu represented Imo East in the Senate. He spoke on topical national issues, including insecurity, state of opposition parties in Nigeria and his recent defection to APGA.
In the last few weeks, it has been a tale of tears and sorrow with communities coming under attack by terrorists especially in Plateau, Zamfara and Kwara States. What advice would you give to the Tinubu administration on addressing rising insecurity?
The president knows what to do, to be honest. You know he had been a governor two times and senator. That is why he went to court. He planned himself very, very well. I don’t know what is weighing him down. I don’t know what he is afraid of. He, first of all, got a judgement on local government autonomy, then he went ahead to withdraw fuel subsidy so that more money will now be in the system to help local governments to do their job. He also, intentionally, created forest guards. He is smart, he knows what he is doing but the implication is what I don’t understand. He has done all the right things. He created forest guards, not state police, because he knows that security is local. Every crime is local, crime is local. These forest guards are supposed to work with local government and police DPOs, DSS in local and rural areas to secure the place. Nothing is happening. It is as if he is being frustrated.
That is why I said they should look into the leadership of Progressive Governors Forum. That’s the danger. That’s where the danger lies. They are up to something. Only God knows what they are up to because they are frustrating every effort of this president to govern this country very well. Look at the amount of money that’s flowing into the system. Everybody’s shouting Tinubu, Tinubu, what about the money that is being shared every month to governors and local governments? Where is it? The insecurity thing, I think it has become a business, that is what it is. Every time you see, they will kidnap people, then governors will come and settle with billions of naira. There is rumour going around that the money is shared. That is why it is continuing because it has become so lucrative. So the president should also look into it. I’m tired of talking. I’ve been shouting on the president to do this. The president should do this, please.
And also, abroad, South Africa, USA, they have private security companies that are licensed to carry arms. Once they have that, all this police that the government agencies, businessmen and multinationals are using to protect themselves, they will be released to beef up security while this private licensed companies can now provide security for private individuals and multinationals. That is what obtains everywhere else in the world.
In the South-East, there has been uneasy calm over the sentencing of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu….
See, that is one thing Tinubu, I can’t justify why he has not released Nnamdi Kanu up till now. Nnamdi Kanu, what did he do? Maybe he used foul language. He is not the one doing the killings. He never asked anybody. In fact, the young man who is doing the killing is said to be living in Finland and government knew about it and nobody did anything about it. Is it because of the way he was talking about Buhari and all those things he was saying? It is personal thing between him and Buhari. He didn’t do anything. Okay, if they say he has done something, let them pardon him. They pardoned the others, isn’t it? They pardoned Igboho, pardoned so many others. The terrorists who even killed, murdered people, sacked villages, murdered innocent mothers and children, kidnapping them. They will catch them, Buhari will release them, rehabilitate them, and put them in the army and police. So what kind of country are we running? Is it because he is Igbo? So Tinubu should really do something. It will calm frayed nerves. Let him release Nnamdi Kanu. We will support him.
One of the important demands in the South-East at the moment is the request for the creation of an additional state. Leaders of the National Assembly have assured it would be actualised via the constitution amendment exercise. Among the proposals, you have expressed support for Anioma State. Why?
There are so many Igbos that are not accommodated in the South-East region now, presently. A lot of people that are Igbos. In fact, half of Delta State are Igbos who are supposed to be in the South-East. So that is why I support Anioma State. So, let’s get those ones into the South-East, then later we will go to the other ones in Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom, bring them back into our fold. Then subsequently, there are those who are in Benue and Kogi and bring them. We should be together. Same as the Yorubas who are together. Anioma State will bring them effectively into the fold.
You recently announced your defection from Labour Party to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Can you speak to the issues that led you to make that decision?
The structure of Labour Party, I’m not comfortable with it. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has an overbearing influence on the party. I am not comfortable with the NLC. I am not comfortable with their attitude to protecting the interest of workers and Nigerian people in general. Once you protect the interest of Nigerian workers, you are protecting the Nigerian people, the common man.
The NLC, they are in cohort with the government, they’re working for the government and if they are working for government, then Labour Party is not an independent party. So, when I found out, I didn’t know that before I became a member. It was when this crisis erupted that I found out but by then it was too late. I had already bought form to contest for governorship so I went along with my intention to run.
So when that crisis erupted, I tried my best to stabilise the party. I advised Peter Obi, I advised Alex, I advised Abure that we should find ways of accommodating each other and making peace. There is a letter I circulated then in the party telling them that the executive is the shell, like the human body, while the intestines and the organs are the stakeholders and one cannot do without the other. I appealed that we should make peace and get along with one another. This is a party that was supposed to win the presidential election, why are we fighting? I asked and begged but nobody listened to me. Then there is NLC on the other side and this crisis on this side. So long as NLC has that hold on this party, I can’t stay in such a party. I will like a party where everyone is a co-owner, once you join you are loke co-owner. Nobody has ownership of the party. Like a limited liability company where you have one, one per cent share, not that somebody has 51 per cent and I will come and join. That is how I look at Labour Party. I lost confidence in the party so I looked for another party. Originally, I supported the registration of APGA when it was registered. I was in PDP then. I saw it as a platform where South-Easterners can come and negotiate power. The same thing that Tinubu did. You know, Tinubu has great leadership qualities. Same thing he did with AC. He used it to negotiate, partner with other groups and then took power. That is what APGA should have done a long time ago. I hope Soludo, his posturing is not bad, I hope he can achieve that before he leaves office. I am going to support him in any way I can to realise it.
With the ADC and co, do you think there is any opposition that can stop Tinubu from getting a second term in 2027?
The problem is, people have asked me why I didn’t go into the ADC. This is Nigeria. Look at the people who are in the ADC, how different are they from those who are in APC? Is it El-Rufai? Or is it Malami that his ministry took somebody took somebody from 4th position in my state to number 1? He made him governor, somebody who lost election, they made him governor. Is it Rauf Aregbesola who was Minister of Interior when the borders opened and all the terrorists came in? Was he not? So who? Atiku? Atiku has never condemned the killings in Nigeria before. The only time he did, the islamists challenged him and he put down the post. Because Peter Obi is there? I did not join Labour Party just because Peter Obi was there. It is because I thought it was a clean party. Alex Otti was there, Peter Obi was there and the man who was Peter’s vice (Datti), a man I respect a lot, was also there. It was a clean party. But ADC, I cannot join ADC. Or is it Amaechi? Amaechi was Minister of Transport for eight years and he took our rail line to Maradi and did not put any in Imo State or Rivers State where he comes from, where he was governor for eight years. So those are not people I can associate with politically.
