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From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Social critic and former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav has said that the eviction notice issued by youth groups from the north to the Igbo, living in the north might just be a subtle way of calling for another civil war in Nigeria. The Public Complaints Commissioner, who warned that no nation goes into civil war twice and survives, further urged responsible leaders in the country to quickly wade into the matter with a view to coming up with a lasting solution to the matter and ensure that Nigeria remains one united entity.
Recently, some northern youth groups gave a three month ultimatum to all Igbo residing in the north to quit. What is your take on this?
They must have issued the notice out of anger and frustration because we all know what had happened in this country. Every person who was born before 1960 knows exactly what has happened in this country. Let me go back to this painful history although people may not like to hear it. We had this problem when there was military coup and only a section of this country was targeted and their leaders and senior military officers were killed by a section of the society and these people happened to be the Igbo.
Aguyi Ironsi was made the President. He came and unified the whole country without consultation with anybody. Then there was this counter coup and that was when the problem started and the Arewa people started agitating that ‘Araba’ ‘Araba’. That was the genesis of the problem. As regards asking people to go back to their place of origin, it is not the Arewa people that started it. It was the Igbo that started it. It was the Igbo who invited every Igbo man living in other places to go back to the east. And that was the beginning of the war. And that was when I was a young police inspector. That was why we were transferred from Lagos to Kaduna to replace those Igbo that answered to that call.
So, the call by the Arewa Youths is reminding us of the sad old days and it is not good. But as I said, they must have done it out of anger and frustration because upon all that these Igbo have gained in this country, everyday they keep insulting and abusing us; calling us all manner of names and we have distinguished Nigerians among the Igbo who ordinarily should call these people to order but they are not calling them to order. And this too is escalating.
I remembered I saw a video where Ojukwu said he did not regret fighting for Biafra but he also advised the Igbo that nobody should try to do that again because with the number of people who died and the number of those who lost their properties, it was not worth it. He said in that video that he was proud to lead the Biafran war but that he wouldn’t advise anybody to go that way again. But when Kanu started, nobody among the prominent Igbo said anything to condemn it. They were allowing Kanu to say whatever he wants. So, I think that was why the Arewa youths have decided to say what they are saying. But I want to appeal to all the leaders in this country, be it Igbo leaders, Arewa leaders, Yoruba leaders and others to try and douse this tension. If the Arewa youths should insist that Igbo should go back to their area, we are creating another avenue for civil war. And no country fights two civil wars and survives it.
For those of you who witnessed the Biafran war, what does this directive portend for the nation especially with the backing given to that ultimatum by Prof. Ango Abdullahi?
It’s a very dangerous agitation because if these people should carry out that threat and say all Igbo must leave the north within three months, we have many jobless people in the north who are not working and are living on drugs and all they need is for you to give them little money to buy drugs and they would do whatever you want them to do because they don’t value life. We don’t want that type of situation in this country again because it will not help us. We need one another to survive. We have lived together, inter-married and so on and we cannot just suddenly decide we want to go our separate ways.
But with these growing agitations in all regions of the country, don’t you think it is time we go our separate ways?
If we go our different ways there will be a lot of subversion. Go to any big city in the north and you would find Igbo deeply rooted there. Some of them have established there for a very long time. They’ve turned that place their homes. The worse thing is that their area is very narrow. Assuming we have to break away now and they say Biafra should go, people who will suffer in that Biafra will be the minority because the Igbo people are eyeing the oil in that region. I also agree that we have a lot of talented Igbo who can turn anything to something. In the north too, we have a lot of highly educated and talented people among the Fulanis. When you try to analyse the situation, one single tribe that has a lot of educated people is the Fulani because they are also very talented. We need ourselves but our previous leaders did not help us cement the relationship between us despite the end of the last civil war. If the Nigerian government had moved Igbo engineers who were manufacturing bombs and other things and use their resources, maybe by now we would have become a nuclear power producing country. But these people wasted their talents and at the end of the civil war, nobody recognised them.
At this stage, do you think there is any justification for this country to continue to exist as one indivisible entity? Don’t you think we need to toe the line of restructuring?
I think breaking this country into sovereign countries will not be the solution because as I said, If we do, there will be a lot of subversion because a lot of us know the secrets of every other region. There will be subversion. For instance, now that the Biafrans are agitating to go, you can see that they have even included Benue State in their map. I don’t know whether they have received consent from the people of Benue State that they want to join them. If anything happens now, there will be inter-regional fight at the border and there will be no peace in this country. People think by creating these countries, they will become Presidents in their various countries.
In the end you will just struggle and lose out and somebody who was not there when you were struggling will come and become President. That is why I am appealing to all people of good conscience to try and strengthen our unity because we have come a very long way. We are too over-ambitious, we are greedy and we want to have everything to ourselves. Is it not sad that in this country, even toothpick we cannot produce. But we have people with many private jets and we cannot manufacture an engine of a jet in this country. And to own a private jet, you have to spend a lot of money every day to maintain it. And it would surprise you to know that most of those who own these jets are not even renowned businessmen. They are people who have stolen from government and we are clapping and applauding them.
We are a consumer nation, we have not started producing. So, I think if we break away, it will be very hard for us. And I keep saying there will be subversion. One country would want to subvert the other country. The Igbo man has distinguished himself as a businessman. If we now say they should all go back to Biafra, you would discover that soon, they will start fighting among themselves over land, and before you know it, they would start encroaching into other countries for land and that is when war would start. And when they find that they are very strong, they would start to engage in international war against other sovereign nations until they come and overtake the whole countries and make the whole countries Biafra instead of Nigeria. So, it’s very dangerous.
Do you support the call for the arrest of the leaders of the Arewa Youth groups that gave the quit notice?
Why should they arrest them? They are only making a pronouncement. They have not enforced it. Why should they arrest them? Kanu was arrested and charged and then granted bail but he violated his bail conditions. What has happened to him? So, if he (Kanu) can broadcast to the whole world that he has sufficient arms to destroy Nigeria completely and yet, he was granted bail and his people are celebrating him, why must they come and arrest the Arewa youth leaders? They may have their own supporters and may steer up some problems. I think what should happen is that responsible leaders of the north should wade into this matter.
But don’t you think the eviction order is a subtle way of calling for another war?
No. They did not say they should come out and fight. They are only appealing to government to allow the Igbo go since they are saying they want to go. They did not say people should come out and fight.
You would recall that the 2014 National Confab report centred so much on the restructuring of Nigeria. Why do you think the report of that confab and those before it have been kept unattended to till date?
That National Confab that was organised had representatives of government and not representatives of the people because the government of Jonathan selected those who attended. If they had allowed Nigerians to select their representatives for that confab, it would have been a credible thing. But Jonathan handpicked those who went for that confab. In fact, the Muslims and other units were complaining that that they were not given equal representation in that confab. And I argued that if we had a National Assembly that represents the entire people of this country, why not present the debate to the National Assembly and come up with a report? Bringing other people to that confab to me was like taking over the job of the National Assembly, which was not good. So, as far as I am concerned, that confab was not credible and whatever they submitted is of no effect because they only went for jamboree.
So, what is your last word to Nigerians on this breakaway talk?
There is a lot of those who witnessed the last Nigerian/Biafran war. A lot of people lost their relations and loved ones. I want to advise them to sit and think over this thing and let’s talk about peace. If people want to break away from Nigeria, we have the National Assembly where they can present their case. If the National Assembly refuses to listen to them, then they can take this matter to the United Nations rather just wake up one morning and begin to flexing muscles, telling everybody that you have acquired a lot of arms and you are ready to break away forcefully.
