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Our Quest has always been "Either Biafra or Death".
Igbo Leaders Can’t Be Able To Control IPOB, They Are Well Determined – Chekwas Okorie
July 17, 2016 News No comments
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The presidential candidate of United Progressives Party,(UPP) in the last general elections,Chief Chekwas Okorie, said that the worsening socio-economic situation in the S’East and S’South is responsible for the continue Biafra agitation by IPOB.
EXCERPTS:
What is your impression about the Biafra anniversary that turned bloody and the struggle for secession from Nigerian state?
The government we have today has an attitude towards the agitators for a separate state of Biafra which to my mind will not resolve the issues amicably. The attitude of the government is that there is no basis for dialogue. But the advice that I have given over and over again is that there is need for dialogue, there is need to discuss. Many eminent Nigerians have advocated for dialogue.
President Buhari has repeatedly said that the people who are agitating, most of them were not born during or before the war and, therefore, will not know what most of those who participated on both sides suffered and by his figures, Nigeria lost two million people.
I don’t know how he arrived at the two million to know which side lost more. And my attitude is that the fact that majority of these people were not born is the more reason they should be brought to the negotiation table. Buhari does not need to be involved personally, he is the president of Nigeria.
There are so many agencies of government that can do that on their own or as a team. The office of the National Security Adviser,NSA, can handle this issue of dialogue, the Directorate of State Security can do it; even the office of the Inspector General of Police can handle it. These are security agencies and departments of government that can handle this without direct involvement of the President and eventually advise the President on the best way to go.
These young men cannot understand. We their fathers and elders cannot sufficiently convince them and nobody in Nigeria can explain to them why their situation is this miserable, nobody can tell them why their condition, compared to their peers from other parts of the country, is widely different.
Nobody can tell them why a graduate will remain unemployed for several years and his counterpart from another part of the country, especially from the North, will have jobs waiting for him even before graduation and, by the time some of them eventually get a place, they are subordinates to people they graduated the same year with. Nobody can tell them why to gain admission into university that somebody with about 200 points at University Matriculation Examination may not be considered to have earned enough to be admitted and another person from another part of the country with less than 100 points will gain admission.
What is the implication? The implication is that while he is still waiting to have that figure, that number that will admit him, that one that he is more brilliant than is ahead of him. There are so many things you can’t explain to these people and efforts have been made to restructure Nigeria, efforts have been made to remove some of the obnoxious policies but these have been restricted and so some of these people feel that if they confront government, they are dead, if they fail to confront government, they are dead.
So when you now sit them down and explain a few things to them and give them hope, perhaps their methods will be different, perhaps their attitude will be different and some of us who are their elders will also have a little peace of mind because, let nobody joke about it, most of us in our age and situation are under pressure too. We are even branded saboteurs, we are called names. If you go to social media, some of us are called names because the youths believe we have not done enough for them and we are asking government, ‘help us to help the country and also talk to these people’. We have been looking at a situation where government is looking for any way they can speak to leaders of Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, they don’t even know who their leaders are, they don’t even have access to them. If there is any chance that Niger Delta Avengers leaders are ready to discuss, government will have some relief.
If the Shiite Muslims, who are a different sect from the Sunni and are also fighting in the North, are ready to sit down and discuss, the government will have some relief. Why is any body reluctant to open dialogue with these ones whose leaders are known? These agitators are not hiding because they have chosen a none-violent approach. Is it when they have gone underground that anybody will begin to look for them to discuss?
When it gets to that point, it will be a bit late and some of us who are prepared to stick out our necks out and broker discussion would have lost any form of legitimacy to invite the Avengers and pro-Biafra agitators to discuss. So, I continue to insist on the dialogue option because nothing tells me that there is another way.
The last government organised a National Conference. Looking at the discordant tunes emanating from different geo-political zones, what do you advise?
My position has been consistent and I have not seen any reason to change that position and that is that the recommendations of the conference should be implemented. I do not know who it hurts really, if those recommendations are implemented.
I say this because that conference was not at the behest of the last government, it was a result of the pressure from different sections of the country that there was need for a National Conference. It will appear that the government became responsive and organized the conference. All the 36 states of Nigeria sent to the conference delegates they considered as their first eleven. The government of the day gave political parties which had elected people in the National Assembly slots to attend the conference.
APC was the only political party that did not take up its. But if all the 36 states sent delegates, it then means that majority of the states who are APC states sent delegates to that conference. And President Buhari has admitted by his own comment that nine billion Naira of public funds was spent on that conference even though he considered it a waste. I would have thought that what he will do was to justify that expenditure; after all government is a continuum; and look at the recommendations. But he said he has not read it, he had no intention to read it, he has no intention to set up any committee to form an opinion and advise him and that it will be sent to the archives. I find that very disturbing. My appeal here again is for him to have a rethink because the international community is watching. And the Biafran thing, there has been no attempt to suppress it here in Nigeria but it has happened in over one hundred countries outside Nigeria same day. The international community is watching and seeing that there is instability and chances of more instability that will not help us.
The President has a very robust ambitious budget, the largest Nigeria has ever had since independence, which, if implemented , will bring economic stability and he may end up being a very great President but, with this attitude, I wonder which investor will walk into an inferno to invest; with this attitude, I wonder what type of peace, stability that will allow the economy to grow. So, my advise remains that he should have a rethink about the recommendation of the National Conference and do something about it. He accepted to continue to implement the projects he inherited from the government; that’s why he budgeted so much money to pay old debts, so much money to continue the projects in the budget and if he has this positive attitude, what is it about the National Conference that he has his mind so made up? I can’t put my finger at it but if he wants to jettison it, let him convene his own under his own template but this country must negotiate, this country must dialogue.
Grazing Bill Can’t Be Accepted, S’East, S’South Houses of Assembly Speaks
July 17, 2016 News No comments
Herdsman
The legislators of the South East and South South House of Assemblies have rejected the controversial Grazing Bill presented before the Senate, saying that the bill should not be considered in any of the House Assemblies in the two regions.
This was even as the legislators have urged the Federal Government to restore the amnesty programme as a way of quelling the resurgent miliÂtancy in the Niger Delta.
Arising from their joint sesÂsion in Owerri, the Imo state capital, the legislators said they are going to pass a bill restricting the proposed grazÂing bill in the two regions.
Speaking during the first ever joint plenary held at the Imo State House of AssemÂbly, the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Dr. Acho Ihim who presided over the joint plenary, noted that the joint session has become necÂessary because of their shared social, economic, religious and even political interest, which will afford them the opportunity to discuss their collective problems.
Ihim who is also the Vice President of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), said that the apparent marginalization of the two regions which is evident in the distribution of national wealth, adding that the depriÂvation of the people in terms of equity, justice and fairness as well as incessant attacks on the people of the zone, grueÂsome murder of their kit and kin by the Fulani herdsmen killer squad even in their bedÂrooms are critical issues that require genuine solution to free the zone from the menÂace.
Moving a motion titled “Alternative to Militancy and Harmonization of Southeast and South-South position on Grazing Bill Proposal’, Hon. Blessing Nwagba of the Abia State House of Assembly, said that they cannot keep silent while their constituents are being killed by Fulani herdsÂmen all in the name of rearing cattle.
She pointed out that the cattle rearing business is a priÂvate venture, adding that those involved should take care of their business.
The lawmaker noted that the growing insecurity and culture of impunity being perÂpetrated by the Fulani herdsÂmen must be checked.
In his contribution, Hon. Hilary Bisong of Cross River state said that since the people of the South-east and South-south are predominately into farming, fishery and other businesses, if the Federal Government plans any grazÂing reserves for the Fulani herdsmen, it should also proÂvide reserves for the farmers and fishermen, adding that the federal government should not think of using the people’s common wealth to settle a segment of the country.
He equally noted that the real owners of the cows are rich men who should establish ranches for their cattle as it is the practice elsewhere and that public resources cannot be used to fund private busiÂnesses.
Similarly, a legislator from Bayelsa State wondered if any person from the southÂeast and south-south can go to the North and start farming in any land without permisÂsion.
Hon. Frank Nwaka of EbÂonyi State said that the zones have suffered so much depriÂvation, decimation and loss of lives, adding that no life can be exchanged for a comÂmon animal, while insisting that cows should not be alÂlowed to wander about as if they are sacred cows.
The Deputy Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ugonna Ozuruigbo submitted that the total rejecÂtion of the grazing bill proÂposal has no option, revealÂing that the bill when passed will have a commission with a chairman to be appointed by the President to allocate lands to Fulani herdsmen and that the persons who have forfeited their lands cannot go to court, adding that their petiÂtion will only be approved by the Attorney General of the Federation for it to be given attention, while commending the southeast and south-south lawmakers for condemning the grazing reserve bill in strong terms. He said that the grazing bill has nothing good to offer to the country, espeÂcially the two zones but that it will cause more communal clashes.
They resolved that the Southeast and South-South House of Assemblies should pass bill restricting the grazÂing reserves bill, while urging the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to step up action, by calling on the security agents to fish out the persons behind the atrocities meted out to the regions and provide the necessary secuÂrity for the people.
The lawmakers of the two zones also resolved that task forces comprising security agents be set up to checkÂmate the excesses of the FuÂlani herdsmen
They also called on the southeast and south-south governments to set up panel of inquiries to ascertain the reasons behind the menace.
In the same vein, the law makers called on the Federal Government to look into the grievances of the militants and find ways of addressing their agitation.
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