Prof. Obiora Okonkwo is the chairman, United Nigeria Airlines and a candidate in Anambra State gubernatorial election in 2021. In this interview, he speaks on the state of insecurity in the South- East state, why he doesn’t believe that the recently inaugurated security outfit in the state will tackle insecurity in the state. Excerpts: ...Read Full Article >>➤
The Christmas and New Year period has come and gone. What was the period like for you?
Yes, Christmas and New Year are occasions that mean different things to different people. In some parts of the world, it’s just simply a holiday. The Anambra people are known for entrepreneurship. A typical Anambra person who is self-employed does not take a vacation, and does not have a holiday. Everything is fixed towards the end of the year; that is the period of Christmas. Even those who live overseas, accumulate all their off days, and vacations, pushing it towards Christmas. Those who have events, all push it towards Christmas because it’s that time of the year people love to come home. It is also that period when we come not only to be with our people and celebrate, but it is also a period when you share what you have with others. That has been what mainly, among so many other things, the Christmas period means to us. Unfortunately, this year was never like before because a whole lot of people who could afford to be with their extended families at home in Anambra, for security reasons, and wisely so, avoided the state. The very few who mustered the courage to go, I mean among the elites, spent huge resources to provide security for themselves. For instance, I visited a friend and there were just a few of us in his house, but the number of security aides around was unimaginable. If we were 10 inside the house, there were more than 100 security personnel comprising Police, Army and DSS outside the house. If you were driving in one car, there would be several other vehicles carrying security personnel accompanying you. It is not the sort of life anyone would want to live. We could have easily said that the security situation is so bad and stayed away from our villages, but that would mean bringing more hopelessness to people. That will negatively impact on those people who ordinarily would benefit from your being around, including families and traders who would make supplies to your home. Many of us also created charity programmes through which we reach out to the people around us and these programmes are executed during Christmas, in the spirit of sharing what you have with others. So, staying away would mean victory for those who are perpetrating crime.
So we defied all the odds and travelled home. I was there. A few friends had their events but anyone who was inviting you to an event would always assure you that your security was guaranteed. People spent as much to provide security as they spent to host events. It was that bad. Our state is under siege. Compared to other states in the southeast region, Anambra is the worst. It is so bad that many people abandoned their homes and operated from neighbouring states. A friend, who owns a hotel in Owerri, informed me that the pressure for accommodation was so much that his permanent suite was sold to guests. Meanwhile, hotels in Awka and other parts of Anambra were empty. Many people preferred to operate from our neighbouring states. In a nutshell, Christmas in Anambra was not what it used to be. It was a Christmas of sorrow. Not Christmas of hope and joy.
We have heard reports of people, including clerics being kidnapped or shot at and killed on the streets in Anambra. We also heard that Governor Soludo has unveiled a new security programme called ‘Operation Udo Ga Achi.’ What is your take on these?
Kidnapping and killings are now the order of the day in Anambra. The situation is like, ‘one day, one trouble.’ The way it is, it takes a miracle for a day to pass without somebody being snatched from homes or on the street or being killed. The situation is so bad that priests and reverend sisters are being kidnapped or killed. These things happen without the state government finding a lasting solution. A prominent reverend father in the state recounted his encounter with the state’s security and officials when his colleague priest was kidnapped. The state’s security and government officials told him there was nothing they could do. The priest could not understand how such a thing could happen. I can’t also understand why a state government would not secure life and property, which is one of the cardinal duties of government at federal level and state level. I have read reports on the governor’s effort and I welcome any effort that is genuine and sincere towards arresting the situation in Anambra and I will support that anytime. I heard the governor has launched a security operation. Isn’t it amusing? By March, the governor would be three years in office. Before now, he had no plans to manage insecurity. That he is just launching a security operation after three years leaves much to be desired. December was the peak during which people returned for Christmas. The state government did not consider it necessary to launch a security operation that time. Having reviewed this action and all actions leading to it, it appears to me that the governor, Soludo, is politicising insecurity in Anambra State. And the setting up of a security outfit, named Operation Udo Ga Achi (Operation Peace Will Rule), is insincere. It is obvious that what he has set it up is not a security outfit but a political platform with full security apparatus. The full name of the outfit is ‘Soludo Ga Achi’ (Soludo Will Rule). Udo Ga Achi is just a subterfuge. That is what it is all about. Soludo has simply unveiled an army of intimidation and occupation to run everyone out of town for his re-election. This is the group that will hound political opponents, to put fear in aspirants so they will be afraid to challenge him at the governorship poll. The so-called security outfit is Soludo’s Udo Ga Achi Brigade. That makes it obvious that the sole aim is to serve a political purpose. That also underscores the level of his desperation and insensitivity to the security situation in the state. He showed vehicles he had bought for the outfit. Unfortunately, before now, he never bought one walkie-talkie for the conventional security outfits in the state. For me, I want to let you know that Soludo is not bothered about the situation in Anambra State because he thinks that it serves his purpose. He thinks that the elites are his enemies and his only solution is to run them out of town. That is also why people like us will never stop doing what we have to do. We can’t stop going home. I have no hope that his security outfit will be a solution. It will rather serve his political interests by intimidating his political opponents. But I can assure you that we will muster enough strength and energy to ensure that he is not allowed to worsen the situation.
Since a Catholic priest spoke out about the security situation in Anambra, there have been government voices seeking to crowd him out. What does this portend for the opposition?*
It is obvious they want to silence the opposition. They have unleashed their venom on Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obimma (Ebube Muo Nso) calling him names and castigating him for calling out the governor over his failure to secure Anambra. In all that, none of them have shown that the priests who are condemning the spate of insecurity in Anambra and speaking truth to power are lying or had told lies against the governor. None of his agents has shown evidence of what they did to secure Anambra. They are not even saying what they have started doing since the priests started calling him out for his glaring failure. Their tactic is to ensure that no one raises a voice or calls out the governor for his demonstrated incompetence and cluelessness in addressing insecurity in the state. They want to shut up the priests who are mourning their colleague that was killed on the street. I’m concerned about what will happen once he unleashes his brigade; the situation will get even worse. That outfit is simply his political platform to intimidate and chase people away from the state for his re-election bid. Those to be recruited into the group are his political thugs. Their role is defined. They have only one purpose –to chase every political opponent out of Anambra State and ensure that Soludo wins by hook or by crook.
I recall that in your last interview, you did say that Soludo is the problem and not the solution. Between then and now, have you seen anythings that make you believe that he is actually providing solutions to the security situation in Anambra State?
It is glaring that my position that the governor is the problem and not the solution to the situation in Anambra is justified. The atrocities that occur in the state daily are unimaginable. The killings happening in Anambra under his watch have never been witnessed before. Even clerics are not spared. They are shot at and killed on the streets and nothing happens. Recently, two reverend sisters going about their businesses were kidnapped. An Archbishop of the Anglican Communion was kidnapped and was in the dungeon for more than a month. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that there is a government in the state. You have seen videos of personal testimonies of attempts to reach out to the government for intervention in the case of the kidnap of a priest and there was not even as much as the courtesy of a response. So, what solution does the governor have in a state where blood is flowing freely? And I still ask, what solution could there be if blood is flowing on our land and people can’t move or live freely? The most important thing for the Igbo is life itself. For them, life is sacred. The sacredness of life in Igbo cosmology is something we don’t joke with. The Igbo value life much more than anything else and that is the reason some would not mind to dispense of whatever property they have just to save life. We value and protect life. It’s as strong as that. It’s something that was there long before Christianity came to Igbo land. For us killing a human being is an abomination. Christianity didn’t teach us this. It was something that was enshrined in our customs and traditions. Sadly, blood is flowing in our dear state, Anambra. In the midst of all these, our governor, who naturally should be worried, was out there dancing. If he was the solution, last Christmas would have been for him, one of sorrowful reflection and probably, a time to declare a state of emergency on insecurity. But he couldn’t because he has no capacity to do it and he lacks knowledge of what to do. Remember that he had declared a state of emergency on refuse heaps across the state for which he literally locked down the state for three days and still he’s incapable of addressing the garbage situation. We see refuse heaps mounting everywhere around him. If he’s incapable of addressing that, is it insecurity that he’s capable of managing? This simply shows that he is clueless. Visit a neighbouring state of Anambra where the governor is just months in office and see the transformational work that he’s doing. You won’t see potholes in the city and this is someone who assumed office in 2023. Sit at home has ended in that state and the economy has bounced back. People move about freely and life is moving on both day and night. I had said before that in many places, the day economy is 50% and the night economy is also 50% or a little less, but in Anambra, the night economy has collapsed 100 per cent. People close for the day at 6 pm. Even the government would warn you against staying outside your home after 6 pm.
Talking about sit-at-home, some people had argued that the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would go a long way toward resolving the security situation in the southeast even if not 100 per cent. However, Soludo had in an interview stated clearly that it won’t. This may suggest that he’s not keen on having Kanu out of detention. What are your views on this?
I read that Soludo interview. It made me sad. That was a most unfortunate comment from Governor Soludo. That shows how distant he is from reality. It showed how clueless he is in understanding the issues around him as governor. He showed in that interview that he is far removed from understanding the issues about the security situation in the region. He also showed how insensitive he is to the tension that Kanu’s condition is creating around the country because insecurity in the southeast, or any region of the country, is insecurity across the country. That was insensitivity too much and I disagree with him in totality. I expect him to apologise to the people for that statement and retract it. It was highly insensitive because if the release of Nnamdi Kanu won’t help the security situation as he stated, is his detention helping the security situation? Who is benefitting from his detention? Detaining and prosecuting Nnamdi Kanu is of no benefit to Nigeria. Nnamdi is still in detention because someone like Soludo, who is a leader, has clearly shown that he doesn’t care even when he’s supposed to be leading from the front and driving the cause for the release. Besides, he said this when he was addressing his plan for insecurity. For goodness sake, part of your job as a leader is to give hope. But the statement he made was a statement of hopelessness. Well, I’m sure he’ll be shamed very soon. Other people are clamouring for Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom. With a legion of people explaining what the gain of his release will be, freedom will come his way. We believe that the Federal Government will see reasons for this eventually and do the needful, knowing that a peaceful and stable South East is good for the nation.
What about other aspects of governance in Anambra? They boast of roads and others….
They talk about the roads that they’re building. But in these past weeks, I have traversed almost all zones of Anambra and went to so many parts of the state. What I see is very disheartening. I didn’t see those roads they talked about. What I saw were places that Soludo broke up, some were perimeter walls of people’s homes, and some are existing roads that had been uprooted and adding to the agonies of the people in these hard times in the guise of expanding existing roads when almost 80% of them are filled with pot-holes. My reading of the situation is that he embarked on actions that would present him as working, not exactly that he is working. What is happening is that he’s merely using those disruptions to prepare the ground for campaigns. Very soon, the rains will come and the situation will get worse. But he’ll go on his campaign tour telling the people to vote him back as a way of ensuring that such projects would be completed. That is his basic plan. He’s simply campaigning for the next election. I’m not encouraged and I still maintain that there is no economy in Anambra as it is today. Every business in the state is moving across the borders. It boils down to the fact that, if he’s not just a professor of theory, like I had said before, he should know what the expectations of the people are. If he had been in a position to create wealth or run a business, as those of us who had pupilage at the main market did, he should have known that the product and service you offer is what the market demands. As an apprentice under my father, we always said that you stock what the buyers want. Because if you stock what the buyers don’t want, they’ll expire on your shelf and in the warehouse. The people want something different. They want security and economic development but the governor is obsessed with his second term pursuit because that is what massages his ego. So, he does whatever he believes will land him a second term. But the state is in ruins. It has collapsed. I’ve not come across any elite, critical stakeholders or institutional leaders, be they traditional or religious, who would tell you that they’re in good stead with Soludo. But the fact is that you need these people to govern well. No governor rules alone.
Anambra will soon be moving to another governorship election, but there is a thinking that there is no vacancy in the Government House because Soludo is seeking a second tenure and Anambra had always re-elected their governor, except for the Mbadinuju government which ended after one term?
There’s no doubt that the focus is now on Anambra State. APGA has held the seat since 2005, so I guess that it is not strange to know that incumbents always have some strength and advantage in the Nigerian political system. It’s not for anything else rather than that they sit on the state resources, and then they use it as it pleases them and without accountability. In this case, obviously, for an incumbent, you have the opportunity that every day of your tenure will be a campaign, depending on how you manage your programmes and activities. That confers the advantage. During Mbadinuju, he didn’t get a second term because of woeful performance and the Anambra people got up and revolted. ...Read Full Article >>➤
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