‘Bullets Will Not Restore Security in S’East’

Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu suggests the way out of the insecurity problem in the South-east and Nigeria, in general, in this chat with Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo

For years now Abia state has been relatively peaceful but the situation appears to be changing fast now with all these attacks on police stations. How is the state government responding to this frightening situation?

I must point out that, because security is relative at any point in time, Abia is still, relatively speaking, one of the safest states in Nigeria. The current situation we find in Nigeria is generalized insecurity. It’s every where in Nigeria, whether in the North-east, North-west, South-west, South-east and South-south. And when you take all the variables together you’ll find out that Abia is still one the most peaceful states in Nigeria. We thank God for that and we’ll continue to improve on that. Yes, we have witnessed some attacks against some institutions in the state by some individuals. Not all of them have been apprehended. We believe that the security architecture of this state that was put in place by Governor Okezie ikpeazu since 2015 is still robust enough to take care of any criminality committed in our area. There’s something we always say hear in Abia: You cannot kill, kidnap or rob an Abian and escape justice. We will certainly bring you to justice and we’ve been doing that. If you look back you’ll also notice that not only have we been able to apprehend and bring criminals to justice, we also have one of the best information gathering and early warning system in the whole country. Before the recent events of the past few days this administration forewarned and informed the citizens based on intelligence gathered on the field. Because of that early warning system in place you find that there is a minimal civilian casualty in all these. And while we’ll not be making such information public all the time, a lot of attacks have been thwarted, repelled and we’ll continue to work hard. We’re happy to collaborate with security agencies and we also have within our environment a well established community policing system, including our vigilante services, our homeland security outfit all of which would now be under the umbrella of Ebube Agu.

If you have a robust security system in place, as you said, how come that this pattern of attacks targeted at government institutions have continued with no arrests made, rather we keep hearing of unknown gun men?

It’s not true that people have not been arrested. Yes, I know that there have been attacks within our environment involving security formations- about five of them. The first was at Omoba divisional police station, then Abayi and then later on we saw the police station at Uzuakoli attacked, which again did not lead to any loss of live or weapons; the one at Abriba, which actually did not happen at the police station but at a check point. And we have the recent one at Ubani market, which did not lead to any loss of lives or weapons. You see, after the first attack we deployed adequately and during the second attack three of the assailants were killed right there. And when we had other attacks arrests were made and security agencies were able to get the information that they are using now from the interrogation of those arrested. During the issue of hidden bomb at a school we adequately gave out information on it. We are using that security architecture and that includes keeping from the public information that we deem highly sensitive because if we keep dishing out such information about who was arrested and the sources of such information that led to the rest, while the media would be happy to report that, it would probably compromise the security architecture of the state. For instance, when the Abia State University (ABASU) kidnap saga came up, rapidly we rescued the only student involved. The only difference is that we have not gone public to discuss details of the rescue. And it is not correct to say that we’ve not made some arrests.

At this time we decided to leave the information at the public space where we left it because we are considering the overall good of the society. It is either you want to play to the gallery or you want to solve problems.

What we have done specially, I don’t know if other states are doing it, is to manage security proactively. We have continuously been procuring vehicles for security agencies because we are always prepared for what will happen tomorrow. Without much fanfare, shortly after the EndSARS carnage that led to the loss of vehicles belonging to security agencies, we moved as a government to replace those vehicles. We procured 27 vehicles immediately and gave to the police. And to give further boost to their morale we immediately completed the brand new Zone 9 headquarters at Umuahia, delivered about eight housing units to police officers so that they can have better accommodation. Now that we have these issues of insecurity those things we always try to put in place before now including electronic tracking of criminals which goes beyond using trackers, would be put to effective use. It includes electronic information management system that is placed in strategic places.

All over Nigeria, North, South, East and West, everybody is crying out about insecurity. Does it mean that, in the words of Chinua Achebe, things have fallen apart and the centre can no longer hold?

It depends on if the centre is doing what it should do for it to hold. The situation in Nigeria right now is not irredeemable but can rapidly degenerate to irredeemable level if the right things are not done. And I can define what I mean by the right things. You see, where you have a conflict it is either you talk and stave off exacerbation of that conflict or you decide to talk after the conflict or even at the height of the conflict. We think, and I personally hold that view, that if the Federal Government moves to convoke some form of peace and reconciliation commission or national conference or even dust up the report of the 2014 national conference for implementation, the temperature would go down. Nobody should deceive themselves or play the ostrich by assuming that there are no reasons why people are agitating.

Injustice leads to agitation and agitation leads to violence and we have a very toxic mix currently in Nigeria. The cocktail that has economic crisis and insecurity is an explosive cocktail – bad economy in the bottle with insecurity. It is very explosive and it calls for urgent action by the powers that be and not for playing the ostrich or releasing press statements here and there. All you need to do to stop that bottle containing that toxic cocktail from exploding is to summon an urgent meeting between the people and their leaders. In a democratic setting, government exists at the pleasure of the people. So, government must not assume at any point in time that government is different from the people. This is a democracy. It is government of the people by the people and for the people. We must listen when our people cry out. It is the tendency to sweep things under the carpet that is leading us from redeemable to irredeemable situation.

Let me explain that: For many years, people have been complaining, particularly young people, about what they perceive as injustice in the Nigeria system, what they perceive as marginalization in the Nigeria system, what they perceive as unfairness to certain areas. They went and complained to their political leaders in their immediate communities and those political leaders apparently took those concerns to Abuja but nothing was done and it continued. We saw the first signs that they were frustrated by the fact that the elders could not help and the system could not help in October 2020 when they took matters into their hands via the EndSARS protests. It was a direct slap on the faces of their leaders and their government, saying to them, ‘to hell with you’. But the government didn’t read it correctly.
Some of them from the eastern part of the country cried out and said, how can you have service chiefs and there is no Igbo man there and you say that we belong to one country. They said, how can you have conceived a national railway network that you are borrowing money from outside the country and you didn’t remember to include a rail line that would cut across the South-east region and will lead to North or South West, yet you remembered to do a rail line to Niger Republic which is another country. They asked: are we still part of this country, how come that you have an Abia child that must score above 200 to make unity school and you have a child from another state in Nigeria who have only to score two percent to make unity school. They said that when you look at government at the centre we don’t see anybody we can identify with, we don’t see an Igbo man as president, as vice-president, as Senate president, as Speaker of House of Representatives. That means this country is marginalizing us, not treating us as part of the citizens. And they said in 2015, 2019 make us feel as part of this country, give the presidency the same way you gave it to the South-west. Because in this country in 1998 we collectively came together and decided that the presidential candidates of the two major political parties must come from the South-west to assuage the anger over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election. That was done.

And now these young persons said okay, it is time to make an Igbo man the president. They made that point in 2015, nobody listened; they made that point in 2019 and nobody listened. Therefore, they have concluded that their elders sold out, that their elders did not understand that deep feelings that they are not part of Nigeria. Today all that feelings have come together to haunt the nation. When they talk of presidency in 2023 you disdainfully tell them they are not together. Did you tell the West to have internal unity, did you tell the North they must have internal unity before they could have the presidency. Which part of this country has ever had unity before they got the presidency? So they see it that, well, they are not even ready for us to have the presidency in 2023. After examining everything and the seeming incapacity of their own leaders to address this issue they took the matter into their own hands and that is what we are seeing now.

But is the insecurity being witnessed in the South-east entirely a product of youth anger over perceived unjust Nigeria system?

We also understand there are some persons outside the South-east that are exploiting the situation, they are some persons that may have been sponsoring some of the violence we have been having and hide under the back of a particular group and claim that it is the group that is doing every bad thing we are having here. We also see the hand of Esau in some of the attacks. Unfortunately for us the group they are accusing led themselves to the accusation by their own actions. For us we now have an incendiary situation that can explode any moment and personally as John Okiyi Kalu, citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to call on the Federal Government to move quickly and call everybody to a round table so that these things don’t go beyond the point where it is. We are at the tipping point. Still everybody is living in denial, may be because you’re living in Lagos and you think it is the safest place, or in Abuja or wherever you are and you think you are safe there. Nobody is safe because the resources of law enforcement when they are diverted to one location, leaves the other location vulnerable. So, now we have that catastrophic problem that has been going on in the north – Boko Haram when they started this their insurgency some persons said oh attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North, oh, don’t touch them, they are our brothers and so they allowed it to fester. Today those who said that can no longer go home because the violence has festered.

What then should be done to avert the present insecurity situation in the South-east degenerating to insurgency?

We want everybody to work together to stop what we are seeing now. What we need to do is to talk. The central government should not leave it to state governments because its actions and inactions previously made it difficult for the state governments to be arbiters in this matter. Let me explain: It wasn’t the South-east governors that proscribed the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). What they did was to proscribe the activities of IPOB but today those in IPOB and their propaganda machine see the South-east governors as those that proscribed them. And that’s why they are always abusing our governors. Yes, someone else did it, may be because the governors didn’t speak out at that time to say we didn’t do it, that’s number one. Number two, the South-east governors have collectively asked the rest of Nigeria to deliberately zone the presidency to the South-east. Both the APC and PDP have been told that. The South-east governors are saying that because they want their people to see something that would calm everybody down and make people feel they are still part of this Nigerian federation. Yet the kind of things you hear from outside is disturbing. You hear some governors making unguarded statements from one part of the country without being mindful of how that would count with people elsewhere. The level of leadership irresponsibility I see now I’ve not seen before. I’m over 50 years, so I have the right to say that in half a century of my life I’ve not seen it.

While we were still talking about this challenge the issue of service chiefs came up and Ohanaeze Ndigbo said at least an Igbo man should get the position of IGP but at the end of the day somebody decided otherwise. And these things come together. People are angry. The question of if there are reasons why people are angry and agitated the answer is yes. And if the other question is whether the way they are going about their agitation is right, my answer is No. They are very wrong in what they are doing because nobody sets their mother’s kitchen on fire. If you set your mother’s kitchen on fire after you had gone and come back where would you find food? Again, the infrastructures you’re destroying in your place because you are angry were built with your own money. I have gone round and seen all the police stations destroyed so far, every one of them was built by the state government or the communities. The police station in Abriba where I come from was built by our people. So you go and destroy your own property. I have looked at the ethnic identities of the police officers killed in this crisis and quite frankly more than 95 percent of them, as far as Abia is concerned, are Ndigbo. So, what exactly is your strategy? You want to destroy your own people because you are angry. Is that what you want to do because you are angry? You want to cut off your nose to spite your face? Where has violence ever paid off? Violence has never paid off.

The scenario playing out in the South-east is suggesting that Ndigbo are turning against themselves?

See, in Igboland we believe that ogbu mma g’esi na mma la (he who lives by the sword will die by the sword). Anybody that is involved in perpetrating violence in Igboland must understand that our ancestors will respond to that person, must understand that death is the only answer to killing in Igboland. I want to call on those young people, when you are agitating rightly or wrongly please use peaceful means. There are peaceful means of agitating or settling any problem. Violence has never solved any problem. I’ve never seen a problem solved through violence. Even wars end peacefully because ultimately people would sit down and talk. That is why we want the Federal Government to help us by bringing everybody to the table. And when I say everybody I mean everybody including those agitating in the in the North, South West, South South and South East. Bring everybody together, bring their leaders together, and do not discriminate against anybody. Let us talk. The mere fact that we are talking will bring down the temperature and enable the government security structure to rejig and prepare to continue in the task of policing. As it is today every one is living in fear. Even those meant to protect us are afraid.

But it does appear these young persons have been sufficiently provoked and frustrated because the authorities don’t usually tolerate even peaceful protests. What’s your take on that?

The only thing I can say to that is that we need to talk as a nation. These are some of the things we need to talk about. We need to talk about the structure of the country. Let me give you an instance, during the EndSARS protest the rioters besieged the Aba Town Hall in Aba South local government. There were army officers and police officers right there but they could not engage in any form or manner. You know, why? They were waiting for orders from Abuja and while waiting for orders from Abuja that facility that was more than 80 years old was completely ruined and documents lost. If we have had state police for instance, with the governor having control over that state police, the governor would have deployed the state police to quell that riot.

They have refused to allow state police and now whether by coincidence or by accident we see influx of policemen and army officers from certain parts of the country to another region where there is mutual distrust. Why can’t you at this time post police commissioners of Igbo origin to the states of the South-east just to cool down the temperature. When you mention the commanding height of the army in the South-east and these already angry youths hear certain names they assume enmity. In fact, the mere hearing of such names makes them feel as if they are besieged. Look, if we are actually looking for peace there are small things we can do and I want to appeal to the Nigerian government as a citizen of this nation (not as commissioner for information), who is concerned, who loves this country, who wants his children to live in a country that is just, measure should be taken to cool down the high temperature we are seeing nationally. If we don’t do that the cost of war whether you are victorious or the loser is too high for anybody to pay. And I’m hopeful there won’t be war. In fact, deep inside me I believe that this situation will not degenerate to war. I believe in the wisdom of those leading us in Abuja, including Mr. President. I have confidence that President Buhari will do the right thing.

You mean that peaceful resolution could still be possible as the Federal Government has continued to bare its fangs instead of engaging the angry youths in dialogue?

I see President Buhari as a nationalist. I have met him once. He cannot deliberately allow his own country to be torn apart by crisis. I’m hopeful that he’ll immediately do the needful.

He knows that nobody would benefit from the dismemberment of Nigeria. Nobody – North, South, East, West – nobody will be the victor if we dismember Nigeria. But everybody would win if we install an egalitarian society in Nigeria where fairness, equity and justice reign. If we continue to do muchu muchu (hanky panky) and adopt as a policy a deliberate marginalization and suffocation of any part of this country and I’m not talking just about the only the South-east, whether you are talking about the North-east, North-west, South-west or any part of the country, if there is any attempt to subjugate any part of this country the implication is that the rest of the country will have to be down to keep that part down. I want a country my children and grand children could be proud of. That’s why I’m speaking out, giving my personal feelings as John Okiyi Kalu, not as Commissioner for Information in Abia State. When good men refuse to talk evil usually prevails and I don’t want evil to prevail in this country. I also think that bullets would not solve this present problem. How many will you kill? Let me make this clear, no matter how strong a leader is, when the people rise the leader cannot stop them. You are a leader because there are people to be led. If you face those people with guns and bullets you’ll be alone and you will not lead anybody. I don’t think that is what anybody wants at this time.

QUOTE

Nobody should deceive themselves or play the ostrich by assuming that there are no reasons why people are agitating. Injustice leads to agitation and agitation leads to violence and we have a very toxic mix currently in Nigeria. The cocktail that has economic crisis and insecurity is an explosive cocktail – bad economy in the bottle with insecurity. It is very explosive and it calls for urgent action by the powers that be and not for playing the ostrich or releasing press statements here and there. All you need to do to stop that bottle containing that toxic cocktail from exploding is to summon an urgent meeting between the people and their leaders. In a democratic setting, government exists at the pleasure of the people. So, government must not assume at any point in time that government is different from the people