Evangelist Elliot Uko is the Founder of the Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, Leader of the South East Democratic Coalition and Deputy Secretary, Igbo Leaders of Thought. In this interview with DAILY POST, he insists that former President, Obasanjo’s perception on Biafra is false.
What informed the recent honour given to Prof. Ben Nwabueze on October 20 by the IYM?
The event was the 16th Annual Convention of the IYM. Professor Ben Nwabueze has stood out, as the icon of the Igbo nation at the moment. He’s always been an icon. He’s someone who’s been an international figure, a world-acclaimed constitutional lawyer, who has been in the forefront of the drafting of the constitutions of several African countries apart from the Nigerian constitution. He was the founding General-Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and led Ohanaeze for 26 years.
At 85, he is still very active, labouring for the people, he’s the Chairman of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, working hard at that age, and not in very good health, to contribute towards the attainment of the Nigeria of our dreams. We are very proud of him. We celebrated him, and other leaders like Dr. Alex Ekwueme, HRH Prof. Vincent C. Ike, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, and the actor John Okafor, popularly known as Mr. Ibu, for their contributions to the society. We invited students from the 42 universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education in the entire south east. We want to show them who the true role models are, and these are our role models.
These are the authentic stars of this environment. Now, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Chairman of the Igbo Leaders of Thought, has done what no Igbo man has done yet. He has shown, by example, that it is possible for a man to put his time, energy, resources, at the risk of his health, to defend the interest of his people. He has become a living legend. He has earned a place in the hearts of every of the 45 million Ndigbo scattered all over the world. He is the star of the Igbo nation at the moment. If he asks Ndigbo to march, we will move; if he asks us to stand, we will stand; if he asks us to turn right or left, we will turn right or left. He has proven that he cares, and we love him and adore him. We pray that God will give him many, many more years of fruitful service to Nigeria.”
The communiqué of the Igbo Leaders of Thought at Modotels, Enugu on August 22nd, 2015, spelt it out that Nigeria must be restructured along the line of true federalism, where everyone will have a sense of belonging, where no one is born to rule, and where no one is oppressed. That is our prayer, and that the unsolved national question be resolved. That is just one of the many reasons Nigerians celebrate Prof. Nwabueze. When Prof. Ben Nwabueze marched in Lagos to protest the removal of the oil subsidy in 2012, and was tear-gassed as a result, those in APC applauded him. Fashola even went to visit him. When he told Jonathan not to run in 2015, the APC people applauded him, when he told Jonathan in 2013 that Nigeria was drifting to a failed state, Doyin Okukpe abused him, then APC applauded him. When he asked Jonathan on 3 occasions not to run for President in 2015, the APC applauded him, when Jonathan’s regime denied him honour due him during centenary awards, for speaking truth to power, the APC sympathized with him. Now that he is telling them the deep truth which is that the unresolved national question should be our number one priority. Now, they are not applauding anymore, because he did not come out on the street chanting Sai Buhari, and eulogizing Buhari to high heaven. Prof. Ben Nwabueze cannot do that. We know that he is committed to evolving a Nigeria where no one is oppressed, and in the very near future, will be celebrated as one who always speaks truth to power.”
What are your comments on the state of the nation?”
On the state of the nation, we have always been in support of President Buhari. We are of the view that he has come to correct the ills of the past governments. We support his government’s determined efforts to crush the Boko Haram madness, and we ask him to keep up the momentum and the tempo. We are in total support of his war against corruption. Those who stole this country blind must be made to pay, and they must return the looted funds. We support that. We have made our position clear, and we are sure that President Buhari knows that if his war on corruption is not holistic, it will lose it’s essence, and he knows that if it is selective, it will become a useless effort. So we ask him to remain committed to ridding Nigeria of corruption.
We also appreciate the fact that his presence as the leader of Nigeria gives the impression, sends a strong message to people in government that the alpha, the number one, the leader, will not condone corruption. For that, we are grateful and we plead that he continues to maintain that stance, and maybe Nigeria would recover from the damage which corruption has done to our psyche. Corruption really is one of the major problems killing Nigeria. These are part of the stand of the IYM on the state of the nation. But, we disagree with President Buhari, on his agenda of his team to deceive Nigerians that, once you fight corruption and Boko Haram, Nigeria will become an El Dorado. Such a cheap lie is dangerous because it will not solve any problem. Sooner or later, people will realize that it is nothing but a cheap lie.
The truth of the matter is that the fundamental problem holding Nigeria is the unresolved national question. The Nigerian question, which most governments have been dodging, is how to restructure Nigeria along the lines of true federalism, and see it grow into a viable and great nation. Telling us that once you fight corruption and Boko Haram, Nigeria will become like America or Japan, is tales by moonlight. It’s not true. Everybody knows the truth, that we must restructure. If we don’t revert to true federalism, Nigeria, we are in trouble. So that is the area where we vehemently disagree with Mr. President. Now, the impact of the unresolved question on the nation is self-evident. Nothing is working. 10 to 15 years ago, 2 or 3 states could not pay salaries, 33 states could. Today, 22 to 26 states can’t pay salaries, and about 10 or 12 states can. In the next 10 to 15 years, it means that none of the states will be able to pay salaries. As time goes on, more people will be born, the economy is stagnant, the price of oil is falling, and the population is growing. The employment market is swelling, graduates are being churned out, no jobs for them. The structure does not allow the economy to grow in order to create jobs. We are in for hard times ahead, and the states are borrowing and borrowing and borrowing. Some states are so indebted that the governor who will come in the next 20 years will still be paying loans that were collected years ago. The unresolved national question is that we must restructure into a true federalism. If we resolve that, half of our problems will disappear. Even the corruption, Boko Haram, and all the other problems, flow from the inequity and inequality in the system. Even the fierce struggle for power still inspires corruption, ethnic hate, and the deepening of our fault lines. Boko Haram and corruption are fallout of the unresolved Nigerian question. The reason it is still unresolved is because there is a cabal holding Nigeria hostage. These people, we call them the privileged spoilt folks of Nigeria, in their 20s, there was a civil war, so they were captains and majors in the war-front. In their 30s, Gowon made them ministers. At 40, they became Head of State. At 70, they see Nigeria as their property. One of them, from Otta, has the habit of making himself the adviser to the international community on matters affecting Nigeria. His views are taken as the gospel truth on issues affecting Nigeria. The other one lives in Minna. He’s quiet at the moment. One of them is the President today. This cabal are the people opposing restructuring, not because they have anything to lose, but out of pride. They want Nigeria to remain the way they created it. That’s all. Just like the Soviet deputies who fought Mikhail Gorbachev back in 1990 and 1991. They knew the Soviet Union was not working. They knew people queued up for 2 weeks for a loaf of bread on the streets of Moscow, but they were too proud to restructure. They were attacking glasnost and perestroika, attacking Gorbachev. They even tried to oust him by a coup. They refused to face reality, that change is inevitable. That is what Obasanjo, Gowon, Babangida, Danjuma, Buhari, and others want. They created states, and they want Nigeria to remain the way they created it, even when it’s not working. They have friends in the international community, and they give them their own views on Nigeria, that all will be well once you fight corruption and Boko Haram. They are lying. They know that it is not true. They are silent on the unresolved Nigerian question. They know that the 2014 confab, though not ideal, if implemented wholesale, will solve more than half of Nigeria’s problems. They want to show us that we are inconsequential, that we are nonentities, they hold us in contempt and disdain, and they believe that we cannot do anything. If they implement the confab resolutions, no section will lose. In fact, all these our problems like Fulani herdsmen, all of that, were all resolved at that confab. The major issue is the unresolved national question, not listing out the fall-out like corruption, kidnapping, Boko Haram, armed robbery, unemployment, and so on. If you have malaria parasite in your bloodstream, you will have headache, fever, joint pains, weakness, and all that. If you go and buy mentholatum and start rubbing your joints, you are not solving the problem, you are only dealing with the symptom. You can only solve the problem by taking a laboratory test, identifying the degree of the parasite in the system, and applying enough dosage of anti-malarial drugs to deal with it. All the headache and so on will go away. The root problem is not corruption. Something inspired that corruption. The unresolved national question is the real issue facing Nigeria today. The cabal deviously and mischievously find ways to deceive Nigerians, to distract them from the real issue. The earlier we do that, the better. We have no option than to restructure Nigeria.
In fact, the issue has gone beyond whether we want to or we like to. The issue now is, when, and how? Do we do it violently, or peacefully? But Nigeria must be restructured in order to move forward.”
Comment on Obasanjo’s recent statement concerning the agitation for Biafra?
What hurts me, and many Nigerians, is the lie General Obasanjo told, that the people agitating for Biafra are criminals and miscreants, 419ners looking for money, and should be ignored. To me, that is a sad, for Obasanjo to say that is tragic. I don’t know whether he’s deliberately being mischievous, because he should know that the agitation for Biafra is a big potential threat, a big time-bomb, not just for the territorial integrity of Nigeria, but for peace in the entire West Africa. Any crisis in Nigeria will reverberate all over the West African sub-continent. The refugee problem alone will cripple the economies of all the West African nations. No amount of peace-keeping forces from the United Nations will keep peace in Nigeria, by it’s sheer size and population. That is why it must be avoided at all cost. The Biafran issue is not about Uwazurike, or Kanu, or any individual. My name is Elliot Uko. I formed my first organization, as a teenager, Igbo Youth Congress, at Delimina Restaurant, 12 Adelabu ,in Uwani, Enugu in 1981, 34 years ago. And I know that the most emotional and easiest formula to spark interest and followership amongst Igbo Youth is the dream to re-live Biafra Republic. They find it so attractive, because they believe that not only is Nigeria drawing them backwards, but that they will never get justice in Nigeria due to the envy and hatred of some ethnic groups towards Ndigbo. At one of our meetings, in the early 80s, we took a vote, and over 80 per cent of the youths voted that we should take up arms to fight for Biafra. 34 years ago. Again, in Lagos, we were holding monthly meetings. In my apartment at 36 Ajakaiye Street, Ikeja, 10 years later, in 1991, we took a vote, and over 90 per cent voted that we should take up arms and fight for Biafra. 24 years ago. I’ve been organizing seminars and dealing with Igbo youth for decades, so I know them more than anybody else alive today. I know that the option of Biafra is so attractive, and it’s a reality. It’s not about Uwazurike and Kanu. In fact, those characters are merely taking advantage of a fact that is on ground, that Nigeria has been unfair to Ndigbo, to the extent that the new generation finds it unacceptable, and are busy insulting their fathers, asking them how they allowed Nigeria to do this to them, and how they can accept it.
So, the demand for Biafra is real. They are not miscreants. They are contributing their own money, fighting for what they believe in. Obasanjo alone knows why he said what he said, but my name is Elliot Uko, and I challenge Olusegun Obasanjo that he is 100 per cent wrong. The people who are agitating for Biafra are in their millions. To kill them, you need to hire professional soldiers from across the world to help in killing them. And when you kill them, you have a problem of where to pack their corpses. Do you put their corpses in the Atlantic Ocean? If you want to imprison them, Buhari will have to build at least, 500 to 600 large new prisons, each with a capacity of holding 7,000 to 10,000 inmates. Where will the funds for that come from, unless Obasanjo will give Buhari connections to raise the huge loans needed to build enough prisons to contain the 7 to 8 million angry youths who are agitating for Biafra. Obasanjo was deliberately misleading Nigerians. One could understand General Gowon’s comments, because that one is expressing genuine fear, but for Obasanjo to say that the millions of Ndigbo, spread all over the world, that they are miscreants and should be ignored is really pathetic. Our fault lines are deepening in Nigeria. The online stories on the web express only hate, they are spreading ethnic hatred. In Ghanaian newspapers, comments are intelligent. The Ga, the Ewe, the Fanti, the Ashanti, all contribute meaningfully without abusing each other. On the Nigerian portals it’s just about ethnic hatred, and it’s getting deeper. And the Nigerian government and security pretend that they don’t know about it. But of course, they created it, and used it to hound Jonathan out of office. For them, ethnic hatred, ongoing, is allowed, but for me, it’s dangerous. Ndigbo, the younger generation, are bitter about the structure of Nigeria. They believe they and their children don’t have a future. They migrate in their tens of thousands to escape a country that they believe hates them with a passion.
Comments