BY GODDY OBINWA
Former Military Administrator of Delta State, Air Commodore Luke Ochulor (rtd) is known for his bluntness on national issues. In this interview with our correspondent, he expresses his mind on a number of issues, including why leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu should not have been arrested by the Federal Government. He also spoke on security in the South East.
How do you see the President’s appointments so far? Are you satisfied with the configuration or is there anything you would have loved him to do?
I can’t really talk about his appointments because I don’t have the details. But if you are talking about the appointment of the service chiefs, he has done well.
At least, gradually every region is covered, unlike what happened in 2015 to 2023 when General Buhari was in office. Now, at least, you can see the appointments have cut across all the regions. There is a sense of belonging in every region.
Do you think that retiring the military Generals was a step in the right direction?
I’ve not seen the list of any Generals retired, but the problem of Africa is also the problem of the present president. When you look at the procedures of military deployment, especially from the rank of General, you have a large number of Generals, and new ones are being appointed day-in-day-out. They’re the colleagues of those ones speculated for retirement or they may be junior to them. In the military, once your mate is appointed to a higher position or somebody junior to you is accorded a higher position, the normal procedure for you is to make way, because it looks odd. Somebody you were policing yesterday to now turn around policing you today. But looking at the problem Nigeria has at hand, retiring many officers at the same time is not a good omen. Why I’m saying this is because in Nigeria, we have a lot of challenges and even beyond. When problem comes out in some African countries, Nigeria is always expected to marshal out troops to those countries to go and fight. But right now, our hands are full at home. If you retire many officers now and they have experience and have not used half of it, to me it’s not a good decision.
What’s your view about the renewed insecurity in the South-East, bear in mind also the sit-at-home orders by Simon Ekpa?
I’ve always said that the position of insecurity in the South-East depends on the attitudes of the governors of the zone. If they cannot sit together and provide security for their people, I don’t know what else they can do because their duty is to provide security. Simon Ekpa is not known to anybody until now, I don’t know him. They said he’s from Ebonyi State. You can’t even be sure who is playing this music for him. How can you tell your people you want to protect them and then you are killing them? So, the insecurity in the South-East is quite embarrassing, but I know that the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, some lawmakers and South-East governors are already gathering to see the President in Abuja over that. Otherwise, it will reach a stage where South-East would be looking like America of 1840, a situation when everybody was on a horseback, a situation where you don’t know who is with you or who is against you. It’s very dangerous. For some us who are not politicians, I’ve told you, I will never be a politician in this country because our politicians are not practising real democracy. When you look at everything, what’s supposed to be done is not being done, democracy is not practised the way it should be practised. Originally, South-East used to be the most peaceful place, but it’s unfortunate, you can’t even discuss it without being careful.
When you said the governors of the South-East should provide security for their people, what actually do you mean?
What I mean is that even though the Federal Government is controlling the forces, when they have problems, they have to go to the President and obtain permission to beef up their states and to provide security for their people, not based on political patronage. But if they can’t meet, how would they provide the security? If there is a problem in a state caused by a man, it’s also the job of the man to solve that problem.
So many people have clamoured for the release of Nnamdi Kanu. What do you think?
I have always said this: there’s no sense arresting Nnamdi Kanu. He shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place. Before he was arrested, there was no violence in the South-East. The violence started after his arrest, so, there was no need arresting him. Like any other activist, he did not slap anybody.
Do you think his release will douse the tension in the region or mitigate the security challenges?
That is speculation. I don’t believe in speculations. What is happening in South-East is very confusing. It’s a mix-up. Nobody can say if the situation can calm down, because today is today and tomorrow may bring another story. Look at Zamfara, they have one person causing the problem there. But I praise the South-West – they were able to establish Amotekun to protect their people. Right from the beginning, I expected the South-East governors to do the same but they didn’t.
The South-East just came out from a week-long sit-at-home ordered by Simon Ekpa. As if that was not enough, he has directed another two-week sit-at-home. Don’t all these sit-at-home orders bother you?
Asking people to sit-at-home is an economic strangulation. If you look at the South-East, poverty is coming back, Kwashiorkor is coming back. People can’t go to farm. What kind of leadership is that? He should tread softly. He should also put into consideration the people while he agitates for Kanu’s freedom. He should understand that the sit-at-home order is causing tension in the South East. He should equally know that a region under such threat is not good and some people have lost their lives.
What’s your position on the demolition of part of the Alaba International market owned mostly by Igbo traders in Lagos State?
All of us can’t dabble into this issue, since we don’t really know what happened. But in any case, the President General of Ohanaeze, the Governor of Imo State and some leaders are already discussing it. So, let’s leave them to deliberate on it.
Some people have been clamouring for Igbo to return their businesses to their homeland. Do you think this is advisable?
All I have to say is that, while you develop wherever you are, also think home so that when you become old, you go there and stay.
What is making the development of the South-East difficult is insecurity. How do you develop under a place that is always under tension? It’s a very serious situation here.
In the face of all these security challenges, do you think the police have lived up to the task?
Well, the way the police are structured, they are supposed to provide internal security. The police controlled by the state would have been easier than the police controlled by the Federal Government. The state is not in control of the police; how does it deploy them? That’s the problem. How do you make them provide security for you when you’re not their paymaster? That’s one of the problems of the constitution, I wish the police were being controlled by the states.
Do you think the traditional institutions have a role to play in all of these?
Let me tell you, when you’re in the jungle, the man with arms overruns everybody. What powers does the traditional institution have? They don’t have security personnel, so how do they enforce security? They can’t do much. They can only handle small problems at the local levels. Most of these people who carry arms don’t pay any allegiance to anybody. Some traditional rulers have been killed in the past because they can’t defend themselves.
Let’s come back home, to your state, Imo. Do you think the November 11 election would produce a truly democratically elected governor?
If you go back to what I’ve said earlier, we’re not practising true democracy. Look at the election of February; it was marred by violence. How do you expect an election to be peaceful when those who want to rig the election at all cost are still there? Nigeria’s democracy is winner takes all. So, since it’s a winner-takes all, all those contesting will struggle at all cost, and such a situation today is not palatable. I don’t subscribe to any change in the November election, the permutations are there but you can’t make a proper permutation during Nigeria’s election because true democracy is not practised.
If you look at the major actors causing insecurity especially in the South East, they are mostly youth. What do you think should be done to stop this?
Right from history of man, it’s the youths that have always gone to war. They have the strength. However, even if government provides all the jobs, there would still be a small number that will continue to cause trouble. Moreover, if you don’t know how to manage the economy you can’t provide a job.
What’s your general advice?
My general advice is that let there be peace in Nigeria, defeat Boko Haram, defeat ISWAP, when they’re defeated, then government can plan. No government can plan under such distractions.
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2023-07-27
