Prof Charles Nwekeaku, Secretary, Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, in this interview with ONYEKACHI EZE, blames continued marginalisation of people of South East on the security challenges in the region. He also called for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
You are a key member of Igbo Elders Council. We are worried that for four years now, Nnamdi Kanu is still in detention.Some other persons that were arrested during the same period with him or charged with the same offence, have been released. But why is his own different? What are the Igbo leaders doing to get him out?
Thank you so much. The case of Nnamdi Kanu is like every other important matter concerning the Igbo in Nigerian projects. Yes, as you rightly pointed out, his counterparts in other parts of the country have been released or treated differently. But just as I said, like other matters apart from the issue of marginalisation, the issue of exclusion, the issue of neglect of the Igbo by the Nigerians, has been consistent. Before I go into Nnamdi Kanu, let me explain the other areas. First is that the South-East, which is occupied by the Igbo, is the only zone that has less than six states. Other zones have six, North-West has seven. According to Section 14, subsection 3 of the 1999 Constitution, it provides that whatever Federal Government and these agencies do, should reflect the federal character of Nigeria, in order to give every section a sense of belonging.
Now that means that if you want to share political office in Nigeria, you have the president as number one, vice president two, Senate President, Speaker (of House of Representatives), Chief Justice (of Nigeria), Secretary to the Government. Somebody from every zone is supposed to hold one of these offices. But no Igbo man occupies any of these offices. And when it comes to JAMB, where people from Igbo land perform excellently, they will apply federal character. A number of them are denied admissions because of federal character. Now, when you go for recruitment, they will apply federal character; promotion, they will apply federal character. But when it comes to political offices, they will not. They will tell you that they need competent and able people. I don’t know how they define that, because these people who talk of competence, they didn’t perform better than us in exams – WAEC, JAMB, and so forth. But they are talking of competence.
They use that to deny the South-East what should be theirs. If you go to the National Assembly, for example, South-East is the only zone that has 15 senators. Others have a minimum of 18. You go to the local government, Kano has 44. Jigawa has 33, Kano has 77. In fact, if you add Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, and Kaduna, it is by far more than what the entire South-East has, and the local government gets direct allocation from federation accounts. If I keep on counting, you will see where our people are denied what should come to them.
Look at the directors appointed by the Central Bank, none is from the South-East. Meanwhile, about three of them attended the interview and they were denied. I have a particular case, my former PhD student, who came first in her own department. She was not taken but the people from other areas were taken. So, you go to Federal Government projects, none is in the South-East. You go to road rehabilitation, go and see our roads in the South-East, federal highways in the South-East are glorified gullies. Every hundred kilometers in the South-East, you see police or military checkpoints.
We see them extorting money from our people. So, on the issue of Nnamdi Kanu, that is the same pattern that South-East is being treated. Yes, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested, in fact he was brought from Kenya, like a common criminal, he was bundled from Kenya, like a common criminal. The Federal Government charged him to court. A Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Binta Nyako, discharged him of eight of the charges. Now, he went to the Appeal Court, a three-man unanimous judgment discharged and acquitted him of the remaining seven. And they said that Nnamdi Kanu has no case to enter; they condemned his extradition from Kenya. The Federal Government refused to obey that, rather, what they did is that within 48 hours, the three judges were transferred out of Abuja because they gave the judgement that some people didn’t want to hear. Now, you say that you want to appeal, for almost six, seven months, they didn’t appeal. They kept him.
It’s a breach of his fundamental human rights. And so, this time around, you say you want to follow the judicial process. If you are following the judicial process, you should have obeyed the judgement of the Appeal Court. After all, you remember in the case of (Ayo) Fayose versus Federal Government, the Federal Government got a Jankara judgement and said that it should be obeyed first and they also obeyed. But the same Federal Government refused to obey the Appeal Court judgement concerning Nnamdi Kanu.
Do you think there is an internal conspiracy in the Nnamdi Kanu case, because everything borders on unity? Are the Igbo united in pushing for Nnamdi Kanu’s release, or do you think there are some people that are working against it?
When Buhari came to Ebonyi State, Mbazulike Amaechi went there and pleaded with President Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu to him as his 93rd birthday gift; he was denied that. And you know, after that demand, the man died. Professor George Obiozo, former President General of Ohaneze Worldwide, made a similar demand. It wasn’t granted; e later died. Dr. Chukwemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State, former presidential adviser, and former chairman of Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, made a similar demand.
It wasn’t granted. He also died. Late Chief Emmanuel Iwanyanwu, President General of Ohaneze Worldwide, pleaded for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, which was his last official assignment. We tried to see Mr. President. It wasn’t possible. We eventually visited the DG of DSS to see Nnamdi Kanu. That day, we were kept there for over four hours, and so, yes, after seeing Nnamdi Kanu, he actually said that some Igbo sons contributed to his incarceration.
That some Igbo sons do not want him to be released. In our private investigation, and the utterances of some Igbo people, it seems he has a point. You must have heard of a son who said he’s an Igbo; he wasn’t talking like a son, an educated person. He said a number of indefensible things. A son should have known that when you render somebody, you don’t bring charges twice. He said he’s a son. But he should know that when you charge somebody, the first is that Nigeria didn’t follow due process. Now, despite that, the Appeal Court court spoke, Nigeria didn’t obey it. Another federal high court in Nigeria gave a judgement, but the government didn’t obey it. A Supreme Court in Kenya gave another judgement condemning the participation of the Kenyan government in that. With all this, the Nigerian government has not considered it necessary to revisit the issue of Nnamdi Kanu.
We have been appealing. Myself, a number of us have been appealing. So, we do not expect 100% support of the Igbos before the Federal Government would do that. As a matter of fact, it’s the Federal Government that is the principal actor in this matter. But more especially, our president now who was noted for activism. So we had expected that, in fact, some of us celebrated because we remembered how active he was in radical activities. We remember that when PDP conquered the South West, it was only Lagos, where he was a governor that wasn’t conquered.
We expected that that very spirit would have been extended to the issue of Nnamdi Kanu. At worst, we expected that the Federal Government would have granted him administrative bail, now that his health is deteriorating. Of what use will it be to any person if that young man dies at the DSS facility? So that’s why we keep on appealing. We don’t expect to have 100% support of the Igbo before the Federal Government looks passionately in the case of Nnamdi Kanu. There’s no time you will have 100% support, after all, Nigerians from different parts of the country spoke on Monday (October 20) in the peaceful protest led by (Omoyele) Sowore and they said, release Nnamdi Kanu. This one cut across religion and ethnic background. So what is the Federal Government waiting for?
If you’re looking for a political solution, we thought that charity should begin at home. Have you been able to galvanize the state governors of South-East to help you put that political solution, because we believe that if governors speak in one voice, the president may listen to them. Have you been able to galvanize the governors to this project?
I agree with you that charity begins at home. We are not particularly pleased that our political leaders have not done what they should have done. From time to time, each of them will come out and tell you that he has seen Mr. President on this. Who will bear witness? Did we go there with them? We expect our governors, the governors of South-East states, can even invite those of Rivers and Delta to join them with the leadership of Ohaneze and Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps and some other political leaders.
If they organise and meet Mr. President today and say, Mr. President, especially now that 2027 is at hand, release our son, I’m sure Mr. President will consider that request. If they do it today, I can assure you that Nnamdi Kanu will not stay there beyond a week. This lack of collective endeavour of the political leaders of the South East contributed immensely to the current incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu. I will advise them to go as a group. If they know that they want Nnamdi Kanu to be released, let Igbo leaders go as a block. Mr. President will not turn them down.
Don’t you think that the problem that you’re having to get him released is because the last time that he was released, he was told not to do certain things, but he breached the conditions, and he later jumped bail? It’s like they don’t want that to repeat itself. So, don’t you think that they don’t want to give him that benefit again? That one is a non-issue, after all, they incorporated that in the 50 charges they gave him. The young man, his house was invaded and he was almost killed. It’s only a tree that will see that it was to be felled and it remained there. Nnamdi Kanu’s home was invaded, we know how he was smuggled out. His life was in danger. He escaped. So, this is a non-issue because when he was brought back to Nigeria, it was part of the charges. And the judges knew this and they said, this man has no case to answer. So any person making reference there is trying to invent a story
But South-East leaders failed to rein him in when he was alleged to be making certain statements resulting in the socalled attack on the security operatives?
These are mere allegations. As I told you, the Federal Government accused him of all these things. Were these things not part of the 15 charges leveled against him and they could not prove it? Why is any person making reference to that? We don’t support violence. Igbos are not noted for violence. Have you caught any of them with a gun? And in any way, people who are saying this, why is the same federal government organising party for bandits and their sponsors? The same Federal Government is talking of the rehabilitation of bandits. Yes, bringing them, welcoming them, organising parties for them, congratulating them. But in the case of Nnamdi Kanu whom they could not establish any case against, at least as testified by the courts, courts of competent jurisdiction. Why are people making reference to this? He did this, he did that.
Why couldn’t they prove that? See, a number of times they tell you that it’s IPOB that is destabilising the South-East. We have challenged the Federal Government a number of times. If you say IPOB is destabilising the SouthEast, arrest them and prosecute them. Some years ago when a correctional center was invaded by the so-called unknown gunmen. They operated there for almost three hours. If you know Imo State, Owerri Correctional Center is a short distance from Government House and a short distance from state police command. And the so-called unknown gunmen operated for three hours and none of them was arrested.
The military base at Obinze is a 10-minute drive to that place. And they couldn’t arrest any of them. They said it was IPOB, and they couldn’t arrest any of them and present it to the world. We are doubting these allegations. We don’t support violence. If you say that this violence is being perpetrated by IPOB, arrest them and let’s see. You keep on accusing them. IPOB, they have severally come out and say that they are not responsible even the sit-at-home. Sit-at-home in the South East, IPOP has several times washed its hands out of it. They say they are not part of it. But because of the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, miscreants use that opportunity.
They say IPOB this, IPOB that. I’m not a spokesperson for IPOB, but we have discovered a number of them are false. They said that they have no hand in it. Even in the last election, some people came out in the name of IPOB and said that there should be no election in the South East, IPOB said people should go and vote. We support you to vote. So Federal Government, Mr. President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, we expect them to use their privileged positions to arrest the aggravating insecurity in the South East. Governors are not in charge of security agencies. They don’t get directions from the governors.
Do you suspect the external factors that may be influencing insecurity in the South East? That is some people outside the South East, taking advantage of the situation to cause mayhem in the name of IPOB?
We believe that the people destabilising the South-East are being sponsored from outside. It’s left for the security agencies managed by the federal government to fish them out. Our people are suffering. Small and medium enterprises in the South East have folded up. I remember the Federal Government in 2008 adopted industrialisation, the government adopted SMEs as the vehicle for national industrialisation. The same Federal Government, if you have adopted SMEs as the drivers of industrialisation, why do you allow SMEs to die in the South East? You have police checkpoint every hundred meters.
Monday is sit-at-home, and the other security challenges that make investment in the South-East no longer attractive, and you know that South Easterners are essentially traders and businessmen. You can no longer go there and do business. So, we are asking the Federal Government, we are appealing that the Federal Government should be proactive in managing security challenges in the South East, in order to give people of the South-East a sense of belonging. In fact, the South-East is like a conquered territory.
Do you see hope because before now, APC seems to be not in the South East? Now APC is controlling three states in the South-East, do you see hope that maybe the presidency might decide to listen to their pleas as they now have three states?
My brother, if any person tells you that the problem is party, that is not the problem. After all, is there any difference between APC and PDP? There’s no fundamental difference. It’s the same people. It is just a difference in name. Fundamentally, they are the same thing. But on the issue of optimism, because some people have defected to APC, let me tell you, whether they defected or not, I can tell you that people of the South East contributed immensely in the emergence of Tinubu as the president of Nigeria. Let me explain how.At the time the political parties were reluctant to make categorical statements on zoning, Igbo Elders Consultative Forum started demanding that key political parties should zone presidency to the South. When we made that demand consistently, the Southern Governors Forum followed suit after their meeting in Asaba, Delta State.
They followed suit, and so we continued. And you can see that eventually APC zoned the president to the South, and that helped for the emergence of Mr. President today. So we are happy that we contributed to that. And so you ask me whether there is hope, as a human being, I’m an optimist. I believe that Nnamdi Kanu will be released. I also believe that the security challenges in the South East will also be addressed, whether addressed by the current politicians who are being motivated by selfish and parochial interests, or not but at the appropriate time, it will be addressed. South-East will return to its prime place in Nigeria.
You know that this South East was part of the Eastern region that was once described as the fastest growing economy in the world, I think 9.3% growth in the first republic under Dr. M.I. Okpara. Today, no part of Nigeria could be so described. Look at the indices of development in Nigeria back then. Nigeria has been quoted as being the headquarters of poverty in the world as over 130 million Nigerians are below the poverty line. You have seen the current statistics brought up by ASUU that Nigerian professors are the least paid in Africa. And Nigeria answers the giant of Africa.
Do you see what’s happening in the South East as a political vendetta, because since 2015, the South-East have not voted for APC? And it may be that since you are not supporting us, we can also not help your cause?
South-East is inhabited by the Igbo. You know that the Igbo, right from the beginning, even before colonialism, the Igbo are Republicans, and have been Republicans. An Igbo man prefers to take political decisions by his own. We don’t have that bandwagon effect. And it has been so for a long time among Igbo leadership.
The Igbo never for a day had a meeting to decide on the party they would support, or candidate they would support. You see that in 2019, general election, Buhari was in the race, Atiku was in the race. Some Igbo people were in the race. But the people voted for Atiku, after analysing their program, they felt that Atiku is more business oriented and his administration may enunciate policies that will help and address the business demand of the Igbo. That’s why they voted for him. There was no meeting asking anyone not to vote for APC at any time. I don’t know of such a meeting
