Prof. Obiora Okonkwo is the Chief Executive Officer of United Nigeria Airlines and a former governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in Anambra State. In this interview, he speaks on the security challenge in Anambra State, Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s inability to address it, and why the All Progressives Congress stands a better chance of winning the forthcoming governorship election in the state. ANAYO EZUWGU reports

The Christmas and New Year period has come and gone. What was the period like for you?

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. 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 could not 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 Department of State Services (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 the people. That will negatively impact 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 South-East geopolitical zone, 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 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.

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

I can’t also understand why a state government would not secure lives and property, which is one of the cardinal duties of government at the federal and state levels.

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 will 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 at that time. Having reviewed this action and all actions leading to it, it appears to me that 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.

What he has set up is not a security outfit but a political platform with a 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 the 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?

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 who was killed on the street. I am 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 opponents out of Anambra State and ensure that Soludo wins by hook or by crook.

In your last interview, you said Soludo is the problem and not the solution. Between then and now, have you seen anything that makes you believe that he is providing solutions to the security situation?

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 do not 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 is as strong as that. It is something that was there long before Christianity came to Igbo land. For us, killing a human being is an abomination. Christianity did not 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 could not 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 is incapable of addressing the garbage situation. We see refuse heaps mounting everywhere around him. If he is incapable of addressing that, is it insecurity that he is 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 is doing. You won’t see potholes in the city and this is someone who assumed office in 2023. Stay-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 per cent and the night economy is also 50 per cent 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 stay-at-home; some people have argued that the release of Nnamdi Kanu will go a long way towards resolving the security situation in the South-East even if it is not 100 per cent. What are your views on that?

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 zone.

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 too much insensitivity 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 will not 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 Kanu is still in detention because someone like Soludo, who is a leader, has clearly shown that he does not care even when he is 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 am sure he will 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.

Ahead of the governorship election, the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state doesn’t appear to have strong opposition…

APGA had found a way, in the past, to align itself to the ruling party at the centre, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Even when PDP was here in Abuja, they ceded the governorship of Anambra to APGA. We know about those things, but it has always been because the people on the ground have not been able to organise themselves properly.

On other occasions, there was in-fighting in the PDP that eventually led to having a nonpopular candidate, who could not win the election. And the same was done during the primary of APC in Abuja. After a big fight, they came up with a candidate, who was not able to build the coalition and earn the acceptance of all the other people outside APGA.

We know that Soludo, in his quest to come for a second term, is also using that formula and counting his hopes, not on his performance, not on his acceptability, not on his popularity, but on Abuja support, as in the past for Anambra. He is counting on the fact that he has his plans worked out in Abuja and that Abuja will help him to win. He is banking because he has solid funds and Abuja will help him to win.

However, what you should know is that Soludo is now the most unpopular person in Anambra State; he is the number one enemy of Anambra people. Soludo’s nonperformance has popularised the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, making it a formidable front. His non-performance has made the people of Anambra to now look up to the APC to come and rescue them.

And I know that Mr. President is a party man. I also know that APC is being run by experienced and committed party people. I know they are also not blind and they are not deaf. I know also they may have assessed properly or have a means of assessing the real situation in Anambra State.

The opportunity they have been waiting for to take over Anambra State is now because it is the right time for them to take it. I know that they will surely not go into that deceitful alliance with APGA, where APGA usually promises to offer this and that during the presidential election.

Soludo is trying to sell a dummy to APC and will promise them heaven and earth, and at the end of the day, offer nothing. I know that the current APC, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, who is a seasoned and grounded politician with esteem, knows that in politics, you can never see with somebody else’s eyes.

APC cannot please Soludo to kill itself. Besides, Soludo’s bad governance and his insensitivity to the security situation have provided the perfect situation for APC as a ruling party to take over Anambra State

Supporting APGA to win in Anambra through a deceitful promise that they will help APC in 2027 is like plucking off their eyes and giving them to see with it; so that blindly, they will be following them. It never happens.

The opportunity has arrived now for them to see with their own eyes in Anambra State; because APGA’s deceitful promises are not practical in the sense that the same day of the presidential election is the same day for National Assembly elections.

APGA may not have a presidential candidate, but it will have candidates for the Senate and the House of Representatives for whom they will do everything possible for them to win.

Do you have an electorate in Anambra State that you will tell, vote A for this, vote B for this, vote C for that? If that works, why is it that in areas where APGA wins House of Representatives seat, the presidential election returns zero? This is because they find it difficult to ask their supporters to vote for different parties in the same election. They simply campaign that their supporters should vote APGA all the way.

That deceitful game has been exposed. With an APC governor in Anambra State, before 2027, APC will have more stakes in the presidential election because, while APGA will be struggling to get a hand in the elections, APC will be voting with strong candidates in the National Assembly and state House of Assembly elections. The APC governor they will have in Anambra State will be saying, vote APC all the way. This is the secret.

So, APC cannot please Soludo to kill itself. Besides, Soludo’s bad governance and insensitivity to the security situation have provided the perfect situation for APC as a ruling party to take over Anambra State. Thank God also that APC has realised that the near chance they had in the past but missed may have been the issue of the candidate of choice.

They have resolved also to get an acceptable candidate who is not just desperate to win the power of governance in Anambra, but who can build a coalition outside the party with all the institutional stakeholders, and all the individual stakeholders. So, it is not only to win the governorship of Anambra itself but to win the people for APC. And that is the candidate, I believe, APC will run with.

This fact is making Soludo uncomfortable. And it is making him feel that it’s a game over for him because he boasts that he has accumulated enough resources to run, and challenge anyone that will come on board money for money. I want to believe that Anambra people hear that also, and that security agencies hear that too.

Your analysis of Soludo’s leadership comes in contrast with the fact that the state is blessed with human capital, who have grown to become billionaires. Is it right to conclude that the state of governance in Anambra has negatively impacted the ability of these billionaires?

Ordinarily, with the quality of human capital we have in Anambra, the state ought to have fared better. These are people who are deeply attached to their origin, people who are deeply rooted in their ancestral homes;

Anambra ought not to be out there looking for Foreign Direct Investment because the people are capable of bringing that investment home. However, this is not happening because we have a governor who does not understand the essence of governance.

Of recent, Nigeria’s economy has blossomed. If you look at the state of the economy in 1999, for instance, leading to the recapitalisation of the banks, we will know that no bank could give you a loan of $100 million because they did not have it.

Today, the economy has grown and Anambra people are major participants in this growth. The economy may be the way it is, but we have seen even younger people showing signs of entrepreneurial capacities.

Therefore, when you have a governor like Soludo, who never engaged in productive enterprise nor created a business that employed people, who never built a brand, nor introduced and sold a product nor even nurtured N1 million to grow to become N1 billion, then you cannot understand the value that these persons who have done all these that you could not do, add to governance and the growth of the economy.

And until you can have a leader who knows and understands the principles of business development and economic growth, a leader who commands the respect of investors and the business class, a leader they can trust and work with, one who respects them, we cannot make progress.

Today we have a governor who emphasizes certificates, a governor who tells Anambra people that they are illiterates, and belittles everyone irrespective of the value they bring to society. We must know that knowledge is not about the capacity to speak English language. Therefore, the ability to speak English is not necessarily a sign that you are knowledgeable.

Sadly, we have a leader who thinks wisdom is about speaking the English language. It does not matter the English that you speak, it is the wisdom that you have and wisdom is divinely inspired. I have interfaced with people who never went to school but they have wisdom.

So, until you have that person who can cultivate these people and relate with them even on a personal level, you may not be able to galvanise them into your leadership system and tap the benefits of having them assist in the task of development.

Only when you galvanise this set of people, present an acceptable governance programme before them and achieve their buy-in can you take advantage of their wealth to create a new momentum for job creation and development in the state.