Do you endorse military engagement in the South-East or you prefer dialogue?
Dialogue is the first port of call. But at the same time, the issue of military operation is not only peculiar to the south-east; the military have been used in so many states across the country. So I am not being particular about military engagement in the south-east. Every country, not necessarily Nigeria, must have a committed military. So we have to under the circumstance support members of our military in discharging their duties.
Are you satisfied with their operations in the south-east so far?
Well, I have no details of their operations in any part of the country. But we need to have one solid military for us to exist as a country and of course, we need to give them our support. From our own side, we need to do it in line with our constitution.
The military are allegedly cracking down on IPOB members in the south-east. What do you make of this?
I don’t have the details. But also there have been military operations in the north-east for so many years now and we need o put our acts together and give them the necessary support to maintain law and order for us to have progress and development.
Do we need any agitation for secession in this country?
You see, there are issues especially with political leaders, political parties, religious leaders and traditional rulers. They need to act fast. Otherwise, a section of champions will use the opportunity to execute their agenda which will not be in the best interest of the nation.
The NBS has announced that Nigeria is out of recession but the common man on the street has not experienced any difference. What is happening?
Nigerians were told that the nation’s economy was out of recession. Statistically, we are out of it, but that is not to say that everybody has got a job, everybody has got money, everybody has got food. Many people wouldn’t have known that we are out of recession if not that they were told. At the same time, I believe that the government is working and I have some suggestions; that the government should work hard to ensure that we are not only just out but very much out so that everybody in the country will start smiling.
We will have to support the government to work harder because every one of you has got responsibilities to discharge. So we have to encourage the government and at the same time, encourage ourselves so that we will work harder so that everybody will get food.
Why do you think various sections of the country are agitating?
That all depends on how you see it; things will go wrong and people will start agitation, things will be right, correct but maybe, misinterpreted and people will start agitations. So the point is I don’t want to go into the details of who is right and who is wrong but as a legislator, I believe we all know what should be done under this circumstance. There is nothing wrong in saying that I want more states, I want more local government areas, I want more jobs, I want this and that. But while doing that, there are laid down constitutional rules and ways of doing it. But where people have challenges is when we get out of that bracket and start violating the fundamental rights; right to exist, movement and many others.
What Boko Haram and other agitators are saying depends on how you look at it. But if you want to do any agitation on anything, do it within the constitutional means not just to go out there and say because I want Kano to have this or that, it is not enough reason for me to go to Sabon Gari of Kano and start attacking our brothers and sisters who are there. We all have representation, whatever you have whether good or bad and you believe in it, go to the National Assembly, go to the State House of Assembly, go to the Police, go to the traditional rulers and put it. If it makes sense, people will support it.
Is it political parties or elected officers that should handle agitations?
The essence of political parties in democracy is to mobilize people. If any major political party calls for a meeting today, you realize that you have people from all the zones, all the states depending on the size of the meeting. If you talk of PDP which we defeated, today it has elected representation across the country so also the APC.
Political parties are very important in a democracy because views can be made and positions can be taken and parties can come up with their own position and that position is binding on all its members, so political parties in a democracy are very strong. Also you cannot call for a meeting of a national party and abuse any ethnic group or any region or group. It is also a forum to discuss issues; discuss economy, discuss security which is key because without security you can’t do anything.
I am sure you remember in 1999, my own elder brother, Mohammed Abubakar Rimi was contesting with Obasanjo, Alex Ekwueme and others. By the time we went to Jos for the primary election, there and then we told Muhammed Abubakar that he should step down in favour of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, because we felt under that circumstance, Obasanjo was the best candidate; we didn’t look at it from the angle of religion, we didn’t look at it from the level of ethnicity or zone. The party at that time decided to zone it to the south, so we had to abide by the decision of the party.
In 2003, some people came from the north but we stood our grounds and said this is the position of our party, so political parties are very critical as well as other leaders that I mentioned earlier. So parties, government and leaders must be very active and once they allow a vacuum to exist that is when we have these champions coming out to shout either from the north or south; people who should not talk at all. That is what we must avoid.
Do you still have faith in the APC?
I think that question is unfair. It’s just like asking yourself whether you still have faith in your newspaper. Did I tell you I am out of the APC? If I don’t have the faith why am I here? I don’t think that question is correct.
Is your party, the APC, doing the right thing?
This is not the time to talk about the APC or PDP. We have to do things as leaders. Now under this circumstance we want the support of everybody including the PDP, APGA and even the recently registered political parties. All hands must be on deck. Under this circumstance, we are talking of the existence of this country, so it is fundamental and everybody must put his hand on the deck. This is not the time to allow the mischief makers; people who are for one reason or the other frustrated, come out and board the ship.
The media, all political parties, politicians, businessmen and women we are talking of the security of this country. As we have seen or heard, there were attacks in the south. Now, some are even saying that Nigerians lost their lives or properties. I don’t have all the facts but assume that is correct, that person could be your brother or sister or friend and in any case, human life is so critical. In a country where lives are valueless, then everybody has a problem because anybody could be a victim of call it agitation, kidnapping, Boko Haramm or anything. Nigeria is our home; we don’t need any visa to go to Aba or Sokoto. But if we cannot move freely, then there is a problem. So we should avoid crisis for whatever reason.
Will restructuring put an end to nationwide agitations?
One thing I know and I know it very well is that we require good leadership across the country and of course, across the strata ranging from the local government to states and federal government. I had the opportunity to interact with people from all sections of the country and I found them very enterprising, hardworking, intelligent and friendly.
What they need is to put them on the right track, support them and especially in the areas of education, agriculture, infrastructure and so on. But intelligence without focus on what to do, you may end up using it negatively. Many of these people who are doing negative things are very intelligent but instead of using it positively, they became leaders in the negative side; so good quality leadership is key.
But it also depends on the leader; what his mission and vision are? We are talking of capacity; if you don’t have it you cannot do it. We can move from parliamentary to presidential, we can devolve power from national to local government and people tried it before. We have had so many views.
