Nigeria suffering, bleeding at 65 — Ralph Obioha

By Chioma Gabriel, Editor Special Features

Elder statesman and former chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, Chief Ralph Obioha, who was a front liner in the struggle to end military rule in Nigeria, in this encounter, talks about issues that have bedevilled Nigeria and proffers the way forward.

On posturing for 2027 polls two years after the 2023 elections

To be honest with you, our state of the union must be segregated on two points. One has to do with the welfare of the people, and the other has to do with the responsibility of the leadership. When we talk about Nigeria, nobody can talk in   absolutes. Everything I’m going to say now is what a vast majority of Nigerians will agree on. Majority of Nigerians agree that things are not going well in Nigeria as of today. If you pick on the aspect of index of the standard of living of Nigerians, you will agree that it has dropped very drastically. The reason is not far-fetched, being that the cost of living now has gone out of the reach of the average Nigerian.

Most of what is available now is kind of targeted to attract the expenditure of 5% of the top Nigerians. And the nation doesn’t work on such basis. Again, most Nigerians agree that the current government of President Bola Tinubu has not done well in the sense that there are expectations that there will be a break from the policies of the last government before he came in. That had been dashed.

  It is important always to say that there is never a time lag in any improvement that cannot come. The present government can change things immediately and the way they can change it is to ensure that the hardship in Nigeria should be reduced to the barest minimum. The government should look at the security issues. The security in Nigeria now is so bad that nobody can tell with any certainty that he can travel a distance of 100 miles and guarantee that he will reach the destination.

In the South-East, it is so bad that life has been reduced to the level of it can happen at any moment, in schools,   hospitals, at homes, in the marketplace, anywhere.

It can happen in broad daylight and in front of a lot of spectators. One then starts to wonder what the duty of the government is as far as security of lives and properties is concerned. If the government decides that some of these things can be arrested now, it can be arrested.

How?

It can be arrested by rejigging the security apparatus. When you put somebody in charge of any sector and the person doesn’t deliver, what a responsible government will do is to change the person, find other players to see whether they can do a better job. But as you are aware in Nigeria, everything has been so sectionalised? Appointments in today’s security outfits in Nigeria is tilted towards one section of the country.

There are of course some people who benefit from what is in place now, and will shout, ‘everything is alright.’ But the truth is that everything is not alright.

Now, let us look at what is brewing up for 2027. Everybody now is talking about 2027. A lot of heightened psychological and propaganda issues have been flying up. You start to wonder, why has the situation of the Igbo gotten to a point where there is a threat that citizens of a country are being pushed out of other parts of the same country they are citizens of on the very flimsy excuses that ‘they are taking our land?’

What type of language is that? You cannot be talking about taking of land. You can be talking about taking of land illegally. And if that is the case, there is an institution called the judiciary that has been set up to handle that. It is not for everybody just to shout and create divisions among the citizens of Nigeria. But all these are being played out. After 2027 election,   all these will disappear. But by then, you have built up enough bad blood to set groups against one another. And it’s not healthy for any country.

Who formed NADECO and registered it?

The American version was formed by me, but the NADECO national was formed in Nigeria by eminent Nigerians, who gave me the mandate to open the Washington, American, and Canadian offices.

It was registered in three places. It was registered in Nigeria, America, and Canada. NADECO USA was registered by me and other people. So, before June 12, it went step by step through 1994 when it was registered and managed.

Is it still functioning?

We ran it up to 1998, through the deaths of Chief MKO Abiola and General Sani Abacha, and until the return of democracy. Though, perhaps moribund in Nigeria today, it remains active in the USA, where some Nigerians in Americans continued with NADECO by forming NADECO USA. Led by Barrister Lloyd Ukwu and others, the group sought to continue advocating for democracy in Nigeria.

If the group is no longer active in Nigeria, a group of youths has adopted the name to pursue the continuation of democracy here. This is very positive and has brought happiness to many of us in the vanguard. NADECO in the U.S.A. is still alive and active.

We are celebrating 65 years of   independence. Is it wise to suggest that we should go back to regionalisation, as practiced at the beginning?

Regionalism is a very good solution to the African problem due to the division that is growing in Nigeria. But it’s only one aspect of that. So, it should be a very good start. And, in doing that, it is also important for us to discourage any group of people trying to sow seeds of division. Some are saying that PresidentTinubu should continue because he’s a southern candidate. In the same voice, you hear people now say, oh, some part of that same southern solidarity should move back to their region. It’s a logic that contradicts each other.

Now, there has been a kind of political convention that stipulates that the presidency should be in the South, and after eight years, that it should go to the North. Yes, that’s agreed. But there is no provision in that arrangement that says among the people in the South, if they so desire, they could change the candidates in that South, but they must not stay more than eight years. And that’s where the candidacy of Peter Obi comes to play, where he has, in a way, agreed to do only four years of his legal eight years.

On comments that desperation to become president was pushing Obi to say that

There is no argument that cannot be advanced if you want to reach a certain conclusion. Why is it desperation? The man said that I would sacrifice my own four years to strengthen the country. When I started this interview with you, I said a vast majority of the country believes that the present government has failed. There is no doubt about that. There is no argument about that. There will always be a concern.

On removal of fuel subsidy and attendant hardship

On the issue of subsidy, I support this government because it was unconscionable that just a few Nigerians would be collecting money for doing absolutely nothing. But that does not justify anything because for you to do that, you would have made arrangements that would cushion the effects of such removal. Now, having not put those provisions, the thing kind of exploded in our face. The government had no reason not to accept the mistake they made and find the best and most logical way to correct it. So, it was a colossal mistake in the first instance. And no matter the amount of logic they try to put forward, people are suffering. And there could be a point where suffering may become uncontrollable, and it could destabilize the cohesion of the country. God forbid; nobody will wish it.  

But I wish to repeat again, the present or future presidency of Peter Obi is a promise. And, it has a lot of validity that he will chart another course. Bola Tinubu should be satisfied he has been a Nigerian president for four years. And Peter Obi should be tested for his own four years before the presidency goes back to the North. And if he could start something that goes very well, the person coming from the North will continue where he has stops. What is important in Nigeria is for us to have a workable society that takes care of the critical mass of this country. Nigeria is not only suffering, but also bleeding.

The place of the Igbo in today’s Nigeria is precarious.. Do you think the Igbo will ever be given presidency?

  I think Nigeria should tap from the resilience of the same people they tend to hate. That is the truth of the matter. The Igbo have totally displayed their resilience They are stuck on being very hardworking. And that’s what is needed in Nigeria. And there are still a lot of areas that have not been filled in Nigeria, like production of food, which is a total area that needs to be worked on. And we are aware of the sections of Nigeria that are very good in that. All we need is to encourage that side to continue producing food, letting them know that they have hardworking people who are getting their money from buying   and selling, and who will also buying from their own production. That’s how a nation works. Not on hate, not on resentment, or not walking on their own rights.

It is often said that the Igbo don’t know how to play politics. They are just scattered like the Jews, some are in ADC, some are in APC, some are in PDP. They don’t ever speak with one voice. What is the colour of the Igbo problem?

It’s propaganda. Whenever you want to screen people out, there’s nothing you will not say about them. How can you explain that the Igbo do not know how to talk with one voice? How else can they be talking with one voice with the experience they are having in Nigeria today?

  The Igbo are the people I consider as having the greatest maturity I’ve seen in a group of people. The mistake of the past, they’re not supposed to repeat it again. Because there seems to be a determined policy of government to give Igbo people a bad name. Look at what is going on now.

On governments negotiating with armed bandits in the North but detaining Mazi Nnamdi Kanu?

I will urge and plead with the President of Nigeria, on October 1, in his national address, to resolve the issue of Nnamdi Kanu. If he has committed any crime against the state, he has spent more than fours   years paying that price. I’m not saying he didn’t, but it’s for us to close that chapter in our experience in Nigeria because it’s causing already a catastrophic security challenge in the whole of South-East. The whole of South-East is so unsafe just because of that. The government of Bola Tinubu should have a rethink about the whole idea of Kanu’s continued detention. It serves no purpose whatsoever going forward.

So, my call on President Tinubu on October 1 is to make a natural announcement releasing Kanu and start the process of healing for all the injuries that have been caused in this country, especially against the Igbo.

One of the problems of democracy today in Nigeria is blamed on the INEC and judiciary with regards to manipulating election results, and ratifying same in court. What is your take?

INEC is a complete agency of the government. They are supposed to be independent. If they live up to their responsibility, nobody should question their activity. We can only argue that they do the right thing because they are handling the most sensitive aspects of our democracy with forcefulness. The manipulation of the will of the people is the biggest sin a state can commit to its citizens. It’s the biggest sin. And if they do that, that will only bring about the dysfunctions that are occurring in Nigeria because a government that did not derive its authority from the wishes of most of the people is a fake government, whether they want to believe it or not.

Democracy was fought with a lot of sacrifices. They should sustain it by making sure that they do the right thing, and conduct free and fair elections.

What about politicians and security agencies? Are they not part of the blame for rigged polls?

We have a situation where all the professors in Nigeria are now falling over each other to become electoral officers. And they are the people that you believe should be upright and uphold the very principles of what democracy is about, but they are the ones who are sabotaging it. There is no recipe for that, except to continue appealing for the right sense of Nigerians to appeal to their conscience, please do the right thing. People are not doing this right now because Nigerians have lost confidence in elections.

There’s an ongoing voter registration exercise in some parts of the country. But even INEC itself has complained that people are not coming out for the registration exercise because they don’t have faith in the elections. Now, that is the fear that all discerning and conscious Nigerians are having, that if we continue the path we have chosen, that confidence when it is lost on a society can damage that society profoundly and irritably.

My take is that Nigeria is a nation that should be supported and made to grow and has the potential to grow. I sacrificed a lot to make sure that democracy returns because I believe it’s a better form of government than a military dictatorship. All Nigerians should put their hands together for us to make this thing to work. Nobody is talking about the last president. May his soul rest in peace. But it seems to Nigerians that the suffering would not end. But it came to an end. So, Tinubu should just take cue from what happened and give Nigerians a new lease of life. And in his conscience, he should look very carefully. If he is not capable of doing it, let him make room for another southerner to try for another four years so that the others will be able to see that we in the South, all we are completely after is to have a good working government in Nigeria that is progressive and has a determination to make Nigeria great again.

But President Bola Tinubu was part of your team during the NADECO days. Is it showing in his leadership?

Are you asking me whether I’m disappointed with the results? Yes, I am disappointed. And that’s why I continue making this appeal to him. Consider that if this thing is too much for you, give somebody else a chance to give a good account of the southern stewardship.

But do you think the cabal will allow him?

What? The Cabal? When you mention cabal, I laugh. What is a cabal? The people behind him, the people who are telling him that things are okay when things are not.    It’s a very small selfish people who are protecting what they consider to be their interests. It’s a very small number of people. A cabal works only on the principle of being a willing tool for that cabal. If Bola Tinubu on October 1 releases Nnamdi Kanu, you will be surprised about the display of support for him on that action, including by people who are supposed to have said they are in this kitchen cabinet. So, he is the main actor to take a decision. That’s why he is the head. That’s why he is the president. If, for example, he releases Nnamdi Kanu on October 1, from now till the end of the next election in 2027 things will run smoothly for him.

On perception that attacking Igbo is the easiest way to get favour from any government in Nigeria

It is the malady of society, it is the illness of society, and if you look at the people who do this, they are career people who always want to benefit from the government. It cannot be changed. Such people will always be there. But a leader should be able to identify those people and keep them away from his territory because non-entities are becoming popular from badmouthing the Igbo. Once a political riffraff could badmouth the Igbo, he comes into the good book of the government. This is very much in every group in Nigeria.

It’s very much in every group. It’s part of human nature. But those people should be ignored. The call to love of nation dictates that the person should identify those people and keep them away from the corridors of power.

Do you think Igbo leaders are doing much to help the matter?

What do you expect them to do? The President of Ohanaeze, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, a few days ago called on the president of Nigeria to release Nnamdi Kanu and pointed out that the appointment that is going on in Nigeria is skewed against the Igbo. And other Igbo leaders have also raised their voices.

We don’t expect everybody to be on the same opinion line. But nobody listens to us but don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time. You know, some of these things will start to manifest. The alternative is to call for anarchy and it’s the worst thing that can happen to this country.

And we don’t want to repeat the Nepal experience in Nigeria

You cannot discharge that because if the thing continues the way it’s going we’re inviting the Nepal experience. We can only pray it doesn’t happen. I’m an advocate of nothing to do with disorderly takeover of government in any way, manner or form. But who makes a peaceful change impossible, makes violent change inevitable We should pray for this country. 

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