Bishop Kukah FINALLY Speaks On Dasuki's Trial, Biafra Protests
biafra radio news
Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah is one of the few religious leaders in the country who are not scared to speak the truth. Mathew Kukah is the current Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.
Kukah has served as a member of the Nigerian Investigation Commission of Human Rights Violations between 1999 and 2001. Until his nomination as bishop, he was secretary of the National Political Reform Conferene. In an interview with Naij.com’s Olajide Adelana, Kukah speaks on Dasuki’s arms scandal, President Buhari’s foreign trips, the Biafra protests, and subsidy removal amongst other issues.
Read the excerpts below:biafra radio news
Reports say over $2 billion was squandered by the former national security adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki. Are you happy with the moves of the present administration in the fight against corruption?
It is a good thing. I am very happy because what the president has done coincides with some of the issues that I have raised. Fighting corruption is not a short gun activity, which is the point I was making. When David had to fight Goliath, he found an area of competitive advantage. To fight corruption, you must appreciate its size. Corruption is everywhere in this country; churches, universities, market place and so on.
Read some more :biafra radio news
My argument was based on the fact that we need to approach this issue as intellectuals because you need to diagnose a disease before it can be cured. It has not been an easy journey so far. Dasuki’s trial has been stalled a few times now. If you are going to fight corruption, especially as endemic as our situation in Nigeria, institutions must compel citizens to act in the right way.
I feel vindicated, but again, we are not there yet because fighting corruption is not a substitute for governance; it has to be connected to a clear course which I hope the president is working on.
You founded the Kukah centre for faith, leadership and public policy which has been around for a while now, tell us the journey so far.
My appointment as the Bishop of Sokoto slowed down work at the centre. The idea behind the Kukah centre was so important because where I am standing can validate the claims the Kukah centre is making which is that we need an intellectual conversation. We need to get pass the notion that governance is just about political office holders as regards decision making.
Over the years, political office holders have provided cures that are worse than the disease which is as a result of wrong diagnosis stating with the creation of states. When the military created states, it was a strategy for stopping Ojukwu and the Biafra struggle. Almost forty years later, Biafra is back. Was that the necessary response to the issue?
Right now, the resources of this country is been pulled from the centre and the physiological and physical loyalties are to their villages. The result is, the average civil servant is now supposed to work as a hero for his community not for Nigeria. Read some more :biafra radio news
The idea behind the Kukah centre was basically to increase the quality of analysis by deploying necessary intellectual tools that have been developed elsewhere. This is to create a synergy between our situation in Nigeria and what is happening in other parts of the world. We are the only institute in Nigeria that has been flying with a black box. So how do you generate a conversation without policy makers? It is not enough to have God fearing leaders, because that does not equal accountability to Nigerians. My hope is that five, ten, twenty years from now, younger people will be better equipped to deal with the issues of transparency in governance in Nigeria.
One of the beneficiaries from that has allegedly said he used the money for spiritual reasons, do you think that is possible?Read some more :biafra radio news
I will rather not comment on this matter because the tape is still running. Let us not get carried away by what is happening. Dubious spirituality has cost Nigeria a lot of money. It is very sad but i can tell you some of my experiences at Oputa panel. Security agencies in Nigeria were consulting native doctors, they would have been the people running this country, these are people who do not know how to read and write. This is not the first time we are hearing such stores. I will not mention any names, but the same Buhari in 1983 when they called for investigation in the school of a governor that was what they did with the security vote. A substantial part of the money has gone for “security purposes”. Read some more :biafra radio news
They are people who spend huge amounts of money to keep prophets in different parts of the world just to pray for them. Criminals and thieves who are in connivance with those collecting these monies are also guilty of the same crime. I am a religious leader who stay in Sokoto where the N4.6 billion is, and if it’s for religious purposes, I am the Bishop of Sokoto dioceses. I believe that somehow, I ought to be a beneficiary of this loot. When EFCC comes, I will be able to answer them. So let me not incriminate myself and as a religious leader, this is of great interest to me (smiles).
World Bank just released a report that Nigeria spent over N6.9 trillion on subsidy in the past five years. The Nigerian Labour Congress have said that the president should resist every attempt to remove subsidy, what is you honest view on subsidy in Nigeria?...Read some more :biafra radio news
ou know when Nigerians talk about privatization, I tell them Nigeria is a private state already. Subsidy is a symptom of something that has gone wrong which will not be corrected without proper diagnosis. But in Nigeria, we mistake the symptom for the disease. Subsidy is a symptom of what went wrong to correct this, we must know how it began. We found ourselves in a situation where governance became a criminal enterprise and rather than seeking freedom, Nigerians are still saying no matter how much you charge us, we are ready to pay, just give us the product.
Nigerian political elites have shown no capacity, inclination, disposition to doing the right thing. Right now, some people are of the view that because Buhari is the president, all these problems would be solved. But that won’t happen. We cannot anchor our hopes on just one individual. Buhari may provide the leadership but may lead a lonely army except we all sign on.
For me, the issue is not about removing subsidy or not. I am more concerned about the impact of subsidy to the welfare of the ordinary Nigerian. What will be the benefits to an ordinary Nigerian? If doing so will put more money in the hands of government, the president does not have a cheque book. He will do everything through a ministry which are the conveyor belt for the delivery on services. These are issues that we can take step by step. If I can enter a train from here to Sokoto, what do I need my car for? This problem has persisted because we do not have a clear infrastructure agenda...Read some more :biafra radio news
The fight against corruption does not need weapons. Once you create the infrastructure, individuals will respond to the change. For instance, I was supposed to have a meeting in Amsterdam and something went wrong. They asked me to fly to London or with the train (Eurostar). They can sell fuel at N500 per litre, but you must make going to the fuel station a redundant exercise.
When I was a student in England, my professor told me that he fills his fuel tank just twice a year because he walks to the train station except when it rains. So even if you sold fuel for 2000 pounds, he won’t be worried. These are some of the serious issues.
What is your perception of the new INEC chairman using Kogi and Bayelsa elections as basis for your judgement?
I think it will be too much to ascribe this to the new INEC chairman, we do not know the level of imperfection. It not about institutions but a question of management. There are rules and regulations. I served with Attahiru Jega in justice Uwais panel, so I can appreciate the type of complaints people make. So it is in the place of INEC to deal with these complaints. How the political leaders conduct themselves is what makes or mars the system....Read some more :biafra radio news
I do not have a particular view about Kogi or Bayelsa, but again it raises questions about our expectations which regards electoral transparency. Well, the concentration of idle energy in a place can also be a source of problem. From what I have seen, the best we can do is to wait for the court to take a final decision because this seems like a battle that would run for a very long time. Whenever these things happen, they help us to stay with the spirit of the law, and also the fact that the law makers could never have anticipated some contradictions in the law. Whichever way the case goes, it should strengthen INEC and its job and the electoral act.
At the last count the president has travelled abroad up to 12 times and Nigerians are beginning to complain. What is your view on this?
You see… Look, I am… Let me use the word guilty of that… If it is an issue. Let me give you an example. I was a parish priest here in 1982… I was in Abuja in 1982. Abuja was very small then but I decided and visited most of my parishioners. I knew the homes of most of my parishioners. Then after sometime my parishioners began to complain that we go to see father but he is not there. Ok, fine. So when I heard the complaints I decided to sit down and after some time they say ‘you see father doesn’t visit’. That I have no idea about how they are living....Read some more :biafra radio news
It is like the Yoruba story told by Ebenezer Obey, which he turned into a song that which one is better is it the man and his son and the donkey or should the donkey be working free? Or should the man and the son be on the donkey?… And so on. If President Buhari sits down we would say the man doesn’t understand and appreciate how much…. international politics because we are not out there playing. Aren’t we struggling to go and play the world cup (wide grin)?
To answer your question, President Buhari is not breast feeding Nigeria. Ok, even if the man decided to stay… After all, Abacha didn’t go anywhere. For almost through the period of his administration, how many foreign trips did he make? So, on balance can you rate him as the best head of state Nigeria ever had because he was sedentary? For me I think that the president is not the kind of person that you will say… A lot of people, very many civil servants travel more because of the estacode than the purpose of their journey. I have heard a senior civil servant say that estacode is the energizer of the civil servant. There are people who spend a lot of time and they include ministers. They include all kinds of people whose interest is when is the next trip…when is the next trip going to be. Because this is how people feed themselves whether it is out of station allowance or duty tour allowance or whatever. I don’t think that is the issue with the president here.
We have a vice president, ok. We have ministers and we have ministries. And seriously I am not saying it shouldn’t bother the president but I think if I were the president frankly I couldn’t be bothered. Let people judge me by my performance. And there is nothing that is going to happen in this country by you sitting down and not going anywhere. Mugabe hardly travels to anywhere. Ok, in part because he has been banned from going to some places but is Zimbabwe the best country in the world?
I am sure Buhari wants to enjoy himself there are … (inaudible)… at the age of seventy something what is it he has not seen. I think we must be a little bit clear, you know. And I think that the media must be sensitive enough in terms of how do you rank the priorities. I believe for the kind of things he is talking about the more international support that Nigerian can get the better. Unless somebody suggests or shows me evidence that somehow there is correlation between the president’s travel and the devaluation of the naira or there is a correlation between the president’s travel and the state of insecurity in the country, then I can understand. It may actually be the case. But to me there are things the president is meant or ought to do including whether by now he shouldn’t be having a conversation with the indigenous people of Biafra one way or the other. Or whether by now he should not have crafted an internal moving agenda so that an ordinary Nigerian could touch and feel you. Because except for the people who fill the stadia most whom were paid ordinary Nigerians will like to see their president. But that does not in any way deter the fact that he has international responsibilities.
What better way do you think the president can handle the recent surge in protests calling for the creation of Biafra?
It is a difficult question to answer and it can take us a long time. But for me, and I have spoken to a good number of people. And I hear people say these boys don’t know war that they never fought a war. Now, I think you can tidy up all these arguments together by raising questions about the quality of elite responsibility in Nigeria. Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) started out, they were angry with the Yoruba elites. At the end it is the president that gets buffeted but it is also about elite responsibility. Boko Haram in another way as tried to deal with the same problem in the same way that the Niger-delta tried to resolve the same way. Tragically, again the political elite has lacked the sophistication to determine whether you are going to use a stick or use a carrot. So far, they have created the impression tragically that the more you bang at the door, the more likely you will get rewarded.
Because if you gave the Yorubas Obasanjo on grounds that they felt wounded and if you gave the north Yar’adua on the grounds that there were agitations or if you gave the south-south Jonathan on grounds that the Niger Delta militants threatened everybody… Then I can understand that the Biafra people might think it is only by taking this position that you can get a result. But as we know a lot of these is counterproductive. However, there is what we call the politics of symbolism and if I were the president by now I will open up channels of communication. This is not a responsibility for either traditional rulers or non-state actors because in every conflict situation somebody should be able to say to ‘my children this is what we are trying to do or this is why what you are saying is not practicable’.
We should be able to have a quality of listening devices that can assure young people because the truth of the matter is that the youths in Nigeria just like elsewhere have become restive but your generation any young person in the world today has a greater sense of urgency than their parents or their grandparents who believe that softly. Softly is what is required. Fortunately, globalization has now brought everything to our sitting room. What ISIS is doing now is that it is literally creating the impression that al-Qaeda was not even as devastating because ISIS has made savagery and evil a commodity. What this tells you is the amount of power that is available to young people at a click of a button. So for me, this not a law and order issue. It is not a question of seeing these young people as agitators or criminals. No. the question we should be asking is what did we do? Who left the door open that we didn’t see this coming? Because at every twist and turn you must always see… If you have qualitative listening devices you will know when fire is about to start.
Read some more :biafra radio news
If the president takes this as a law and order issue it will be a dead end. Alright. And I repeat what I have said always that let us not assume that everybody loves this country. Let us not assume so. There are too many people, and too many interest groups including powerful people and nations that have spent the last 50 years scheming to make sure that Nigeria doesn’t really stand up. So the least we require is this kind of situation. If I were the president… And he better not fall for the idea that this is a simple matter of law and order. You saw the issue of the militant. Ok. You saw the militants in the Niger Delta how they behaved when they saw Yar’adua. And if I were president there is no reason I can’t handpick all the leaders… If you go and tell the leadership of MASSOB or IPOB that they are going to see the president, everybody will go and wash his clothes. People will go and shave because to see the president no be small thing maybe that is what they have been aspiring for. And what will it cost the president. But for things of this nature there will always be people who want to settle underscores. And if the president listens to those that he believe he has got the power, that these are just rascals, that Biafra is already dead and buried… then wow… (sighs)… if something is dead and buried it cannot pull that kind of crowd.
There is no single politician in Nigeria that if he went to Aba, or if he went to Onitsha or any of these cities can pull that kind of crowd. None of them, perhaps including the president. The only thing is that if the president is coming like you know very well politicians will hire people to fill the stadium. But none of those guys coming out and closing down their shops suggest to you that somebody bribed them to come out.
So I think what we should be afraid of and worried about is that possibility. But for Kanu and the other people who are leading these groups it is also the realization and I have said these to people. I spent seven years trying to resolve the problem between Ogoni and Shell and the federal government.
I know that sooner than later, internal implosion will lead to this system decomposing from within. And that is the worst thing that can happen. What it also means is that the young people must also know that they have made their point, now is time to talk. Whom to talk to and how to talk, that is a different matter altogether.
biafra radio news
Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah is one of the few religious leaders in the country who are not scared to speak the truth. Mathew Kukah is the current Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.
Kukah has served as a member of the Nigerian Investigation Commission of Human Rights Violations between 1999 and 2001. Until his nomination as bishop, he was secretary of the National Political Reform Conferene. In an interview with Naij.com’s Olajide Adelana, Kukah speaks on Dasuki’s arms scandal, President Buhari’s foreign trips, the Biafra protests, and subsidy removal amongst other issues.
Read the excerpts below:biafra radio news
Reports say over $2 billion was squandered by the former national security adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki. Are you happy with the moves of the present administration in the fight against corruption?
It is a good thing. I am very happy because what the president has done coincides with some of the issues that I have raised. Fighting corruption is not a short gun activity, which is the point I was making. When David had to fight Goliath, he found an area of competitive advantage. To fight corruption, you must appreciate its size. Corruption is everywhere in this country; churches, universities, market place and so on.
Read some more :biafra radio news
My argument was based on the fact that we need to approach this issue as intellectuals because you need to diagnose a disease before it can be cured. It has not been an easy journey so far. Dasuki’s trial has been stalled a few times now. If you are going to fight corruption, especially as endemic as our situation in Nigeria, institutions must compel citizens to act in the right way.
I feel vindicated, but again, we are not there yet because fighting corruption is not a substitute for governance; it has to be connected to a clear course which I hope the president is working on.
You founded the Kukah centre for faith, leadership and public policy which has been around for a while now, tell us the journey so far.
My appointment as the Bishop of Sokoto slowed down work at the centre. The idea behind the Kukah centre was so important because where I am standing can validate the claims the Kukah centre is making which is that we need an intellectual conversation. We need to get pass the notion that governance is just about political office holders as regards decision making.
Over the years, political office holders have provided cures that are worse than the disease which is as a result of wrong diagnosis stating with the creation of states. When the military created states, it was a strategy for stopping Ojukwu and the Biafra struggle. Almost forty years later, Biafra is back. Was that the necessary response to the issue?
Right now, the resources of this country is been pulled from the centre and the physiological and physical loyalties are to their villages. The result is, the average civil servant is now supposed to work as a hero for his community not for Nigeria. Read some more :biafra radio news
The idea behind the Kukah centre was basically to increase the quality of analysis by deploying necessary intellectual tools that have been developed elsewhere. This is to create a synergy between our situation in Nigeria and what is happening in other parts of the world. We are the only institute in Nigeria that has been flying with a black box. So how do you generate a conversation without policy makers? It is not enough to have God fearing leaders, because that does not equal accountability to Nigerians. My hope is that five, ten, twenty years from now, younger people will be better equipped to deal with the issues of transparency in governance in Nigeria.
One of the beneficiaries from that has allegedly said he used the money for spiritual reasons, do you think that is possible?Read some more :biafra radio news
I will rather not comment on this matter because the tape is still running. Let us not get carried away by what is happening. Dubious spirituality has cost Nigeria a lot of money. It is very sad but i can tell you some of my experiences at Oputa panel. Security agencies in Nigeria were consulting native doctors, they would have been the people running this country, these are people who do not know how to read and write. This is not the first time we are hearing such stores. I will not mention any names, but the same Buhari in 1983 when they called for investigation in the school of a governor that was what they did with the security vote. A substantial part of the money has gone for “security purposes”. Read some more :biafra radio news
They are people who spend huge amounts of money to keep prophets in different parts of the world just to pray for them. Criminals and thieves who are in connivance with those collecting these monies are also guilty of the same crime. I am a religious leader who stay in Sokoto where the N4.6 billion is, and if it’s for religious purposes, I am the Bishop of Sokoto dioceses. I believe that somehow, I ought to be a beneficiary of this loot. When EFCC comes, I will be able to answer them. So let me not incriminate myself and as a religious leader, this is of great interest to me (smiles).
World Bank just released a report that Nigeria spent over N6.9 trillion on subsidy in the past five years. The Nigerian Labour Congress have said that the president should resist every attempt to remove subsidy, what is you honest view on subsidy in Nigeria?...Read some more :biafra radio news
ou know when Nigerians talk about privatization, I tell them Nigeria is a private state already. Subsidy is a symptom of something that has gone wrong which will not be corrected without proper diagnosis. But in Nigeria, we mistake the symptom for the disease. Subsidy is a symptom of what went wrong to correct this, we must know how it began. We found ourselves in a situation where governance became a criminal enterprise and rather than seeking freedom, Nigerians are still saying no matter how much you charge us, we are ready to pay, just give us the product.
Nigerian political elites have shown no capacity, inclination, disposition to doing the right thing. Right now, some people are of the view that because Buhari is the president, all these problems would be solved. But that won’t happen. We cannot anchor our hopes on just one individual. Buhari may provide the leadership but may lead a lonely army except we all sign on.
For me, the issue is not about removing subsidy or not. I am more concerned about the impact of subsidy to the welfare of the ordinary Nigerian. What will be the benefits to an ordinary Nigerian? If doing so will put more money in the hands of government, the president does not have a cheque book. He will do everything through a ministry which are the conveyor belt for the delivery on services. These are issues that we can take step by step. If I can enter a train from here to Sokoto, what do I need my car for? This problem has persisted because we do not have a clear infrastructure agenda...Read some more :biafra radio news
The fight against corruption does not need weapons. Once you create the infrastructure, individuals will respond to the change. For instance, I was supposed to have a meeting in Amsterdam and something went wrong. They asked me to fly to London or with the train (Eurostar). They can sell fuel at N500 per litre, but you must make going to the fuel station a redundant exercise.
When I was a student in England, my professor told me that he fills his fuel tank just twice a year because he walks to the train station except when it rains. So even if you sold fuel for 2000 pounds, he won’t be worried. These are some of the serious issues.
What is your perception of the new INEC chairman using Kogi and Bayelsa elections as basis for your judgement?
I think it will be too much to ascribe this to the new INEC chairman, we do not know the level of imperfection. It not about institutions but a question of management. There are rules and regulations. I served with Attahiru Jega in justice Uwais panel, so I can appreciate the type of complaints people make. So it is in the place of INEC to deal with these complaints. How the political leaders conduct themselves is what makes or mars the system....Read some more :biafra radio news
I do not have a particular view about Kogi or Bayelsa, but again it raises questions about our expectations which regards electoral transparency. Well, the concentration of idle energy in a place can also be a source of problem. From what I have seen, the best we can do is to wait for the court to take a final decision because this seems like a battle that would run for a very long time. Whenever these things happen, they help us to stay with the spirit of the law, and also the fact that the law makers could never have anticipated some contradictions in the law. Whichever way the case goes, it should strengthen INEC and its job and the electoral act.
At the last count the president has travelled abroad up to 12 times and Nigerians are beginning to complain. What is your view on this?
You see… Look, I am… Let me use the word guilty of that… If it is an issue. Let me give you an example. I was a parish priest here in 1982… I was in Abuja in 1982. Abuja was very small then but I decided and visited most of my parishioners. I knew the homes of most of my parishioners. Then after sometime my parishioners began to complain that we go to see father but he is not there. Ok, fine. So when I heard the complaints I decided to sit down and after some time they say ‘you see father doesn’t visit’. That I have no idea about how they are living....Read some more :biafra radio news
It is like the Yoruba story told by Ebenezer Obey, which he turned into a song that which one is better is it the man and his son and the donkey or should the donkey be working free? Or should the man and the son be on the donkey?… And so on. If President Buhari sits down we would say the man doesn’t understand and appreciate how much…. international politics because we are not out there playing. Aren’t we struggling to go and play the world cup (wide grin)?
To answer your question, President Buhari is not breast feeding Nigeria. Ok, even if the man decided to stay… After all, Abacha didn’t go anywhere. For almost through the period of his administration, how many foreign trips did he make? So, on balance can you rate him as the best head of state Nigeria ever had because he was sedentary? For me I think that the president is not the kind of person that you will say… A lot of people, very many civil servants travel more because of the estacode than the purpose of their journey. I have heard a senior civil servant say that estacode is the energizer of the civil servant. There are people who spend a lot of time and they include ministers. They include all kinds of people whose interest is when is the next trip…when is the next trip going to be. Because this is how people feed themselves whether it is out of station allowance or duty tour allowance or whatever. I don’t think that is the issue with the president here.
We have a vice president, ok. We have ministers and we have ministries. And seriously I am not saying it shouldn’t bother the president but I think if I were the president frankly I couldn’t be bothered. Let people judge me by my performance. And there is nothing that is going to happen in this country by you sitting down and not going anywhere. Mugabe hardly travels to anywhere. Ok, in part because he has been banned from going to some places but is Zimbabwe the best country in the world?
I am sure Buhari wants to enjoy himself there are … (inaudible)… at the age of seventy something what is it he has not seen. I think we must be a little bit clear, you know. And I think that the media must be sensitive enough in terms of how do you rank the priorities. I believe for the kind of things he is talking about the more international support that Nigerian can get the better. Unless somebody suggests or shows me evidence that somehow there is correlation between the president’s travel and the devaluation of the naira or there is a correlation between the president’s travel and the state of insecurity in the country, then I can understand. It may actually be the case. But to me there are things the president is meant or ought to do including whether by now he shouldn’t be having a conversation with the indigenous people of Biafra one way or the other. Or whether by now he should not have crafted an internal moving agenda so that an ordinary Nigerian could touch and feel you. Because except for the people who fill the stadia most whom were paid ordinary Nigerians will like to see their president. But that does not in any way deter the fact that he has international responsibilities.
What better way do you think the president can handle the recent surge in protests calling for the creation of Biafra?
It is a difficult question to answer and it can take us a long time. But for me, and I have spoken to a good number of people. And I hear people say these boys don’t know war that they never fought a war. Now, I think you can tidy up all these arguments together by raising questions about the quality of elite responsibility in Nigeria. Odua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) started out, they were angry with the Yoruba elites. At the end it is the president that gets buffeted but it is also about elite responsibility. Boko Haram in another way as tried to deal with the same problem in the same way that the Niger-delta tried to resolve the same way. Tragically, again the political elite has lacked the sophistication to determine whether you are going to use a stick or use a carrot. So far, they have created the impression tragically that the more you bang at the door, the more likely you will get rewarded.
Because if you gave the Yorubas Obasanjo on grounds that they felt wounded and if you gave the north Yar’adua on the grounds that there were agitations or if you gave the south-south Jonathan on grounds that the Niger Delta militants threatened everybody… Then I can understand that the Biafra people might think it is only by taking this position that you can get a result. But as we know a lot of these is counterproductive. However, there is what we call the politics of symbolism and if I were the president by now I will open up channels of communication. This is not a responsibility for either traditional rulers or non-state actors because in every conflict situation somebody should be able to say to ‘my children this is what we are trying to do or this is why what you are saying is not practicable’.
We should be able to have a quality of listening devices that can assure young people because the truth of the matter is that the youths in Nigeria just like elsewhere have become restive but your generation any young person in the world today has a greater sense of urgency than their parents or their grandparents who believe that softly. Softly is what is required. Fortunately, globalization has now brought everything to our sitting room. What ISIS is doing now is that it is literally creating the impression that al-Qaeda was not even as devastating because ISIS has made savagery and evil a commodity. What this tells you is the amount of power that is available to young people at a click of a button. So for me, this not a law and order issue. It is not a question of seeing these young people as agitators or criminals. No. the question we should be asking is what did we do? Who left the door open that we didn’t see this coming? Because at every twist and turn you must always see… If you have qualitative listening devices you will know when fire is about to start.
Read some more :biafra radio news
If the president takes this as a law and order issue it will be a dead end. Alright. And I repeat what I have said always that let us not assume that everybody loves this country. Let us not assume so. There are too many people, and too many interest groups including powerful people and nations that have spent the last 50 years scheming to make sure that Nigeria doesn’t really stand up. So the least we require is this kind of situation. If I were the president… And he better not fall for the idea that this is a simple matter of law and order. You saw the issue of the militant. Ok. You saw the militants in the Niger Delta how they behaved when they saw Yar’adua. And if I were president there is no reason I can’t handpick all the leaders… If you go and tell the leadership of MASSOB or IPOB that they are going to see the president, everybody will go and wash his clothes. People will go and shave because to see the president no be small thing maybe that is what they have been aspiring for. And what will it cost the president. But for things of this nature there will always be people who want to settle underscores. And if the president listens to those that he believe he has got the power, that these are just rascals, that Biafra is already dead and buried… then wow… (sighs)… if something is dead and buried it cannot pull that kind of crowd.
There is no single politician in Nigeria that if he went to Aba, or if he went to Onitsha or any of these cities can pull that kind of crowd. None of them, perhaps including the president. The only thing is that if the president is coming like you know very well politicians will hire people to fill the stadium. But none of those guys coming out and closing down their shops suggest to you that somebody bribed them to come out.
So I think what we should be afraid of and worried about is that possibility. But for Kanu and the other people who are leading these groups it is also the realization and I have said these to people. I spent seven years trying to resolve the problem between Ogoni and Shell and the federal government.
I know that sooner than later, internal implosion will lead to this system decomposing from within. And that is the worst thing that can happen. What it also means is that the young people must also know that they have made their point, now is time to talk. Whom to talk to and how to talk, that is a different matter altogether.
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