At the Tafawa Balewa
Square, Lagos, funeral
programme for the late elder
statesman and Biafran
warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu-Ojukwu, last
Thursday, National Chairman
of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor
Umeh spoke to reporters on
the significance of Ojukwu’s
death and why the country
must be restructured along
Ojukwu’s suggestions.
Excerpts:
People from all parts of the
country came to TBS to
honour Ojukwu. How do you
see this outpouring of
eulogies?
Nigerians of all divides were
there. Those, who disagreed
with Ojukwu 40 years ago
agreed with him in death.
Now that he is dead, they all
agreed with all he said. They
are still pretending that
Nigeria is working. Nigeria is
not working. All the issues he
canvassed that even made
him to carry arms are still
relevant in Nigeria today.
They are still killing people.
We still have mass murders
and we have so much
pockets of injustice in
Nigeria. So, Nigeria cannot
continue the way it’s going
without a discussion. We
need a round table national
dialogue. There are so many
pockets of grievances in the
Nigerian nation. So, those
who are in authority today,
if they continue to resist
national dialogue, the
collapse of Nigeria is
inevitable.
Nigeria cannot continue the
way it’s moving. Every part
of Nigeria has something or
the other to agitate for. The
President cannot continue to
sit on an empire that is
decaying. So the only thing
the President needs to do, is
to open up and allow
Nigerians to come together.
We are not talking about the
breakup of Nigeria. We are
talking about how to discuss
so that Nigeria will remain. If
they want to say they will
use force to intimidate the
people, one day the whole
thing will cave in. So, Ojukwu
stood for equity and
fairness. He canvassed
equity and fairness and
justice. They fought him.
Ojukwu didn’t fight Nigeria.
Nigeria fought Ojukwu
because he declared
independent Republic of
Biafra to defend his people
and they started a war
against him and his people.
Now, they continue to move
on and they don’t have
peace. Nigeria doesn’t have
peace today.
So, the
first thing
they
have to
do is to
go back
and look
at the
things he
said and
the
suggestions he made. If
Nigeria is going to survive
through a confederation, so
be it, so that there will be
peace. There is no point
forcing everybody to be
part of Nigeria, using states
as federating units yet it’s
not working. There is need
to tell ourselves the home
truth. Those who are in
authority always want to
protect their empire but
when they leave office they
join the agitation for
national conference. Now
that they are in authority, let
them use the power they
have to call people together
so that we dialogue.
Former Military President,
General Ibrahim Badamosi
Babangida (rtd.), said
recently that there was no
need for a Sovereign
National Conference (SNC).
What is your take on that?
Babangida is entitled to his
own opinion. The
preponderant opinion in
Nigeria is that there is need
for national conference. It’s
only a fool who can say that
there is no need for dialogue
now. If you don’t want war,
the only thing you need is
dialogue. It’s through
dialogue that you prevent
war. Boko Haram is holding
Nigeria hostage right now.
It’s only Boko Haram now.
By the time other groups
rear up and carry arms
against Nigeria, what would
be left? Nothing!
Nigeria is finding it difficult
to contain Boko Haram.
Talking about the people of
the South-East for instance,
we have only five states and
95 local governments, what
if a group rears up in the
South-East carrying arms as
Boko Haram is carrying arms
and in the Niger Delta also,
the militancy returns? What
will the Nigerian government
do? Nothing! So it’s better
for them to achieve peace
through dialogue without
violence than to continue to
uphold this level of injustice
and think that Nigeria will
remain. It will not remain.
The late Ojukwu no doubt
played a prominent role in
keeping APGA as one family
before he died. How is your
party going to remember
him?
We are Ojukwu’s agents.
Before he died, you know
Ojukwu was known as
somebody who led a war in
defence of his people. Since
war was no longer
fashionable before Ojukwu
died, he built a political
movement and that political
movement is APGA. And he
was able to establish two
state governments in
Anambra and Imo states.
He put two governors in
office in Anambra and Imo.
We will remain his agents
and collectively, we shall
keep his dream alive. He was
my direct boss for eight
years. I can tell you all the
things that Ojukwu stood
for.Our promise is that we
shall continue to carry on
with that vision of Ojukwu.
We are his apostles; we are
going to carry the mission
and his message till the end
of time.
So, APGA will not die. Ojukwu
is dead physically but in
spirit he is alive and he is
with us. And before he left
just like Christ did, giving his
apostles the gift of Holy
Ghost, Ojukwu breathed the
life of struggle into all of us,
those of us who stayed with
him for a long time. So, we
will continue with that
struggle and his struggle will
never die until justice, equity
and fairness reign in Nigeria.
Lagos State Governor, Mr.
Babatunde Fashola (SAN), is a
card carrying member of the
Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN). But he participated in
everything concerning the
burial rites of the late
Ojukwu in Lagos. How do
you view this?
Fashola is a great man. Like
he spoke at the Tafawa
Balewa Square in Lagos, if
you look at the
circumstances, it’s very
difficult for him to hold a
myopic view in his home. His
wife is a Catholic, the mother,
an Anglican, the father a
Muslim. So, he is a man who
is already in the middle of
the road. He is a very good
man and he has
accommodated the Igbo in
Lagos very well.
That is why they are
supporting his
administration. I thank him
immensely for the efforts he
put into organising the
event and we wish him well.
We assure him that the Igbo
people in Lagos will continue
to support his
administration. He has done
very well by identifying with
the Igbo. This is Lagos. Lagos
is the melting point in the
South-western Nigeria but
only Fashola was governor
in South-West that attended
the event. His presence
spoke volumes.
What do you make of
President Goodluck
Jonathan’s participation in
Ojukwu’s burial
arrangements?
When Ojukwu died, their
eyes were opened. As soon
as Ojukwu died and his body
was put in the morgue, Boko
Haram started killing people.
So they now went back to
Ojukwu’s message. They
now realise that this was a
great man. He saw tomorrow
and that tomorrow that he
saw, Nigeria has not been
able to grapple with it. So
they have identified with
him knowing that he was
like a prophet that came to
Nigeria and his message is
still resonating.
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