Herdsmen’s activities, a northern agenda-Comrade Okoroji

Human rights activist, Comrade Linus Okoroji has said that the continuous killing of innocent farmers across the country by Fulani herdsmen is part of Northern agenda to dominate and over run the rest of the country.

In an interview recently, Okoroji who is the protem chairman, June 12 Coalition and the former Director of Security and Logistics in PRONACO called on members of the National Assembly and state governors to ensure that the grazing bill does not scale through.

He decried the eviction order to Ndigbo living in the North by the Arewa youths, describing it as a stupid statement made out of impunity.

“It is just like the grazing bill they are talking about, I have said it that if I were the governor of my state, it will not take place in my state. If you want to do business of cattle rearing, buy a parcel of land anywhere you like and keep your cattle there. States should not allow this kind of impunity to happen.

Look at what is happening in Benue State now where the farmers are killed every now and then by the herdsmen. This is an orchestrated plan by the Northern oligarchy to dominate the rest of the country and it must not be allowed to happen,” he said.

Reacting to the increasing call for restructuring of the country, Okoroji said, “restructuring is good and I have been calling for it a long time ago. However, my worry is that there is no sincerity among many of those clamouring for it.

I remember Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a staunch member of NADECO, the platform we were using to challenge the military to relinquish power to a democratically elected government.

“In fact, it was on the basis of his membership of NADECO that he was elected governor. Now, where is he, why is his voice no longer heard on the matter of restructuring? Likewise some others from the Middle Belt, where are they today? We must mean what we are saying and not just speak because we want to harass the government and the moment they give them appointment, they keep sealed lips. The point is if we pretend restructuring at this point is not necessary, we are deceiving ourselves.

“The United States we are copying has 50 states and each of them is autonomous. If we want to maintain 36 states, let them be autonomous. We cannot continue to run states that depend on the handout from the Federal Government. How can such states develop?”

On the compliance shown by the South East to commemorate 50 years of Biafra, he stated that it showed that the people of the South East had spoken.

His words, “However, the problem is that we don’t know the antecedence of that young man, Nnamdi Kalu and who is sponsoring him. Somebody cannot just come from the blues and begin to shout Biafra and we begin to follow because that’s what we want to hear. I don’t want somebody who will use us to advance his personal course.

“Biafra can be achieved if we unite and use the UN’s instrument; all we need is a plebiscite to say that we don’t want to remain in Nigeria. It does not really call for violence. It must be strategic and not an adhoc thing where anybody will start shouting Biafra.

“Look, I was startled the day I went to Uwazuruike’s house in Okwe. He calls it Biafra House, supposing it to be the headquarters of MASSOB but that’s his house because I cannot go there to live. What about all those shouting MASSOB with him today? MASSOB has gone down and now IPOB. We must be properly organised.

“I am not saying that Ohanaeze should jump into such movement, but it must sensitise the people to know where we are and where we are going. I don’t like politicians using us to buy positions for themselves. We must also examine these things to know which one is better for us. Personally, I think that a united and progressive Nigeria where everybody will have opportunity to realise his full potential is better. Look at Southern Sudan since they got independence, have they stabilised?”

Speaking on the state of the nation, Okoroji insisted that June 12 remains relevant in the Nigerian project as long as the ideals of the late M.K.O Abiola for which he died have not been actualised by successive governments, noting that M.K.O remains the symbol of good governance in Nigeria and the foundation of the present day democratic government in the country.

In his assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in the last two years, he argued that two years was not enough to qualify the government given the rot in the system at inception.

His words, “My position is that two years is not enough to qualify this government which took over a near rotten system from the previous administration and even from the military long stay in our polity. I had thought that the civilian government at inception in 1999 would review our policies and even the constitution given to us by the military.

“The PDP government did not help matters too, people were actually making money quite all right but the economy was going down as industries were closing down. Nigeria became an importer country, importing even toothpick, yet they told us that the economy was doing well. There is nothing we can showcase to the world that this is what we can produce.

“There was so much corruption in the country. So the point is two years is not enough to clear the mess given the state of affairs at inception. However, in the last two years, there does not seem to be evidence, a road map to show that this administration will lead us out of the woods, this quagmire. They promised to restore power to be able to drive massive industrialisation, but two years down the line, we have not seen an improvement in the power sector.

“One of the problems we have in Nigeria today is that our rich men are not patriotic; they are not ready to make sacrifices for the common good of the people. All they are after is to continue to enrich themselves to the point that money has become the second god of Nigerians.”

Okoroji took a swipe at the National Assembly, describing them as business men and women who bought their positions and as such are not true representatives of the people. “So what they are doing is to recoup their investment and ensure there is return on investment,” he noted.

Responding to the question of whether Nigeria is coming out of recession, he said, “I don’t understand what they mean by recession. The problem actually is that this administration failed to review and understand the magnitude of the problem on ground.

“For instance, what are we doing with implementing the IMF conditional ties in the last 30 years or thereabout; privatisation, deregulations and devaluation, which have brought untold hardship on the people? I had thought that this administration will review our economic policies to see which one is not benefiting the people and then drop it.

“They have not done that. A National Assembly that truly represents the people will ask this question. In 1993, pump price of petrol was N70 per a litre, today it’s N145 per litre. I want to see the National Assembly ask these questions. Can’t we ask ourselves a question; we started privatisation and deregulation 30-35 years ago, what have we benefited from it?”