Proscription of IPOB unnecessary waste of time -Ovie Avwaeke 1

HRM (AVM) Lucky Ochuko Ararile (Rtd) Avwaeke 1 is the Ovie of Umighwa, Abraka Kingdom in Delta State, to him the proscription of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) is unnecessary, as it will not bring solution to the problem. The retired airforce chief in an interview with our correspondent OLA JAMES at Abraka says he believes that Nigeria’s unity is negotiable, describing the python dance as a waste of time. Ovie Avwaeke 1, also lampooned the military for performing the duties of the police, insisting that state police should be created. He also speaks on other national issues:

Nigeria at 57, could you assess the journey so far?
It’s been tough, it’s been challenging, because we are not where we expect to be. All the same Nigerians are very hopeful people and we are hoping for the best, to get it right, we will get our bearing right to start in earnest for the journey to our destination.

Many people are praise President Muhammadu Buhari over his corruption fight, while some are blaming him as the cause of Nigeria’s woes, what is your comment?
The President’s anti corruption fight is a good fight, it is necessary to put things in their proper perspective. Remember that this fight has been ongoing;

it’s only that we have given it a new momentum. We have achieved some success, though limited, probably because of the ill-health of Mr. President.

The soul is willing but the body is weak. He has not given the necessary attention or vigour that has been expected, but all the same, I think we are making some progress and we are in the right direction, but certain things needs to be put in place;

in terms of structure; in terms of the institutions, because we thought by now that special courts would have been established. Although it has just been muted, but we thought by now it would have been operational;

we thought that other anti-corruption agencies, EFCC and ICPC for example are not empowered or encouraged to carry out their functions to the best of their knowledge according to them.

Also, a country is always an ongoing project. We hope as we go along to improve, the institutions should learn from their own experiences and improve on their performances, infact that is our hope.

Your Majesty what is your take on the controversial agitation for the republic of Biafra?
Well, I think it is within their right as guaranteed by the United Nations (UN) charter on human right, they are not the only ethnic group that are agitating in Nigeria; they are not even the first.

Even before IPOB we have MASSOB, while MASSOB transformed to IPOB. So, we certainly are not doing things right; I doubt if that the country is fair enough, people should have sense of equity but rather, people feel alienated; or you may wish to call it marginalisation,

but what all that means is that we don’t have a sense of buying into the Nigerian project. So, within their right as far as I am concerned I am told they have been banned, but that will not be solution to the problem.

Because from MASSOB to IPOB is just that they change the name and continue with the struggle 20 times more, but the people I believe will continue with their struggle whether they have been banned or do otherwise.

The truth of the matter is the underlining issue must be addressed; their sense of alienation must be addressed; their sense of unfairness of the Nigerian system must be addressed and not just in terms of South-East, the same thing with the Niger Delta; even with the North-East,

but the prevailing problem in the latter (North-East) according to a research is virtually poverty, majorly poverty as well as the occasion of alienation and thirdly by the handling of the group or sect; I mean the Boko Haram sect, especially the killing of their leader Mohammed Yusuf, accentuated the problems in that area.

In talking about the Nigerian Unity, everybody must be carried along and we must have a certain sense of proportion and lack of arrogance. You cannot talk about Nigeria unity and proclaim that Nigeria is not negotiable.

I tell you Nigeria is negotiable, even the United State of America are still talking of unity till date; the British are still talking about unity; European Union are still talking about unity.

So, you must carry people along. It is not a question of declaration; you cannot force unity on anybody. So, we must address the issue, politically, economically, socially and otherwise, you carry everybody along so that we can have peace.

IS the python dance by the Military a good approach? And, there is an announcement that they are going to do the same in South South, South-West, is that necessary?
Well, I don’t know the information the Military is working on. But all I know is that they can do all the dances that they want, but if the key issues are not addressed, they are not going anywhere even if they change the dance step and the right thing is not done and at the end of the day we come back to square one.

YOUR Majesty sir, as Air Vice Marshal (AVM) rtd, how can you compare your period in the Military to the present Military?
Well, I don’t know if I have the necessary information to do that comparison, because I am no more there, so, I don’t know what they have, infact, I am seeing them just like you.

But it will be unfair for me to make comparison because the times have changed, it is possible they have totally different method, even in technology, infact my time might be totally different.

So, those static analyses are not there, but the fact is that they have a constitutional responsibility to defend the country against external aggression.

Regrettably, they have been employed in duty not totally to their responsibility, but those that are ancillary have become their primary duty; in other words, they have taken over the responsibility of the Nigerian Police.

And, that frightens me because if you civilianise the Military, where you see them at check point, collecting bribe like the police; it is a bad thing.

So, my take on that is that gradually the military should disengage from doing police duty; they should focus on their official responsibility.

If the police are inadequately manned, then they should increase the personnel to do their job, that is why we have a lot of tension and even in co-ordination there is no synergy; there is competition.

Instead of making the police work, they made another body called EFCC and I tell you that EFCC is still basically police, so why was it created? They should make the police do their job.

If the police are not doing their job, national defense corps comes up, who are struggling with the police to do their job? Presently, I hear plans are on to introduce national peace corps;

so next time now we are going to get the boys scout involved; infact there is confusion everywhere; there is no layout record; everybody has it’s responsibility to do their job, regrettably right now, everybody is doing everybody’s job and that is why there is inefficiency, lack of effectiveness; sadly you cannot hold anybody responsible.

Do you have any regret serving in the Military?
No, no, no. if I have any regret is the fact that my primary purpose of enlisting in the Airforce which was to fight apartheid in South Africa, but it was resolved peacefully.

So, I was engaged in other operations such as ECOMOG, where I was involved for twenty years and others. Whatever operations we had in West Africa, I was involved. So really in terms of professional satisfaction I didn’t have anything to regret.

What is your comment on the present democratic system?
That is a tough one, because you think in terms of input and output. The House of Assemblies are performing below standard which is a cause for worry, whether indeed the prize we are paying for democracy is worth it,

I mean getting value for money and that is why the issue of restructuring must be addressed. Not a question of creating states or going back to region is the issue.

There are still fundamental changes that have to be carried out. One of the changes is the constitution. A lot of things that are embedded in the constitution that are inimical to development; the land use act for example has to be looked at;

local government autonomy is the right way to go and we need state police. Although, state police might not have the power as federal police and they are not mutually exclusive.

In the United States for example you have county police, but they have specific duties. They are federal type for example if one commits a crime like murder in a state and you run to another state,

it becomes an issue for the F.B.I. so, we can copy from America, after all the 1999 constitution as amended is a copy of the American system.

If you see a system that works, as you have copied other peoples’ own why not do your own. There are structural issues to be addressed.

I know work has been done by the various conferences and the last one tagged confab of 2014 that was convened by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The report is there and that is why it is a little discomforting that they will be going around the country to gather opinion. Some of these issues have been discussed extensively;

it is just to bring out documents and implement it, because all these unnecessary going round and round like the barber chair does not serve any purpose. It is a waste of time and money.

We are in a country that should be in a hurry, infact, we should be running, we cannot be crawling the way we are doing now, I mean we should be running.

If you look at all the human development indices, it is as if we have been at war from the beginning. If you tabulate from the United Nations report, you will see that all the categories we belong to seems we are at war.

We have the same issues with Somalia, Congo Democratic Republic, Afganistan, so, it is as if we are fighting a war that is undeclared. We are actually at war.

Your Majesty, your kingdom has been very peaceful, only for the pocket of crisis such as the issue of herdsmen etc. how have you been able to address them?
Well, we had some crisis where a few persons have been killed by the herdsmen. And, what we did was to use the structure on ground.

In this regard, I will like to commend the Commissioner of Police, Delta State, who has been wonderful for his prompt response.

We wrote to the Inspector General of Police, we also forwarded a letter to the State Commissioner of Police. We equally informed the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) zone 5. So, working through these connections, we were able to get police response.

And, issues were resolved and there has been peace.

Again, on the issue of restructuring, some people suggest that it should be issue of parliamentary system of government, while others, says regional system and true federalism is it, what is your opinion about this issue?
It is clear we inherited the name and not in practice. For me any system will do, but the basis of the present system should be fairness, equity and justice.

How would you score the administration of President Buhari?
He has done well despite the state of his health, probably because of that, our expectations have not been meant. There is deficit in his performance, even when sometimes one has the impression that the country is not well piloted, he should do more, he should try hard, at least this is a country of about 180 million population.

He should try to go beyond his familiar surroundings in picking people that he works with, I don’t want to use the word nepotism. But he need to trust all Nigerians, is even better to give job to somebody who is not close to you because it is easier for you to fire him if he is found wanting.

If you appoint people on nepotism, it will be difficult for you to remove him from office. I think he had already operated at a higher level as head of state, he will know Nigerians better and whoever has performed retain that person.

Your Majesty, Urhobo being the fifth largest ethnic group in the country, are they getting their fair share of the national cake?
I have been asked that question severally, I always say that we are marginalised. Really, who is not marginalised in this country? President Goodluck Jonathan comes from Otuoke and is the place better off now? Sadly, he is shouting marginalisation now.

So, let’s put in structures and institutions that will guarantee the achievement of our aspiration. We are marginalised and for safety and solution, we should start by establishing these institutions.

 How long have you been on the throne?
I have been here for five years now. Like everything, leadership in Nigeria is challenging. It is even more challenging in the traditional institution because you are given responsibility without resources.

It’s not as if you have been given a job and here are the resources to do the job and play well your responsibility. Sadly, it is just like open check. Because responsibility without authority, no resources and wherewithal you have to be innovative and create platform.

What do you have to say about indiscriminate killings in this country, how do we address the issue?
Simple, all the institutions especially the police in particular should be made to work. They should be given the resources to work, procedure must be followed.

I will give you an example, if somebody is kidnapped in Warri and you have a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of that particular area, he expects instructions from above if he cannot take a decision. Our police are not professional enough.

The police are not well funded because in the average police station you have to buy biro, sheets of papers etc. if you want to make an entry. Besides, no good vehicle for patrol, how will they be effective.

So, the manpower issue of the police must be addressed, the material needs of the police must be addressed, the relationship within the security agencies must be improved because there is always inter rivalry peculiar in the force. We should look at the occasion and structural issues adequately; it is not the rugged type.

Imagine, Benin Republic Police are more effective than our own. The principal thing is that we must have empathy, that if it is happening to Mr. A. same thing could happen to me, because if you don’t have empathy, you don’t care for a human being like you.

We don’t seem to value human life here in Nigeria, so, there are a lot of things to be done.

 Local government election is around the corner what is your advice to contestants?
Let me tell you, here in Umiaghwa that every citizen of this kingdom has the right to join any political party of his or her choice, they are all my subjects.

I cannot prefer one to the other. Now competition is enormous in Nigeria election because of what they expect in the end. I will encourage the party in the process of selecting their candidate, they should avoid relying on people who are virtually jobless. The only job they know is politics.

People with the impetus armed with good educational qualifications and a person that can work with experience and resources which they can fall back on should there be a change of event, for example you are a lawyer or medical doctor, engineer etc.

you will not be too desperate for a political office. That is where I will appeal to all Deltans that they should not allow somebody who you know will not deliver be voted into office.

Do you see IPOB as a terrorist group?
Well, there are arguments for and against. The Nigeria government says by the country’s law, IPOB is a terrorist group. But as to international law America has said they are not a terrorist group.

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I think it is within their right as guaranteed by the United Nations (UN) charter on human right, they are not the only ethnic group that are agitating in Nigeria; they are not even the first. Even before IPOB we have MASSOB, while MASSOB transformed to IPOB. So, we certainly are not doing things right; I doubt if that the country is fair enough, people should have sense of equity but rather, people feel alienated; or you may wish to call it marginalisation, but what all that means is that we don’t have a sense of buying into the Nigerian project.