Biafra: Okorocha says Buhari will restructure Nigeria

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has declared that for the change mantra of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to be accepted, Nigeria must undergo a restructuring process where all the geopolitical zones will have a stronger footing under a weak federation.

Okorocha spoke on Monday as a guest lecturer at the 9th Edition of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Annual Lecture in Abuja. He insisted that change can only be actualised in the country when the dividends of democracy get straight to ordinary masses rather than the current system of concentrating them on politicians and their cronies.

The governor also spoke on his last week’s encounter with the Movement for the Actual- isation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). According to him, the MASSOB leaders presented issues which must be addressed by the Federal Government to make every section of the country have a feel of the new change.

Okorocha’s call for the restructuring of the polity came on a day the military again warned that it would not tolerate the ongoing clamour for the dismemberment of the country. The warning came from the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, which threatened that the military might invoke the rules of engagement against pro-Biafra agitators if their actions/protests continue to undermine public peace and is a threat to security and unity of Nigeria.

Speaking on the topic: “Managing Change in A Democracy: The Nigerian Situation”, Okorocha regretted that rather than moving the country forward through democracy, the return to democracy had produced selfish politicians for Nigeria who only think of how to remain in power, rather than how to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

He said: “I will tell Nigerians how I passionately feel about the change and unity of this country because of my deep concern for this generation and the generation of Nigerians unborn. In other words, with the coming in of President Muhammadu Buhari, this is an opportunity for us to get it right and if we do not get it right now, we can as well forget it.

“That is why this topic is very crucial at this moment. This is because the idea of Nigerians, in electing him as president, is to actualise the needed change in a radical manner. The APC change mantra is not only about changing the government; it evolves around changing both the government and the system because if you change the government without changing the life of the masses who actualised the change, then change has not taken place holistically as is required.

“A nation that understands the real message of change in a democratic setting always grows from strength to strength, while a nation that fails to understand it the way it is meant to be, degenerates from one problem to another.

Democracy in Nigeria has given us politicians who only be- gin to think of how to remain in office as soon as they are elected, rather than how to put food on the tables of the people who elected them.

“This is not the type of change we are clamouring for through the APC government. We are looking for leaders in a democracy and not managers of democracy and I thank God that today we have found that leader in President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Nigeria is the sleeping giant of Africa with a population of more than 160 million people; we have dedicated youths with several God given resources which could change their lives, yet we are considered as underdeveloped in the world.

A nation that has stayed together for over 100 years but got its independent over 50 years ago is regrettably still struggling on how to get it right. After all these years, we are still sitting here, discussing on what to do so that we can rescue our country. I think it calls for a deep reflection and that is why I have to say it the way it is no matter whose ox is being gored” he declared.

On his encounter with the leadership of MASSOB in Owerri, Okorocha said: “Last week, when I got a security report that MASSOB said they will storm Imo to protest and that was where they threatened to carry out a catastrophic destruction, having heard that they pro- tested in Rivers and Anambra states and some of their members were killed, I held a state council meeting and I immediately contacted the President and security and I urged that there would be no shooting of any of their members.

“We gave adequate protection and they were followed with armoured tanks and they went round. As they went, they prayed at every junction until they completed their peaceful protest. With that, they ended their protest in the state without a single loss of life. As a result of that, in the night, my Chief of Staff told me that he got an unknown call that MASSOB leadership said that they would want to have an audience with me.

“Immediately, I called Mr. President and he told me to go ahead. Honestly, it was a very unpleasant situation because after passing through a series of security search and screening, I still was not comfortable with their presence because I saw the faces of agitating people who have denied themselves several things.

They were all addressing themselves as late this or that, meaning that they have considered themselves dead already. When they were reeling out their grievances, I became touched. They were aggrieved that some of them were killed and displaced in the North East by the Boko Haram insurgency and they ran back home as abandoned people.

“Most of them are orphans because they have lost their parents in the hands of Boko Haram and government abandoned them. Most of them complained that they were part of the Niger Delta agitators, but when it was time for amnesty, they were not considered by government because of where they come from. “Others complained that they have more than 160 of their members who were killed by government and their corpses are littered everywhere. These are their reasons of agitating for the State of Biafra because they want government to know that they are still a people that must be attended to. This is an ill wind that blows no one any good,” he said.

In a press statement, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division Enugu, Col. Hamza Gambo, said the Army might not continue to stomach the demonstrations orchestrated by MASSOB, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and affiliate groups that tend to ‘increase a sense of insecurity across the regions.”

The Army pointed out that in as much as freedom of speech, expression, association and assembly is guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution, on no account should the rights be abused. Gambo acknowledged that in as much as the Constitution allowed freedom as contained in Sections 39 (1) and 40, Section 212 (2) mandates the Armed Forces of Nigeria to “suppress insurrection to restore order when called upon to do so.”

“To this end, if and when the Nigerian Army is called upon to play its legally mandated role, it shall do so with utmost sense of duty and responsibility to the nation,” he added.