Many believed that your ordeals were as a result of what you did under General Abacha’s government, particularly some senior Generals then, who thought that you wielded excessive power...
First of all, those who punished me and severally attempted to kill me and the God almighty saved me and I am going to narrate how many times I knew I survived death before detention, at the point of detention, people sent to do accident with me with their weapons; accidental discharge, putting harmful things in the food they administered to me forcefully. God has preserved me and I am still here.
There was nothing to do with me being powerful at that time. I took oath to do my job like any other officer. Ours is an orientation that once you are committed and loyal, you should remain loyal. So, any plan that has to do with compromising the oath I have taken is something I will never do and many people wanted me to compromise my position as a CSO against the government and General Abacha’s life and his family. This is something I can never do, I can never take an oath and then resent, am not that type of person. If I accept a thing today, I stand by it. So, to them, it was an opportunity that General Abacha had died and for me to have refused them and it became an opportunity for a payback and they punished me in three ways.
One, the scripted stories they told the whole world by investing in the media to blindly send negative messages against me and they sustained it, that’s why I called it an investment. Secondly, the torture to me and my family. My brother was arrested nine times, they burnt his house, shot the guard in his house, all to scare me not to talk about Abiola matter and other skeletons in the cupboard of those who punished me which they know I know. The last form of torture is one applied to me physically, psychologically, so that they can kill my spirit. That cannot happen, that’s where we are so far.
It was only at the court that people were able to know that the Abiola matter was a game played against the South-West and I was against it, saying ‘no it cannot happen’. You must stand up to say the truth to the whole world and that’s what they don’t want. Until the revelations at the Oputa Panel came, Nigerians were not aware. I tell you today that, Oputa Panel is likened to an exercise where water was to be taken out of a full drum and you came to Oputa only to take a spoonful out of it and the game players were complaining that we have taken the whole water out of the drum, meaning we came to reveal everything about them. No! We have said nothing. We have not even introduced the problems they know I know at Oputa Panel. We are just keeping facts, we watch with humility, with respect, care for the country, thinking and showing concern about the unity of this country. We came and we served.
You talked about unity of the country and since your acquittal by the court, you have been seen visiting different people from different political divides and addressing youth rallies, which has made some people easily ascribed politics to your body language. What are you really up to?
First of all, I am thankful to God almighty for every single inch of my life and I am thankful to Nigerians, who prayed for me. I have heard and I have seen the little I can. I am indebted to the people of this country and the common man and woman on the street who prayed for me. That’s why I put them in my prayers every day. I am also responding to the calls made to me by different youth associations in the north and in the south. They approached me when I was going round to thank our leaders, elites, Muslims, Christians, religious and traditional leaders, elders from all associations and groups. Everyone who wants me to come, I will go and greet.
For me, there is nothing like political agenda in what I am doing. If this country is not united, from the stories the youth associations are telling me, certainly we have every cause to get worried, we have every cause not to sleep and make sure that people come together and forget about those priming their minds to fight because there is this mutual suspicion being built upon the minds of the youths and that’s dangerous. Our population in Nigeria, 73% are youths and if you ask them to fight, the lessons we are seeing from the countries like Syria, is that what we want of country? And people are not looking at one thing: look at the entire ECOWAS countries, if there is crisis in any of their countries, Nigeria can absorb them but in the event of anything happen in Nigeria, no any African country has the capacity to absorb the population of Nigerians that would go there, meaning that the continent would go into chaos, the whole continent.
So, if people do not have the capacity to see far ahead, it is unfortunate. If what I am doing is a source of happiness into families that can avert major crises, honestly I am ready to be crawling to go to places. Let anybody who wishes to abuse me go ahead, what matters is that God knows my intentions. Let those who believe I am using it to generate political whatever and that is their fears and because of that I can now be blackmailed, it is unfortunate that they are becoming shallow-minded but unity first, if there is no unity, what kind of democracy are you going to operate.
Let me give you an instance, I went to meet Asari Dokubo when I had briefings from some certain groups of him cursing the North and I went to his house, although many people didn’t like me to go there, they were fighting “don’t, don’t” and I said “No. If you don’t hear from him, how will you know the real reasons why he was doing what he was doing.” I went there and gradually, gradually we got to know that the same elders from the North that were in contact with him, who have threatened him, threatened the South-South and the South in general, and these same people, according to him, were talking to some northern youth groups and Asari now comes to fight but he was used. So, when he was confronted, all the facts now came out. He apologised, he went to the television to explain, he called for press conference, the whole world had heard. No country should allow such a thing to be happening.
Thank God today we had to go to Owerri and had Owerri Declaration where we came up with a 10-point communiqué which is now binding. Any person or groups today that are pushing the youths into fomenting crisis in the country will be exposed. We have formed National Unity Alliance and on that platform we are now telling to the youths to come together and by the grace of God almighty, subsequently when different youth associations come together and realised where we are heading to, we shall be pushing them like this is something new I am doing, National Youth Volunteers, because employment is a fundamental issue and when I start, you will see that we are into security, agriculture, sanitation and health matters. We have youths in different wards, states and groups across the country.
When the youths get this, there will be self-help and then the teeming and the employed youths will now being to have something to themselves. Since time is changing and there is no employment and you need people to be employed and you have to empower the youths to have something doing, so that they will not become agents of destructions. Look at the Boko Haram, somebody started it by giving them money and drugs to kill people and look at today, the lizard that it was yesterday is today’s worst monster that you can’t tame. So, why can’t we do this? Whose initiative is this? If I were in prison, where will this be? But we will and we are moving by God’s willing.
Youth activities from 1984 when I was a very junior officer, I began to register youth associations like the National Youth Association, like the NANS of that time, African Youth Congress, Arewa Youth Forum. In fact, Arewa Youth Forum even is a body I created when I came to Kuje Prison. While Oputa panel was sitting, I just sat down and created Arewa Youth Forum because of the teeming unemployed and the youths that were vibrant and ready to work but had nothing to fall back to and you can see what they are doing today. I registered the organisations with my personal money and now they decided to be running to me, I have many in the North and many in the South. They know me, I know them, I have taken them to be my younger ones, and all we have to do is to support and give them direction. Today, I have many lecturers in the universities, many in the civil service who were in some of these associations I have, many in the paramilitary.
How do you intend to go about all these as a serving officer of the Nigerian Army?
There is a procedure for a person to be tried. There is also a procedure for him to return to his normal social life or work as the case may be, and that is the process we are going through now. In my own case, everything done to me was unknown to the law. One, when I was arrested, there was no directives, there was nothing written. The army has no record, the army authorities has nothing to show on my file as to the offence I have committed. I am the only person, who out of concern for my profession so that the profession will not be seen to be wrong, that sent my lawyers to the army asking the army to court-martial me first before they allow me to go through what I went through. Late Akpamgbo (SAN) was my lawyer, I keep sending him.
He had Amobi Nzelu and the rest in his chambers, they were the ones I keep sending to the army that “court-martial me first, you are against the provisions of the law, you are setting up a wrong precedent, you can’t take me to prison as a serving officer and you cannot hand me over to the civil authorities without court-martialling me first.” Now, the question is what is the offence they will use? So, up till today nothing. The law forbids all that have happened to me, I am not support to have spent one day in prison anywhere. The maximum you can keep me is officers’ mess or a guest house, that’s the law. But I kept quiet; I am speaking on this for the first time. We have written to the army authorities already, telling the army the position of the court. So, the persecution has come and gone, I thank God almighty. When the time comes, the entire records of the court will be compiled and made to be a book for the society to read and that will be soon.
At any point in time, would you like to come and offer service to the nation in general?
I am doing it already. I have never in my entire life asked to be posted to point A or B. Anywhere you post me to I will go and work there, my principle is that I must change the place, I must leave a footprint for you to know that I have served there even if it means using my salary to get things done. Ask the people that have worked with me. I don’t have time for closing hours. Everybody will tell you that as a CSO then I was leaving the office by 6.00am to come back to office at 11am and that was what I was doing throughout. I called that sacrifice and I know how that has helped to bring blessing to the country. What we did is unquantifiable; it is between God and I. Look at the roles we played in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambi, Guinea. These are issues for the future, people don’t know. As at the year General Abacha died, I was due for awards in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia and Libya. We helped some of these countries to stabilise and they are stable today.
Given your vast experience in security matters, are you ready to help if you are to be asked by President Jonathan to come and help solve Boko Haram insurgency?
I think that is a security matter, so you hold on. That is some of the mistakes we are making in Nigeria. Eye service, discussing future plans in security matters, bringing personalities in terms of management or boasting on television or radio never helps security issues. Silence is a fundamental weapon, secrecy is the real and victory is the final end.
On insurgency, in any part of the world, first of all, there are no two identical insurgencies. Every insurgency at every part of the world is an insurgency on its own and there are no identical insurgencies, there are differences. Even twins, identical as they are, there are differences. Before you can look into any insurgency, there are two fundamental issues. You sit down and study it first: the historical background, the origin of it, the doctrines, source of weapons, logistics, the domestic support and external support. You will now sit down and put your accounts properly. Any insurgency fundamentally you see anywhere in the world, you should know that it has actually come to be because there were compromises from either the people or the government or both. Unless you look at that very well, then, you may just be hitting at a branch of a tree, which is the problem, not the root. If you get to the roots, the tree cannot be. If you continue hitting at the branches, the tree might be growing because the tree has a resistance. The more branches you knock down, the taller the tree becomes, but once you get to the roots, the tree ceases to be. That’s all I can say for now.
Source: LEADERSHIP
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