If Igbo get Biafra Republic today, they will still continue to fight —General Temlong

The first multi-national Joint Task Force Commander in the North-East and delegate to the 2014 National Conference, General Jonathan Temlong, in this interview with ISAAC SHOBAYO, speaks on the ultimatum issued to the Igbo in the North by some Arewa youth groups, marginalisation and restructuring of the country, among other issues. Excerpts:

WHAT do you think about the ultimatum issued to the Igbo in the North by some Arewa youth groups?

This is a challenge to the government of the federation, if there is madness on one side it should be reciprocated by the other side, so the government should tackle the issue with all sense of seriousness. Like Mrs Obama said: when they go low, you go high. Unfortunately, it is the fault of successive governments, because when they stopped teaching history, you should expect something like this.  Nnandi Kanu and his cohorts did not see the civil war and I don’t think anybody told them about it. They believe that they can sit within the confines of their mansions, with radios transmitting somewhere, and begin to insult everybody, and also believe that that is the way to make a country. If they have grievances, there are ways of putting their grievances across; they don’t have to be combative to the extent of poising for war and also annexing areas like Delta, Rivers, even the entire South-South, including part of Benue State. I wonder what delusion they are in.And people had warned them to stop including South-South as part of the agitation for Biafra.

 

With the claim of marginalisation by the Igbo, is that enough reason to seek secession?

Who is marginalising them? Which section of the country today is not marginalised? Is Plateau not marginalised? The problem is that we have concentrated too much on the Federal Government. See what Lagos State is doing. If all the governors would work like the governor of Lagos State, who will be talking of marginalisation? Do they expect the federal government to build primary school, primary health care centre, among others? These are not the responsibility of the federal government. Though there are federal roads, what about the state and local government roads? Who is marginalising whom? You have members in the National Assembly and many of them are holding good or juicy positions;  why don’t you pass your demands through them? To me everybody is marginalised in one way or the other in this country. Most of the federal roads in the country are bad; there are states and communities without federal presence.  Things are not the same. Some states have quite a number of federal presence; others don’t have much. So how can you say because you are marginalised, you want to be on your own and you have people in government that can speak for you or do they say they cannot speak or are being gagged? There are Igbo in the Federal Executive Council; the deputy Senate president is an Igbo man. Are they saying those people cannot speak for them? Everybody and section in this country has one grudge or the other, but you must learn how to tolerate and vent your grudges in most civilise way and in accordance with the laws of the land.

 

So what is the solution to the perennial claims of marginalisation by all sections in the country?

There is bad governance all over the place and, in some cases, absence of governance. We are not holding those we elected to accountability. Development cannot come in the absence of good governance; it cannot come in the absence of accountability. The little you get, what did you do with it?  There are some countries that don’t have what some states have in Nigeria and they are doing well. You hear mindboggling stories of people hiding billions of naira in their homes; is that marginalisation? If those money had passed through the system, they would provide employment. But it is not in the banking system, it is rotting somewhere in some roofs. What good is that? People must start fearing God. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, says if he leaves his money for his children, it will not be useful for them and humanity. All this money they are stealing in billions will not be useful to them  neither will it be useful for humanity. They would have been better invested for the common good. After all, it is our common wealth that they are flaunting up and down.

We should stop talking about marginalisation and talk about good governance and hold all our elected representatives to accountability. The same youths that are crying sold their votes; so to fight for their right will be difficult, because they have sold their birth rights. Even if you contest for election and you don’t win, they call you honourable. We need people that would better our lots in government. So let us tackle fundamental issues and stop making noise. We are the ones marginalising ourselves. If you ask the people for the assessment of those they elected, they would tell you that what the government is doing is quite different from what they want. So we should face the reality on ground instead of chasing shadow. In Nigeria today, your participation in government ends from the day you vote. Let us tackle fundamental issues and stop making all these noises. Even if they get the Biafra today, they will continue to fight themselves, and the Anambra and Ebonyi will fight the Abians and Imos, and tell them one is core Igbo and the other one is not core Igbo.

 

How do we tackle the ultimatum issued by some youths in parts of the country ordering their fellow citizens to relocate to their places of origins?

If a mad man carries your cloth, do you follow him naked, because you want your cloth back? What we need to douse this agitation is good governance. The English man says, do not throw the baby away with the bath water. Whether it is [former President Goodluck]Jonathan who convoked National Conference or not, the baby of that conference is the baby of Nigeria; don’t throw it away with Jonathan. The [2014] National Conference addressed the problems of Nigeria comprehensively. All other reports were brought in and examined. The clashes between herders and farmers  were envisaged and there are recommendations. The perceived marginalisation of the Igbo was addressed at the national conference. Not just the Igbo’s, even the fears of the minorities, everybody’s problems were addressed. Right before independence, successive governments had been taking steps to address some of these problems and I strongly believe that all the issues can be addressed if we do the right things in a more civilise way. Once you recognise a problem, you should work toward solving it. The fact that you identified the problem, you have solved it by 50 per cent. The word marginalisation is on the lips of every Nigerian, because the stakes are too high. But the moment those in government live by the oath of office they took with the fear of God, nobody will care about who governs them, because what they want is good governance.

 

Do you think this is the right time to consciously restructure Nigeria in a way that will solve all the issues being expressed by all sections of the country?

What is restructuring? It depends on the way you look at it. The idea of going back to regionalsim failed at the National Conference. But some people are still shouting for it today. If they cannot get it at the National Conference, where do they want to get it?  It was discussed there;  people said no, it wouldn’t work. Restructuring doesn’t mean we should go back to the regions. People are making mistakes. The fundamental structure of governance is what people want to be restructured. People are getting the whole thing wrong. Once you devolve power from the federal to the state, you are restructuring; the structure of government is being changed. You devolve and give local governments their powers and their allocations come to them. You have restructured. When you look at the exclusive list and move some of them to concurrent list, you have restructured. When you talk about the Federal Ministry of Agriculture not being involved in procurement, but concern itself with policies and the rest, you are structuring; you are dealing with the fundamentals of governance. So people should not be deceived that the word restructuring means they are going back to the region. I was on that committee and it didn’t scale through. Rather people are even asking for more states. Those shouting restructuring, there were requests for more states from their states. But if you have things in common, nothing stops you from integrating economically, provided it is within the law of the land and our constitution is supreme. All this shout of restructuring is misplaced.

 

Are the agitations, threats for secession and not inimical to the development of the country?

Conflict in itself is good. It keeps you in check and makes you realise that certain thing that you are doing is not good. It is when it reaches the threshold of crisis that is bad. In human interaction, there must be conflict, but I should know that this man is crying, why is he crying, let me see if I can address his issue and you address them within the limited resources. In this century, we cannot continue to depend on rearing cows the way the Fulani are doing. Can we meet the country’s demand for milk, meat and other allied products from cow if we continue like this? There is the need for us to think deeply. If we had depended on the way we kept hens without going into modern way of poultry farming, do you think we can meet egg requirement of the country today? We need to be proactive and move ahead for the sake of economic growth of this country and stop being sentimental about developmental issues.