As the issue of formation Eastern Security Network (ESN) by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB continue to generate controversy, former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa has added his stake on the matter.
In an interview he granted a national newspaper (names withheld) the PDP chieftain opened up on what could have necessitated the formation of ESN.
Read the abridged interview;
Many are curious that the Federal Government that declared IPOB a terrorist organization has yet to do same to bandits and herdsmen that have been classified as the fourth most dangerous group in the World Terrorist Index…
That is part of what I was saying. We all know that the real terrorist groups are the Fulani herdsmen – call them bandits or anything. In fact, we are hearing recently that even the ISIS is coming in. I read something today, I don’t know whether it is true or not that the American government is warning Nigeria that ISIS and their terror groups were moving down Southern Nigeria. These are the real terrorist groups. IPOB in the real sense should not be classified as terrorist group because you haven’t heard them going to attack any innocent people and they were not carrying arms. That is the irony; how could you declare them a terrorist group when you have not declared the ones that are carrying arms terrorist groups? Honestly, the situation in the country today baffles me.
What gave rise to this unimaginable spate of insecurity that has made sleeping with both eyes difficult?
The official explanations of why this is happening are not adding up. First and foremost, we learnt that a lot of people were brought into the country during the last elections and after the election, whatever that was promised to them was not fulfilled. That is part of the reason we have these herdsmen; among them are many foreigners from Niger, Mali, Chad, Senegal and the rest of them. But we know that before that, Boko Haram has been there.
I believe that this is part of the entire plan to re-colonise Nigeria; to overtake Nigeria and this is coming mainly from the Fulani. The Fulani are a big minority in Nigeria, but unfortunately they have been able to get other people to join them who are not real Fulani to tolerate them and they bring in religion into it. The issue now is not religion; I don’t know of any religion that says you must kill people. It is just part of Fulani intention to conquer Nigeria. This is the major issue. We are seeing a lot of these people coming from the Arab countries and Fulani settlements in West Africa. This means that if we don’t take time, before we know it, Nigeria will be overrun.
We have also seen that these people are aided by the security agencies. How would you explain to me that a herdsman is carrying AK-47rifle and I don’t hear of people being arrested? How did they get the guns? Who licensed them? Or are they not licensed? If they are not which means they are illegal arms. How did they get them? The whole situation is becoming more terrible every day; it is deteriorating every day. They are now everywhere in this country, which means if time is not taken, one day something very drastic will erupt in this country and we will have no answer to it.
How do we halt or arrest this situation?
The government has to be honest with its people. The government right now is not honest with us. If the government doesn’t want these people to come into the country; if the government doesn’t want these people to carry arms and move around unchecked (I don’t even hear them being arrested), then we are deceiving ourselves. It is not a question of what do we do; it is a question of, do we have the will to do what should be done? However, the government doesn’t have the will to do what should be done. What are all the security people there for?
The South-East was adjudged the most peaceful zone in the country, but recently, the security situation there has collapsed. Farmers say they are at the mercy of herdsmen, and the governors have jettisoned the regional security outfit they were planning. What is the way out?
This is a surprise to many of us because I remember last year I was part of the Ime Obi delegation of Ohanaeze sent to relay to the governors that the South-East should have a regional security outfit. Fortunately, the governors were in a meeting the same day in Enugu. After the Imo Obi meeting, the delegation moved to the Government House in Enugu and met with them. We told them point blank what the Ohanaeze has decided and said we should inform them to carry out the action because they hold the executive powers. We had a very useful meeting, almost all the prominent Igbo men were there. We left and a few days after that we were surprised to hear that what they were talking about now was Community Policing, after the visit of the IGP to Enugu. The governors are in a better position to know what the security situation in our region looks like. If in their own wisdom they accepted community policing, but today it is not even working and cannot be compared with a regional policing outfit just like you have in the Southwest. You can see what the Amotekun is doing in that region. Beside the Amotekun, maybe the herdsmen would have taken over the South-West by now. I don’t know what informed their rejecting the regional security outfit to accepting community policing.
Shouldn’t the governors take it over and tailor it to suit the need of the region?
Taking over might not be the solution. But I don’t see what prevents the South-East governors from setting up their own. We cannot fold our hands and allow our people to be killed. There is no reason whatsoever that they shouldn’t have set up their own system, which was what Ohanaeze recommended. The regional security network is not to go and attack anybody. It is to defend the people in the absence of official defence from our security agencies. The Amotekun was well set up and we should have followed suit. But having failed to do so, the ESN sprang up. I don’t know how easy it is for the governors to take over ESN, knowing from where it came and remember that the Federal Government has already declared IPOB a terrorist group, which is debatable and which all of us know that it should not be because there are more terrorist organizations in Nigeria, and IPOB is not near them. Having IPOB as the sponsor of ESN, the governors will be reluctant to inherit it, but they could have set up their own.
Many South-Easterners say nature abhors a vacuum, that the inability of the governors to come up with a security outfit led by Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB to set up the Eastern Security Network (ESN). Right now, the South-East is bare, the police are running for their lives and famers can’t go to farm for fear of herdsmen. What is your position on the situation?
It is correct to say that nature abhors a vacuum. Whatever we say, the setting up of ESN is as a result of that vacuum, but that will not in anywhere legalize it. If the governors had set up ESN that would have been legal enough; it would have been able to carry on just like Amotekun is doing in the South-West. But this one set up by IPOB is still regarded as illegal and that is why the security agencies are fighting them. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum. Nobody will stay, fold his hands and watch his people being killed. After all, a man as high as General T. Y Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff and former Defence Minister told his people to arm themselves, that these herdsmen were being aided by security agencies and nobody has denied what he said. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum. I don’t know why our governors have insisted on not having a regional security system. As a result of that, IPOB set up theirs. I will say, nature abhors a vacuum and anybody who is doing anything in Nigeria today to secure himself, you will not blame him because the official security is not protecting him.
