Politics

MAJ-Gen Abel Obi Umahi (Rtd) x-rays the security situation in the South East, preparations for the 2023 polls and the harsh economic situation in the country and urges Nigerians to join forces with the youths to enable them effect the desired change through the polls and rescue the nation from its drift to anarchy.

Maj-Gen. Umahi, a retired general of the Nigerian army recently granted an exclusive interview with Realnews magazine. In this interview, Gen. Umahi disclosed that he is fully in support of the change desired by the youths of the country in order to rescue the nation from the hands of the old and inefficient politicians, who have brought the nation to its knees today with rising insecurity across the nation, high inflation, huge foreign debts among others. He also supports state and community policing to improve security nationwide as the current security architecture has not solved the nation’s security challenges.

In this exclusive interview conducted by Maureen Chigbo, editor, Realnews, Anthony Isibor, reporter and Chukwuma Ejenike, a graduate intern with Realnews, Maj-Gen Umahi, whose junior brother is the Governor of Ebonyi State under the APC, says he supports the Obedient movement because Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party has the capacity and experience to lead the country to the path of growth and make life meaningful for all Nigerians irrespective of state, tribe and religion, It a must read

Realnews: In this state of the nation interview, can you start by giving us your idea of how you see the current situation in the country with the cash crunch, the fuel scarcity and the forthcoming elections?

Umahi: thank you very much. Well, I think all the developments are salutary pointers to look for a new Nigeria. There comes a time in the life of a nation when so many things begin to happen very fast.

Perhaps, meaning that the system wants to vomit those who have been responsible for the ills that have beclouded the system. So, I think that if I don’t see it physically, I see it from the eyes of the spirit that it is what is happening.

Realnews: When you say vomit those who have been responsible for the precarious situation in the country, who are those people, you have lived in this country, fought the civil war?

Umahi: You know them, I know them. They are the people who have been in government. They are the leaders who were supposed to steer the course of the nation in the right direction, but because of the leadership vacuum, the nation has gotten to the edge of precipices, so those leaders are accountable, they are the ones that can be held responsible for what has been happening in the country and where we are now.

Realnews: So, by these leaders, you mean the governors, the elites, can you be specific?

Umahi: All the leaders at the various levels of government. We have three tiers of government. And the truth is that except we get it right at the federal level, it will be impossible to get it right at the state and

local government levels because when a fish gets rotten, it starts from the head. So that is why there is this clamour that we must get it right. Though we want to get it right at all levels, but the clamour for getting it right at the federal level is most loud.

Realnews: When you talk about getting it right, are there any indications that Nigeria will get it right in this 2023 elections?

Umahi: What is happening in Nigeria today has never happened before. The youths have never risen with this kind of consciousness that we see today. They are asking to take back their country. Because this country belongs to them. Some of us have lived our own time. So the country belongs to the youths, and there is this spontaneous movement among the youths starting from the #EndSARS, till today, it keeps boiling up, it keeps rising. So, it is an indication that something is about to birth, is like a nation is travailing to give birth to a new nation. Youths have never come together like this before. It cuts across religion, it cuts across ethnicity, it cuts across all known boundaries; all those boundaries that have divided us, separated us, those are the boundaries that have been broken. All those walls have collapsed as long as the youths are concerned.

Reanlews: Why do you think that the walls have collapsed, why do you think that Nigerian youths have woken up to this kind consciousness?

Umahi: You know, I saw a post on the social media, and it was a coverage, a video clip of Obi-Datti support in Biu, Bornu state. See the number of youths involved, and they were on their own going to villages to campaign at no cost to the presidential candidate. Have you ever seen it happen before that youths with all their suffering, they are making T-shirts on their own, handbills on their own, they are making banners with their merger resources, they are doing one on one campaign at their own expense, this has never happened in Nigeria. You know the old order is when they are given cash before they can do all of that. But the Obi-Datti for instance, does not give Shishi, and the youths do not mind. What you are seeing today is that every youth is the one vying for president; they are just doing that through Obi.

Realnews: You see that there have been videos also seeing youths saying that they were not given the money that they were supposed to be given by the Obi-Datti group, and that is why they are not also eager to mobilize.

Umahi: You should always know that there are saboteurs. There are saboteurs. We have some unscrupulous politicians. This kind of thing has never hit our own politicians this way before. They are used to one way approach to gaining victory through “democratic process” and that is to rig the election, electoral fraud.

But this time, it’s a shock to them that they can’t take that same route any longer. They are trumping up everything to discredit the same Obi. I always say ‘in a football, it’s the person who has the ball that receives tackles” that is why they are giving Obi tackles, because he is a candidate to watch, to beat. So that’s why they are tackling him, trumping up some fake arrangements; they arrange some youths to say that they were not given money by the Obi-datti and that’s why they are not campaigning. It’s all part of the gimmicks.

Realnews: When did you become an Obedient convert?

Umahi: Since he joined the Labour Party. You know, I understand what Obi did in Anambra, but I never taken the time to study it in-depth. He did things in Anambra that were not common in the political landscape of this nation, in governance of the nation. All what he did, they were not common, there were strange to the system. Dealing with infrastructure, saving money for the state, making investments that the

state is still reaping from till today, and when he was disengaging, he didn’t pass a bill that says that the state has approved these as my entitlements of disengagement as a governor, no! he doesn’t get any of such social benefits. He wasn’t owing pension, he wasn’t owing gratuities, he wasn’t owing workers, he wasn’t owing teachers at the time he disengaged as governor. He saved quantum funds for the state. That is what governance is all about. The level of education in Anambra went high during his tenure.

Realnews: I find it very strange because your younger brother is the governor of Ebonyi state and he is in the APC. Why are you not supporting your brother who is supporting the candidate of the APC?

Umahi: Well, the state of our nation is beyond emotions and primordial considerations. My brother is still my brother, but we must get it right in Nigeria. I am a staunch believer in the Nigerian project, I can do anything to ensure that this Nigeria succeeds, because I have had some experiences that gave me a shock. You see, the extent of your riches depends on what your nation is. If you are rich as an individual and your nation has no good name outside, you are categorized as your nation. Where they dump your nation is where they dump you. They can’t single you out and say this is a rich man. In any case, even when you travel out and you are in a queue, who knows if you are a rich man or not. I have travelled out and in a queue and in front of me was a minister, behind me was a minister during Obasanjo’s regime. And that time, I was still in the military, and when the protocol people came, they took me out of the queue ahead of all the ministers, and I went through immigration well ahead of them.

So, you may be a minister, you may have all the money in this nation, but if the image of Nigeria is not right, you suffer it when you travel out.

Realnews: What is it that your brother is not doing right?

Umahi: This is not about my brother.

Realnews: Does it mean that being in the APC is a wrong trajectory?

Umahi: He has his own conscience, I have mine, ok. We are still brothers, we are good, we have a good relationship, but on this particular issue, I declared to all that my choice of person based on his antecedent; my brother is not running for president, and I see someone who is running for president that my heart meets his own heart.

Realnews: You are also a security person, but the security situation in your home state and the southeast is not palatable at the moment. How do you see it, what can be done?

Umahi: There are things, I don’t want to go back to history, but there are things that ought to have been done that were not done. But there is a way forward. As it stands now, this Simon Ekpa’s threat to the South-East; there are things I believe should be done by the governors in the South-East.

1. They should commence psychological operations; that is awareness  programmes; propaganda campaigns to tell the people that we are capable of protecting you, come out en-mass to vote.

2. They should get the security agencies to start the show of force operations. That is to tell the bad guys, we will come after you, we have the muscle, we have all it takes to come after you, so stay away from this election, and to tell the people, the populace that we are on ground to protect you, that you will enjoy security, you will enjoy peace. That is what show of force provides, and all that the security men requires, the government should be able to supply them to be able to do this across all the states, across all the cities in the South-East.

3. There should be preliminary operations and first it should start even now. The security agencies know some places that these people are suspected to be staying. They should raid all such places, disorganize this IPOB, ESN, unknown gunmen, disorganize them, put them on the run. And before they can reorganize, the election is over.

Realnews: What you are saying is correct, but the point is that there is this belief that the insecurity in Anambra state is actually being trumped up by the fifth columnist, who for some reasons are working to diminish or dwarf the number of people who will come out to vote so that you obedient candidates won’t garner enough votes. As someone in the security cycle, what do you think?

Umahi: A governor cannot shoot himself on the toe. When you create insecurity, to reverse it is very difficult so no governor with his head on his shoulder would want to create a state of security in order to discourage voters from coming out and think that he can reverse it immediately after elections. It is impossible, he cannot. So even him, his security will be compromised. So I think that it’s a speculation.

Realnews: If it is speculation, how do you see the situation right now in Anambra state and even in Ebonyi state where the Ebubeagu people are being accused of uncharitable things. Even some people were killed in Ebonyi a few days ago, and in Anambra state we see a police officer who was being accused of masterminding kidnappings, killings, and what have you. And this is a policeman in office?

Umah: Let me deal with the police before I go to the political issue. This is part of the history of the Nigeria Police. Remember years ago, a Deputy Commissioner of police was arrested in Sokoto and he was the one responsible for arming criminals and not only that, there have been incidences of security agents helping criminals to terrorize, kidnap, acquire wealth. So it is not new. Even as recent as six years ago in Delta state, the police man in-charge of anti-kidnapping was the one aiding and abetting kidnapping.

Let me tell you, until the Nigeria Police control the instruments of violence; ammunitions, until they learn to control. In the military, there is what they call control items. Ammunition is part of them, weapons, explosive and some others, classified in that. Two, the accountability in the army is very strict, you can’t fire one round and not account for it very intensively and with proves. It is often said in the army, ‘you fire one, show us the dead body’. Without that, there is no proof. This idea of firing all over the places means that the accountability of ammunition cannot be guaranteed. Meaning that some can be given to anybody. And then you see, the management of the weapons is also a problem. They should come up with a system that works. Until that is done, this will continue. The truth is that some oppositions could also be known as unknown gunmen. The opposition, some of them are too vicious, they recruit criminal people from all over and bring them into the southeast. When you hear that soldiers are killing, some of them are not IPOB, some of them are sponsored by the opposition.

For instance, the recent times that people were killed, they were killed after APC rally in Ebonyi State. So some of the people who attended the rally were killed, the same thing with what happened in a Local Government called IVO. When they, I am not holding brief for Ebubeagu, they could have done anything. But everybody knows in Nigeria that when they arrest a criminal; maybe he is a thug from the opposition, the opposition will say its oppression, its intimidation, even though the person was caught red handed. So you can’t trust politicians.

Realnews: Can Ebubeagu be used also against opposition? 

Umahi: Yes! they are still politicians. But the oppositions are also doing some things that are terrible, using rented armed men to kill their own people because they are on the other side of the divide and it is across the various states of the southeast. So don’t always listen to the opposition even at the federal level.

When opposition begins to shout like this, check well. The same opposition also acquires police that they use to fight even governments in power. So it is an ill associated with the political elites.

Realnews: Yes. Speaking of this Ebubeagu, why did you leave, you were supposed to be there guiding them as the Chairman of the South-East Security Committee?

Umah: Yes, I have said this for the umpteenth time, South-East governors were not in agreement towards the success of Ebubeagu. They could come out in the open and say that otherwise, but, I do not know whether they don’t want to spend the security vote. Only one state was doing something that was in alignment with using Ebubeagu to assist police to provide security. The way I see in the arrangement is for the police to use Ebubeagu as community police, to help them get information concerning the bad guys, you see, fill intelligence gap, and enter where police cannot enter. They know the people, they are part of them, they know their movements both in the day and in the night, so they can help the police.

The police are not practicing community policing at all, it is just there in their paper, but Ebubeagu can be used to fill that gap. That is why I insist that Ebubeagu should be used in all the states because it has critical role to play. And if they recruit the right people, then they will be preparing themselves for state police. Because, state police coming on stream for this nation’s security to stabilize, is very necessary.

Realnews: You think it is very necessary with how the state governors are using their various state apparatus to torment people, you don’t think it will be abused?

Umahi: No, I don’t think so. Look, Nigerians are always afraid of the new thing, we are afraid of introducing something new. We tend to be true conservatives. Look, the federal police is always used in this role.

Realnews: Yes.

Umahi : So should we say that the federal police should be scraped?

What we are saying is that there should be reorientation, there should be retraining, there should be training before we talk of retraining. The type of training that is required; you know when you train someone and you spark in him a sense of pride of the profession, there are things they won’t do any longer. So, the same thing, Nigeria is too big to rely on state police, where the IGP will stay in Abuja and control the police in my village. The police command and control is loose. How can under normal circumstance, even in time past, if you want security, no matter who you are, and where you are from a particular state, the commissioner of police gives you security. Some businessmen, some strong politicians, some influencial politicians go to the Police headquarters and get policemen. They take police from Abuja and come and cause insecurity in their home states; they are trading power with the governor, you see it is not right. Constitutionally, it doesn’t stand. It doesn’t stand anywhere. Even in terms of decency, it doesn’t stand, it doesn’t fly; how can police come from Abuja and the commissioner of police is not aware that strange policemen are in his state. What is happening now is that the politicians, they go and get 10 policemen officially from Abuja, and they sew police uniform and give to 30 others, they will join those police. The 10 legally secured will now give legality to the others, the rest are unknown gunmen. That’s what is happening. That is why the police must do something about this, it must come to an end.

Realnews: That is very serious, the police, they don’t know, they can’t hold the politicians?

Umahi: I don’t know if they know, but that is what is happening. It is a great security compromise, a serious one which the IGP should address promptly. No politician, no VIP secures security, police coverage from Abuja, no! everybody must be channeled to their commissioner of police.

Realnews: This is serious, is the Police Service Commission not aware of this, can’t they do something about it?

Umahi: I don’t know, but they should oversee what is happening in the body.

Realnews: This is really very strange, but let us get back to the matters of the moment. Election is coming and this cash crunch just came. How is it affecting the obedient, how is it going to affect the coming elections?

Umahi: I don’t have any cash on me, I don’t have, but I am dancing about this redesign. I am very happy to some extent. I am happy because we need to reduce the use of cash in Nigeria. That is what aiding and abating corruption. There is e-Naira that the central bank has lunched, so the unbanked can leverage on the e-Naira if there is no physical bank around them. But wherever you are, you can use e-Naira to do transactions and reduce the quantum of cash that is moving and when the cash comes out, people will suck them in and go and hid them in their homes and then the central bank will be looking for this cash that is circulating and it is not anywhere.

You see, the difference between this APC government and the PDP is that PDP government stole, and they stole seriously, but the cash was circulating. But the APC government stole and stole seriously, but the cash is nowhere. So which means it is in homes, it’s in vaults, it’s in safes. So to that extent, I love it.

Number 2, I love it because vote buying will be minimized, it will be greatly and grossly minimized. So, I am dancing about it. Let them not dance to the tune of those who have stolen the money and are putting pressure. They are the ones putting pressure, going to Supreme Court, they are the ones who have the money, they are the ones who have hidden the money, they are the ones going to court.

There are so many things they could have gone to court that affect the masses, they never went, but once it came to this, because their interest was at stake, they went to court. And the lawyer will say that the Supreme Court does not have first jurisdiction over such a matter because it is not a dispute over federal and state. So who is fooling who, so to that extent I love it, and what so ever game they will play to make sure that money is not released before the presidential election, let them continue to play as a delay tactic, I love it.

Realnews: So when you say that there are some issue the governors should have spoken up, or gone to court about, what are these issues and why do you think that they didn’t speak up at that particular point in time, when they should have done so?.

Umahi: Let me also add that one of the reasons I love this redesign is that, you can see that kidnapping has grossly reduced because there is no cash to pay ransom. Even the old notes they have, they shared them to the public; the bandits. So there is no money to spend. So if that helps to mitigate that evil, how will a governor not see that one as something that is encouraging about the redesign of the naira.

Even El-Rufia went to court, and he is acting like he is the president of Kaduna republic. He is ordering that in Kaduna, they must accept it, they must, he is not an enforcer of Supreme Court order, he is not an enforcer. Jobs are well delineated in the constitution, and you can see that it is not his job. When he begins to act this way, it means that personal interest is imputed and is made obvious. I think that some other issues that should have gone to the Supreme Court, they didn’t ; when they kidnapped people on the train in Kaduna, why didn’t El-Rufai sue federal government, to say that they must mobilize all the security forces to go and rescue those kidnapped, why didn’t the governor of Zamfara sue federal government, half of his population have been displaced. So why didn’t he sue the federal government that they are not protecting them, that it is their responsibility to protect them. Things that affect the poor masses; who went to court when young people were killed in toll gate, was there any public agent, or any government official that spoke against that not to talk of going to court to sue federal government for slaughtering some people at the toll gate. This mean that the interest of the masses does not coincide with the interest of such leaders.

Realnews: Talking about this security, it appears that there is an underlined struggle between the civilians and the old military brigade in this whole thing, which is not there for people to see except those who are keen watcher and observers. It is like the old military hierarchy are on one side and the civilians are on the other side. Is that what is happening in this struggle for power in the country right now?

Umahi: I can’t see that divide. Except if you come up with typical cases.

Realnews: Some of the military brass; hierarchy that I have mentioned; we have seen Obasanjo, we have seen snippets of information coming from Buhari, we have seen some quotes from Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, they all tend to be for a new order.

Umahi: Let me tell you something. I got shot in the waist and the shoulder and on my ribs while in defense of the interest of Nigeria, which means I almost died in defense of this nation. Any person who has been in the military, who is in the military, who cannot think of the survival of this nation, his service can be classified as being a waste. Because everything we were thought was how to do everything possible to ensure the survival of this nation, to ensure that this nation is on the right path. So if you see any person who has been in the military that does not want a new Nigeria, you can’t really classify the person as a full military personnel. Even those in service, it is just that they can’t talk, but if you ask them, one on one, as a friend, not a journalist, they will tell you that they want a new Nigeria.

Infact, the smaller ones, especially the youths, all want a new Nigeria. So we are sympathetic to your situation, I am sympathetic to the situation of my children, my grandchildren and those unborn. If they pass through what we are seeing now, even when my children understood that I am obedient, they broke out in jubilation, because perhaps, they might not want to stand the shame of saying that their father was against the rebirth of a new Nigeria, but I didn’t consult with them before I choose where I pitched my tent.

Realnews: I told you that it takes a keen observer to notice that the top military brass, those retired; Gen. Enenche, some of them, they are all one way or the other apologizing for the mistakes made in the past and they are trying to move with the new order. But behind these new order talks, you will notice that there is always tension between the security officials, the SSS, DSS, and the military and also the Police, why?  Is it that the three arms are not walking together for this new order?

Umahi: Look, to be in the security service is a very difficult job. We take order, we carry out orders, sometimes the orders you carry out, you are not happy with it. But because it is an order and because you have signed off the job, you have to do it. That is why we can say that a soldier can even attack his village if the hierarchy says it is right or wrong. In America what we do is you drop your helmet. So, but in Nigeria, you may not likely to do so. I cannot go into the Nitti gritty for now, but you can be charged for disobedient.

Realnews: Interesting. Ok, let us get back to the economy. How do you see post-election era?

Umahi: It depends on who wins.

Realnews: Do you see your candidate winning?

Umahi: Of course, the drum is loud everywhere that he is leading. Yes, if we do the permutations, the calculations, yes!

Realnews: Will it not amount to the saying that the Obedients are celebrating what is not?

Umahi: We are not celebrating. We are just doing analysis. And you know the thing happened in Kenya. When the president was against the vice, all the institutions of governments were against the vice president, who was running for president. The president’s candidate was supported by the entire structure, but at the end of the day what happened, the majority of the masses lined up with the vice president. They were tired of the corrupt institutions. They lined up with the vice president and he won. The presidency went to court and the court ruled in favour of the vice president. Today he is sitting and we can see what is happening in Kenya today. The changes are fundamental and foundational.

Realnews: Yes. And we want that foundational and fundamental changes in Nigeria, but I still want to know what gives you this optimism, knowing that it is not those who vote that decide the winner, but those who count the vote. Do you really have confidence in the electoral umpire of the country?

Umahi: Well, I am not against the man, I have nothing against him as we speak. Even the introduction of BVAS can be called a bold step. Very, very bold. You know that the same National Assembly that passed that vote came against it when they discovered what it meant, they came against it. But Buhari has already accented to it and he refused to recount. The introduction of BVAS is a great thing, it is a credit to the Chairman of INEC. The only problem is that, we do not understand fully the technicalities of BVAS.

There has never been voters’ education beyond the superficial on the technicalities of BVAS, we have never had any person come to tell us that BVAS is full proof. They just told us that if we want to do accreditation, it has to be with BVAS and after recording the result, we should look at the face and make sure that 000 is on it, that even if there is no server when you send it at that point, ones they get to where there is service, BVAS will automatically send it. That’s all we know. We do not know the possibility of hacking into the server of INEC, we do not know the possibility of compromising the information that is entering, we do not know if there are some other things that can be done to be able to disable BVAS. We don’t know all those. But based on the information at our disposal, we think that these old politicians are afraid of BVAS; that is what is encouraging us also. They don’t like BVAS , so they say that in the north, there are many places without service, but they said don’t worry, when they get to where there is service, it will send automatically; and then, NCC says, no it will work everywhere in Nigeria. So that gladdens our heart. And the obedient, because each of them is contesting for the president and are prepared to die at the polling units. And you know that Obidents have several layers; there is this movement, there is that movement, and each of the these movements will want to outdo the other, making sure that the correct result is uploaded.

When the PDP and APC are saying that labour has no structure. Yes, the structure is just to help you to have agents that you can trust.

But these ones are beyond trust, they are ready to die to ensure that the right thing is done. People who are printing bills, people who are travelling with their own money, why will they not watch and make sure that the end is satisfactorily done. That’s the confidence.

Realnews: This economy that we have now, with the inflation, and rate of unemployment in the country, is it a source of worry for you?

Umahi: You know that those things are what the old politicians have weaponized. Poverty, unemployment, they have weaponized them, they have used them to further and fester their selfish interest by turning the unemployed to thugs, by using poverty; when they share peanuts, people die for it. Now, the same unemployed, the same poor people have turned against them, so, you know, that is how revolution starts. The people you have been oppressing, you push them and push them until they get to the end of the wall. They have no choice but to fight back. That is what is happening now. The people are fighting back. Like in Edo state recently, the APC went to campaign; they surrounded them and were shouting Obi! Obi! Obi! Those are the people they were using before, so, the same people have turned against them.

Realnews: let us talk about the Igbo, you are the President of Ndi-Igbo, Lagos, condolences for the Ohanaeze General, who has been buried, and you were close to him, it looks like his death has created a vacuum in the leadership of Ohanaeze.

Umahi: Obviously, it has created a vacuum. But efforts are being made subterranean to fill the vacuum. Moves are already on to take appropriate steps to fill the vacuum.

Realnews: How will you assess his leadership when he was there?

Umahi: I think initially, he was very active, but at a point he became sick, so he was no longer as active. Remember his deputy also died, so that kind of weakened him, The President General sick, and the deputy President General sick, that kind of weakened the organization, those left could not take some critical decisions as they were waiting for the President General to get well and reassert himself, but that was not to be until he passed on.

Realnews: Given what happened to him, he was very outspoken, and trying to project, and promote, and protect the interest of Ndigbo, but he suffered when his house was burned.

Umahi: He was a good man, a very good man, a great diplomat. But that is the contradiction of Ani-Igbo that I don’t understand. Someone at that level fighting the course of Ndigbo, then Ndigbo will go and burn his house.

Realnews: Do you really think that that it is Ndigbo that burned his house, because Ndigbo are not given to violence.

Umahi: It is not Ndigbo, it is IPOB, ESN, because they thought he was not towing their path. You know, there is absolutely no way that someone can tow that path because it is violent. In this century, you can’t use violence to achieve anything. This is the century of diplomacy, it is not a century of violence. Can’t you see what Russia started, they have gotten bugged down, they thought it was a day, or two or a month outing, but here they are. You can’t underrate anybody when it comes to the use of violence because you don’t know the people; your enemies who will come up to support him. So, even if there are some infiltrators in what is happening in Ani-Igbo, we created the platform, IPOB, ESN created the platform for them to key into it. Supposing they were pursuing their course the way the original person who birthed IPOB did, by now they would have gotten sympathy beyond the shores of Nigeria.

Realnews: So what is the way forward right now because that issue is still very much there and it can affect getting somebody who will step into his shoes to finish the tenure that late Prof. Obiozor started?

Umahi: It won’t affect that. But the issue is that IPOB should know that the organization is gone. There is nothing they can do that will be accepted to Nigerians any longer and they have smeared their hands with blood so much. There must be a paradigm shift.

Realnews: So, how can that be navigated, how can we navigate through this new paradigm shift that you are talking about?

Umahi: Firstly, they must stop this violence completely and it is even in the interest of Nnamdi Kanu. As long as they are still killing; even spiritually, the cloud over the head of Kanu will continue to get darker.

Even the Bible says ‘let him that sinned, sin no more’. Have they done a lot of evil, yes. But if they stop now, it will not be late to receive full pardon and sympathy.

Realnews: You talked about Nnamdi Kanu as we discussed this, so let us talk about Nnamdi Kanu.

Something drove Nnamdi Kanu, he didn’t just come out from the blues. There where injustices, they were actually fighting a course in a peaceful way, because if you ask Nnamdi Kanu today, he would tell you

that they are non-violent and that is still very much the way they portray themselves; IPOB as you talked about, as a non-violent organization. Do you think that the release of Nnamdi Kanu can change the equation in the Southeast, even in Nigeria?

Umahi: what someone says must be matched with what is on ground. If someone says we are non-violent, but you go and match it with what his utterance is. So, how will someone, how can anybody tell me that IPOB was not-violent, how, who can, who will say that. It doesn’t make sense by any stretch of imagination. They were rather very violent, bothering on the sphere of terrorism. That is it.

So the only way out is the cessation of violence in the Southeast completely, unconditionally. Was he fighting a course, yes! He was fighting a course. But you can’t be fighting a cause and just carry violent youths alone. That is what happened when Rehoboam was made a King and then he asked the elders, can I approach this issue like this, they said “no, don’t do it like that”. Then he went to ask radical youths, they said “your father chastised them with stick, you will chastise them with iron, you will chastise them with scorpion.” And then he went to tell them, and they said “to your tent oh Israel.” We must learn from very strong sources. And our people, we are suffering, discriminating against… yes that is true, but that is not the approach, it can never be the approach. The elders, there was no name they didn’t call the elders; they messed up the captains of industries from the Southeast. They messed up the elites. So how can any person do anything without the elders, traditional rulers, elites, captains of industries? How can such a person succeed? If you succeed, it will be a banana republic.

Realnews: We don’t want a banana republic. Are you for the release of Nnamdi Kanu or just he should be kept out there in detention despite what the UN said, despite what the courts have ruled? What is your position on this?

Umahi: No my position is that Nnamdi Kanu should play smart on this issue. Let him dismantle IPOB flatly, let him dismantle ESN because he alone, he is the one feeling it.

Realnews: But is he still as powerful, while he is still in prison?

Umahi: No because criminals will use his name

Realnews: Even when they have come out to say that he has canceled it?

Umahi: That is a game. Cancel it, has it been canceled? It’s a game. Nnamdi Kanu, it is time for him to play safe.

Realnews: If he is released, don’t you think it will help to  ???…

Umahi: No… No…

Realnews: So you’re against his release then?

Umahi: I am not against his release, but I am for a well arranged release, political solution to the issue…

Realnews: That should be unconditional? While the courts are saying he should be released unconditional, like the UN rapporteurs recommended that he should be released unconditional.

Umahi: Well you know the thing is this, I don’t like to hear about the UN because those people are doing everything for them to destroy us. They are not our friends; the west… is it possible that a Finnish, that’s someone from Finland can be based in Nigeria and inciting terrorism in that country? They would have raised hell against that person. But there is Simon Ekpa, making terrorist statements and nothing is happening, the same thing Nnamdi Kanu was doing from the UK, nothing happened. Go and study international relations very well, those things are not discussed on their face value. How many people have been used in time past to undermine African continent, they do all of those because it is like we don’t have the head to articulate issues. They have done it before, they are still doing it, we can’t lay them off. So don’t you know that Nigeria stands a threat to the West, or a new Nigeria is like a threat to the West.  What they say in the open; that they are against corruption, it’s all lies, it’s not true. They are in favour of corruption in Nigeria and indeed in all African countries. If not, why are their banks open to loots? Don’t they know how to follow money? They are experts in following money.

Realnews: So, is it all playing to the gallery when they say they are returning Abacha’s loot?

Umahi: It is just to cover our eyes. If not why has Swiss bank not returned; do you know the money in Swiss banks that moved from Nigeria and indeed other African countries, do you know the money of Africans in British banks, in American banks, even as recent as few years ago, they have started moving to the Arab countries.

Realnews: What do you mean by they are moving to Arab countries?

Umahi: I mean, that is where they have started taking the monies to now.

Realnews: Are African countries daft, can’t they see?

Umahi: Selfishness, greed, that’s the reason for all these things. That’s the reason why we want Obi. He left a legacy in Anambra, he wants to do it at the federal level.

Realnews: Do you have any other information you want to add, do you see peaceful elections on February 25 and March 11?

Umahi: Even this morning I was thinking about it, and I can tell you my mind. My wish is that people will freely go to the polling units, happily vote, stay together and chat, and at the end of it, they count, and people happily go home. That’s my wish, but even if I know how it will go in few places, I can’t project it in the nation. So, I can only but make a wish which I have turned into a prayers.

-Being full text of Realnews exclusive interview with Maj. Gen. Abel Obi Umahi (Rtd)

A.I

Tags: Anthony Isibor MAJ-Gen Abel Obi Umahi (Rtd) Maureen Chigbo Peter Obi Realnews

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