Nnamdi Kanu, a Creation of Injustice, Government

Without Restructuring, Nigeria Will Continue to Wobble

-Warns Elder Statesman Simon Okeke,

-Says Nnamdi Kanu is Product of

Injustice and Government

-Pushes Case for State Police

Doyen of estate surveying and elder statesman, Chief Simon Okeke, popularly known as Ochendo, is a household name not only in Nigeria but in Africa and globally given his pioneering role in the profession. Outside estate surveying, he has carved a niche for himself as a patriotic, bridge-builder and forthright advocate of justice anchored on the rule of law and true federalism. The Nigerian founder and former Chairman/CEO of real estate multinational, Frank Knight & Rutley is a multidimensional personality. For many years, he nurtured the estate surveying firm to lofty heights of recognition and service both in Nigeria and the Africa region as a whole. Tall and debonair, his imposing stature both physically and professionally must have come in handy when he was appointed Chairman of the Police Service Commission by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001. He served in that position till the end of his tenure in 2006. The hallmark of that era was the concerted effort to rebrand the Police and make it a more people-friendly service.

Okeke has been highly rewarded for his services. A recipient of 14 Merit, Gold and Platinum awards, an appreciative nation has also conferred on him the national honours of OON and OFR. Back home, he is the Ochendo Amichi in Nnewi, a community that has produced some of Nigeria’s most illustrious and successful businessmen and industrialists and whose business and apprenticeship models are rated as one of the best organised in the world. In addition to Ochendo which was conferred on him, in 1980, he has amassed seven other traditional titles.

The elder statesman, now 85, still engages in discussions about the path Nigeria should tread, to emerge from what many consider as self-inflicted political doldrums. In this interview with the True Vision team Okeke, in his characteristic candour and ebullience, proffers solutions to the challenge of policing in Nigeria, the Nnamdi Kanu saga, meeting the housing needs of Nigerians as well as the vexed issue of restructuring. Overall, he argues that the skewed nature of Nigeria’s federalism and glaring systemic injustice were the catalysts that produced Nnamdi Kanu who, he says, should be given fair treatment. He says that unless Nigeria is restructured, the country will continue to wobble.

Following the EndSARS protest that rocked the country last year, do you think that enough reforms have taken place to avert future occurrence?

I do not think so. A bit has been done. For instance, abolishing the SARS unit of the Police. What they replaced it with I do not know. My only hope is that they do not replace it with another unit that is the same thing. That unit (SARS) did a lot of damage to the image of the Police.

During my tenure as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, we tried to make the Police more people-oriented; teaching people that the Police is your friend. The problem is that the Police has always been acting as a para-military organisation or alternative to the military which should not be so. People are still distanced form the Police. For instance, if somebody knocks at your door, you open and it is the Police, your initial response will be to withdraw. You will be wondering who knows what they have come to do, whether you have committed any offence. I should not be so. Police should be an outfit people should turn to when they have problems, not an outfit that people should be running away from. They should be there to solve, not create problems.

To make the Police more effective and people-friendly, there is need for a serious review of the syllabus they use in Police training colleges, to ensure that proper discipline is brought into the force as to what is expected of them to do. The syllabus should be reviewed properly and the right subjects such as human relations, public relations, psychology etc introduced.

There are sharp divisions in the country over the issue of state police. Given your vantage position as an elder and onetime Chairman of the Police Service Commission, we would like to have your view on the matter.

There is a crying need for state police. I started advocacy for this from 2002-2003 after a very interesting programme I attended in California USA. That was when I learnt a little bit about the system of Police in America which is a good example of the Federal System of government that we are practising. However, though we are called a federal system, we are far from it. To properly carry out police functions under the Federal System, each state should have a Police Force with a Police Service Commission have responsibility for appointing the commissioner to take charge of peace, law and order. This is unlike now when, everything to do with security, you have to go to Abuja. It is akin to each state in the United States going to Whitehall in Washington to obtain permission before acting. What obtains in Nigeria is that when an issue arises, he calls the commissioner of police (CP), intimates the person who says, yes sir; then turns around to say, let me obtain permission from Abuja. It is wrong. Before the permission comes to go ahead, things would have gone wrong, that is, if it the permission will be granted. That is anachronistic. I will tell you, that is the bane of insecurity in then country today. If each state governor has the mandate to hire and fire the police serving in the state, the security situation will be very greatly improved. All this insecurity everywhere, there will be a stop to it, including in the north east. If the governors of the states that are prone to repeated serious insecurity have the authority to hire and fire the police that work with them, the insecurity in the country will decline rather dramatically. Of course I know that to do this, there has to be a constitutional amendment. Section 214 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 states that there shall be only one Police in the country. That section should be amended.

As one of the foremost players in the real estate sector over the years, how will you assess the housing sector in Nigeria with special reference to meeting the needs of the lower classes?

As of today the housing system of the country is in a very poor shape. Shortage of houses is enormous as the shortfall runs between 15 and 20 million houses; that is, for Nigerians to be well housed. One of the reasons for that is the absence of the FUND to back up house purchases. Today, if you want a house, more often you are expected to pay cash; that is, cash on delivery. Where is that ever done?

To make it possible for people to own houses and for more houses to be built, there should be availability of mortgage. The Government should encourage people to get mortgage.

But there are quite a number of mortgage banks around

Yes, but they are not well-funded. Now, if you go to America today and you get a job, you get a mortgage to own a house. Here, the mortgage institutions are few and they are not well-funded. Even where fund is available, the salaries paid to individuals that need houses cannot take care of replacement. People are not paid the kind of wages that can take care of car loans, mortgages, and other needs.

In other word, you are saying that in addition to funding mortgages, there should be an upward review of the wage structure

Yes. For upkeep of the houses, pay your car note, rent a house of obtain mortgage and meet other sundry bills, etc. and because of the paucity of income and the non-availability of a flexible mortgage system, people who are desirous to own houses steal from the Government and quasi-government systems. It breeds corruption: in order to live comfortably and pay for your house.

How best can backward integration be achieved as a way of bringing down the cost of housing in Nigeria?

I am not an accept here… (pauses for a while). However, to reduce cost of building, let us go back to developing the building materials that abound here. I know that some effort was made in the past. When Ukpabi Asika was Administrator of the then East Central State, he developed the burnt brick which we used in developing some estates in Enugu at the time. It did not last long, was not sustained. But today, the cost of cement has risen astronomically due to what is a monopoly situation in the market. Cost of building houses has gone up to then roof. While salaries and wages are poor, cost of building is rising to the roof. In the circumstance, if you build, who will buy? It is a vicious circle. So, effort should be made to produce building materials locally and at rock bottom prices.

What is your immediate reaction to the rearrest of Nnamdi Kalu?

His rearrest doesn’t make any news to me. In a way, there is nothing wrong about it. Let him be tried according to the law and the judicial system of Nigeria. He has to be given full protection and every opportunity to defend himself. He jumped bail quite alright. Okay, yes, he said he jumped bail because he was afraid of his life, alright. Now that he has been rearrested, it is an opportunity for him to tell the world what he stands for. In spite of everything, I cannot see the present government trying to terminate his life, because the whole world will revolt, including me.

So Nnamdi Kanu has been crying out for the imbalance and the system of government that does not give everyone opportunity to prove himself or herself, that is what it is all about. A situation where the government does not have a level playing field for everybody; it is saddeningly not acceptable. I can endorse his apprehension and say no to the present administration’s stand in the dispensation of what one has to benefit from governance.

A situation where you have two laws; two systems of governance for different sections of the country can never work. That is what the young man is crying about, because it is very obvious that a lot of injustice is being displayed on a certain section or certain sections of the country. That is what this young man is crying about. Never mind that the way he is crying about it is not the way I would have wanted him to do so. But the fact is that what he is saying is, put a round peg in a round hole; give everybody equal opportunity in the country; but it is not so. That is what he is crying about and I can endorse it. Although I do not endorse the way he does it. The way he is fighting it, I do not endorse it

There are concerns that international protocols were not observed as no extradition hearings were held before he was bundled back to Nigeria. Can you comment on it?

Well, I wouldn’t know; I wasn’t there. I only heard it over the television that he has been extradited down to Nigeria and that protocols were not observed. He, Nnamdi Kanu, would have been expected to observe certain precautions in his own movements. I believe that if he had observed certain protocols, the movement of a person like his, he wouldn’t have been apprehended. There must be some mistakes in the areas of his movements.

So, I don’t know the observance of protocols and I am not conversant with international protocols, but I think that he let himself loose. So, there are so many versions of what led to his apprehension, which you journalists have heard about. I heard so many. I don’t know which is which, only those who apprehended him will tell us how they did. If they breached any protocol, they have to answer for it.

Do you think that Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB would have amounted to much relevance, if he was not arrested?

Well, as I said before, if he was not arrested, it has to be accepted that it has raised a lot of tensions in the country, leading to the deaths of many people, which is not acceptable to me, or in fact to any normal human being.

The kind of tension that has arisen because of him, the way he operated. He has good reason, because of the system of the government of today that does not recognize justice, equity, fair play, equal opportunity for all. That is what he is crying about.

He overstepped on the bounds of normalcy, because of what I heard; nobody told me. On one occasion, my driver put on a radio, which I heard radio Biafra and he wanted me to hear what Nnamdi Kanu was saying. It is not the way to do it. He had a good reason to fight, but the way he was doing it was wrong. He had a good reason to fight, but the way he was doing it was wrong.

Do you think that the government is not making a hero out of him?

Of course, they have. I made it clear to the government in some of my interviews. I said, come to think about it all, who is Nnamdi Kanu? It is the present government that has made him a hero. The present government has made Nnamdi Kanu a hero. Who is he, that the present government would make so much noise about him. So. if the present government has not given him so much attention, he just would have fizzled away. It is because the present government made a lot of noise about him that made him a hero.

Do you share this view that the government is exerting much power over matters in the South East while papering over major threats in other parts of the country?

I endorse that statement you made. It is very clear. That is why I am saying that you have to treat every section, region, zone in this country; there are six geopolitical zones in the country. They must be given equal relevance. They must be given equal treatment. But for you to give preference to one against others, I say no to it and that is one of the things Nnamdi Kanu is crying about, and I endorse it. So. the present government should think twice the way it is attending to issues partaking to some different zones and regions. If you look at it, there are some that are favoured zones or states, while others are slaves and nobody will like to be a slave. I, Ochendo, I will not be a slave for anybody.

How do you advise the government to handle the agitations, flowing across the country?

Government has to be fair – minded, equitable, just in treating each state without preference to the other. Unless that is done, there will be no peace in this country.

Do you believe in President Buhari’s declarations that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable?

He has the right and privilege to say that as an individual. Every individual has a right to his own opinion. You have your own and I have mine. There is nothing that makes any situation not negotiable, no! You have to negotiate, otherwise you are not dealing with human beings. Anything partaking to human beings is subject to negotiations.

How do you compare what Boko Haram is doing in the north east and that of the Bandits too, across the country?

Let me tell you, that is one of the contentions. I am not sure that this government has ever declared Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation, nor declared Herdsmen and Bandits as terrorists, but these are the people that have got arms, fighting their own country. But IPOB, as far as I know, the only thing they have is the Biafran flag and you declared them as terrorists. Why did you declare them as terrorists because they had a flag? Can you compare the flag with AK 47 and AK 49, that the people from the other side are carrying to fight their father land? What he should have done was to negotiate with them, instead of declaring them as a terrorist organisation. What makes them a terrorist organisation? Do they have arms? Even matchets, they don’t carry matchets, you say that they are terrorists. Those who are carrying arms and ammunition, guns, they are not declared terrorists. Boko Haram, Bandits, Herdsmen who carry AK-47, AK- 49, ammunition are not terrorists, but young men that are freely demonstrating, expressing their displeasure over the treatment of their own zone, you say are terrorists.

Now that their leader has been rearrested, what would be your advice to the IPOB members?

Just be calm. Lie low. Do nothing that will make you a prey to the arms and ammunition of those who may not like your faces. Just lie low and pray for your master, Nnamdi Kanu to see that justice is done. Do nothing wrong and lie low.

Restructuring has become a buzzword in Nigeria today. What is your stand on restructuring?

You are asking about restructuring? When we say restructuring, we are only saying that the Nigerian system is not working. The question is: what do we do for it to work? Nigeria is presently a lame duck. A lot of issues have impeded its workability. The FG have a lot of functions that would have been left to the states, so the states are not working. What we are saying is that the states should be allowed to breath and the centre also to breath. Both are suffocated.

Closest to restructuring, let the system that existed before the military came on board be allowed to function. Before the military came, various regions were virtually independent. The regions had their own constitutions; recruitment into the police was done at the regional level. But today, everything is centred at Abuja. That is the best way to understand restructuring. Let us return to the system prior to the military era in 1966. Without restructuring, the country will continue to wobble. 

Is it right for any people that want to seccede to do so?

Ans: Look, in international law, never mind that it is not written in any of the Constitutions on which this country is being run; of course, I was told that the 1999 Constitution we are running is military constitution and didn’t put in the right and freedom to secession. But every modern country has in-built clause for freedom to say we don’t want to belong anymore. And it is no longer done by force of arms, but by agreement. You can go into plebiscite, election and find out who will say yes or no. It is no longer done by force of arms, like in 1967 when we fought the Biafran war.

And so many people are clamouring that if Biafra secedes, those who say they are Biafran, that they are not Nigeria, will have their properties seized. No! It is not done that way. There is an international law binding all that.