With the approach of the Yuletide, insecurity in the Southeast and other parts of the country is a major issue and a key factor making families residing in major urban centres to re-evaluate their earlier desire to spend the season in their home towns.
In this interview, Igwe Gerald Obunadike Mbamalu, Eze Oranyelu 1, Eze Ojoto III in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State reiterates his call for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu among other issues.
Traditional rulers from Nasarawa State led by the Osana of Keana, Abdullahi Amegwa, visited the Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Bello Shehu, in Abuja, during which they asked for five percent share of the statutory allocation to local governments. What is your view on this?
I have been at the forefront of championing the demand for five percent share of the statutory allocation of local governments to be given to traditional rulers as contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, what the traditional rulers from Nasarawa echoed is an attestation that traditional rulers in Nigeria are financially sidelined. We are handicapped as chief security officers in our communities. And that is why the three tiers of government are overwhelmed by insecurity because the monarchs have no financial power to secure their domains. However, it becomes empirical that the National Assembly should do everything lawful for traditional rulers to get five percent share from the national cake now that the Supreme Court has granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
With Christmas around the corner, what security arrangements can communities in Southeast adopt to encourage their kith and kin to come home and celebrate?
The recent judgment by the Federal High Court, Abuja which stated that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu did not jump bail has brought succour to the people of South-East. With this judgment, insecurity will be reduced during Christmas celebrations. Traditional rulers are entitled to five percent of local government allocations, but the money does not come to us even though we have a whole lot of challenges in our communities, ranging from youth restiveness, unemployment to insecurity. And our subjects will fall back to us as if we have financial allocation from government to meet their needs. Part of the measure we put in place to curb insecurity in Anambra State is that the government constituted vigilante groups across communities with 20 personnel appointed in each community. In my community, Ojoto, the 20 personnel are not enough, hence we have 20 other vigilantes and at that rate we are still subsidizing it. These are able-bodied men with families and children who go to school and hospital; they have wives that go to the market to buy food as they must fend for their families. How can we get the best for the vigilante? It is through placing them on comfortable allowance so that when they are out there and working they know that the government will take care of any exigency that confronts their families. This is part of what the five percent allocation would have been used to do. But since it is not coming to us we don’t have the power to protect our communities. So, we do the little we can and leave the rest in the hands of God, believing that one day somebody will come and do the right thing. However, my colleagues and I are in support of local government autonomy.
Do you support the revival of the old practice of compulsory participation of young men in neigbourhood watch operations, to curb insecurity?
That is the major option left for us as traditional rulers to secure our communities and subjects. Through neigbourhood watch, traditional rulers are contributing their best to combat insecurity. But some of us are keeping quiet on sensitive national issues in order not to incur the wrath of the government which is the yardstick for judging our loyalty. As you know, we are the chief security officers of our communities even though traditional rulers are not given five percent of the local government allocations meant for us. And with the denial of that right, they have turned us into beggars, hence most times both the Federal and state governments threaten to withdraw our certificates of recognition as traditional rulers if we ask for our rights. So, these are some of the limitations traditional rulers are facing in the administration of their domain including the fight against insecurity in the rural areas.
How can the old practice be upgraded to accommodate the realiWe have rekindled the old flame community security network, which involves the vigilantes. Because of insecurity tourists no longer visit popular tourist centres and the other iconic symbols of Nigeria for fear of being kidnapped or killed. Some politicians sponsor insecurity in order to win elections. They are just beneficiaries of electoral violence and ballot box snatching by the political thugs they hire and arm with guns to disrupt the electoral process. They promote the Stockholm syndrome. Otherwise, how could a man with relatively less political value continue to represent people who didn’t vote for him over the years, yet enmeshed in endless controversies with little or nothing to show in his state, senatorial district or constituency in terms of development? So, traditional rulers who are closer to the people at the grassroots have upgraded the old practice to meet the modern realities of the present time. I cannot expose the new methods we have introduced to secure our subjects who will be coming home to celebrate this year’s Christmas. I want to use this opportunity to assure my subjects that their security is guaranteed during Christmas and New year celebrations.
Is it not time for all traditional rulers in the South-East to speak up with one voice and present a united position to the government on the issue of insecurity in the Southeast?
Traditional rulers are not partisan. Monarchs in the Southeast have spoken with one voice on insecurity. We have jointly requested that Nnamdi Kanu should be released from detention and peace will return in the South-East. Again, we cannot do much because we can’t mobilise youths and able-bodied men as vigilantes because it is a costly venture. There is little we can do because the allocation for traditional rulers is not given to us. And if we decide to take the state governments to court we will be baptized with different names as anti-government. We are entitled to 5 percent of local government allocations, but it never comes to us. My opinion is if I am to decide Nnamdi Kanu’s fate, I will tell you that Kanu’s issue cannot be settled by the approach they are applying now. It cannot be settled through a legal approach, but can be settled politically with a little bit of concession. I call on the traditional rulers from the Southeast and some elders to negotiate the issue of Nnamdi Kanu and find a common ground to resolve the matter. Kanu did not carry guns that is why it is more of a political settlement than a legal approach. The Federal Government arraigned Nnamdi Kanu in court for treason, alleging that he did something contrary to the Nigerian Constitution. So, Southeast traditional rulers have been speaking with one voice over the security situation in Igbo land.
The government said it had granted special waiver for importation of essential commodities like grains duty free, to cushion the effect of hunger and hardship. What are your thoughts on this?
Go and find whether any company has been able clear the specified commodities through the ports without paying duty at the seaports. Also ask those who import these items how much it cost them to buy the goods and how much it cost them to clear the consignment at the ports and hear, what they will tell you. You forgot that in spite of that, there are duties charged by the shipping companies because it is a private establishment. They charge according to the dictate of the economy. The terminal operators also charge duties according to the dictates of the economy. If there is special waiver on Customs duty on essential commodities in Nigeria, I believe it is for a targeted group of beneficiaries, it is not for everybody. It could be a reward to those who must have contributed during the electioneering. I feel that it is a political settlement because no Nigerian can beat his or her chest and say they bought a bag of rice for N40,000.
Since the government made the promise, how many bags of rice did they import into the country for sale at N40,000? How many 50kg, 25kg, 10kg and 5kgs did they import into the country for sales at the reduced price? When you look at the way the palliative of 5kg rice back which is a square meal for a family of five was shared, then you will know that it was a mere political statement. To me, the programme is dead on arrival.
THE SUN NIGERIA
