Hon. Uzor Azubuike represents Aba North/South Federal Constituency of Abia State at the National Assembly. In this encounter with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY’s RUTH CHOJI, he condemns calls by some sections of the country for a National Sovereign Conference, assures of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction soon, forecloses the dissolution of one Nigeria and speaks on other key issues
There were reports that Boko Haram has asked all Igbo residents in the North to vacate the region. What is your take on this?
We feel so worried that our people have always been used as the sacrificial lamb, especially whenever there is any little misunderstanding in Nigeria; whether it is religious, ethnic or political.
Anytime there is a quarrel among groups, whether the Igbo man is involved or not, his life will be taken at the end to settle the trouble. If there is a quarrel between the Hausa and other tribes, the Igbo man will be the one to be slaughtered to resolve the matter.
We feel sad because we know the contribution of the Igbo race to national unity and development. In our zone, we do not shed blood, we protect our guests. We show absolute hospitality to all manner of people.
But do you think that evacuating non-northerners from the North will solve the security problems?
Ndigbo remain the pillars on which Nigeria is standing. There is no part of this country that you will not find an Igbo man firmly established. The Igbo man learns the dialect of his community and feels so relaxed as if he has no plans to go back.
We have investments everywhere; we gain nothing from government as a race or ethnic group. Because of the investments the Igbo man has across the nation, they don’t want to do anything that will stir session calls or collapse of the Nigerian project.
Another thing is that, the Igbo man is always left behind and that was what led to the civil war that made them want to leave Nigeria. Our youths were slaughtered and properties abandoned… many were in fact lost.
Because of that experience, the Igbo man ensures that there is peace and unity in Nigeria. Contrary to what happens in other areas.
Unfortunately, people don’t come to invest when they come to our area. It’s as if they contemplate a day like this when the nation will be shaken and they may have to leave… when the situation will become ‘To your tents oh Israel’, and everyone would carry his basket and hand bags and return home.
The Igbo man is highly hospitable you know? We are liberal in all areas. Ask youth corpers and members of other tribes that have lived in the South East; we celebrate them, unlike the way Ndigbo are treated in other places.
So, you do not support the mass relocation call?
No, I do not support that. Ndigbo have invested so much in the north. So if you ask them to leave, what are they coming to the East to do… to start afresh? That will sow permanent seed of discord and bitterness.
What we are suggesting and maintaining is that, just as we have maintained the peace in our areas, as leaders; the leaders of the North should find a way of ensuring peace and order, and ensure that security of lives and properties are guaranteed. I am not an advocate of anybody running away… or do people want our people to abandon their life investments and run back home to become paupers.
I appreciate what the Northern leaders are doing, but it is not enough. Leadership has its responsibility just like governance.
Do you think the Federal Government is capable of handling the security challenges?
Once there is a Federal Government, then it capable. There is a limit to how we will start trading blames now.
What I am insisting is that, it is like a father in a home; you have a duty to provide for your family, how you do it is your problem. I believe the government is capable to better handle problems of the last few days.
But don’t you think with the present situation, we are heading towards another civil war or future disintegration
Well, that is the challenge of our leaders. The symptoms are there, but it is curable. As long as the leaders are not folding their hands, these problems will be solved, but if the leaders are playing hide and seek, then it will definitely continue.
MASSOB has also threatened to start employing violence. Do you think that is the right step to stem the trouble?
No reasonable person will support violence. Reaction follows action. After the annulment of June 12, the South/South came together through NADECO and other groups and caused fear in Nigeria.
At the end of the day, what happened? Even when PDP was not in the South/West, President Olusegun Obasanjo was given the PDP ticket. Even when PDP lost all the states in the South/West, the votes from the North, South/South and South East were used to make him president.
When the South/South came up with militancy, they were given all sorts of carrots, culminating in the emergence of the present president.
Now, the Boko? Haram sect is causing trouble and people are asking, ‘what do we do for you?’ The next thing they will do now is to say, ‘let’s give them the presidency.’ The Igbo are saying, ‘look we are entitled to that seat too,’ but do we fight?
Are you a proponent of a return to regionalism?
Well, we were running the region-based parliamentary system when the first coup occurred which culminated into the civil war. It arose from similar circumstances as Nigeria is today. That is to tell you that, change of government is not the issue.
Would you advocate for a Sovereign National Conference
I find no basis for the call for Sovereign National Conference. First, we have a constitution which is the grund norm that Nigeria is covered. It determines the way Nigeria will be governed. The constitution has also defined how it can be amended. When you talk about democracy, you are talking about the legislature.
Because weather the government is military or monarchy, there is always the executive and judiciary. We all ready have the legislature in place, representing the various sections of this country bound by the constitution. It is only the National Assembly with participation from the state assemblies’ two third that can amend the constitution.
So, what will be the basis for national conference? The Seventh National Assembly says, it has started with legislative agenda; topmost of which is the amendment of the constitution. If people think there is any aspect of the constitution that needs to be reviewed, the committee is in place, every state has a member.
They should submit their memorandum and when they do, public hearing will be conducted where you come and convince Nigerians. A call for national sovereign conference to me is a call to anarchy.
The S/East has been advocating for additional states to be at par with other zones. Do you think it is necessary?
It is not just necessary, but also imperative. Peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of justice and the Bible states that you do unto others as you want them to do unto you. The recipe for peace is justice.
We are all in this country and have witnessed how some states that were barely two local governments were expanded to seven, eight and made into states. We have very small states here with large resources and then you have large states with low resources. If you look at the distribution of resources in this country, you will weep for the Igbo man.
Take for instance, the SURE programme, the subsidy reinvestment programme, what they call the subsidy money which I don’t believe there is anything like that, but assuming there is, see the formula they use in sharing it.
The South/East will get about thirty –five billion naira in a month. But Bayelsa alone is getting thirty-three billion naira, Rivers is getting forty-four, Delta is getting forty –two, Cross River is getting forty billion. So each of these states is getting more than the totality of what the whole South/East is getting from the allocation.
What laws would you want to see amended in the constitution?
Topmost as I have stated is state creation. To accommodate the South/East and we feel that, Aba is deserving of being made a state. Before in world economy, when you talk about Japan, China, you will definitely hear Aba-made. In those days, that was how products were identified. All those countries have grown to develop their economies.
But for political reasons, Aba has been kept where it is. There is nobody in Nigeria who doesn’t know that if Aba is developed, it can carry the economy of Nigeria. We have surplus indigenous technology.
Every small room in Aba is a factory. Bring in any product and give the Aba man two hours, he will dismantle it and reproduce it. As we are talking today, the only institution of the Federal Government in Aba is the police station and prison yard. The only other thing there is the NTA and when you see it, you will know that this one is from Aba.
But do you think an Igbo man can ever rule Nigeria?
There is no reason why an Igbo man cannot rule Nigeria. We are talking about justice and you can see that we are beginning to imbibe the culture of justice. An example was what happened on the floor of the National Assembly.
Whenever we raise the issue of Aba, members responded with passion. Time depends on God, but there is no how an Igbo man will not be president of Nigeria.
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