The Federal Government has been advised to
explore all avenues, including dialogue, to
rescue over 200 schoolgirls abducted by
Boko Haram since April 14 from the
Government Secondary School, Chibok,
Borno State.
Giving the advice in Lagos, a social critic and
Niger Delta activist, Comrade Joseph Evah,
warned government against foreclosing
dialogue as part of efforts to rescue the girls.
According to Evah, who also serves as the
coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG,
President Goodluck Jonathan should
embrace all options.
“Since we have allowed the Boko Haram to
become monstrous, it is too late in the day to
shut the door against dialogue. It will be
counterproductive. At the early stages of the
insurgency, we advised the president on the
best ways to handle this crisis, but his
advisers didn’t allow him to listen to us, but
now that the problem of insecurity has
festered, you have to embrace all options to
resolve it”, he stated.
Evah also implored Jonathan to ask Vice
President Namadi Sambo to spearhead the
rescue mission to Sambisa forest and other
Boko Haram strongholds in the North, in the
same way the late President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua asked Jonathan who was then his
deputy to proceed to the creeks in the Niger
Delta when the zone was under siege by the
militants.
In this interview with TUNDE THOMAS , Evah
also spoke on other national issues, including
Jonathan and 2015, Obasanjo-Jonathan
relationship, among others. Excerpts:
How far is it true that some prominent Ijaw
leaders have been making underground
moves to reconcile President Goodluck
Jonathan with former President Olusegun
Obasanjo as a result of the alleged frosty
relationship between the two following the
letter written by Obasanjo to Jonathan
sometime ago?
Some of us were not happy about what
happened between the two that time. It is
unfortunate that some political sycophants
and jobbers have been trying to drive a
wedge between Obasanjo and Jonathan.
These people that have been trying to cause
disaffection between the President and
Obasanjo are enemies of Jonathan.
They don’t love Jonathan. If Jonathan and
Obasanjo are having problems, these people
should have made genuine efforts to solve
the problem. Obasanjo is supposed to be
Jonathan’s godfather. Without Obasanjo,
Jonathan will not be where he is today. For
those who may have short memory, let me
go down the memory lane to remind them
that it was Obasanjo that dragged Jonathan
from being a state governor to become vice-
president.
We know what Jonathan told us Ijaw leaders
at the residence of Chief Ebitimi Banigo, how
he sought our advice on the new political
development and how we encouraged him to
take up the challenge with a promise that we
will all not only rally round him, but also
mobilized support for him and the presidential
candidate of Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), the late President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua.
Ijaw leaders present at that meeting gave me
a taste of marching order to mobilize Niger-
Deltans and all non-Niger-Deltans resident in
the South-west to be present at Tafawa
Balewa Square in Lagos to garner support for
Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket.
We are all human beings, and nobody is
above mistakes, and again, it is normal for
human beings to quarrel, and disagree, but
again it is normal to reconcile. If at all there
is any quarrel between Obasanjo and
Jonathan, people should try to reconcile them
instead of giving wrong advice to Jonathan.
Eventually, when Jonathan was sworn in as
vice-president, I mobilized Niger-Delta
people to storm Ota farm to express our
appreciation to Obasanjo for giving our son,
Jonathan, the opportunity to become elected
vice-president of Nigeria for the first time in
the history of this country.
Despite the fact that it was Nigerians that
voted for Yar’Adua, and Jonathan, we must
not forget the fact that it was somebody that
God used as an instrument to ensure that
Jonathan emerged as the vice-presidential
candidate of PDP.
For us, that is those of us that are referred to
as minorities in Nigeria, to become either a
president or vice-president would be a
herculean task without the support of an
incumbent president, and this is why we
remain grateful to Obasanjo. God used
Obasanjo to make Jonathan vice-president.
So, today if both of them are having problem,
it is for those who love Jonathan to see that
the two reconcile.
They should have visited Obasanjo for
reconciliation, but if Obasanjo refused to
grant them audience or snub reconciliatory
moves, then you leave him to God.
If all these friends of the President truly love
him, they would have looked for ways to get
somebody like the former United States
President, Jimmy Carter, who is close to
Obasanjo to reconcile the two. I believe that
if somebody like Carter mediates between
the two, there will be a genuine reconciliation,
between Obasanjo and Jonathan.
Have you tried to make a suggestion to the
president along this line?
It is unfortunate that often it is difficult to
have access to Mr President. For those of us
who want to give genuine advice to Mr
President, some aides surrounding him have
been frustrating us.
These political jobbers and chameleons have
held Jonathan hostage. They won’t allow you
to have access to him. Even if president
gives you appointment, when you arrive the
Villa to keep the appointment, these people
will tell you the president is sleeping.
When they know that you want to come and
give the president genuine advice, they will
tell you the president has just taken panadol
and that you can’t see him for two or three
days. But if you insisted that the president
asked you to come, they will tell you that the
president had just taken panadol and that
there is nothing they can do. Many fake and
selfish people are surrounding the president.
But I sincerely believe that if we can have
Jimmy Carter to mediate between Jonathan
and Obasanjo, there will be a head way
because both Jonathan and Obasanjo will be
able to tell each other the bitter truth.
In view of this development, what advice will
you like to give President Jonathan not only
concerning Obasanjo but also on other
national issues?
Jonathan should realise that we are now in a
period I will refer to as injury time. This is
time for him to do stock taking. This is time
for him to take a closer look at some of those
working with him. Some of these aides are
political liabilities. He should fire them. They
have become political liabilities. They are of
no value to him again.
Look at the way the CNN reporter was grilling
and mesmerizing the Minister of Information,
Labaran Maku, the other day on the screen.
It was a big shame how the CNN reporter
grilled the minister who obviously was not
prepared for the challenge. It was a big
shame, an embarrassing spectacle.
Some of these people surrounding the
president are no longer relevant.
They have
nothing to offer. They should be allowed to
go.
These people are not relevant for anything. I
now ask Jonathan, where are people like
Frank Nweke?
I’m asking Mr President,
where are people like Timi Alaibe? Jonathan
should scout for the best brains in his
generation to work with him. This is what the
late Obafemi Awolowo did during his time,
and he became a super star.
Where are people like Colonel Abubakar
Umar, former governor of Kaduna State?
Can’t Jonathan get brilliant men to work for
him? The president should look for people
that are smart and brilliant.
Some of those working presently with the
president are liabilities. If Jonathan sacks
two or three of these people for
incompetence, others will sit up.
Jonathan
should step on toes. He should remember it
is him that people will hold accountable for
whatever happens during his own
presidency. Then Jonathan should be careful
about some of these people calling
themselves his supporters. They are creating
more enemies for him.
The other day I was reading a report where a
former minister was saying that Obasanjo is
no longer relevant in PDP, and to the re-
election of Jonathan in 2015. What a reckless
statement! It is the highest level of hypocrisy.
This is the same man that Obasanjo
appointed a minister, but because Obasanjo
is no longer there, and he wants to curry
Jonathan’s favour, he is now abusing
Obasanjo. That is human being for you, and
this is why I said Jonathan should be careful,
because it is this same type of people that
will turn round to abuse Jonathan when he is
no longer in power.
The current state of insecurity has become a
serious source of concern with bombings all
over the place, what is the way out of the
quagmire? How do we tackle the Boko
Haram insurgency?
From the day one, especially after the
bombing of the United Nations Office, the
Police Headquarters, and the Catholic Church
in Abuja, I advised President Jonathan about
the way out, but unfortunately he ignored it,
and look at the situation in the country today.
What kind of advice?
I told the president that he doesn’t have to
pretend or be gentlemanly about this issue. I
told him to ask the Vice-President, Namadi
Sambo, to relocate to Borno, Adamawa or
Yobe States the way the late President
Yar’Adua asked Jonathan who was then the
country’s Vice-President, to enter the creeks
to go and talk to Niger-Delta militants who
were then taking expatriates hostage as a
result of the pollution of Niger-Delta through
oil exploration.
Why can’t Jonathan toe a similar line by
asking Sambo to go and talk to these Boko
Haram people. Sambo speaks and
understand their language.
But surprisingly Jonathan didn’t take this
advice, and this is why you see Namadi
Sambo sitting down comfortably in Abuja
sitting over contract awards. You see him
holding files, smiling and running all over Aso
Rock dealing with contractors when he is
actually supposed to be talking with Boko
Haram leaders in their strongholds in
Damaturu or any other part of the North.
Up till now as we are talking, Namadi Sambo
is in the Villa. If Sambo had relocated to any
of these northern states where Boko Haram
has been terrorizing the people, we would not
be in this situation.
I also told Jonathan to declare a full state of
emergency in one of these states like
Obasanjo did during his time, and there would
be sanity as other state governors there in
the North would sit up and do everything
possible to checkmate the insurgents.
But some people I believe told Jonathan that
that would be unconstitutional, but I want to
ask those people who are saying that such a
step would be unconstitutional that when
Yar’Adua failed to transmit a letter to the
National Assembly to confirm Jonathan as
the Acting President in his absence, did
Yar’Adua follow the constitution? We came
up with a document that was never in our
constitution, the doctrine of necessity which
later enabled Jonathan to step in as Acting
President in order to ensure peace and
prevent a constitutional crisis.
So, whatever step that is taken to ensure
peace, you take it. You use any necessary
means to achieve peace. If Jonathan had
declared a full state of emergency by sacking
all the entire political class in one of the
northern states, other governors would have
sat up and stop all these political Boko
Haram they are doing. But now it is too late
for Jonathan to declare full state of
emergency in these states. It can’t work
again.
At the outset, I told Jonathan that this Boko
Haram insurgency is political, but he didn’t
take me seriously. I told him that those
advising him not to declare full state of
emergency in one of these states are his
enemies, that the problem would fester if he
didn’t take drastic action, but Jonathan chose
to listen to these people who are his
enemies.
Today, all manner of people are calling
Jonathan names. They are hurling insults at
him, and the criticism of him has gone
further higher following the abduction of
those schoolgirls in Chibok. But unfortunately
all those people that Jonathan wants to
please including Namadi Sambo and those
governors are all enjoying and smiling. The
heat is not on them but on Jonathan.
But I
told Jonathan that he should declare a full
state of emergency in one of these states,
but he refused to do so because he doesn’t
want to hurt those people who are creating
problems for him.
Now, the whole campaign of Bring Back Our
Girls is on Jonathan’s head. They are asking
him to bring back these girls, and nobody
remembers that it is supposed to be a team
work where other aides of Jonathan also
have roles to play. When Niger-Delta was on
fire during the period militants were making
trouble, it was all the governors, and political
leaders in the area that mobilized, intervened
and resolved the crisis. But have the
northern elders and political leaders done so
to Boko Haram ? They have done nothing. But
now you see everybody saying that Jonathan
should visit Chibok, that is an insult. Did
Yar’Adua visit the creeks when the Niger-
Delta was in crisis?
No, he sent Jonathan
who was then his deputy to go into the
creeks.
Everywhere you go now, people are saying
that Jonathan is afraid of Chibok.
Some are
saying that he is afraid that if he goes there,
the abducted girls and the Boko Haram
people will attack him, what kind of nonsense
is this? Yar’Adua never smelt the creeks, so
why should Jonathan now go to Chibok?
How can we have these abducted girls
rescued from Boko Haram insurgents?
I strongly believe that Namadi Sambo hasa
vital role to play in efforts being made to
rescue the girls. Sambo should actually lead
the operation to Sambisa forest, the
stronghold of Boko Haram to rescue our girls.
Sambo should climb a camel or a donkey to
enter Sambisa forest the same way Jonathan
entered boat that took him to the creeks to
talk to Niger-Delta militants.
Jonathan paddled a canoe to the creeks,
since their own way of movement is through
camels and donkeys, Namadi Sambo should
climb a donkey to Sambisa forest where he
should hold dialogue with the Boko Haram
people.
Jonathan doesn’t speak the language of
these people, but Namadi Sambo does, and
not only that it is Sambo who is from that
area understand the culture, and the way of
life of the Boko Haram people.
But it is unfortunate that Sambo is hiding in
the Villa, he never made any statement on
any national issue. Can Jonathan speak
Hausa-Fulani language, and yet you are
asking him to go and speak with Boko
Haram.
Sambo is of Hausa-Fulani extraction, he
should lead the operation to Sambisa forest,
and not only that he should be a man of
courage. He should be courageous to visit
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe to meet these
insurgents face to face.
At the outset of the crisis, they even
conspired to ensure that Jonathan removed
the then National Security Adviser, the late
General Andrew AzazI. But after sacking
Azazi, has the problem been resolved? I told
Jonathan then that if he sacked Azazi, that he
would regret his action as the situation will
become worse. Today, have I not been
proved right? Has the security situation not
worsened?
Today, the Minister of Defence is from the
North, the National Security Adviser is from
the North and also the Chief of Defence Staff,
but has it brought any relief? No, the security
situation is even getting worse and worse.
Azazi, in his grave, would be laughing at this
nation, and saying look at these people.
Now you see Armies from other foreign
nations in Nigeria, and I’m even sure that
very soon, we will be begging Ghanaian and
Togolese Army to come and help us.
This is
sad, is this not the same Nigerian Army that
rescued Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau
and even in Congo and Lebanon?
It is a big shame that in this 21st century, a
foreign army is in our country to help us
resolve insecurity in Nigeria. No political
leader in the North can tell me that they don’t
know these Boko Haram boys. They are just
deceiving us or deceiving themselves. These
people are using Boko Haram boys to cause
confusion so that people will say that
Jonathan is incompetent, that he can’t
manage the nation’s security.
I expect northern leaders to come out to talk
to their Boko Haram boys, they are their
children.
The Presidency should also negotiate and
dialogue with Boko Haram . We have allowed
the problem to become a big monster and,
therefore, we must explore all avenues
including dialogue to solve the problem.
