ELDER Edinen Usoro, Chairman of South-South People’s Assembly, SSPA in the 19 northern states has given emphasis to the most shocking and lurid aspects of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s election defeat in the northern states. Usoro, a management person who had the privilege of working in the private sector in the last 30 years.
A self-acclaimed community leader who has been involved in community matters relat­ing to his state of origin, Akwa Ibom, Usoro, currently, is the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Executive Guards, based in Jos, Plateau State. He spoke on security issues, positing that Nigerians should work on the at­titude of security men rather than condemning them. He also spoke on other issues.
Excerpts:
As the chairman of the South-South Peoples Assembly in the North zone, how has it been?
One thing that we have going for us is that anywhere the South-South people are, particu­larly in the North, we are very good guests. I speak as the Chairman for the zone. We relate well with our host communities. We have had situations where our members have been appointed special advisers to governors in the North, where our people have been made members of committees set up by different governors in the North. I think that has helped us to relate well. You will remember that, right from time, the South-South people as a whole, have always had this political marriage.
Would you say the marriage is still intact?
I would say yes because the relationship between the North and the South-South in particular would take time for anything to happen. Let’s forget about whether you talk about change; I am a security professional. I am not a political scientist. You know, when you are talking about the South-South and the North, our marriages are not discussed on the pages of newspapers. If there are frictions, we have a way of settling them. The South-South and the North, we have always been together. And I think even if there are setbacks, we will still get back.
Are there setbacks?
I will say may be, because for an average South-South person, it would have solidified our relationship because we believed that after the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, the North should produce the next president. However, we found there was a kind of disappointment and of course, you know all that. But we think the political relationship between the North and the South-South is the best for Nigeria.
If you ask me, Jonathan did well in the North during the elections. So, you cannot say the North did not want Jonathan.
How?
He may not have won election in some states, but mark you, the elections in some of these places were lost not because Jonathan was very bad. He lost because of imposition by some of the governors in such states. You had protest votes in several of the states. It wasn’t like, this is Jonathan’s trouble. There were lots of factors. Some people felt the president should come from the North. Some people felt this governor didn’t do well. I mean it is crazy that you are going into an election and you are owing your workers seven month’s salary; pensioners with months of unpaid pensions in an election year? How do you expect to win? You are also owing students unpaid bursary awards. This, we thought, contributed to Jonathan’s loss at the election. Of course, you know the man is a gentleman. Let me tell you. As the Chairman of the South-South Assembly in the North, was there any coordination? Apart from one person whom I will not want to mention, do you know that even T-shirts that you would wear for Jonathan whom we were support­ing, at rallies became a big deal. If you take the figure of South-South people in every state in the North, it is sizeable. Did anybody care? The next thing you would hear was that somebody was insulting northern leaders. I believe that there are a lot of lessons that we really need to learn as far as the last elections were concerned.
It’s like the South-South People’s As­sembly is mainly political. Therefore, it suddenly lost steam after the elections…
When Dr. Raymond Dokpesi was the National Chairman, it had direction. And, of course, at the Uyo Declaration, the current Chairman of APC, Chief Odigie Oyegun was made the Chairman. As at the time we were going into the last election, there was no ex­ecutive, so to say. Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga took over as Chairman and was he really helpful? It is left for him to answer that question. It is a different thing going to the South-South, having campaigns and rallies for you to speak as SSPA Chairman. Did any of them care that if you can mobilise the South-South people, not to mention the South-East people in the North, you can have a sizeable number of votes?
Right now, there are conflicting demands based on true federalism. Regions are mak­ing demands from the incumbent admin­istration. So far, the South-South appears indifferent. What would you say are your demands in the South-South?
For me, the current government should ensure that every region is carried along because whether the party won elections in the South-South or not, I know I have many friends who are in the APC from my state, from South-South. Like I have just mentioned to you, at one time, Chief Oyegun was my National Chairman. I remember leading the Northern leaders to pay a courtesy call on Chief E.K Clark. I had the privilege of Chief Oyegun coming from Edo State to join me in that visit. He was then the National Chairman of SSPA. So, if the National Chairman of SSPA is the Chairman of APC today, I think it will be unfair to ignore us as a zone. If we are good enough to produce the Chairman of a party, I think we are good enough for any position.
What is the position of the South-South regarding the National Conference Re­port? Your political ally, the North believes that the content of the report is riddled with contradictions and should be thrown away ?
No, no, no. The North participated actively at the conference. The whole regions in the country attended. Even the South-West that said they would not attend was at the confer­ence. I think, for me, the government should start implementing the report. You may not need to implement everything at a go; but the thing is: it is like a man growing up. Even at 50, it is not that you are not growing again. No. It is either your shirt or your size will in­crease or decrease. Any of the two still grows. So, I think there is the need for us to talk about the need to start implementing the report.
Which area of the report are you par­ticular about?
There are several areas that are of interest. Of course, you remember some people talk about true federalism, the issue of revenue allocation, state of origin and residency. To me, the sum total is that if the report is implemented, it would help in the way we get along together as a people. I do not think there is any part of the report that you can fault. Some people are saying throw it away. Throw it away for what? Was there any part of the country that did not participate in the decisions taken? All of us arrived at the deci­sions contained in the report and the decisions were taken by the best brains that we have in Nigeria. People who have served this country in different capacities came together, spent nights, days, weeks and months to brainstorm and somebody will come and say throw their recommendations away? Why?
What is your assessment of the Buhari government so far?
I think the government is just coming on board, except you mention some particular areas you want me to assess. Otherwise, I will say the government is taking its time to unveil to Nigerians its policy direction.
Some people think the government is slow and that it should have hit the ground running?
I will not want to pass judgment because when you say someone is slow, the ques­tion is, is the person moving at all? The most important thing as far as I am concerned is if there is movement.
As a professional in security matters, what do you think is wrong with Nigeria?
Wrong with Nigeria? Security wise or what?
Security wise
I think it is a combination of several factors. Mark you, we should not be talking about Nigeria in isolation. Whatever security chal­lenges there are, look at our neighbouring countries; take a look at other countries in the world. They are quite many. Unfortunately, we do not sing the praises of our security men and women. I have had the opportunity of travelling outside this country and several times you are boarding a plane and as the door of the plane is being closed, they would announce that we have some members of our Armed Forces, people who are helping to keep the world safe, keep America safe on board and please let’s welcome them on board and everybody will be clapping. When the plane now gets to its destination, as you are entering the arrival hall, the announcement will be all over on the speakers that we are welcoming the members of our armed forces who are coming from a country where they went to defend America and all that. They will say please can we stand and welcome them. Everybody will stand up. We don’t do that to our military men and women here. Even one soldier, whether private or Officer who is returning from assignment, so long as you are in uniform. Those are things you do for your soldiers, not condemning. There are things you do for your Police; not condemning. If you talk down our soldiers and castigate our Policemen, mention one Police in the world and recall what you see on television, what you read on Newspapers, internet; some American Policemen abusing the rights of people with particular colours and all that.
Physical security is very important. You can say oh! there is a military man here, there is a Policeman here and then let us try and work on their attitude. It’s not every time you say oh! let’s increase the salary of Policemen. That’s not the issue. If you like, pay them any amount. It is the attitude thing we really need to work on. I don’t know the amount you want to pay somebody to stop him from taking bribe. If it is in the person’s attitude, he will continue to take bribe. If you like to pay him N10million a month, get them to see themselves as professionals. Let us forget about the issue of looking for promotion after spending four years, for instance. What have you done to merit promotion? What profes­sional body have you joined? It is only in Nigeria you find a Policeman priding himself as an IG.