Former Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa says the unprecedented insecurity bedevilling Nigeria is a product of the importation of Fulanis from neighbouring West African Countries during General Elections. Having flooded the country, Udenwa said, they and the Fulani in Nigeria now to re-colonise Nigeria. Meaning that the Buhari Government is responsible for the insecurity associated with some rogue Fulani herdsmen.
Udenwa, who spoke in an in an interview with The Sun, laughed at the idea that an Islamic Scholar, Dr Abubakar Gumi, would have easy access to the bandits in the forest, while the Nigerian Military finds it very difficult to locate them.
Taking at a hard look at the worsening insecurity in the country, Udenwa said it was confusing, and had loopholes.
He said:
“The official explanations of why this is happening are not adding up. First and foremost, we learnt that a lot of people were brought into the country during the last elections and after the election, whatever that was promised to them was not fulfilled. That is part of the reason we have these herdsmen; among them are many foreigners from Niger, Mali, Chad, Senegal and the rest of them. But we know that before that, Boko Haram has been there.
I believe that this is part of the entire plan to re-colonise Nigeria; to overtake Nigeria and this is coming mainly from the Fulani. The Fulani are a big minority in Nigeria, but unfortunately they have been able to get other people to join them who are not real Fulani to tolerate them and they bring in religion into it. The issue now is not religion; I don’t know of any religion that says you must kill people. It is just part of Fulani intention to conquer Nigeria. This is the major issue. We are seeing a lot of these people coming from the Arab countries and Fulani settlements in West Africa. This means that if we don’t take time, before we know it, Nigeria will be overrun.
We have also seen that these people are aided by the security agencies. How would you explain to me that a herdsman is carrying AK-47rifle and I don’t hear of people being arrested? How did they get the guns? Who licensed them? Or are they not licensed? If they are not which means they are illegal arms. How did they get them? The whole situation is becoming more terrible every day; it is deteriorating every day. They are now everywhere in this country, which means if time is not taken, one day something very drastic will erupt in this country and we will have no answer to it.”
He also accused the Federal Government of insincerity in dealing with the situation.
Udenwa: “The government right now is not honest with us. If the government doesn’t want these people to come into the country; if the government doesn’t want these people to carry arms and move around unchecked (I don’t even hear them being arrested), then we are deceiving ourselves. It is not a question of what do we do; it is a question of, do we have the will to do what should be done? However, the government doesn’t have the will to do what should be done. What are all the security people there for?
We even hear of Sheikh Gumi having meetings with the bandits; if he could know where they are and have meetings with them, why is it that our security agencies don’t know where they are? You can’t convince any right thinking person that these people are just there on their own. That is where the situation calls for more in-depth appraisal and quick action. Otherwise if action is not taken quickly, Nigeria is gone.”
He also blamed the South East Governors for not setting up a Security outfit as did their South- west counterparts. He said at a meeting of the highest Igbo Cultural Organisation, Ime- Obi – Ohaneze, with the Governors, it was decided that the South- east Governors should form the outfit, but is shocked that they discarded it in favour of Community Police.
Udenwa: “I remember last year, I was part of the Ime Obi delegation of Ohanaeze sent to relay to the governors that the South-East should have a regional security outfit. Fortunately, the governors were in a meeting the same day in Enugu. After the Imo Obi meeting, the delegation moved to the Government House in Enugu and met with them. We told them point blank what the Ohanaeze has decided and said we should inform them to carry out the action because they hold the executive powers.
“We had a very useful meeting, almost all the prominent Igbo men were there. We left and a few days after that we were surprised to hear that what they were talking about now was Community Policing, after the visit of the IGP to Enugu.
“The governors are in a better position to know what the security situation in our region looks like. If in their own wisdom they accepted community policing, but today it is not even working and cannot be compared with a regional policing outfit just like you have in the Southwest.
“You can see what the Amotekun is doing in that region. Beside the Amotekun, maybe the herdsmen would have taken over the South-West by now. I don’t know what informed their rejecting the regional security outfit to accepting community policing.”
Even though he described the Eastern Security Network, ESN, set-up by IPOB as illegal, he agreed with his interviewer that nature abhors vacuum.
“It is correct to say that nature abhors a vacuum. Whatever we say, the setting up of ESN is as a result of that vacuum, but that will not in anywhere legalise it. If the governors had set up ESN that would have been legal enough; it would have been able to carry on just like Amotekun is doing in the South-West. But this one set up by IPOB is still regarded as illegal and that is why the security agencies are fighting them. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
“Nobody will stay, fold his hands and watch his people being killed. After all, a man as high as General T. Y Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff and former Defence Minister told his people to arm themselves, that these herdsmen were being aided by security agencies and nobody has denied what he said. Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
“I don’t know why our governors have insisted on not having a regional security system. As a result of that, IPOB set up theirs. I will say, nature abhors a vacuum and anybody who is doing anything in Nigeria today to secure himself, you will not blame him because the official security is not protecting him.
Udenwa, also, chided the Federal Government for branding IPOB a Terrorist organisation. The real terrorist Organisations, he said are the bandits and Fulani herdsmen, and wondered why they have not been so declared.
“We all know that the Fulani herdsmen are classified as the fourth most dangerous group in the world. We all know that the real terrorist groups are the Fulani herdsmen – call them bandits or anything.
“These are the real terrorist groups. IPOB in the real sense should not be classified as terrorist group because you haven’t heard them going to attack any innocent people and they were not carrying arms. That is the irony; how could you declare them a terrorist group when you have not declared the ones that are carrying arms terrorist groups?”
