In this interview with Vanguard, Gen.Idada bared his mind  on the protracted crisis in the Niger-Delta and accused politicians and security agents, particularly the Navy, of aiding bunkering activities in the region. He urged the President to expedite action on the issue of development and job creation in the region so that peace may reign.

He also spoke on the recent fire incident that gutted the residence of the Chairman of the Edo State Local Government Appeal Tribunal, Justice Rowland Amaize and the alarm over missing files of ex Governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Excerpts:

Sir, you were one of those at  the forefront of the struggle for South-South Presidency through the South-South Peoples Assembly (SSPA), the region eventually clinched the Vice Presidency position, but the crisis in the region has still persisted. Why is it so?

Well, the struggle of the South- South between 2001 and 2007 was not only about producing the

Former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, Brig.Gen.Idada Ikponmwen

The important thing, however, is that the militancy in the Niger-Delta has continued and in fact, has even grown to higher level. It is very unfortunate that this agitation has not died down. The real issues must be addressed, not just making promises, government must be seen to take concrete measures to address the problem.

President Obasanjo came out with a master plan for the Niger-Delta. It is true that President Yar’Adua’s administration has accepted to continue to pursue the master plan. But the truth is that not much is happening yet.

The Ministry of Niger-Delta has been created. A lot of people see that as a welcome development. A lot of people also see it as no deal because some people believe that creating Ministry of the Niger-Delta is still enhancing the central nature of the Nigerian government which is a departure from the federation which it is supposed to be.

You have ministries here and there, a lot of people are not impressed about the performance of these ministries. And the impression is that the ministry, even though it is a good gesture, may not be the solution to the problem.

And let me say this, there are genuine agitators, there are also people who take advantage of the crisis in the region (to perpetrate criminal activities) such as kidnapping, blowing up of oil pipelines and all sorts of criminal actions.

These things are inevitable when you have a bad situation; a lot of people cash in on it. The bad situation is that the area called Niger-Delta, the area called South- South, has not had a fair deal from Nigeria.

There have been too much marginalization, there has been too much neglect that a lot of people call it too much neglect of the area.

So, the answer to militancy is the solution to the Niger-Delta problem. Create jobs, improve the environment, the environment is depleting because of oil exploitation. The people are in a difficult environment and the level of the infrastructure has remained unacceptably low. Until these problems are solved, agitations are not likely to go away.

When agitations are high, when people feel they are being deprived, when the people have no confidence in the government, it is difficult for militancy to go. Even the commanders of the Task Force from time to time, have made it clear that brute force is not the solution to the Niger-Delta problem.

Sir, when the Chief of Defence Staff toured the region recently, he did say that the military was aiding bunkerers in the region, how do you view this development?

We have talked about bunkering on many occasions and I have said without any fear of any challenge that bunkering cannot go on without the connivance of law enforcement bodies especially the navy and the police.

We have seen senior naval staff being tried for bunkering in this country. A lot of people know that past and present military men, top politicians have been involved in bunkering.

The problem in Nigeria is that there is so much honour, there is so much dignity, there is so much acceptance of wealth, such that people can do anything to be wealthy. This is a country that bestows honour on dishonourable people and deny honour to those who deserve it.

That is where issue of value system comes in. The issue of not punishing those who are found guilty of offences is part of the problem. Were you not in this country when a man, a police officer was found to have embezzled over sixteen billion naira and at the end of the day, he got six months jail term, I wonder if he served it or he did not serve it.

Something is wrong with our system and as long as things remain so, criminalities, wrong- doings will continue. Only a serious government, that is what government is there for, will change this.

Apart from all the arms of government, every individual has a duty to ensure that we contribute towards ensuring that we have a good society.

Criminals live among us, people know them. People make declaration of their assets, false declarations. People do not declare all they have and yet nobody is doing anything about this.

Those who owe us the duty to lead must lead properly, leadership in this country has failed; that is the truth.

Recently there was this confusion about how the residence of the chairman of the Edo State Local Government Election Appeal Tribunal got burnt. After the police report which said there was no external forces involved in it, the judge came out to disagree with the police. As a security expert sir, how would you comment on the situation?

Justice Amaize was the judge who delivered judgment over three local government councils in Edo State, Ikpoba Okha, Egor and Esan Central. It is a very serious matter that raises very fundamental issues. It touches very seriously on our electoral process and our judicial process. It is unfortunate that this issue has raised very very serious controversy.

A lot of people have followed the development right from the time the judgment was delivered. There have been accusations and counter- accusations. First from the judge and then counter- allegation from the Deputy Governor of the State.

And by some wonderful coincidence, we now heard of a fire that razed the judge’s house. This is bound to raise questions in the mind of everybody.

This is bound to strike fear in the body of judges. One has read some of these allegations, like the threat messages sent to the judge and that of the Deputy Governor also. It is very worrisome.

The key issue here now is the police as the body of government that is saddled with the responsibilities of maintenance of law and order including investigations and they came out to say the fire was as a result of the fridge in the house, that is to say it has nothing to do with bomb or it was not organised from outside.

We have no choice than to take what the police has said. But again, a lot of people also do not have confidence in the police, so even in spite of the police report, a lot of people are still saying they lied.

Against this background, we have no less than a judge of the High Court of Edo State who has in addition to all he has published about threat to his life which he said emanated from the judgment he delivered, came out to say that the police has not told the truth.

Here again, a judge is not a person whose words you can throw away as arrant nonsense especially in the setting of this whole scenario. But that is also not to say that every human being is infallible.

The court has been doing well in recent times but it is also true that a lot of people believe that even judges have been taking bribes. So against this background, we have two conflicting views from two credible people. And Edo State people and Nigerians have the right to know the truth.

So we must go beyond the question that the judge has said this, the police has said that. It is against this background that one must urge government, not just the Edo State Government, but even the Federal Government because the judiciary is involved.

Therefore, there is need for the truth of this matter to be fully established by a high powered panel of inquiry. This country deserves to have a judiciary that is not saddled with fear.

I also read about some form of threats journalists faced over the issue. A journalist cannot publish an information which he did not receive from anywhere.

Nigerians are entitled to information and journalists have the duty to publish issues that happened in the country. So the question is, did the journalist publish falsehood?

Somebody must have released the information for it to be published. So resorting to inhuman treatment being meted out to journalists, intimidation and harassment as a result of what they published is not civilized approach to issues and it just paints a very bad picture of the police force.

Talking about the Police force, recently the EFCC came out to say some files of the ex-governors who are facing prosecution were missing, how would you react to that?

I want to believe that the chairman of the EFCC was quoted out of context because it will be laughable for the EFCC to come out to tell Nigerians that files that are in their custody can get missing.

That would be an affront to Nigerians, that will be a negation of the rule of law which the President Yar’Adua’s government has canvassed very seriously. I do not think that an institution like EFCC can claim that any document in its custody is missing.

If it is true, it will be a very bad omen for Nigerians because EFCC was a device to save Nigeria from embarrassment to check the growing trend of advance fee fraud which had rendered Nigeria, a country where people are afraid to invest.

I believe President Yar’Adua is committed to the good of the Nigerian nation. When the AGF embarked on reforms to ensure great control of EFCC, many people reacted unfavourably. The President who had given approval for greater control by AGF reversed himself.

I still believe the move was in order considering that there had been complaints of high handedness and “selected targets” in terms of EFCC operations.

The erstwhile Chairman of EFCC, Ribadu, was later to be sent on course to Kuru (NIPSS). People kept kicking against the move as they interpreted the measure as calculated to protect erstwhile governors whose cases were said to have been completed and ready for trial.

I still did not want to ascribe wrong motives to Government but instead saw the development of Ribadu going to Kuru as part of career enhancement for a Senior Police Officer knowing the advantage of NIPSS. I believe that the position of the President is above personal interest.

However, if at this point, after departure of Ribadu to NIPSS and replacement with new helmsman, with all the controversy over the manner of assuming office, Nigerians are now being told that files of the governors are missing, that would be unfortunate for EFCC and for the credibility of the federal authorities.

If the popular legal CINEMATOGRAPHY text is applied to the present scenario at the MOJ/EFCC in the last year or so is resorted to, the impression would be that there is an attempt to shield the thieving governors.

Thus, Ribadu would have turned a hero and all those who have been skeptical about the plight of Ribadu would have been vindicated. I simply hope that those files are not missing and see the Chief Executive of the EFCC was misconstrued or misquoted.

EFCC must correct the ongoing impression that governors’ files are missing and must indeed proceed with the trial of the indicted governors. Otherwise the disappearance of the files would have very grave negative effect on the credibility of the Federal Government and would seriously discredit the EFCC.

The situation will be very bad for the nation. Nigerians who have heaved a sigh of relief from the unprecedented effort to confront fraud frontally would now feel betrayed by a government that has sustained their hope by declaring war against corruption.

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