By Victor AhiumaYoung

The just ended 10 days nationwide #Endbadgovernance has among others, raised a lot of thought-provoking issues on the Nigerian state.

The protracted agitation and insecurity challenges in the South-East are another predicament of the country.

 The founder of the foremost youth movement in the South-East region, Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, and Secretary of Eastern Consultative Assembly, ECA, Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, in this chat with Saturday Vanguard, speaks on  #Endbadgovernance protest as it affected the South East, security challenge in the region, why Nigeria is in disarray and how to restore sanity in the region and Nigeria.

Excerpts

What is your reaction to #Endbadgovernance protest in most states of the federation?

Protests are part of democracy. There have been protests before; there will be protests after this season. Disagreements are an integral part of governance. How I wish the protestants would understand that the economic challenges flow from the distorted political structure that hinders growth and advancement. The current unitary structure and the 1999 constitution may kill Nigeria if not done away with. The delay in restructuring Nigeria back to true federalism and devolution of powers is responsible for all our sorrows. Every one of our problems flows from there.

What is your take on the boycott of the protest by the South East?

The South East does not understand how the people who remained studiously silent between 2015 and 2023, as Nigeria got completely destroyed, will now find their voice, to protest. The damage was done by the last administration.

Is the South East insulated from the cries of hardship in the country?

Not at all, but they are just not stupid enough to join those who blame the current administration for the horrific brigandage and economic banditry of the last administration. They also know that no angel or saint will positively transform Nigeria under this centralised unitary constitution.

A group in Lagos has asked the Igbo to vacate their region, what are your thoughts?

There is no armour against envy and jealousy. It behooves Ndigbo to look inward and develop strategies to soften and cushion the anger and bitterness their individual success generates in the minds of their compatriots. It is not totally unexpected. Some people believe Ndigbo are too loud and should be put in their “proper place”.

Our people are also not helping matters. It is wrong to descend on other people’s icons and tear them to shreds just because they hold different political views. All sides should watch it. The authorities must fish out and punish folks stoking hate. But we must learn to respect other people’s views.

A few years ago some core Northern groups made the same threat. Where will it lead the country?

That was seven years ago. The sit-at-home a week earlier confounded everybody. They were shocked by the total compliance by the people on 30th May 2017. They responded a week later with a quit notice to Ndigbo, confirming that they did not know the extent of the anger of marginalisation in the hearts of Ndigbo.

What should the Igbo be doing over these threats?

Be less noisy, less showy, less boastful, more humble, more tolerant, more accommodating, and more respectful of other people’s beliefs.

People have every right to choose their preferred Presidential candidate. Insulting them over their right to choose, is suggesting that only your own candidate is the best. Ndigbo must learn to respect other people’s choices. We dominate trade and commerce all over the country. We own properties everywhere. Some people find that offensive. We must be very careful. When people are already angry and bitter over your successes, you should be careful what you say and what you do. In December 1999, I was asked by Uche Chukwumerije and Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu to make a submission on the possibility of another pogrom against Ndigbo. That was 25 years ago. I wrote 16 pages of my thoughts on that. My paper was part of what was packaged for the Justice Oputa Panel. Every effort must be made to avoid a repeat of the 1966 pogroms. I plead with Ndigbo to take it easy not to denigrate other people’s leaders, especially on social media. We could be deepening the hate against us, when we disrespect other people’s feelings. We have been unwittingly led into a trap where we are now seen as people desperately seeking political power to dominate others. The insults both ways in social media, are disheartening and dangerous.

In a recent interview, Prof Ango Abdullahi, the founder of Northern Elders Forum, NEF, he said Nigeria is not working, and that there is a need to revisit the 1914 amalgamation and decide if we still want to live together. What is your position on this?

He knows that a restructured Nigeria is the solution. He knows that a new peoples’ constitution anchored on justice, equity, and fairness, built on devolution of powers and true federalism and affirmed at a referendum will create a new beautiful Nigeria. He knows that delay in restructuring Nigeria is a disservice to our children. He also knows that Nigeria cannot survive on the unitary constitution made by soldiers. He knows that a level playing field where no man is oppressed will make Nigeria truly great.

What is your reaction to President Bola Tinubu’s broadcast four days into the protest?

I am not a great fan of President Tinubu. But I am pleasantly surprised at his grit, courage, and deep understanding of the unpleasant truth. You see, nobody can positively transform Nigeria’s economy without pain. The depth to which we fell is huge.

Even those sponsoring the relentless attacks against him, all know that it is impossible to pull up Nigeria without going through a painful season.

Everyone was wondering how Buhari’s successor, whoever that would be, would cope. Buhari destroyed Nigeria. He destroyed the economy, unity, and even socio-cultural life in the country. It would be insane to continue the subsidy regime. The country was already halfway gone. I implore President Tinubu to do everything he can to soften the yoke and reduce the hardship, especially hunger in the land, by bringing down the cost of foodstuff, by encouraging farming and boosting agricultural yield. Nigeria is like a young person who left home for school and joined a bad gang. Learnt the wrong stuff, joined cults, got addicted to substances, dropped out of school, etc. You cannot save him without going through pain. His rehabilitation will be painful.

Nigeria must go through painful experiences to rejuvenate our flesh. It is inevitable.

I plead with President Tinubu to remember that the unitary structure made our corruption issues worse, our unemployment challenge worse, and our crime and insecurity challenges worse.

The delay in restructuring the polity is unhealthy and unhelpful.

What are your expectations from the South East Development Commission recently signed into law by the President?

My leader who governed Ndigbo in peace time and war time, spent over 12 years in exile and adopted by Ndigbo as their leader, told me repeatedly, as we begged for this commission decades ago, that the commission would not be established until a lot of lives have been lost. A lot of pressure and a lot of time wasted. He passed on 13 years ago. It is remarkable that everything he told me came to pass.

If this had been done before now, perhaps there won’t have been any agitation in the first place. Let us wait and see what exactly they have in mind.

Do you see it addressing the cries of marginalisation against the region?

Things the commission does and how it goes about doing them will answer your question. Time will tell. Everyone knows that neglecting the region for so long, inspired the agitation in the first place, and delaying in addressing the decades-old neglect, sustained and deepened the agitation. The way politicians handle the commission will answer your question.

What is happening in the South East these days and when will the agitation subside?

Nothing much and, the people who convoluted the crisis in our beautiful region by misreading the agitation 25 years ago and applying a wrong strategy of containment, thereby deepening the crisis, are too ashamed to accept that they made terrible mistakes.

Their decision to crush the agitation without addressing the underlying root causes brought us to where we sadly are today. They bluntly refused to collate, identify, and address the issues inspiring and driving the agitation, thereby putting off the fire from the source.

They regrettably preferred, first of all, discrediting the agitators without ever inviting them and listening to their grievances. They tagged them, miscreants, criminals, terrorists, etc, and applied Operation Viper Cry, etc.

The attempt to crush the agitation without hearing their grievance first has not exactly worked in 25 years. The political class of the region who supported that wrong approach has finally realised that the agitation would be resolved only through identifying and addressing the root cause of the anger that drives the agitation.

Sadly, 25 years after, the agitators still paralyse the region at will. It would have cost the nation absolutely nothing, had the neglect of the region been addressed before now. Had the agitators been engaged long before now and had the structure of the country been addressed before now, things would not have degenerated.

The fact that many of the agitators are inarticulate to present their case, does not remove the fact that their fears are real. What is that fear? They believe that they and their children do not have a future in Nigeria as presently constituted. And they don’t want their children to suffer the disrespect and discrimination they are going through. They see themselves as onlookers, spectators, and outsiders in the Nigerian enterprise. They are saying “We are either in or we are out”. Carry us along as fully fledged bona-fide members of the family or let us go. We cannot swallow what our parents swallowed. We should be treated right. The war ended 54 years ago. Restructure Nigeria, and carry everyone along. We are tired of being mistreated. It is unacceptable. We won’t take it anymore. Our parents swallowed all that maltreatment, humiliation and disrespect since 1970. We are saying enough is enough.

They are not criminals, and they are not terrorists. You may disagree with their methods.

The issues were over-bloated by people who preferred to crush them without even inviting them for a dialogue. Those folks have been trying to crush and silence them for 25 years. They have been resisting for 25 years. And the region has suffered since 1999.

Dialogue, identifying the issues and addressing them would have spared the region and the country the needless embarrassment. But some people preferred to call the agitators criminals and terrorists and tried to silence and crush them without identifying and addressing their feelings, concerns, fears, and grievances.

Today, it is crystal clear to all, that if they weren’t genuinely aggrieved, they couldn’t have sustained their agitation for a quarter of a century, a whole generation. Resolution and closure will be easily attained when we sincerely seek the answer to the question: How come the agitators have managed to sustain the agitation for a quarter of a century?