Air Vice Marshal Lucky Ochuko Ararile (retd) is the Ovie of Umiagwha Abraka Kingdom, Delta State. Before he retired from the military, he commanded many formations including the Operation Restore Hope for the Niger Delta. He was later appointed the Coordinator of the Amnesty Committee that midwifed the Amnesty Programme for ex-militants by former President Umar Yar’Adua. In this interview, the retired air force officer bares his mind on the $2.1bn arms deal involving a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd), and some top military officers, among other national issues.

I think I was so busy trying to get over my grief. And I was particularly close to my father because I was the eldest child. At that time the Federal Government gave us scholarship but it was not easy. Things are even much more efficient now because in those days every holiday we couldn’t go on vacation like some children. From the time I come home, we will be putting papers for our scholarship together so that we can take them to the Cabinet Office, the papers will now move from desk to desk and we were doing it so that we will not be late for school. And I did it for myself and my younger siblings. So you can imagine what we went through. So honestly I didn’t have time to feel any bitterness or anger.

I was a teacher when the coup took place and Dimka and his partners were declared wanted. At that time, the radio kept announcing that whoever finds him should report to the police as some benefits will be given to the person. So, every 15 minutes or thereabout the radio continued to flare the information. Dimka had served as an officer here, (Afikpo) we came back from Biafra and met Dimka as an officer here, so Dimka was popular here. He was not somebody that could hide in Afikpo; he had a lot of friends; unfortunately, when he was declared a fugitive, it was easy for him to be spotted especially in Afikpo.

Our corporate strategy and the vision of the bank states that we want to build and transfer wealth across generations. The SMEs are part of that strategy. If you focus on the SMEs, it means you have to meet with entrepreneurs at the incubation stage of their business. And if you are to help them grow and become very big and successful, that means you will be able to transfer wealth from one generation to the other.

Prince Kazeem Afegbua, the new Commissioner for Information and Orientation in Edo State, on Friday, reacted to the seeming tension in the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2016 governorship election in the state. He also debunked the insinuation of a rift between his principal,Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu, over the latter’s ambition to succeed his boss. He carpeted the state PDP over its tantrums against Oshiomhole, declaring that the PDP, after allegedly pauperising the people of Edo for ten years, will never smell the Osadebey Avenue Government House in the nearest future. He spoke on other national issues. Excerpts: