You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
10—SATURDAY Vanguard, JULY 13, 2019<br />
•Iwuanyanwu<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Buhari</str<strong>on</strong>g>’s biggest<br />
mistake – Iwuanyanwu<br />
Says Fulani Vigilante in Igboland will lead to<br />
bloodshed FG may not be able to c<strong>on</strong>trol<br />
•Igbos believe str<strong>on</strong>gly in <strong>on</strong>e Nigeria<br />
•How <str<strong>on</strong>g>Buhari</str<strong>on</strong>g> can save the country<br />
Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, an elder statesman, astute politician and business mogul is angry. He says Fulani<br />
herdsmen want to dare the Igbos in their move to set up a vigilante group in each of the five states of the South<br />
East regi<strong>on</strong>. In an exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard in Owerri, Imo state, Chief Iwuanyanwu warns<br />
that the friendliness and hospitality of the Igbos should not be taken for granted. He also attributes the ec<strong>on</strong>omic<br />
challenges currently facing Nigeria to the devaluati<strong>on</strong> of the naira and the health of the President and declares that the<br />
<strong>on</strong>ly soluti<strong>on</strong> to the crisis in Nigeria is immediate restructuring of the country.<br />
Excerpts:<br />
What is your candid opini<strong>on</strong> about<br />
herdsmen menace in the country?<br />
What is happening today is completely<br />
unimaginable, unacceptable and cannot<br />
be tolerated by any civilized society. It<br />
worries me and others who believe so<br />
much in the unity of this country. In 1960<br />
we saw the uni<strong>on</strong> flag being lowered and<br />
replaced with the green-white-green. We<br />
all rejoiced and that started a <strong>new</strong> nati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
In spite of our differences we believed in<br />
brotherhood and it was unimaginable to<br />
see a Nigerian raising his hand <strong>again</strong>st<br />
another Nigerian to the point of shedding<br />
blood. What is happening in the past few<br />
years is a tragedy. It started with Boko<br />
Haram, killing people and saying they<br />
didn’t want western educati<strong>on</strong> which is<br />
an impossible demand. It is like telling<br />
a man to stop breathing. These people<br />
have g<strong>on</strong>e ahead to kidnap people and<br />
have killed thousands of Nigerians. Boko<br />
Haram has caused us a lot of ec<strong>on</strong>omic<br />
problems. Nigeria went into a recessi<strong>on</strong><br />
•<str<strong>on</strong>g>Buhari</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
and to a large extent, it was caused by<br />
Boko Haram. We are spending billi<strong>on</strong>s<br />
of dollars, which we earned from oil<br />
derived from Niger Delta and South East<br />
to fight a group that gave us an<br />
impossible c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Are you not bothered by the kind of<br />
sophisticated weap<strong>on</strong>s which the<br />
herdsmen are said to be using?<br />
That is what we are asking. Who are the<br />
sp<strong>on</strong>sors of these herdsmen providing<br />
them with weap<strong>on</strong>s. It is clear to me that<br />
they are bringing arms from outside<br />
Nigeria and the Nigerian Customs as<br />
well as the Immigrati<strong>on</strong> have explanati<strong>on</strong><br />
to make to Nigerians. Sometime ago a<br />
group of armed people went to some<br />
communities in Benue State and killed<br />
many people, both old and young<br />
including pregnant women. They<br />
destroyed their houses, burnt their farms<br />
and many people were sacked from their<br />
villages. Those who carried out the<br />
attacks said somebody from that area<br />
rustled their cows and they believed that<br />
the <strong>on</strong>ly remedy was to kill even innocent<br />
people from that area. These people<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinued their adventure destroying so<br />
many places as it happened in Taraba,<br />
Zamfara, Plateau, even in Enugu and<br />
Anambra states and we are watching<br />
them. They have now g<strong>on</strong>e into<br />
kidnapping and the informati<strong>on</strong> we have<br />
now is that this kidnapping is their l<strong>on</strong>g<br />
term strategy to raise funds for their<br />
insurrecti<strong>on</strong> because when they kidnap<br />
people they send the ransom m<strong>on</strong>ey they<br />
collect to their sp<strong>on</strong>sors to acquire more<br />
arms. Most of the people they kidnapped<br />
paid ransom and it appears to me that the<br />
police are helpless in this matter.<br />
Nigerians can no l<strong>on</strong>ger pass through the<br />
major highways like the Kadunna -Abuja<br />
road because this same set of people<br />
have been instructed to raise m<strong>on</strong>ey<br />
through kidnapping in order to sp<strong>on</strong>sor<br />
their terrorism.<br />
As an elder statesman, how do people<br />
in the South East view this development<br />
The problem is more serious than<br />
anybody can imagine. We, the people of<br />
the South East are worried about this.<br />
Since I was a child I had always seen<br />
cattle rearers with their stick, bow and<br />
arrow. I <strong>never</strong> saw them before carrying<br />
a weap<strong>on</strong> like AK47. This is a <strong>new</strong><br />
development. It means some people are<br />
sp<strong>on</strong>soring them. The security agencies<br />
should be able to tell us, Nigerians<br />
deserve to know. The cattle rearers used<br />
to command their cattle whe<strong>never</strong> they<br />
strayed into the farms and the cattle<br />
would understand the language and move<br />
away from the farms. But those who are<br />
sp<strong>on</strong>soring them have a purpose which<br />
we d<strong>on</strong>’t know and which the security<br />
agencies have not been able to tell us.<br />
They should tell us because cattle rearers<br />
are not just <strong>new</strong> in this country. This is a<br />
business that have been going <strong>on</strong> for<br />
many years.<br />
What is you opini<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the plan by<br />
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders<br />
Associati<strong>on</strong>, to establish Vigilante group<br />
in Igboland?<br />
In Enugu, these same people have the<br />
boldness to tell us they are bringing in<br />
the vigilante group (laughs). I d<strong>on</strong>’t think<br />
they understand the Igbos very well. The<br />
Igbos are very friendly and very<br />
hospitable but they are not cowards and<br />
when there is a challenge they rise to it.<br />
Igbos believe str<strong>on</strong>gly in <strong>on</strong>e Nigeria and<br />
the Igbos have dem<strong>on</strong>strated it by their<br />
business. If you go through our history<br />
in politics, our leader, Nnamdi Azikiwe,<br />
champi<strong>on</strong>ed the cause for independence<br />
for this country, he in fact champi<strong>on</strong>ed it<br />
for Africa. Most leaders were more or less<br />
his disciples. Unfortunately, he <strong>never</strong><br />
became the head of state but he still<br />
believed in <strong>on</strong>e Nigeria. When there was<br />
a crisis in C<strong>on</strong>go, the pers<strong>on</strong> who was sent<br />
to go and quell it was General Aguyi<br />
Ir<strong>on</strong>si. When there was problem in<br />
Tanzania and Zanziba, the pers<strong>on</strong> sent to<br />
go and quell it was Odimegwu Ojukwu.<br />
We have d<strong>on</strong>e many things to show that<br />
Igbos believe in <strong>on</strong>e Nigeria. Let us<br />
sincerely believe that in brotherhood we<br />
stand. And that means you will not abuse<br />
anybody because of his tribe or religi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The Igbos are living in other places but<br />
they have not said they were going to put<br />
a garris<strong>on</strong> of armed Igbo youths in those<br />
places.<br />
Why do you think Miyetti Allah wanted<br />
to form a vigilante group in Igboland?<br />
It is clear that the motive is sinister. The<br />
motive cannot be in the interest of the<br />
Igbos. It cannot be in the interest of the<br />
Nigeria unity. It will be very str<strong>on</strong>gly<br />
resisted by the Igbos. There will be<br />
another bloodshed and there will be<br />
another crisis for the Federal<br />
Government. If care is not taken, the<br />
bloodshed and insecurity will spread and<br />
<strong>on</strong>ce it spreads, the Federal Government<br />
may not be able to handle it.<br />
Do you think that Igbos have d<strong>on</strong>e<br />
enough to discourage this move by the<br />
C<strong>on</strong>tinues <strong>on</strong> page 11