PRESS STATEMENT
1. We are a delegation of the Nzuko Umunna, a Pan-Igbo group, whose
members are individual professionals within Nigeria and the Diaspora, as
well members/leaders of most pan-Igbo associations and groups.
We were sent to pay a visit to Nnamdi Kanu and his associates currently
in detention at the Kuje prison as part of a worldwide consultation
process on the peace and development of Alaigbo/Nigeria. We visited to
hear his own point of view, and we also shared our views with him. Our
interactions with Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues were frank and
fruitful. That visit, as well as our concerns about the state of the
nation, have warranted this press conference. We speak as Nigerians, on
our behalf, and on behalf of the tens of thousands of professionals in
these various associations and groups.
2. We believe that Nigeria has all the potentials to be great and one of
the most prosperous nations on earth. Like most countries of the world,
it has its own internal contradictions, challenges of national cohesion
and development. Every country that has endured and prospered has
devised a dynamic system for dealing with its internal contradictions.
No country has prospered by suppressing legitimate agitations or
democratic expressions. Nigeria has greatly come short on these counts.
Nigeria has never been more divided than now, with the agitations for
self-determination becoming more strident and desperate. Most discerning patriots have come to the conclusion that Nigeria as
currently structured and governed is unsustainable and drifting to a
failed state status. Since 2005, Nigeria has drifted from a rank of 54th
position in the global Failed/Fragile State Index to 17th position in
2014 and now to a dangerous 13th position in 2016 (under the ‘Red Alert’
category of countries).
Perhaps no one sums the sentiments better than the respected
Elderstatesman, Professor Ango Abdullahi (reported 12th February, 2017)
when he asserts that: “Nigeria’s project is not working, after 50 to 60 years the Nigerian
project is not working despite everything we went through,
constitutional conferences, the country is at a standstill……It is
unfortunate we are still where we were more than 50 years after
independence and have not been able to move away from where our colonial
masters left us”.
Our founding fathers and mothers —Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo,
Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Margaret Ekpo etc - must be
turning in their graves. While this might appear an extreme
characterization, it sums up the dominant sentiment of people who
believe in the urgency of a fundamentally re-engineered new Nigeria.
3. It is our considered view that much of the increasingly desperate
agitations are in response to the failures of the dysfunctional/looting
elite and poor governance in the context of a failing state that offers
increasingly vanishing opportunities and hope for its youth and future
generations. We do not condone violence, criminality or brigandage of
any sort, and nor should any state do so. However, by failing or
refusing to address the fundamental issues and instead concentrating on
the symptoms, Nigeria runs the grave risk of turning the entire country
into a large prison yard or a police state.
4. Consequent upon the foregoing, we demand the following:
A) In 2015, Nigerians voted for change based on a prospectus contained
in the manifesto of the party that won the General Elections.
That party is the All Progressives Congress (APC), which now controls
the Federal Government and 23 out of 36 States of the Federation. As the
ruling party, the APC has a duty to deliver on its most fundamental
contract with the Nigerian people namely, to restructure the Nigerian
federation. According to the APC Manifesto:
“As progressives, we believe that Nigeria is greater than any individual
or the sum of her Federating Units, therefore the country can only
succeed when all of us have equal rights, where no one is above the law,
where the culture of impunity is abolished and where there is level
playing field….As a change Agent, APC intend to cleanse our closet to
halt the dangerous drift of Nigeria to a failed state; with a conscious
plan for post-oil-economy in Nigeria.
To achieve this laudable programme APC government shall restructure the
country, devolve power to the units, with the best practices of
federalism and eliminate unintended paralysis of the center”.
So far, APC seems to have abandoned its cardinal contract with Nigeria.
It is commendable that it is fighting corruption, fighting Boko Haram,
and grappling with a deteriorating economy.
However, it is our considered view that without dealing with several of
the foundational issues of the Nigerian state in a post-oil economy,
much of its efforts will in the end amount to tinkering at the margins.
The current Constitution of Nigeria was designed to consume the oil
rents and a system designed for consumption cannot become efficient for
production in a post-oil world. But the task of rescuing and rebuilding a
new Nigeria must be a multi-partisan, and all-inclusive effort.
There seems to be a national consensus that the current system cannot
endure. The APC, PDP, APGA and other political parties, as well as all
non-partisan actors and statesmen must come together to save Nigeria. We
are in a state of emergency at all levels. The National Council of
State needs to be convened urgently, and our legislative houses at the
national and state assemblies should wake up to the new realities. If
the only thing the current administration succeeds in doing is to
re-engineer a new Nigeria, agreed to by its constituent parts and
citizens, it would have birthed a new country for the 21st century!
B) The pre-occupation with where the next president of Nigeria will come
from is an unnecessary distraction from the crisis at the moment and
the urgency of erecting enduring pillars for a peaceful and prosperous
country. We demand for a fairer and equitable system where it would not
matter where the president or any officer comes from. We want a country
where there are growing opportunities for the youths and future
generations to live in peace and prosper.
C) We demand for the urgent release of Nnamdi Kanu, his colleagues and
all prisoners of conscience, as part of the process of the search for
national cohesion and building a new Nigeria.
There is a legitimate debate among Nigerians on the Biafra question,
and there are indeed many Igbos who, like many other Nigerians, do not
agree with Nnamdi Kanu’s objective or means. It needs to be stated,
however, that no citizen of Nigeria deserves the kind of treatment meted
to him and his colleagues. Government has declined to obey the orders of properly constituted
courts in Nigeria for his release. Nnamdi Kanu is not above the law; but
nor should he be put beneath it. A situation where the state refuses to
obey clear and legitimate court orders for his release and holds him
until it gets a favourable order; moves the goalposts endlessly through
endless amendment of the charges against him; and now seeks to try him
in secret clearly constitutes circumstances that would fall well short
of the constitutional guarantees of due process. These also would raise
questions about our country’s adherence to human rights, the rule of law
and transparent judicial process. We worry that there is now a clear
design to place Nnamdi Kanu beneath the law and basic constitutional
guarantees of due process. Without the rule of law, no sustainable
economic progress can take place.
The charge of treasonable felony, which is now levied against Nnamdi
Kanu has previously been used against Joseph Tarka and Obafemi Awolowo.
His trial reminds us of the travails of these historic figures in our
country and, indeed, of the more recent military-era treason trial of
President Obasanjo. Not many people believe that Nnamdi Kanu and his
colleagues can receive a fair trial based on the law. This makes Nnamdi
Kanu and his colleagues political prisoners or prisoners of conscience.
At various times in Nigeria’s history, it became expedient to release
such prisoners (e.g. Obafemi Awolowo; Yakubu Gowon and Odumegwu Ojukwu,
as well as President Obasanjo) as part of national reconciliation and
nation-building. Nigeria is currently a country at war with itself. Just
like Nigeria wisely dealt with a potentially explosive “political
Sharia” a few years ago, a time like this calls for a lot of wisdom and
compromise in the interest of the larger picture.
Our considered view is that, for taking extraordinary steps to draw
international attention to Nigeria’s failing state and the urgency of
actions, Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues deserve to be engaged and not to
be held interminably as political detainees.
D) We demand that the right to freedom of association, assembly,
peaceful protest, and expression must be accessible to all citizens of
Nigeria as guaranteed by Nigeria’s constitution.
Trying to criminalize anyone who talks about self-determination or
attempts to use brute force to main and kill innocent protesters in a
democracy is a strategy for a time that we no longer live in. This is
2017 and Nigeria is supposed to be a democracy! More than 200 years
after 11 states in the US failed their secession bid, their Confederate
flag still flies in several of them—even on government buildings. Since 2012, no less than 23 U.S. states had thousands of their citizens
sign petitions to secede from the U.S. Currently, the State of
California is still pressing for Calexit. There were protests all over
the US following the election of Donald Trump. Similar examples can be
cited in many democracies. But no one is killed, brutalized or
incarcerated by the state.
E) As a people, we believe that our country is big enough for diverse
voices to be heard in the confidence that these voices in their
respective ways seek to correct our imperfections; to have a stake in
constructing a more perfect union. We convey our thanks to the Federal
Government and the Acting President, Prof. Osinbajo for reaffirming
recently that citizens have the right to peaceful protest, and we are
happy that protesters were allowed to express themselves in Lagos, Abuja
and other venues recently under police protection. In particular:
* We
condemn the use of disproportionate force and live bullets by law
enforcement agencies resulting in the killing and maiming of unarmed
protesters generally, especially the killing of IPOB/MASSOB members
under whatever guise and call on the law enforcement agencies to take
steps to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
* We
equally call on the Governors of the States in which these have occurred
to exercise their powers under the relevant Commission of Inquiry Laws
to investigate these killings through appropriate judicial commissions
of inquiry.
* Additionally,
we call on the Chief Judges of the respective States to order Coroners
Inquiries into these killings as required by the relevant Coroners Laws.
We affirm our belief that it is better for a democracy that people
should express their grievances or agitations peacefully and openly than
to force them into more dangerous underground operations.
Thank you for listening
Signed:
Chukwuma C. Soludo; 2. Pat Utomi; 3. Chidi Odinkalu; 4. Law Mefor; 5.
Rev. Fr. Jude C.; 6. Udenta Udenta; 7. Ebere Onwudiwe; 8. Emeka
Ugwu-Oju; 9. Ferdinand Agu; 10. Tony Nnadi; 11. Sam Amadi; 12. Ikechukwu
Emeka Onyia; 13. Innocent Chukwuma; 14. Collins Ugwu; 15. Andy Wabali
