A prominent Lagos-based legal practitioner, Chuks Nnalugha, has joined a cross section of well-meaning Nigerians in calling for equity and justice in all spheres of our national life.
Speaking in an interview on the insecurity situation of the country, Nnalugha said that the cause of the heightened insecurity in the country is as a result of preferential treatments being given to some criminal elements from a section of the country.
According to him, those who lost their loved ones to terrorists have the right to sue the federal government for failing in its constitutional role of protecting the lives and properties of the citizens. In the interview, he also spoke on the controversy surrounding the Minister of Communication, Pantami, the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election and other burning national issues. Excerpts:
How do you see the insecurity in Nigeria?
Well, even a blind man can see that there is fire on the mountain. The centre is no longer holding. If you look at the spate of the killing of both civilians and security agents, it becomes very clear that we are heading to a period of confusion which may ultimately take us to crisis situation, unless there is honesty and clarification of purpose by those in power. By clarification of purpose, I mean if the government can pursue state unity, instead of hidden agenda. As it is today, it is very clear that the Nigerian state is controlled by one section of the country. It is very clear that the perpetrators of the crime are from one part of the country and the worrisome aspect is that they appear untouchable. We have read many instances where the leader of Miyetti Allah will admit responsibility of attack which involved murder of innocent people and yet nobody has been arrested. Look at it the other way round in the south, the activities of the criminal elements, call them bandits, herdsmen or Boko Haram; all of them are nothing but terrorists. Their activities have made the southern parts of the country to form security outfits that would be protecting themselves from the hands of the terrorists. But each time communities in the East are attacked by these terrorists and the local security outfits come out to repel them, the federal government will deploy their biggest war machines to go after the local security outfits for repelling the terrorists that came to kill innocent people. This has heightened the tension in the country and unless we move from injustice to justice, we would land in a crisis that would be worse than Somalia.
But do you suspect selfishness or partisan politics in all this?
Yes, but I will come to that. As it is today, nobody is free to move from one state to the other because all the roads are under siege by herdsmen and the other terrorist organizations and the embarrassing situation is that Nigerians in power, because of their selfish political reasons have refused to call a spade a spade, if not why try call killer herdsmen or terrorists, bandits? Why should federal government refuse to call these groups terrorists, instead it is IPOB, which is more interested in protecting their mothers from being raped and murdered in the farms by the killer herdsmen. It is even more disturbing that a whole professor of law, because of political power, cannot advice the government on the difference between a group whose objective is to protect its people and another group, whose own objective is to kill and maim and take over peoples` land at any point in time. I doff my cap to people like late Olu Onagaruwa (SAN), because while he was the Attorney General of the Federation, some of the laws which they wanted him to make, which had some human abuse right implications he refused and stood his ground and when he could no longer bear the pressure, he resigned. But one thing is clear, those who are perpetuating this violence don’t know history. They should look at countries like Central African Republic, Sudan and Somalia, most of the politicians that caused the trouble there, were not able to get out of their countries, when the trouble started. However, it is not yet late if sincerity and justice will apply now, the situation can be saved.

What do you think about the call for Pantami resignation?

That again bothers on the credibility of the federal government. Any credible government would have suspended him, because the allegations are very scandalous and to worsen the situation, the person in question openly admitted. So, why should he be condoned. The issues against him raises the question of the credibility and intentions of the National Identity Number (NIN) which he is unfortunately presiding. I remember during the time of Goodluck Jonathan as president, the Power Minister, Prof. Barth Nnaji, was asked to resign because it was alleged that he had interest in the independent power project, which was a civil matter. But this time around we are talking about somebody who is fraternizing with the world’s deadliest organization, that is ISIS. Again, Kemi Adeosun resigned because of NYSC scandal. But Buhari government is defending somebody who admitted that he was sympathetic to a terrorist organization.

What do you say about the spate of kidnappings in the academic institutions?

The time has come for government to protect all the high and higher institutions of learning in the country. It is sad that parents should send their children to school and government cannot protect them and terrorists will come and kidnap them. I think that those who have lost their loved ones to various cases of terrorism can go to court to make case against federal government, because it is their constitutional duty to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.

The first plane has landed at the Anambra International Airport; how do you feel about that?

Well, I feel elated and I want to congratulate the governor of Anambra State, Dr Willie Obiano, for keeping to his promise of making Anambra International Airport a reality. With the completion of the airport, he has made Anambra people proud. With the airport, it will now be easy for Anambra business men to transact their business with their international counterparts.

Anambra State governorship election is around the corner, what can you say about that?

Anambra state governorship election is always very interesting in the sense that all the political heavy weights have interest in it. But in this case, what Anambra state needs is a pragmatic person who knows what the people want. As far as I am concerned, the academic qualification does not matter. There is need for improvement in the development on ground and it should be somebody that has the interest of the people at heart. We need a governor who has sense of planning, who knows how to build the economy of the state and who knows how to improve the standard of education. When I hear people arguing that they need somebody who would come to save money, while the infrastructure are not working and people are suffering. Will you call that person a leader? What we need is somebody who can manage both. That is why I said that we need a pragmatic person.

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