? Says reason for exclusion is same reason for extension of Comptroller General of Customs tenure

By PETER ANOSIKE

A chieftain of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Chief Nelson Ahamefula Akuma, has condemned the exclusion of Southeast geo-political zone from the N380 billion Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund for Food Security and Irrigation Development Projects. Speaking in an interview, the Ebonyi State-born business man and philanthropist described that as the height of marginalisation, adding that this is not the way to unite a country that is deeply divide.

According to him, since Nigeria became independent in 1960, no government has discriminated and marginalised the Southeast like the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In this interview, he also speaks on the extension of the tenure of the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, and other relevant issues.

What do you make of the exclusion of south east from the N380 billion irrigation and agriculture project?

Well, to be honest with you, I was shocked down to my bone marrow when I heard the news. I also watched the back and forth in the senate when my brother, Chief Kenneth Emeka Eze, the Senator representing Ebonyi Central in the upper legislative chamber moved a motion of urgent public importance to draw the attention of the Senate and Nigerians in general about the exclusion and it was shut down under the guise that the matter was an ?oversight?, with a promise that the Senate leadership would take it up with the executive arm of government. I want to first of all commend Senator Kenneth Eze for his boldness in raising the alarm. There is an Igbo proverb that says, a chicken that is shouting when a hawk carries it is not shouting so that the hawk would leave it but rather for the world to hear its voice. Distinguished Senator Kenneth Eze knows deep in his heart that the exclusion was deliberate and the claim of ?oversight? a mere cover up. So he must have raised the alarm for the world to know the magnitude of the injustice being done to Ndigbo, which he himself described as ?unjustifiable and contradicts the spirit of equity, justice and balanced development. Come to think of it. How can anyone forget a whole geo-political zone? Nigeria was founded on a tripod of northern, western and eastern Nigeria or Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba and you want to tell me that you forgot a major bloc of the country. Even if you are suffering from acute amnesia you cannot do that. So, the claim of oversight was indefensible. It is only a fool that can believe that. Now they said that they would take it up with the execute arm of government, let us see what will come out of it. But for me, the Senate must tender an unreserved apology to Ndigbo for claiming that the exclusion was as a result of ?oversight?. That is a very big insult to an ethnic group that has contributed and is still contributing immensely in the development of the country. My reason for demanding an apology is because saying that is was oversight simply means that we are not important in the scheme of things in the country.

But what do you think they want to achieve by the exclusion?

I have already told you what they want to achieve. They want to humiliate Ndigbo. They want to show to us that we are not important in the country. They want to show that Igbos are not a force to be reckoned with. They also want to inflict hunger, starvation and poverty on the people of the southeast. If that is not their intention, why did they exclude Anambra/Imo River Basin Authority which serves the entire five southeast from the budget proposal that is aimed at boosting agriculture in the country. As I speak, there are abandoned and as well as ongoing irrigation projects and dams across the southeast that is supposed to benefit from the N380 billion irrigation development fund.

Can you mention some of them, Sir?

Yes I can. There is a saying that charity begins at home. So, I will state from my own state, Ebonyi. There is Ozara Okangwu Agribusiness Cluster in Ebonyi State. Item Amagu Ikwo Rice Farm dam also in Ebonyi State. You know that Ebonyi state is the food basket of South east. At least the popular Abakiliki rice is known both nationally and internationally. We also have Ivo Dam irrigation project in Enugu state, Ifite Ogwari/Omor dam in Anambra state. Omor used to be in Uzo uwani in Enugu State. I know that you might have heard of the popular Adani Rice. There is also Amauzari earth dam in Imo State. In Abia State, there are the Uzuakoli/Igbere, Ubugwu and Abam and Arochukwu dams. Just to mention a few. So these dams and irrigation projects were excluded in the so-called Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund for Irrigation Development Projects in the 2025 budget and yet, the presidency is talking about state of emergency on agriculture. Is that not paying lip service, if not outright deception of the Nigeria masses?

Away from that. What do you have to say about the extension of the tenure of the current Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service?

Without hesitation, I want to say that it was done in bad faith. Public office is continuum so nobody can finish everything. There is a saying in our parlance, ?soldier come, soldier go but barracks remain?. That is exactly what public office is. We were told that he is carrying out a reform and that is the reason why the Comptroller of Customs should stay beyond his tenure. Is that a valid reason? So if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not complete the Lagos-Calabar coastal road before his tenure expires, he must stay in office until it is completed, even if it will take the next twenty years. So for me, what they are trying to do is to justify the unjustifiable. The main reason why the tenure of Bashir Adeniyi was extended is the same reason why Southeast was excluded from the N380 billion irrigation project. They want to show that we are not important. They want to show that we don?t matter in the scheme of things in the country. The extension was simply done to prevent the Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Nwafor, who is from Anambra State, from becoming the Comptroller General. If Bashir Adeniyi has retired this year, Nwafor would have succeeded him, at least for the next one year because she would be retiring in 2026 but they don?t want an Igbo person in that position. So the only way to actualize it is to extend the tenure of the current Comptroller General by one year. The game now is that Bashir Adeniyi and Nwafor would retire together and a Yoruba man in the person of Adeola would become the Comptroller General. So Igbos in particular and Nigerians in general should wake up and see what is happening. Is this how to run and unite a country? But with all these things you are complaining about, a southeast group has offered to purchase APC presidential ticket for Bola Tinubu in 2027. That simply showed that they are happy with what he Is doing . . .

Well, everybody has the right to use his or her money the way he or her chooses. It is not within my power to decide for anyone how to spend his money. But what you should know is that in every 12 there is always a Judas. There are good people and there are bad people everywhere. As we have good Igbo people, we also have very bad Igbo people. As we have good Yoruba, we also have bad Yoruba. Even as we are lamenting Fulani herdsmen, we also have very wonderful Fulanis. That is why I don?t believe in painting everybody with the same brush. The southeast group that have decided to buy presidential ticket for Bola Tinubu for 2027 presidential election don?t really have the interest of the entire Igbo nation at heart. What I have told you now is just a bit of what southeast is going through in the hand of the APC government. So those who have resolved to buy presidential form for president Tinubu are mere bunch of hypocrites looking for recognition because a president of Nigeria does not need anybody to buy expression of interest form for him. The vault of the country is at his disposal to use as he wants.

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