JUST IN!!! S/E Senator Backs IPOB, Says Biafra Agitation is Justified
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is not a stranger to the followers of Nigerian politics. He came into the political limelight following his election in 1999 as the deputy governor of Abia State.
He later left office in controversial circumstances over his principled standoff with the then governor of the state Chief Orji Uzor Kalu. The ranking Senator representing Abia South Senatorial district has become the voice for most people in the South East who are unhappy with the Nigerian State for various reasons.
Recently the soft-spoken Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Power Senator sat down with Alabingo.com in Lagos and shared his thoughts on a wide range of issues as they affect the Igbos; Biafra, The controversial federal rail project, Igbo Marginalisation, Power Challenges etc. Enjoy!
The exclusion of the Southeast in the proposed rail project has generated debate. And when you raised the issue on the floor of the Senate one of your colleagues was said to have retorted that the Igbo should wait till 2018. How do all these come across to you?
Well, let me say that I didn’t hear any of my colleagues make that statement, I cannot really respond to a statement I didn’t hear. Let me also say that I didn’t say that the Igbo were excluded. I said that the eastern railway corridor – because the Nigeria Railway is made up of two corridors. There’s the western corridor which starts from Kano and terminates in Lagos. There’s eastern corridor which starts from Port Harcourt and terminates in Maiduguri. So if you want to do a revolution in the railways there is no way you can do one part and leave the other part. In actual fact, in the letter written by Mr. President to the Senate asking an acceleration of the debate on the request for the loan, the President specifically said that there is an ongoing negotiation for the concessioning of the eastern corridor.
In other words, you’re taking a loan to do the western corridor – that is Kano-Kaduna-all the way to Lagos, Lagos-Ibadan to Port Harcourt to Calabar – that is the coastal one. And so, if you’re taking a
loan by the Federal Government what it means is that the whole country will pay for it. Then if you concession a section of it – concessioning simply means somebody takes it over, builds it and charges you. So what it means is that only those who are within that eastern corridor will pay. So people from the eastern corridor now – starting from Port Harcourt coming down to Aba to Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Laffia, Bauchi, Jos all the way to Maiduguri – everybody on that line will now pay for the concessioning.
So everybody on that eastern corridor will now be subject to what I will call double jeopardy. First, you pay for what is being used to build for one side. Then you turn around again and now pay exclusively for the one that is done on your own side – that is one. The second thing is we don’t have a very good history with concessioning because it is a relatively new thing in Nigeria. The second Onitsha bridge has been bulged down by the fact that they are looking for concession all this while. The only concesioning we’ve seen that seems it is a little successful is the Murtala Mohammed 2, which is also bulged down with all manners of litigation and problems. Somebody now tells us to wait, until we can concession that side.
So we feel that this in effect is a constitutional matter. Section 16(2a) of the Constitution states very clearly that you are going to do economic development in a fair and balanced manner. So when you have eastern and western corridors and then you’re doing only West with our resources – that is not balanced. So when I brought up the motion, my essential aim was to say; this is not balanced, it is against the constitution. The constitution says in taking these responsibilities you must make sure that everybody in the country is captured. This is exactly what that is all about.
There is a strong feeling among people in the eastern part of the country that the Federal Government is not carrying them along. Where do you stand?
I’m the chairman of the Southeast Senate caucus. Sometime last year, I think about September, we went to have a discussion. We sought for an audience with President Buhari. We went and met with him. And we asked him, and we made it very, very clear to him that the Southeast is totally excluded from happenings within the country. We’re not part of the security network in the country. There’s a security council for which every component part of the country is supposed to be represented. And that his pattern of appointment into the security architecture of the country we feel it is not representative of the country. So how will the Southeast as a whole be excluded?
And we also told him about so many other things that have happened that have shown us that he is completely blind to the feelings of the Southeast. Of course, after our discussion, he promised that they’re going to look into it. But up till today, nothing has come out of it. We also told him very clearly that the agitations that they see and the feelings of the younger elements in the Southeast are feelings of alienation. And that feeling of agitations is making people say why don’t we have our own country? If you don’t want us, let’s go. And we felt that if you need to build a more inclusive nation, then you must be sensitive to the feelings of every component part of this nation.
And we still stand by those feelings that we’re not being well treated within the country, and it’s very pervading on the whole side. I think Ohanaeze under John Ninia Nwodo has very clearly articulated it. Several other groupings and organization have also articulated it very, very clearly to say if you want us to be part of what you’re doing then bring us into the tent, don’t put us outside of the tent…
Recently the soft-spoken Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Power Senator sat down with Alabingo.com in Lagos and shared his thoughts on a wide range of issues as they affect the Igbos; Biafra, The controversial federal rail project, Igbo Marginalisation, Power Challenges etc. Enjoy!
The exclusion of the Southeast in the proposed rail project has generated debate. And when you raised the issue on the floor of the Senate one of your colleagues was said to have retorted that the Igbo should wait till 2018. How do all these come across to you?
Well, let me say that I didn’t hear any of my colleagues make that statement, I cannot really respond to a statement I didn’t hear. Let me also say that I didn’t say that the Igbo were excluded. I said that the eastern railway corridor – because the Nigeria Railway is made up of two corridors. There’s the western corridor which starts from Kano and terminates in Lagos. There’s eastern corridor which starts from Port Harcourt and terminates in Maiduguri. So if you want to do a revolution in the railways there is no way you can do one part and leave the other part. In actual fact, in the letter written by Mr. President to the Senate asking an acceleration of the debate on the request for the loan, the President specifically said that there is an ongoing negotiation for the concessioning of the eastern corridor.
In other words, you’re taking a loan to do the western corridor – that is Kano-Kaduna-all the way to Lagos, Lagos-Ibadan to Port Harcourt to Calabar – that is the coastal one. And so, if you’re taking a
loan by the Federal Government what it means is that the whole country will pay for it. Then if you concession a section of it – concessioning simply means somebody takes it over, builds it and charges you. So what it means is that only those who are within that eastern corridor will pay. So people from the eastern corridor now – starting from Port Harcourt coming down to Aba to Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Laffia, Bauchi, Jos all the way to Maiduguri – everybody on that line will now pay for the concessioning.
So everybody on that eastern corridor will now be subject to what I will call double jeopardy. First, you pay for what is being used to build for one side. Then you turn around again and now pay exclusively for the one that is done on your own side – that is one. The second thing is we don’t have a very good history with concessioning because it is a relatively new thing in Nigeria. The second Onitsha bridge has been bulged down by the fact that they are looking for concession all this while. The only concesioning we’ve seen that seems it is a little successful is the Murtala Mohammed 2, which is also bulged down with all manners of litigation and problems. Somebody now tells us to wait, until we can concession that side.
So we feel that this in effect is a constitutional matter. Section 16(2a) of the Constitution states very clearly that you are going to do economic development in a fair and balanced manner. So when you have eastern and western corridors and then you’re doing only West with our resources – that is not balanced. So when I brought up the motion, my essential aim was to say; this is not balanced, it is against the constitution. The constitution says in taking these responsibilities you must make sure that everybody in the country is captured. This is exactly what that is all about.
There is a strong feeling among people in the eastern part of the country that the Federal Government is not carrying them along. Where do you stand?
I’m the chairman of the Southeast Senate caucus. Sometime last year, I think about September, we went to have a discussion. We sought for an audience with President Buhari. We went and met with him. And we asked him, and we made it very, very clear to him that the Southeast is totally excluded from happenings within the country. We’re not part of the security network in the country. There’s a security council for which every component part of the country is supposed to be represented. And that his pattern of appointment into the security architecture of the country we feel it is not representative of the country. So how will the Southeast as a whole be excluded?
And we also told him about so many other things that have happened that have shown us that he is completely blind to the feelings of the Southeast. Of course, after our discussion, he promised that they’re going to look into it. But up till today, nothing has come out of it. We also told him very clearly that the agitations that they see and the feelings of the younger elements in the Southeast are feelings of alienation. And that feeling of agitations is making people say why don’t we have our own country? If you don’t want us, let’s go. And we felt that if you need to build a more inclusive nation, then you must be sensitive to the feelings of every component part of this nation.
And we still stand by those feelings that we’re not being well treated within the country, and it’s very pervading on the whole side. I think Ohanaeze under John Ninia Nwodo has very clearly articulated it. Several other groupings and organization have also articulated it very, very clearly to say if you want us to be part of what you’re doing then bring us into the tent, don’t put us outside of the tent…
Post a Comment