Aba, Abia State-based legal practitioner, Chief Ebere Uzoatu, has been in joyful mood since the day a Finnish court sentenced Simon Ekpa to jail after finding him guilty of the charges brought against him during his trial in Finland. Ekpa had been accused of orchestrating so many atrocities in the South East. Many innocent people were extra-judiciously killed by his armed renegades.
In this interview, he speaks on the continued incarceration of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and explains why President Bola Tinubu should release him. Uzoatu also assesses the economy and challenges the claims of government officials. He also gives Governor Alex Otti pass mark for his achievements in governance.
Nnamdi Kanu’s case has lingered for so long. The Federal Government found an immediate solution to the case of Sunday Igboho, why not for Kanu?
Well, this is Nigeria for you where you have two different laws for two different sets of people – the Igbo on one side and the rest of Nigerians on the other side. What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander, but that is not applicable in Nigeria.
For propagating the Igbo cause, Nnamdi Kanu committed no offence. In law, for you to commit an offence, two elements must be present, the actus res and the mens re. Actus res is the physical act of trying to commit that crime whereas mens re is the mental intention. In the case of Nnamdi Kanu, he has got the mental intention, but he hasn’t practicalized it by taking a physical step towards actualizing Biafra. Even at that, he has been going about it the rightful way, forget about the fifth columnists, the non-state actors who have hijacked the entire process. The simple truth is that the criminal aspect of IPOB is funded by Simon Ikpa who is presently paying the price.
Are you saying Finland did a good thing by sentencing Simon Ekpa to jail?
Yes, that country did more than good. Simon Ekpa was behind all the criminal offences committed in the name of the Biafra struggle and they were attributed to IPOB. I was a near victim of the People Liberation Army (PLA) A on March 1, 2024. They accosted me at Ndi Imoko, near Arondizuogu, Imo State, but God came to my side and I outsmarted them by equally telling them I’m a lawyer for the IPOB that I fight for the Biafra course.
They demanded for my phone and threatened to behead me if I was claiming what I’m not. They scrolled it and saw that two or three years ago, I was at the Federal High Court, Abuja to defend the Igbo nation in a lawsuit. On finding this out, they fired two gunshots into the air to salute me, and thereafter released me, unhurt. So, the way IPOB is being led by Nnamdi Kanu, it is not a terrorist organization, but when we talk about the one led by Ekpa, that is a different ball game.
Omoyele Sowore organized a protest meant for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, recently. Do you think protests can do the magic for his freedom?
Well, let me take it from the ridiculous to the sublime. Protest does not influence our jobs in the law. If you like carry the whole village to court, lawyers, judges are enamored by the evidence before them, we are not carried away by protests. But as par the political powers that be in Nigeria, it can influence them because every politician has it at the back of his mind to win the next election.
It wouldn’t take anything for President Bola Tinubu to release Nnamdi Kanu. By releasing him, Tinubu would have killed two birds with one stone. One, he would make himself popular in Igbo land, that was what Buhari failed to do. Secondly, he would have reduced the political tension in Igboland. The sit-at-home will die a natural death. Nnamdi Kanu will not be a foolish person that he will attack Tinubu as a person when he comes out because no one bites the finger that feeds him. If Tinubu should release Nnamdi Kanu, he would have written his name in gold and posterity will remember him for that. But because Kanu is an Igbo man everybody is saying he can go to blazes, it is not the best.
The militants or agitators from Niger Delta cried the other time, the Federal Government listened to them, the same thing with bandits and Boko Haram in the North, we heard that many of them were rehabilitated and even enlisted in the military.
There’s this thinking in some quarters that the coming of Tinubu as President could have led to the restructuring of the country, but nothing of such is happening now. What are thoughts on this?
Let me start from Bayo Onanuga, the Presidential spokesman who believed Nnamdi Kanu’s fate should lie with the court. Many of us are disappointed in him. When he was a journalist, we thought he was fighting for the common good, but we never knew he would turn out to be a local champion, an ethnic jingoistic because of the allure of power. He is there today, you no longer hear him talking about restructuring of Nigeria. The large pool of Yoruba leaders and elders no longer talk about restructuring of Nigeria. Even Professor Wole Soyinka, doesn’t talk about it again. It is not good for this country.
What’s your take on the Government’s claim that inflation has reduced in the country?
All these projections that inflation has been reduced, is only on paper, we can’t feel it. The majority of the people cannot feel any improvement in the economic trajectory of this country. Prices of foodstuff are on the high side, house rents are out of the reach of the common person. Just mention it, all the indices indicate this: electricity tariff, rising cost of living, transportation cost, medical bills, drug prices, etc. Some people pay over N80,000 per flat every month on estimated bill to electricity providers whereas according to the Federal Government, the minimum wage of workers is N70,000, in fact we are not serious in this country. With the above scenario, indirectly, we are encouraging corruption. A civil servant that takes home 70,000 per month whereas his total budget per month may be N500,000, there is every tendency he will make it up from other sources.
It’s unfortunate that Nigeria practices an imperialist economy, where the rich get richer, and the poor, get poorer. In fact, they have destroyed the middle class and that is why crime is on the high side in the country. What is happening in Nigeria cannot happen in other countries without dire consequences. Look at Madagascar, a poor African country inhabited by Indians. Simply because of poor electricity and water supply, they protested and that country’s government was toppled.
What do you think is the way out?
The way out as far as I am concerned is to have a welfare system in this country. Nigeria should borrow a leaf from United States of America and Britain that practice welfare systems that take care of the unemployed and the aged. Once the basic necessities of life are there for people, they may not be interested in whatever other things you are doing. It is due to this lack of basic necessities of life that has forced some people, when they find themselves into public offices, to loot to safeguard their future and that of their children.
Some people see Peter Obi as a real problem to Tinubu’s re-election in 2027; do you think along that line?
Peter Obi is a big problem to the re-election of Tinubu all things being equal. But some Nigerians will tell you Tinubu is no Goodluck Jonathan. Tinubu is a master of the game; he will try to use all means possible to compromise the electoral process, that’s our fear. If not, Tinubu would certainly lose. The Nigerian President is the most powerful in the entire world; he appoints the chairman of INEC and others that follow. The judiciary cannot be said to be totally independent of the executive as we have seen in recent times. The executive is presently constructing residential houses for Judges in Abuja, which is not supposed to be. So, following from the above, he will deploy all within his powers to ensure he is re-elected.
Are you saying it will be difficult to dislodge Tinubu in 2027?
Yes, it will be difficult to dislodge Tinubu in 2027. But there is what we call the God Factor which will not be ruled out in everything we do. Let me give you two examples: when Osisikankwu held all of us to ransom in Abia, people said there was nothing that could be done. The Christian community in the state sought the face of God and within four days, Osisikankwu became confused, he kidnapped school children and the news went viral, and the Federal Government sent in the military and before long the dreaded kidnap kingpin was killed.
All of us know the story of how General Sani Abacha died. When he was at his apogee, some people said he would be president of Nigeria for life, but he slept and could not wake up and that is the God Factor for you. The Hand of God is upon Nigeria. Some of these politicians that say 2027 is for them, they don’t know God’s plan. Power belongs to God and I very much believe in the God Factor and I will not be surprised that you interviewing me could become president of Nigeria one day.
Governor Alex Otti has been accused of not doing enough with the allocations he is receiving from the Federal Government. You live in Abia, how do you place such accusation?
Before I take somebody serious, I look into that person’s past. I use it to examine today, before I project into the future. Those accusing Otti, who were they before now? Is it because they said politics is a leveler. That is why anybody could get up and be talking anyhow. In fact, as far as we are concerned, Alex Otti is the saviour we have in Abia State.
Those accusing Otti of not doing enough are chasing clout. We have past the era which the locust ate and God brought Otti to revive us and everything has picked up ever since then. The economy of Abia State has picked up, those in the real estate world can tell that things in that sector have appreciated as a result of good roads here and there. Good medical facilities, quality electricity supply and what have you and he is doing more. Those accusing him are only playing politics. If Otti decides to re-contest election as an independent candidate if our constitution allows that, he will defeat all those accusing him put together.
Remove the big agbadas these politicians wear, you will discover they are nobodies. Can any of those accusing Otti, give what Otti has given Abians within this short period? The 2027 election is approaching and I believe Abians are waiting for them.
The irony of the whole thing is that the real leader of APC in Abia Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who made the party what it is in the state, is not making the type of noise some of these people are making, he is being calculative in what he is saying and doing.
Some people have criticized Governor Otti for saying that those who plan to rig the 2027 election in Abia State should first write their will. What’s your take on this?
Otti was right by saying so because the totality of Abians will be there to defend his mandate the way Professor Nnennaya Oti, the 2023 INEC Returning Officer for Abia, defended Otti’s mandate from the caterpillars that wanted to hijack the will of the people. People will be there in the trenches and even tear to pieces any person that will attempt to rewrite the outcome of the election come 2027. Otti might not even be there to fight for his mandate, the people of Abia will do that for him.
