Coordinator of Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG, Joseph Evah has alleged that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was a wicked government that was worse than the Nigeria civil war. In this interview with Journalist,the Ijaw environmental activist spoke on a wide range of issues, including what President Bola Tinubu must do if he wants to win the war against corruption and kidnapping, among other issues. Excerpts!
Well, Tinubu is saying that he has not clocked one year in office, and that before one year, he would perform magic. One year is around the corner; so let us give him one year. He has told us to give him one year, and I would like to wait for that one year before I can assess him and his performance.
But, before one year, I want to remind him that one soul is very important. The way insecurity is pervading the country, if nothing urgent is done to arrest the situation, we can only replicate the Haitian situation; the Caribbean nation that is lawless.
In less than 72 hours, more than 500 school children have been kidnapped. What is the National Security Adviser (NSA) telling us? What is the Department of State Service (DSS) doing? The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Military Intelligence, what is their work, for God’s sake? Why are they receiving salaries? That within 72 hours more than 500 of our children have been kidnapped and our senate president is dancing? Mothers, and fathers are crying, yet our senate president is dancing every day. What is our problem? Where did we go wrong? Kidnapping is going on unchallenged and because our children are not kidnapped, we keep quiet. And if you talk, one minister of information or presidential spokesman will come out to talk like a drunk.
How long are we going to behave like this in this country? What made us fight the military? What made us ask the military to go back to the barracks? What is all this? Over 500 school children kidnapped within 72 hours? Between Thursday and Sunday, over 500 children have been kidnapped and they are in the forest? What are we going to tell Awolowo? What are we going to tell people like Nnamdi Azikiwe, who fought for Nigeria’s independence? What will people like Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa hear in their graves? What is wrong with us? And they will bribe men of God to come out and talk like drunk, in this great country?
What is the problem? Are we going the way of Haiti in the Caribbean? What are the journalists doing? The journalists are celebrating Akpabio because of money. The journalists are even guiltier than those who are kidnapping; the journalists are celebrating Akpabio, who is dancing naked and insulting the intelligence of Nigerians. As we speak now, our children are in the forest with uniforms; carried away into the forest as if we have no law enforcement agents in the country; I am confused.
The call for restructuring is getting louder and stronger by the day, what is your take on that?
How many times are we going to say that that is the solution to Nigeria’s problem? We should go back to the parliamentary system. One thing that gives me joy is that Obasanjo is still alive and I know that he will be crying everyday because God released him from prison to come and fix Nigeria, but he failed due to his greed. He had the capacity; he was the right person at that time, when he was released to fix this country, but because of greed, he wanted a third term and when he didn’t get it, he was not ready to pursue the agenda for the wellbeing of Nigerians.