Chief Martin Onovo, a seasoned politician is the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP). Engr. Onovo, a petroleum sector player, now Head, Policy Positions, Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), in this explosive interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, speaks on the recently declared State of Emergency on Security, among other critical issues. Excerpt:
What is your take on the declaration of State of Emergency on Security by President Bola Tinubu?
The declaration of a national security emergency by Jagaban Tinubu is very clearly empty, incompetent and deceitful. How do you first declare a national security emergency before you conceive what you want to do? What are the elements of the national security emergency? What are the objectives and what are the action plans? It is very unfortunate that in our laziness as Nigerians we are still expecting the Tinubu regime to do anything good. We all know that the regime is deceitful, incompetent, corrupt, lawless and noisy. The Tinubu regime is a bad tree that bears only bad fruits. It is completely corrupt and totally incapable of improving the security and welfare of Nigerians. In the over two years it has spent, it has destroyed democracy, it destroyed national unity; it destroyed the economy and degraded national security. The Tinubu regime is a complete catastrophe, worse than what we predicted. The only element known in the national security emergency is the recruitment of more security personnel. That cannot be done immediately as it will take time to determine the procedures, solicit applications, screen applicants, engage the successful applicants and then train them. This will take a few months so, strictly speaking, it cannot be valid as an element of the national security emergency. Tinubu’s office claims that the details will subsequently be developed. This is absurd. A clear case of the complete incompetence of the regime. They act loudly before they plan. The worst regime in the entire history of Nigeria.
How do you see the items listed by the Presidency during the declaration of State of Emergency on Security?
The only concrete item listed is the recruitment of more security personnel. The Tinubu office claims that the details will be worked out. This confirms that the announcement was made to deceive Nigerians. More fundamentally, it may be illogical to expect the Tinubu regime to fight insecurity in Nigeria when the ruling party is the direct sponsor of insecurity and terrorism in Nigeria. How can the ruling party fight its own corruption or its own terrorist networks? It is clear that the ruling party imported the terrorists. It is clear that the ruling party sponsors the terrorists. It is clear that the ruling party protects the terrorists. It is publicly clear that the ruling party lacks the political will to fight the terrorists. It is an open policy of the Tinubu regime called the “non-kinetic” approach to pamper the terrorists, appease them, pay them and protect them. Anyone still in doubt of these public facts is either unreasonable or a terrorist sympathiser or a blood thirsty terrorist. All these facts have been publicly established beyond any reasonable doubt by many authorities including; Alhaji Kawu Baraje, CON; Gen. T. Y. Danjuma; Commodore Kunle Olawunmi; US government; Amnesty International; victims; etc
Why do you think it took the threat by US President Donald Trump before the Government realised the need to tackle the nation’s insecurity head-on?
The threat of the US government is very potent and it impacts the selfish interest of Jagaban Tinubu. The Tinubu regime did not realize the need to tackle the nation’s insecurity head-on. It first denied the clear facts as usual and then tried to confuse the issues with very terrible political schemes that failed. Then, it proceeded to engage with the US government and is now pretending that it will tackle insecurity. That is to deceive the US government and the global community that it is working. It is just deceitful. The ruling party cannot fight its own terrorist networks.
What do you think led to the sudden rise of attacks of soft spots like schools and religious houses after Trump’s threat and declaration of Christian Genocide in Nigeria?
It can be the confused ruling party and its terrorist networks trying to send confused messages to Nigerians and the US government. You may have heard a Tinubu regime spokesperson named Mr. Bwala claiming that American soldiers will be killed if they intervene.
The Nigerian government and leaders have been criticising the allegation of Christian genocide in the country. To what extent is this allegation true?
The allegation is clearly very true. The incompetent, corrupt and lawless Tinubu regime does not know the UN’s definition of genocide. The UN defines genocide as, “Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group”. You can see that the Islamic terrorism in Nigeria is clearly genocide against Christians. While we must agree that they kill other Muslims too, that is, sectarian violence and not genocide. Prior to the US designation, Nigerians had publicly identified the same problem. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo raised the alarm about Islamisation a few years ago. The Plateau State governor rightly described the killings in his state as genocide. The Tor Tiv also rightly described the killings in Benue State as genocide. There is definitely a Christian genocide in Nigeria by Islamic terrorists.
What should the Nigerian government do to ensure that its relationship with the US government does not deteriorate further over this alleged Christian genocide and declaration of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC)?
We should be more worried about the genocide, which is at the root of the fracas. This genocide can easily be checked if the failed Tinubu regime has the political will. A simple Islamic ‘fatwa’ declared against the terrorists by the entire national Islamic leadership will unite all Muslims, Christians and Pagans to defeat the terrorists. On the relationship with the US, please note that, Jagaban Tinubu lived in the US and the US maintains a very extensive international intelligence network. They know that Jagaban Tinubu lacks basic education. They know he is close to 90 years old. They know he forfeited $460,000.00 proceeds of narcotics trafficking in Chicago, USA. Remember his FBI files. They know that Tinubu lost the election woefully and was imposed with armoured tanks. They know he was classified as the third most corrupt ruler in the world. They know he has failed catastrophically and is very unpopular. They will continue to treat him with scorn.
How do you see the recent retirement of the Chief of Defence Staff and the reshuffling of the Service Chiefs? What are the implications of this recent reshuffling?
The recent retirement of the Chief of Defence Staff and some Service Chiefs after rumours of a coup plot is principally political. The new Chief of Defence Staff was the Chief of Army Staff. What difference do you expect in military operations? The Chief of Naval Staff that achieved the highest reduction in oil theft and ensured the highest official crude oil production level in many years was also retired. There are public allegations that the former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Musa (appointed Minister of Defence a few days ago), was removed because he opposed the corrupt and soft non-kinetic approach to the terrorism in Nigeria. This supports the US position on Christian genocide.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) crisis has continued to deepen with the dwindling of its states and its split into two factions. Would you say that the party is fast moving to extinction?
The party is not moving to extinction. All authentic opposition parties in Nigeria have been severely weakened by the subversion sponsored by the dictatorial, corrupt and lawless ruling party. Mr. Wike, an All Progressives Congress (APC) man in PDP clothing, is the hatchet man for the attack against the PDP. The same Mr. Wike was the cause of the Rivers State crisis and the same Mr. Wike was accused of allegedly plotting to kill the Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Mr. Dan Nwanyanwu. The same Mr. Wike, who has not explained how his children acquired mansions in Florida State, USA, has now started meeting with the former Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Abure. The PDP will not go into extinction. They will rebuild their party after we have defeated the unpatriotic, corrupt and lawless ruling party.
With the continued defections from PDP to the APC, the ruling party now controls two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. What are the implications of this?
The implications include the consolidation of the lawless, incompetent, corrupt and unpatriotic Tinubu dictatorship. It also indicates the climax and subsequent inevitable decline of the dictatorship and the mass defeat of the unpatriotic and corrupt political crooks that have dominated politics in Nigeria. You may need to be reminded that higher profile politicians have defected from the unpatriotic and failed ruling party to other parties, including a former National Chairman, HE John Oyegun; a former National Vice Chairman, Alhaji Salihu Lukman; former presidential aspirants, former governors and former ministers.
What is your advice to the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Joash Amupitan?
My advice to the new INEC Chairman is to try to follow the path of integrity and not disgrace his children and end up like Mahmood Yakubu, the worst INEC Chairman since Independence. We know that it is Jagaban Tinubu that appointed him, but his loyalty must be to God and his country and not to Jagaban Tinubu or any other person without basic education.
By Ejikeme Omenazu
