Nigerians, not APC, will restructure Nigeria, says Umeh

The senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District
in the National Assembly, Chief Victor Umeh,
tells Tony Okafor that President
Muhammadu Buhari should restrict cattle business to the
Hausa-Fulani areas in order to end killings by herdsmen

There are killings in several states in the country
being perpetrated by herdsmen. What is your take on
this?

What is happening in Nigeria with regard to herdsmen killings
shouldn’t be there if we had been strongly disposed to what is
right. There is no way a business run by some people can be used to
threaten the existence of other people. The business of cattle
rearing has been there from medieval times. Nigeria has always been
known to have certain agricultural practices domiciled in specific
parts of the country. There is palm produce in the defunct Eastern
region; the Western region was famous for cocoa production, while
the Northern economy hinged on cattle, groundnut and cotton. People
should be confined to their areas of comparative advantage where
they can do well. If government had been proactive in its
industrial policies, meat processing factories should have sprung
up long ago in northern Nigeria, while ranches would have been
built there. People now take off from Zamfara to Calabar with their
cattle, leaving behind mayhem, loss of lives and property. This is
a business that cannot be allowed to continue. So, if you ask me I
will say that it should be restricted to the North.

I believe that the recent statement by the All Progressives
Congress for a gradual restructuring of the country is paying lip
service to the problems of the country because the APC is not
Nigeria. It is a political party and only Nigerians can find a
solution to their problems. The way Nigeria will be arranged
structurally will not be left in the hands of a political party. It
should be left in the hands of the people and that was what the
national conference of 2014 addressed. The 600 resolutions produced
in that conference are critical to the survival of this country.
That report should be brought forward and given effect. The APC
boycotted the conference and they should apologise to Nigeria for
that.

The South-East people of Nigeria are badly treated in the area
of state and local government creation. The region has five states
and 95 local government areas; the South-South has six states and
123 LGAs; the South-West has six states and 137 LGAs; the
North-West has seven states with Jigawa and Kano states alone
having about the same number of LGAs as the South-East. When you
make dialogue impossible in the affairs of men, you continue to
experience revolt and all these agitations in the South are fallout
of cries of marginalisation and neglect; it cannot continue without
being addressed. The ‘fire brigade’ approach does not solve any
problem. The Fulani herdsmen went to Benue State and killed 73
people in one fell swoop and they were given a mass burial and the
only thing government did was to order the Inspector-General of
Police to go there and find out what was happening, instead of
giving an order that herdsmen should be restricted to their states
of origin.

The late former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme was
buried recently. What would you want him to be remembered
for?

The greatest thing Nigeria can do for Ekwueme is to go to his
intellectual contributions towards national discourse. Ekwueme
desired a Nigeria that every Nigerian would love. He belonged to
everybody. He desired a Nigeria where citizens have equal rights;
where citizens of Nigeria can aspire to become president,
irrespective of the geopolitical zone or tribe he or she comes from
because of his personal experience. He devoted much of his time to
researching on power sharing. That is why he proposed six
geopolitical zones and rotational presidency between the North and
South. These are the intellectual contributions he made towards the
nation’s development and politics.

You were recently sworn in as a senator after about
three years of legal battle. How do you feel about your
victory?

It is regrettable that the legal battle to sort out the
representation of the Anambra Central seat took about three years
to resolve. The regret in it is that the matters that caused the
delay were frivolous suits which the courts dabbled into, and
delivered wrong judgments that made the struggle protracted. I
believe the judiciary needs to be reformed so that judges who
wilfully deliver wrong judgments on matters that come before them
are punished.

The senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District
in the National Assembly, Chief Victor Umeh,
tells Tony Okafor that President
Muhammadu Buhari should restrict cattle business to the
Hausa-Fulani areas in order to end killings by
herdsmen

There are killings in several states in the country
being perpetrated by herdsmen. What is your take on
this?

What is happening in Nigeria with regard to herdsmen killings
shouldn’t be there if we had been strongly disposed to what is
right. There is no way a business run by some people can be used to
threaten the existence of other people. The business of cattle
rearing has been there from medieval times. Nigeria has always been
known to have certain agricultural practices domiciled in specific
parts of the country. There is palm produce in the defunct Eastern
region; the Western region was famous for cocoa production, while
the Northern economy hinged on cattle, groundnut and cotton. People
should be confined to their areas of comparative advantage where
they can do well. If government had been proactive in its
industrial policies, meat processing factories should have sprung
up long ago in northern Nigeria, while ranches would have been
built there. People now take off from Zamfara to Calabar with their
cattle, leaving behind mayhem, loss of lives and property. This is
a business that cannot be allowed to continue. So, if you ask me I
will say that it should be restricted to the North.

I believe that the recent statement by the All Progressives
Congress for a gradual restructuring of the country is paying lip
service to the problems of the country because the APC is not
Nigeria. It is a political party and only Nigerians can find a
solution to their problems. The way Nigeria will be arranged
structurally will not be left in the hands of a political party. It
should be left in the hands of the people and that was what the
national conference of 2014 addressed. The 600 resolutions produced
in that conference are critical to the survival of this country.
That report should be brought forward and given effect. The APC
boycotted the conference and they should apologise to Nigeria for
that.

The South-East people of Nigeria are badly treated in the area
of state and local government creation. The region has five states
and 95 local government areas; the South-South has six states and
123 LGAs; the South-West has six states and 137 LGAs; the
North-West has seven states with Jigawa and Kano states alone
having about the same number of LGAs as the South-East. When you
make dialogue impossible in the affairs of men, you continue to
experience revolt and all these agitations in the South are fallout
of cries of marginalisation and neglect; it cannot continue without
being addressed. The ‘fire brigade’ approach does not solve any
problem. The Fulani herdsmen went to Benue State and killed 73
people in one fell swoop and they were given a mass burial and the
only thing government did was to order the Inspector-General of
Police to go there and find out what was happening, instead of
giving an order that herdsmen should be restricted to their states
of origin.

The late former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme was
buried recently. What would you want him to be remembered
for?

The greatest thing Nigeria can do for Ekwueme is to go to his
intellectual contributions towards national discourse. Ekwueme
desired a Nigeria that every Nigerian would love. He belonged to
everybody. He desired a Nigeria where citizens have equal rights;
where citizens of Nigeria can aspire to become president,
irrespective of the geopolitical zone or tribe he or she comes from
because of his personal experience. He devoted much of his time to
researching on power sharing. That is why he proposed six
geopolitical zones and rotational presidency between the North and
South. These are the intellectual contributions he made towards the
nation’s development and politics.

You were recently sworn in as a senator after about
three years of legal battle. How do you feel about your
victory?

It is regrettable that the legal battle to sort out the
representation of the Anambra Central seat took about three years
to resolve. The regret in it is that the matters that caused the
delay were frivolous suits which the courts dabbled into, and
delivered wrong judgments that made the struggle protracted. I
believe the judiciary needs to be reformed so that judges who
wilfully deliver wrong judgments on matters that come before them
are punished.