Abia State-born political chieftain, Chief Stanley Ochonma, is a former House of Assembly aspirant, businessman and property developer. In this chat with Tony Iwuoma, Ochonma frowned at the delay of President Muhammadu Buhari in naming his new cabinet, more than two months after his re-election. However, he suspected that lobbyists might be responsible for this. He also took a swipe at the now suspended proposal of the Federal Government to build Ruga settlements across the country and wished the programme would never be revisited, even as he called for the reformation of the Nigeria Police.
What do you think about the Buhari second term in office?
I don’t see anything different from his first tenure. I only see a bunch of people, who wanted power at all cost, but don’t know what it takes to work for the masses. A president, who contested for the office severally and failed but suddenly realises that “I can’t achieve my ambition if I don’t get into marriage with these fellows though I had previously known them as corrupt prostitutes’. President Buhari probably thought he would use them to grab power and get rid of them as used rag. Well! This is not military reign where you can wake up and unilaterally call the shot.
Why do you think he has not set up his cabinet more than two months after he was declared a winner?
It’s unfortunate because he forgot that the economy cannot function optimally without a proper cabinet in place. If it could, then there wouldn’t be any need for the ministers in the first place. The Indian President had his cabinet in place two hours after taking the oath of office. Our naira was at par with Indian currency, rupee at N30, 30 rupees per one dollar in 1994. But today our Naira is 365 per dollar. Some other African countries use less than two weeks to form their cabinet. My problem with this government is that this is the president’s second term and as such should have been ready by now to have his cabinet.
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What do you think is responsible?
Lobbyists! They don’t see the job as service to God and mankind. To them it is a means to acquire wealth. I don’t envy Mr. Buhari. He is so much under immense pressure to satisfy many political jobbers around him.
Why do you think the Ruga settlement went back to sleep after efforts to force it to stay awake?
The president and the so-called cabal are just a few people to challenge over two hundred million Nigerians. It is estimated that the Fulani in Nigeria are less than 7% of our population. Buhari had no choice but to suspend the project. My prayer is that the Ruga project will go from sleep to coma and from there to the grave.
Government says the Ruga settlements will solve herdsmen-farmers clashes…
That is not true. There is no way that can be true. Government is being economical with the truth. They are yet to tell us what their true intentions are. You cannot seize people’s land just like that and handover to Fulani herdsmen without respect to the constitution. You cannot also use public funds to sponsor private business. And to make matters worse, these are being done for the same people they told us are foreigners. Instead of disarming the marauding herdsmen, government wants to handover the country to them. It cannot happen; they should be careful not to destroy this country.
So, what do you think can be done to stop the farmers-herdsmen clashes?
If government wants to do it, they have the capacity to do so. However, the suspicion is that there are ulterior motives to all of this. The government should reinforce the security system, especially the police to perform at optimum level.
What is your take on police reform?
There is no doubt that our nation is battling its worst level of insecurity since the civil war, which ended in 1970. You have the farmers-herdsmen causing havoc, the Boko Haram ravaging the North, the kidnapping palaver all over the country, the bandits and the militants, who are operating in the South-south. The need to reform and reposition the Nigeria Police Force to improve security in the country is now or never. You will agree with me that the wealth of this country has not been seen or felt by the majority of citizens. A country where nearly three quarters of the populace live on less than one dollar a day. Nigeria has earned oil revenues (at least $300 billion) over three decades, including the past few years of high oil prices in 2009, yet nothing to show for it.
What would you say about the conduct of Nigeria police?
I am not expecting so much from them but the use of torture and other forms of ill treatment by some members of the law enforcement agencies need an urgent attention. If nothing is done fast to address it, the police will lose credibility completely beyond the perception the public have of them presently.
Why do you say that you do not expect much from them?
The same poverty in the land is meted out to the police force as well, and theirs are even worse because they dare not protest against the authorities without being charged for mutiny. You and I know how hot our weather is. However, the authorities still expect the men in black khaki top and trouser with guns not to be aggressive to the people? That uniform must be discarded immediately. Many of them claim that they buy their own uniforms and shoes. If you visit most of the police barracks, you will question the welfare package of the Police Force.
What areas do you think the authorities should focus on?
All areas are important to have the Police Force of our dream. However, police reform can never be said to be complete if nothing is done to stop the arrest, torture and imprisonment of innocent relations of alleged criminals, who know nothing about the crimes just because the wanted person absconded before his arrest. Many victims have lost so much from such arrests. One out of the thousands of such victims is Mr. Michael Obot and his wife who lived in the area where I used to reside. He was arrested because the brother in-law, who visited their house from Aba whenever he came to buy goods from Lagos, was alleged to be a wanted person for being a member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) escaped arrest. The police trailed him to their address at Femi Fagbemi Street in the Shasha area of Lagos. It was said that the police had visited their address recently, asking for information about Michael and his wife.
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What is the public impression about the police in Nigeria?
This depends on the side of the coin you are looking at. To the very rich, they have police officers assigned to secure and protect them and their wealth round the clock. They have police security stationed in their homes even when they are out of town. So, to them, the police are very good. However, Michael Obot and his family and thousands of victims of police brutality, especially when you are innocent will be in a better position to tell us their experiences with the police and how they feel about them. It has always been one bitter experience or another. And that is the same to majority of our people, who live in economic poverty, being deprived of the most basic necessities of life.
Do you support state policing?
State police, federal police, local police and even community vigilante groups, I don’t care! All I want in this country is to have the Police Force that will be fair to the very rich and the poor.
A case in point was cited by the Director, Amnesty International, Nigeria, Osai Ojigho. He reminded us as published in a publication in The Sun Newspaper of June 27, 2019; that on March 5, 2018, a High Court in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay compensate to one Ugochukwu Oraefo; for extortion, illegal arrest, unlawful detention and torture after he was arrested by officers of SARS, Awkuzu, Anambra State.
The Police have neither paid the victim nor ensured that the police officers involved are brought to justice.It is time Nigerian authorities declared in strong term, that security personnel would be held accountable for torture and the victims will get justice, including rehabilitation and compensation. Until this is done, we will still be too far from enjoying our rights as citizens in this country.