In this interview with EGWUAGHA AMARACHUKWU, Barr Onyekachi Nwebonyi, Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ebonyi state chapter, believes the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was an error
Sir how would you describes the act exhibited by security personnel on Tuesday, at the residences of Senate leadership? It is a terrible situation; it is a rape on our democracy.
I least expected it in a democratic setting.
It is very unfortunate because politics as we know it is not a do or die affair, it should be a guided process.
For the President to have used police to besiege the official residence of the number 3 citizen of the country is least expected and completely out of it.
It is an act of intimidation and should not be seen in a democracy that the country is enjoying today.
But I am not surprised because the same President is a military man in a civilian uniform.
Those who know Buhari should expect more than this.
And that is why from the onset, we have been telling Nigerians that they made the wrong choice.
How do you mean by saying that Nigerians made a wrong choice? Wrong choice in the sense that President Muhammadu Buhari has no human feeling.
On a daily basis people are dying in the name of herdsmen/ farmers’ clashes, and he is doing nothing about it.
To my mind President Buhari’s body language can mean that as a Fulani man, he is not moved by the manner security agencies and herdsmen have adopted to wipe Nigerians away.
What do you think can be done to remedy herdsmen’s killings in the country? So, it is an ugly incident that Nigerians should wake-up for us to fight.
It is not issue of PDP or APC.
It is a national fight that all meaningful Nigerians must join to make sure that President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office in 2019.
Nigerians have seen that PDP is a better party and for the lawmakers that defected from the ruling party to the opposition party shows you the handwriting on the wall.
APC has failed all Nigerians.
They promised to create jobs, they promised to address insecurity, makes our economy better, but all these promises have not been met.
You can see the price of fuel when PDP was in power was less than 100 Naira, but immediately Buhari took over power, he increased it to N145.
We cannot see the impact of the removal of subsidy.
The twenty million jobs he promised Nigeria youths annually, where are they? Instead Nigeria youths are losing their jobs.
You can see how a sitting governor with immunity was manhandled by security agencies.
This is the height of insensitivity and political dictatorship.
On Tuesday a good number of APC National House Members defected to PDP, of what benefit is this to your party? It is a landslide victory, an outright victory to our party.
As I speak to you today, we have received 16 Senators and 37 House of Representative members from APC to PDP and we are expecting five governors before the end of the day.
I want to thank all Nigerians for knowing that PDP is better than APC.
They have stood by the truth despite the intimidation here and there.
Those who have not defected to PDP should come over because PDP has all it takes to shape this country.
I must tell you that we are very optimistic before the end of the month, all the lawmakers in APC will join PDP because they are not happy about what the President is doing.
Knowing that party primaries is just few months now, considering that people in the party must be interested in one political position or another, will there be any privilege given to these new comers? “Mind you, that these people are PDP members, they just went astray, so they will enjoy all privileges enjoyed by the PDP.
Sir, what if these defectors after a while will want to go back to APC? APC house is already on fire.
And people are running for their dear lives.
Will you go back to a house that is gutted by fire? The answer is no.
APC is a failed House, it is a failed kingdom and can never come to be.
Remember APC is never a political party; it is a conglomerate of political parties.
They never had an understanding.
You can recall what played out when the national house of assembly members want to elect their leaders.
The cabals wanted to impose a Senate President on them, but they did not, the Constitution is clear.
Separation of powers is there and each arm of government enjoys its own power independent of the other.
How is the party performance in the state and what is your advice to the supporters? Ebonyians should continue to support PDP, and as they are doing that bearing in mind to return our governor, they will see double of democracy dividends.
As I speak to you, in all the 13 local government areas, you will see not less than 30 kilometers of road.
By 2019, when our governor will be reelected, they will see double of that.
More roads will be constructed, more youths will be empowered, more windows will be remembered, more sick will be attended to in the hospitals.
Police parade’ killers’ of exKatsina commissioner
By Chizoba Ogbeche Abuja The Nigeria Police yesterday paraded eight suspected kidnappers operating along the Abuja-Kaduna highway at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.
Parading the suspects before journalists, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Jimoh Moshood said some of the suspects were responsible for the killing of a former commissioner of education in Katsina state, Prof.
Halimatu Idris.
It will be recalled that Idris was among three other commuters who were abducted and killed along the Abuja-Kaduna road, on July 22, 2018.
According to DCP Moshood, the suspects were also responsible for the attack on the Director, National Agricultural Research Extensions and Liaison Services, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, Prof.
Mohammed Othman and the Kidnap of Rahinatu Shehu, among others.
He also said that:”All the suspects made useful statements to the police investigators and confessed to the killings in the affected villages.” Speaking further, the spokesperson said: “The IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) working on reliable intelligence embarked on massive raid of identified kidnappers dens, hideouts and black spots on Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highways.
“The IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) personnel engaged the bandits in a shoot-out that lasted several hours and at the end, effected the arrest of the eight suspects and recovered from them the listed exhibits.
Six of their victims were rescued from captivity.” Moshood said :” Investigation is in progress and effort is being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large.
They will all be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.” According to the FPRO: “As part of measures to restore safety and normalcy on the Abuja-Kaduna, and Kaduna-Kano Highways, the IGP ordered additional deployment of police personnel and vehicular patrol teams to re-jig Operation Absolute Sanity to rid the routes of these bandits and hoodlums.
The IGP has directed that three units of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) return to Kaduna state, with a view to reinforcing security on the corridor.
All Police Mobile Force (PMF) units of the PMF Squadrons in MOPOL 1 Kaduna, MOPOL 47 Zaria and MOPOL 61 Kafanchan on special duties outside the state have been ordered by the IGP to return back to Kaduna state to beef-up security, particularly on Kaduna-Abuja highway, KadunaZaria-Kano, Kaduna-BirninGwariZamfara-Funtua-Zamfara highway and other flash points in the state.” Items recovered from them, according to the Police source, included “AK47 rifles, 15 locally fabricated guns, one hundred and 183 AK47 Ammunition and seven live cartridges.
