2023: It is time for Nigeria to go for competent leaders for good governance- Barr.  Mudi Erhenede

. insists we cannot be slaves to zoning

.says  Ebonyi Ebubeagu, Cybercrimes Law are all instruments  targeted to undermine the PDP.

 

 

Barrister Mudi Erhenede is the Legal Adviser of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Ebonyi State and a Chieftain of the party .In this interview , he speaks on Governance /activities of Ebubeagu Security Outfit in the State in addition to internal Zoning Arrangement of Governorship seat ahead of 2023 general election…Clement Nnachi reports ..

 

Interesting development coming up in Ebonyi State and one of the things that have been voiced before now was the initiative of setting up New Security  apparatus Ebubeagu”which was going to be manned by the State .It looks as if this has not gone down well with members of the PDP . What is the grouse that the PDP in Ebonyi State has against this Security Outfit in the State ?

 

Well, thank you very much. Structurally if you look at what they call Ebubeagu ,you will discover it is a militia group that was put in place against PDP as an opposition party .

 

Number One the Structure. It may surprise you to know that the current Chairman of APC in Ebonyi State is the Security Consultant that holds sway, that every Ebubeagu militia/operative is answerable to . That alone will tell you something, as they say in law you cannot be a Judge in your own case .

 

The two major political parties in Ebonyi State are the PDP and APC. If the Chairman of APC is in charge of militia group whatever you christen it , whatever it is ,you will see that already the mission is questionable .Instances abound on how this Ebubeagu is being used .

 

It is basically deployed against the opposition ,we say PDP because it is the major opposition party in Ebonyi State.Let them name one person who is not a PDP person or who is not a supporter of PDP that has not been a victim of all this cases of extra-judicial Killing ,harassment of people.

 

When you say harassment , what do you mean precisely. What we mean is that if you are perceived or known to be a member of the opposition, you are the target.

Have you been targeted?

 

Not directly, but if they have the chance, they will not hesitate to do so. Because what they are doing is systematic attack of principal members of PDP. You may have known that Hon Linus Okorie ,(two time member of the House of Representative is being hunted for presently in Ebonyi State courtesy of this Ebubeagu .

 

If you have a case against any citizen or any resident of the State ,the proper and civilized thing to do would have been to report formally to the police .But that is not what they are doing..What they are doing is a situation where they have supplanted the Nigerian Police with Ebubeagu.

 

In Ebonyi State, Ebubeagu is the body that does arrest, while they arrest you take you to the old Government House which has become a torture Chamber for this militia, when they are done with you, they now hand you over to the police which has become very complicit in matters that concerns Ebubeagu .We have pictures of people who have been tortured ,some amputated as a result of such torture .The matter which has been taken to the police in Abakaliki, and nothing happens.

 

You are sure I mean,there is nothing that justifies torture. You know as a Lawyer ,and you know that in our Laws ,there is some prohibition against torture .Are there just picking people up randomly and torturing  them, or do they have any illicit dealing which makes them fall out with the law..

 

Let me give you two instances. Adaeze is in Ivo Local Government Area of the state. Incidentally that is the Local government Area of the former Senate President Chief Anyim Pius Anyim. Someone had a dispute over Indian Bamboo, one Mr Anyim Unaogor (now dead) . He was said to be a supporter of PDP. An ordinary dispute concerning Indian Bamboo Ebubeagu was brought in.

 

What did Ebubeagu do. They took him to a lonely bush , killed him install-mentally with an axe, and he died and it resulted to some protest by the villagers .In the course of that protest, another person or two were shot dead by Ebubeagu .

 

In Akpoha community in Afikpo North Local Government Area ,there was a traffic incident, involving a government vehicle and some group of youths who felt the driver of that government vehicle drove in a manner that was not very safe for other road users.

 

Before you know it Ebubeagu had been called in and that traffic incident resulted  in the death of two citizens .

 

How are there deploying Ebubeagu.Somebody wrote something on Facebook  concerning that incident .As we speak,that person is now facing trial in Ebonyi State .

 

There are two twin evils (Ebubeagu and Cybercrime Law ). What they do now is if you ..(how are my sure that if I go back today they will not start looking for me in a more intensive manner.)When you speak of anything that concerns Ebonyi State government , you would have committed Cybercrime by there calculation is their type of Cybercrime. And who is going to come and arrest me ,not officers of the Nigerian Police but Ebubeagu.

 

I understand that this matters are in court, are there correct?

 

Some of them are in court ,some to the best of my knowledge, the Cybercrime thing is in court that I know of, Ebubeagu I may not really now if it has been taken up in court or not.

 

How do you see this matters being resolved as we go into 2023, because you made very serious allegations against the formation of Ebubeagu and also questions on zoning ,but the major problem right now is the political difference between the PDP and the APC in Ebonyi State ?

 

Once we follow and obey democratic principles that are well  spelt  out in our laws,there shouldn’t be this tension and agitations in the State . Ebonyi State is gradually becoming a mini North Korea where once one man speaks ,nobody can disagree.

 

Do you see an external influence coming in to help settle matters?

 

As PDP members we draw our strength from the people. When the Governor of Ebonyi State joined APC, there was a heckling cliche of we have connected to the Center .You see it in almost every banner they have in the State.

 

That speaks volumes , about who will want to seek external help in who becomes Governor of Ebonyi State come 2023. The formation of Ebubeagu, the making of Cybercrimes Law are all instruments that are targeted to undermine the PDP.

 

Do you support that Ebubeagu be scrapped ?

 

Ebubeagu  is an illegal outfit and should  be scrapped

 

On the issue of zoning of Governorship  seat ,what is your take on this now that we are entering 2023

 

Let me start on the issue of zoning. APC in Ebonyi State today has an overlord. They have a Super Master who speaks and nobody airs to speak otherwise. That is why it will look as though the party does not have problem.

 

My worry and that of others is that from nowhere we have started hearing of Blocks  vis Avis Afikpo and Abakaliki Block. The incumbent is from the Southern part of the state. Suddenly everybody is now saying Abakaliki Block go and give us a Candidate that is in PDP.

 

It is worrisome because the Leaders of the party have not met at any point to say the existing zoning arrangement should be altered. Remember that PDP had always ruled Ebonyi State until the present Governor defected to another party .

 

I want to believe that our leaders should come out , and have the moral will to state what rules will govern the 2023 governorship primary election in Ebonyi State.

 

You have  told us that the North, Central and South have had their shot at the governorship seat of the State, where would you like to see the next governor come from?

 

Well I will not  give a straight answer. But I will say that structurally when Dr Sam Egwu was the governor and what he put in place .Ordinarily it will be the turn of the Northern part of the State to have a shot at governorship by 2023.

 

In Igboland traditionally I must bring this one into contention, when you share things and every person who is a partaker of that sharing have taken ,traditionally it starts from the Last person who took .

 

If we follow the zoning arrangement already in place, it should be the turn of the North.If we don’t want to respect that and you say we should go the traditional way of sharing, the South will start talking until it gets back to the North.

 

However ,my worry is not so much about this things because we can not be slaves to zoning . The problem with Nigeria today is that we  have elevated zoning to a point where competence, qualification ,ability to do the job are now secondary.

 

My position for PDP is we have to take back our legitimate Leadership of Ebonyi  State, for us to do this we must do equity , we must avoid impunity ,I canvass the view that the leadership  of PDP must come together .

 

On Ebubeagu , from the video clips available , Ebubeagu people were trained with planks and pieces of wood. Today they are carrying AK-47 Rifles , Pump Action Rifles,

 

Section 22 of the Law that brought Ebubeagu into place , empowers them to bear Arms .That Law was made by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly .Does the House of Assembly  have the Powers to legislate on Fire Arms. That is something that is in the Exclusive Legislative List in the Nigerian Constitution .

 

But the law made  in their Section 22, empowering Ebubeagu a factional militia to bear Arms .That is why we have this cases of killings .

 

Also the Security Consultant of Ebubeagu is the current State Chairman of APC , How can you put the Chairman of a Political Party to be the head of a militia and you expect that trouble will not overtake the peace of Ebonyi State.

 

On the notion  of Ebonyi State being the most peaceful place in the South-East because of Ebubeagu, people now don’t obey Sit-at -home order. Mazi Kanu  was taken to court on 16th February 2022, name one Bank in Abakaliki that opened on that day. Where was Ebubeagu to work against that .

 

Ebonyi State has been divided to a point that anybody in APC today can not freely identify with a PDP member .That is the strangest thing now in the State .

 

Hon Lilian Ngozi Ezillo representing Afikpo North East Constituency in the State House of Assembly refused to join APC and for a year now, the government have not paid her any salary .All her allowances and salaries have been seized .

 

Since you don’t want to use the word disagreement , what is your challenge with the government having being with them since 2015 ?Did you lose out in the politicking , that is why you are protesting ?

 

My challenge with the present government is the  undemocratic posture .The attempt to stifle any form of opposition . If you criticize constructively any thing the government does , you become an enemy to the State and that is not what politics should be.

 

The unlawful sealing of the Ebonyi State PDP Secretariat which was built and commissioned during the administration of the immediate past Government of Chief Martin Elechi. If you leave PDP to APC ,what is difficult in allowing PDP continue to do its business in that Secretariat .That is one of the points of divergence .

 

Secondly, the Right to Freedom of Speech , expression is Fundamental by our Constitution .The government of Ebonyi State make law in a very opaque manner where members of the public are not aware until the point of implementation .

 

They know too well that I haven’t had any personal issue with the Governor other than our disagreement on principles . On principles not that I lost out on anything . Ebonyi State remains a PDP State .

 

So you have been with this  government since 2015, when did your disagreement with the government begin ?

 

I don’t want to use the word disagreement , rather why has the government of Ebonyi State change to what it is now . I have been in PDP since 1998. I have never been an appointee of this present administration .I played the role during the campaigns that brought in the present governor in 2019 elections.

 

The  government today is APC but the State is a PDP State .The Governor was elected  on the platform of the PDP. If you take a look at his Certificate of Return , INEC has not amended it .

 

It is within the right of the governor to go to APC, but it is not within the rights of the governor to lock up the Secretariat of PDP in Abakaliki .