Senator Joseph Kennedy N Waku, (JKN Waku), the stormy petrel of the Middle Belt was elected senator for the Benue North West Constituency of Benue State, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 1999. Not long after she came into national renown following his controversial call for a military coup on the claim that President Olusegun Obasanjo was derailing the democracy project. Since then he has been an unrepentant critic of President Obasanjo, and a major political figure in the North. Waku is not only a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC but also of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF. In this interview, he speaks on current national issues. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to the renewed insurgency by militants in the Niger Delta?
In the first place, what were the offences committed by these people before they were pardoned? Are they not criminals? If I were the president, I would jail them.
So, are you ruling out dialogue as proposed by some people as a way of resolving the problem?
What kind of dialogue? Let them bring to table what they want. Let them do what they are doing, they will also suffer it. Are they also not suffering when they ruin the economy? Are they not facing the same problem like you and I? They are talking of marginalization today.
If you create Biafra today, is Biafra solidly Igbo’s? It’s not. When you go there, you would find a southern minority who will tell you that they don’t want to be part of it, even among the Igbo. Some Igbo will tell you that they don’t want it. If there is definitive kind of discrimination against certain segments of the country, that needs to be addressed because injustice creates dissatisfaction. If there have been injustices against one particular group in this country, let’s address it and not by taking the law into their hands.
That is criminality. We are also affected but we want to take it in a matured approach. You cannot go and begin to destroy state apparatus in order to achieve your agitation, it is against the law. I am not in a position to talk about which contract was revoked because I am not involved in that.
If those contracts were illegally awarded without going through the due process and the current administration wants to follow due process, what is bad about that? Go and do your investigation on that contract to see whether the old law that qualifies one for such contracts were made. What do you award contracts to militants for? In the first place, the name ‘militant’ is criminality. It is only this country that somebody will come back and say I am a militant and then ‘you award him contract.’ If they claim to be agitators as they are saying, then let them come out with their demands and not by holding the state to ransom.
Now, how would you want the government to handle this situation?
My advice is that you can’t take government for ransom. If their livelihoods have been damaged considerably by the pipelines and they have nowhere to go, let there be adequate compensation to them. It is not to take laws into their hands. And by the way, let me be honest with you, this is natural resources; nobody owns it and nobody farms it but by virtue of the location that you find yourself. If there is ecological diversification and you need to do something for your livelihood, then you table this issue to the federal government so that there would be amicable resolution
Giving the adverse effects of their actions, will it not be better to seek dialogue?
What do they need? Let them come out and tell government that ‘this has been our farmland, it has been devastated, we have no land to farm anymore’ and then bring a proposal to the federal government. This is how it should be done than issuing threats. If I were the president, I would have ended that thing by now.
How would you have done it?
Yes, by closing the whole thing down. Before oil came, didn’t this country exist? So, what are you talking about? We have been blindfolded and Nigeria became so lazy, a nation of cheap money. Before the oil, we had cocoa, we had palm oil, groundnut and pyramid, and those were the things that actually helped to develop the oil.
At a point, we in Benue challenged them that okay,’ let them go and drink their oil, we would eat our yams and then see who will survive.’
Read full interview on Monday Vanguard
Disclaimer
Comments expressed here do not reflect the opinions of vanguard newspapers or any employee thereof.
135 comments
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@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter if only they can really leave our oil for us to do what we think we can do with it
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter funny statement, Hausa's don't eat yam besides most food in Nigeria is been imported from other countries
@vanguardngrnews @vanguardngr Why is vanguard newspaper fast deteriorating in to a medium of hate preach and weird news?
This man is very foolish and can't even be a leader of 5 with what i see in him.. It's now you knew that the oil is a natural resources and it belongs to no one but only because of the location all because it's not located in the north or West.. Let me tell you Mr man, you and your cow president can't even get closer to the avengers even with the support of US army and British.. It's time for the country to devide and even the British that created it is away of that. This is not an issue of compensation my dear for you can't compensate and bribe someone with his money.. Because they are destroying the pipelines is the reason why you guys are interfering and want them to stop it and come out to say what they want right? But you have forgotten that there as been a peaceful agitation by Biafra protesters for long now but the government close there ear to listen because it's peaceful but only decide to kill unarmed civilians with soldiers... I believe this is the only word Nigerian government under buhari can listen.. Please my dear niger Delta avengers brothers continue with your good work and bring the economy to zero and please keep to your words never to shed any blood of any Nigerian army or police let them know that man pass man.. GOD BLESS BIAFRA, GOD BLESS NIGER DELTA REPUBLIC
They won't drink their oil. They will sell it, if you leave them alone, and use the money to buy your yam at a relatively cheap rate.
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter hahahahahaha frustrated aboki , lets split d country abeg lets dis dafts leave us alone useless ppl cow
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter Hausa / Fulani don't eat yams, Middle Belt have and eat yam,Very soon Middle Belt will kick you AREWA out.
To know who wants Biafra or not, its simple Referendum. Stop saying rubbish and call for referendum to decide Biafra. Nigeria is not working and nobody should force it to work. Uk is deciding whether to exit or remain in EU through referendum, that's civilization not shooting at unarmed Biafra protesters as in the case of Nigerian arm forces.
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter Plse is the yam own by state govt? From what can governor get his pay? Don't talk of civil servants.
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter We've started already full time in agriculture,checkout our cows.We don't need you. pic.twitter.com/CuIPQTfPOa
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter and they cannot live without the oil.
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter @Usman abubakar let ur useless brother give us de freedom nd c how we will rule ourse
@vanguardngrnews @trafficbutter yes we will sale our oil nd import ur yam nd tomatoes foolish people leave us alone to goo#giveusourfreedom#
@vanguardngrnews @vanguardngr and a senator is saying this. i wonder the type of creatures that we have over there in the upper house
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