Speaking at his adoration arena over the weekend, Ebube Muonso, who is also the Rector, Blessed Iwene Tansi Pilgrimage Center, and Parish Priest of the Blessed Iwene Tansi Parish, Umudioka, all in Anambra State, insisted that Nigeria’s problems is hydra-headed, and therefore, must be tackled the way they are.
“The arrest and repatriation of the IPOB leader is a kind of leaving the substance and pursuing the shadow. Instead of exerting energy in pursuing IPOB members, who are merely seeking self-determination, the federal government could have employed experts that would tackle insecurity. They should also engage experts to manage the economy. Youths roaming the streets should be provided with jobs, so that criminality will reduce.
“Hunger and lack of economic opportunities beget restiveness. Let government do the needful, because, Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB are not the major problems. I am personally surprised that Nigerian government has this kind of security strategy as to nab the IPOB leader from a foreign land, still, government is not able to tame the tide of insecurity occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. The Nigerian government negotiates with leaders of Boko Haram and Fulani herders, who cause havoc in Nigeria; who also kill innocent citizens in their thousands. The same government is victimizing IPOB, who are merely calling for referendum. For me, IPOB are freedom fighters. They are fighting for the total emancipation of their people, the Igbo race. Let government stop pursuing shadows,” he said.
The cleric however urged the Buhari-led administration to call the IPOB leader and his members to a roundtable talk, a measure he said, would yield results that would reduce agitation.
“I’ve said earlier that dialogue is the only way to handle the issue of agitation, especially that of the pro Biafra agitators. You don’t always achieve peace using violence and threat. Mere arrest of Nnamdi Kanu can hardly solve any problem. Remember, many more are ready to die in the course of pursuing the Sovereign State of Biafra. Many are still ready to die. So, I do not believe that use of force can solve any problem. Let government, for once; call the agitators to a round table discussion. Government should listen to them; if then their demands are untenable, then, Nigerians will know.”
On the farmers/herders problems that disturb farming business in the southeast and other parts of Nigeria, the Catholic priest encouraged communities to sponsor local security outfits to secure the rural communities and their farms.
He said, “Communities should sponsor local security outfits to secure the rural communities and their farms. If they see any cow destroying people’s crops, let them shoot the cows. It is better the battle is fought now with courage, so that the people will have freedom and peace, than the peasant farmers living in perpetual fear and intimidation.
“Activities of the Fulani herdsmen are sheer wickedness. Old men and women in the villages survive through peasant farming. They do not have any other major business except farming. It will be sheer wickedness for the herders to destroy what the rural farmers labour to produce. Why should they do their business and earn money, while farmers are crying?”
On the issue of lopsided appointments in the public service, he said, “Honestly, I thought Mr. President is a good man. But every day, through his actions and inactions, he had continued to tell the world that he loves a section of the country and probably hates others. In his appointments, you see injustice; you see marginalization in concrete terms. There is no equity at all, and he doesn’t want to change.”
On the issue of fuel subsidy regime, he called on the federal government to revive the moribund refineries in the country, so that the fuel subsidy issue would end.
“The federal government should get the service of experienced economic team to sort out the economic problems of Nigeria. Oil is the main stay of the country’s economy. It is indefensible, therefore, to say that refineries in Nigeria are not working. What is the essence of leaving the country’s refineries moribund, while crude is exported for refining, then, re-imported to be sold at a higher cost in a country like Nigeria? It is wrong! Whatever it will cost for Nigeria to get its refineries working, the country can do it; if the political leadership were sincere.