Yar’Adua is trapped – IBB’s in-law
From ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Wednesday, May 27, 2009


•Sonny Okogwu
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
Chief Sonny Okogwu has declared that Nigeria was being ruled from the spirit world and concluded that the inability of the power seekers to keep to their own side of the bargain may have been responsible for the series of woes befalling the country.

Speaking to a select group of Journalists in Kaduna at the weekend on 10 years of democracy in Nigeria, the presidential candidate of the Republican Party of Nigeria, (RPN), in the 2007 presidential race said, “There is a fire on the mountain. Nobody sees except David. This country is ruled by spirits.

People invoke spirits to give them power and everything and to shut anybody up when you are in power and those spirits demands for their payment. If you don’t pay when you get it done, you and your nation will suffer.

“Spiritualism is all over the place. There is nobody in power who has not gone for prayers. Prayers in one form or the other; sacrifice in one form or the other. You journalists cannot sit here and know what is done in secret. Invisible pact is all over and until that is remedied by our traditional rulers; they are the only ones who will help this country and bring back the normalcy. If the traditional rulers in the South-South call the militants to say it is enough, they dare not carry guns again.

No militant will carry a gun and no shot will be heard again because the powers with them will teach the militant a lesson and if they disobey them. Inside their camps, they will sleep and not wake up again. That is power of tradition. The culture is there, the tradition is there.”
He also spoke on other issues of national interest.

Excerpts:
On Friday, we will be celebrating 10 years of uninterrupted democracy in the country, and two years of the Yar’Adua’s government. Do we really have cause to celebrate?
Well, 10 years of democracy; on the screen, you see it as real. But in the control room, it is nothing but edited. It is edited democracy. A democracy whose principles and practices, behaviours of operators are hidden and what you see in the public are nothing but fake news and fake pictures. It is not a democracy for the people, but a democracy out of the people.

But because the word democracy means that the whole world should not allow the military to govern, that is why we say we are practicing democracy. So, for the 10 years, what you saw as democratic is autocratic, authoritarian democracy, aggressive government and dictatorial. So choose anyone and see the one that has been practiced in Nigeria for the 10 years.

On the President’s two years in office, I have nothing to say. If I am in the party that gave him the appointment, I would have said that the assignment given to him has been done. In two years, PDP did not tell us what they asked the President to do.

The President waited for one year and there was no assignment given to him by the party and had to announce a self appointed project- the seven-point agenda. Those points he raised that we in existence will continue to exist whether there is a ruler or no ruler in this country. The country has remained static and everybody knows that there is a storm on the seven-point agenda. So, the President needs help to refine those agenda, transform them and make them practicable. But since his own is not a one man majority, he is not a dictator; his party will not allow him to do it. What I am saying is that our President is trapped. Let his media spokesman tell us why they allowed our President to be trapped.

Talking about 10 years of democratic rule, are you saying that Nigeria has not achieved anything? You also talked about smokescreen democracy. Can you give us examples of the fake democracy you talked about?
There is a fire on the mountain. Nobody sees except David. This country is ruled by spirits. People invoke spirits to give them power and everything and to shut anybody up when you are in power and those spirits demand for their payment. If you don’t pay when you get it done, you and your nation will suffer.

Are you saying that Nigeria is indebted to the spirit world?
Spiritualism is all over the place. There is nobody in power who has not gone for prayers. Prayers in one form or the other; sacrifice in one form or the other. You journalists cannot sit here and know what is done in secret. Invisible pact is all over and until that is remedied by our traditional rulers; they are the only ones who will help this country and bring back the normalcy. If the traditional rulers in the South-South call the militants to say it is enough, they dare not carry guns again. No militant will carry a gun and no shot will be heard again because the powers with them will teach the militant a lesson and if they disobey them. Inside their camps, they will sleep and not wake up again. That is power of tradition. The culture is there, the tradition is there.

How do you know that the nation is being governed from the spirit world?
Anytime you are in the corridor of power, you see those things. It happens everyday.

You are from the Niger Delta and you are aware of the military operations there at the moment. What is your reaction to it?
When you talk of Niger Delta, that name does not exist. So, anybody that says there is a military operation in the Niger Delta will be asked to produce an evidence to show that where the operation is taking place is Delta. You know as experts say, the word Delta means river line and if a soldier is exchanging guns on land, is it Delta? The answer is no. So what we are saying and what we are hearing are camouflaged statements designed by military that is, the recognized militants.

We have the recognized militants and unrecognized militants. Recognized militants are members of the Nigerian military while the unrecognized are mercenaries of whatever origin we don’t know. To tell you the truth, there is confusion in that zone.

A member of the House of Representative from the North said on the floor of the House that if wiping out the Ijaws will ensure peace in the country that it should be done. But members from the South- South zone took offence to that. What is your reaction to this development?
What he is trying to say is that it is better to lose one man than to lose 10.

So, the bombardment should go on?
Military tactics they call it. If you declare war on a nation and one man is the cause of the war, destroy him.

(Cuts in) what about the innocent citizens?
There is no war without the innocent dying. If you analyze what causes a war and breakdown of civil disorder, it is unbelievable who causes that war. It is the innocent.

Does that mean you support what is going on in the Niger Delta?
I don’t know what is going on in the Niger Delta. If there are camps in that area and the people on authority visited the camps, you say they are militant against your country, what is the rationale and what are they telling us? You are saying bombardment. I don’t accept that word. To bomb a city, you know that type of weapons you will use on that city and who you are looking for. We have not acquired precision weapons that if I am looking for Mr. A in a crowd of 100,000, he just spots Mr. A and destroys him. What we have is that you are looking for Mr. A and he is mixed up in the crowd and the entire crowd will have to go. So, saying that the military is bombarding them, I don’t know the military that has that air defence equipment to go and attack its own people by air.

Is your party part of the mega party proposed by Chief Enahoro?
Not at all. We don’t believe in mega parties. If you leave your party and cooperate with another party, you are a traitor to the members of the party and to INEC, you have committed a very serious offence because you took an oath before you were registered. If you do that kind of thing, your registration will be taken away from you and you will be punished. What that means is that in the next 10 years, you and that political party will never surface or be a member of any organization representing this country.

Do you still have presidential ambition?
There was never a time I had it. I just took that opportunity to speak to the people and you heard me. I have spoken and I am out of it.

So, what are the plans of your party for 2011?
We don’t have plans for 2011. 2011 is automatic for political repositioning. It means that power must go to a certain place and that place must get the Presidency no matter how big your political party is or how big you are. If you are from the North, 2011 don’t go and campaign for the President.

Where will power shift to?
Rotation.

Where will it rotate to?
You know.
We don’t know.
What are the militants talking about? They are talking about economic and political power.

But they have the Vice President?
Yes. If you analyze the secrecy behind this operation and the secrecy behind the appointment of the Vice President from Bayelsa, you will know that something has been violated. What has been violated is the time limit for the person from that area to stay in power. There was an understanding that each person will stay in power for two years for those who brought this nonsense and promoted it to cause this type of civil war. The big six who are the resource control men and you know them. They brought this palaver now. Those resource control men should be VP for eight years. What that means is that Goodluck Jonathan has done his two years and therefore should go.

James Ibori should come and stay for two years and then go; Odili should come after that and stay for two year and go. Then Duke should do his own two years and go; then Lucky should do his own two years and go. The last person to do two years will be the person to be the number one come 2015. Is this happening? The greed has made somebody to stay put and because of that, the militants will not go. These people are the ones who brought this militancy to this country.

These boys were following them during campaign s, shooting everywhere; but when they won and were in position, they forgot these boys without anybody helping them. So, it is the part of vengeance that you are hearing now. So, until the Federal Government and the President summon these big six who started this, nobody can stop it except them.

Constitutionally, this analysis is not possible. How can you have a Vice President for two years?
That is rotational Presidency and it is understood.

Is that your panacea for solving the Niger Delta crisis?
Immediately. Bring in the VPs.

Through what means, will it be through impeachment?
No. Through understanding. You have done two years, then go and let us test another person. Let us see out of the six who will be capable and be acceptable.

Are you now saying that Jonathan should resign?
Not resignation. There is a better job for Jonathan than what he is doing now.

What is that job?
You reposition him as an ambassador.

Finally, many Nigerians are asking Yar’Adua to run for a second term in office while some are saying your in-law, Babangida should come and salvage the nation. where do you stand in all these?
Yes, they are not birds of the same feathers. Each of them has his operational tactics and followership as well as successful goodluck. If they say that Babangida should run and there is no reason to doubt that Babangida can solve that thing Umaru Yar’Adua cannot solve, why not. The mission is the same. All we want is a better country.

But if they say Umaru should continue and at the end he will solve that problem, why not leave him to continue? There are some of us who can solve Nigeria’s problem without sitting there. You journalists have not been at the Presidential Villa sitting on luxury chairs, but you have solved a thousand and one problems for this country. It was the journalists who stopped the civil war even though you did not start it. I was there. Is it a small thing to stop a war in a country?

But the journalists did. So many things have happened in this country and people sit in their home and solve it. Namibia was looking for independence and two of us, me and Senator Ahmed Aruwa Muktar brought out something that made Namibia got independence through you the media here in Kaduna. Have they rewarded you? But when an activist speaks out of control, they call him and give him billions.

johnugwu:

Yar’Adua is trapped – IBB’s in-law
From ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Wednesday, May 27, 2009


•Sonny Okogwu
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section
Chief Sonny Okogwu has declared that Nigeria was being ruled from the spirit world and concluded that the inability of the power seekers to keep to their own side of the bargain may have been responsible for the series of woes befalling the country.

Speaking to a select group of Journalists in Kaduna at the weekend on 10 years of democracy in Nigeria, the presidential candidate of the Republican Party of Nigeria, (RPN), in the 2007 presidential race said, “There is a fire on the mountain. Nobody sees except David. This country is ruled by spirits.

People invoke spirits to give them power and everything and to shut anybody up when you are in power and those spirits demands for their payment. If you don’t pay when you get it done, you and your nation will suffer.

“Spiritualism is all over the place. There is nobody in power who has not gone for prayers. Prayers in one form or the other; sacrifice in one form or the other. You journalists cannot sit here and know what is done in secret. Invisible pact is all over and until that is remedied by our traditional rulers; they are the only ones who will help this country and bring back the normalcy. If the traditional rulers in the South-South call the militants to say it is enough, they dare not carry guns again.

No militant will carry a gun and no shot will be heard again because the powers with them will teach the militant a lesson and if they disobey them. Inside their camps, they will sleep and not wake up again. That is power of tradition. The culture is there, the tradition is there.”
He also spoke on other issues of national interest.

Excerpts:
On Friday, we will be celebrating 10 years of uninterrupted democracy in the country, and two years of the Yar’Adua’s government. Do we really have cause to celebrate?
Well, 10 years of democracy; on the screen, you see it as real. But in the control room, it is nothing but edited. It is edited democracy. A democracy whose principles and practices, behaviours of operators are hidden and what you see in the public are nothing but fake news and fake pictures. It is not a democracy for the people, but a democracy out of the people.

But because the word democracy means that the whole world should not allow the military to govern, that is why we say we are practicing democracy. So, for the 10 years, what you saw as democratic is autocratic, authoritarian democracy, aggressive government and dictatorial. So choose anyone and see the one that has been practiced in Nigeria for the 10 years.

On the President’s two years in office, I have nothing to say. If I am in the party that gave him the appointment, I would have said that the assignment given to him has been done. In two years, PDP did not tell us what they asked the President to do.

The President waited for one year and there was no assignment given to him by the party and had to announce a self appointed project- the seven-point agenda. Those points he raised that we in existence will continue to exist whether there is a ruler or no ruler in this country. The country has remained static and everybody knows that there is a storm on the seven-point agenda. So, the President needs help to refine those agenda, transform them and make them practicable. But since his own is not a one man majority, he is not a dictator; his party will not allow him to do it. What I am saying is that our President is trapped. Let his media spokesman tell us why they allowed our President to be trapped.

Talking about 10 years of democratic rule, are you saying that Nigeria has not achieved anything? You also talked about smokescreen democracy. Can you give us examples of the fake democracy you talked about?
There is a fire on the mountain. Nobody sees except David. This country is ruled by spirits. People invoke spirits to give them power and everything and to shut anybody up when you are in power and those spirits demand for their payment. If you don’t pay when you get it done, you and your nation will suffer.

Are you saying that Nigeria is indebted to the spirit world?
Spiritualism is all over the place. There is nobody in power who has not gone for prayers. Prayers in one form or the other; sacrifice in one form or the other. You journalists cannot sit here and know what is done in secret. Invisible pact is all over and until that is remedied by our traditional rulers; they are the only ones who will help this country and bring back the normalcy. If the traditional rulers in the South-South call the militants to say it is enough, they dare not carry guns again. No militant will carry a gun and no shot will be heard again because the powers with them will teach the militant a lesson and if they disobey them. Inside their camps, they will sleep and not wake up again. That is power of tradition. The culture is there, the tradition is there.

How do you know that the nation is being governed from the spirit world?
Anytime you are in the corridor of power, you see those things. It happens everyday.

You are from the Niger Delta and you are aware of the military operations there at the moment. What is your reaction to it?
When you talk of Niger Delta, that name does not exist. So, anybody that says there is a military operation in the Niger Delta will be asked to produce an evidence to show that where the operation is taking place is Delta. You know as experts say, the word Delta means river line and if a soldier is exchanging guns on land, is it Delta? The answer is no. So what we are saying and what we are hearing are camouflaged statements designed by military that is, the recognized militants.

We have the recognized militants and unrecognized militants. Recognized militants are members of the Nigerian military while the unrecognized are mercenaries of whatever origin we don’t know. To tell you the truth, there is confusion in that zone.

A member of the House of Representative from the North said on the floor of the House that if wiping out the Ijaws will ensure peace in the country that it should be done. But members from the South- South zone took offence to that. What is your reaction to this development?
What he is trying to say is that it is better to lose one man than to lose 10.

So, the bombardment should go on?
Military tactics they call it. If you declare war on a nation and one man is the cause of the war, destroy him.

(Cuts in) what about the innocent citizens?
There is no war without the innocent dying. If you analyze what causes a war and breakdown of civil disorder, it is unbelievable who causes that war. It is the innocent.

Does that mean you support what is going on in the Niger Delta?
I don’t know what is going on in the Niger Delta. If there are camps in that area and the people on authority visited the camps, you say they are militant against your country, what is the rationale and what are they telling us? You are saying bombardment. I don’t accept that word. To bomb a city, you know that type of weapons you will use on that city and who you are looking for. We have not acquired precision weapons that if I am looking for Mr. A in a crowd of 100,000, he just spots Mr. A and destroys him. What we have is that you are looking for Mr. A and he is mixed up in the crowd and the entire crowd will have to go. So, saying that the military is bombarding them, I don’t know the military that has that air defence equipment to go and attack its own people by air.

Is your party part of the mega party proposed by Chief Enahoro?
Not at all. We don’t believe in mega parties. If you leave your party and cooperate with another party, you are a traitor to the members of the party and to INEC, you have committed a very serious offence because you took an oath before you were registered. If you do that kind of thing, your registration will be taken away from you and you will be punished. What that means is that in the next 10 years, you and that political party will never surface or be a member of any organization representing this country.

Do you still have presidential ambition?
There was never a time I had it. I just took that opportunity to speak to the people and you heard me. I have spoken and I am out of it.

So, what are the plans of your party for 2011?
We don’t have plans for 2011. 2011 is automatic for political repositioning. It means that power must go to a certain place and that place must get the Presidency no matter how big your political party is or how big you are. If you are from the North, 2011 don’t go and campaign for the President.

Where will power shift to?
Rotation.

Where will it rotate to?
You know.
We don’t know.
What are the militants talking about? They are talking about economic and political power.

But they have the Vice President?
Yes. If you analyze the secrecy behind this operation and the secrecy behind the appointment of the Vice President from Bayelsa, you will know that something has been violated. What has been violated is the time limit for the person from that area to stay in power. There was an understanding that each person will stay in power for two years for those who brought this nonsense and promoted it to cause this type of civil war. The big six who are the resource control men and you know them. They brought this palaver now. Those resource control men should be VP for eight years. What that means is that Goodluck Jonathan has done his two years and therefore should go.

James Ibori should come and stay for two years and then go; Odili should come after that and stay for two year and go. Then Duke should do his own two years and go; then Lucky should do his own two years and go. The last person to do two years will be the person to be the number one come 2015. Is this happening? The greed has made somebody to stay put and because of that, the militants will not go. These people are the ones who brought this militancy to this country.

These boys were following them during campaign s, shooting everywhere; but when they won and were in position, they forgot these boys without anybody helping them. So, it is the part of vengeance that you are hearing now. So, until the Federal Government and the President summon these big six who started this, nobody can stop it except them.

Constitutionally, this analysis is not possible. How can you have a Vice President for two years?
That is rotational Presidency and it is understood.

Is that your panacea for solving the Niger Delta crisis?
Immediately. Bring in the VPs.

Through what means, will it be through impeachment?
No. Through understanding. You have done two years, then go and let us test another person. Let us see out of the six who will be capable and be acceptable.

Are you now saying that Jonathan should resign?
Not resignation. There is a better job for Jonathan than what he is doing now.

What is that job?
You reposition him as an ambassador.

Finally, many Nigerians are asking Yar’Adua to run for a second term in office while some are saying your in-law, Babangida should come and salvage the nation. where do you stand in all these?
Yes, they are not birds of the same feathers. Each of them has his operational tactics and followership as well as successful goodluck. If they say that Babangida should run and there is no reason to doubt that Babangida can solve that thing Umaru Yar’Adua cannot solve, why not. The mission is the same. All we want is a better country.

But if they say Umaru should continue and at the end he will solve that problem, why not leave him to continue? There are some of us who can solve Nigeria’s problem without sitting there. You journalists have not been at the Presidential Villa sitting on luxury chairs, but you have solved a thousand and one problems for this country. It was the journalists who stopped the civil war even though you did not start it. I was there. Is it a small thing to stop a war in a country?

But the journalists did. So many things have happened in this country and people sit in their home and solve it. Namibia was looking for independence and two of us, me and Senator Ahmed Aruwa Muktar brought out something that made Namibia got independence through you the media here in Kaduna. Have they rewarded you? But when an activist speaks out of control, they call him and give him billions.

where is the link source sir?