President of Ijaw Media Forum, Mr. Asu Beks, spoke to JOE ADIORHO on the call for amnesty for the Boko Haram sect, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration and other topical issuesHOW would you react to the growing insecurity in the country'We have always had such a problem. The greatest threat to Nigeria, in terms of insecurity, has been the Nigerian Civil War, which was fought for over 30 months.And as you must have heard, during the campaigns, a certain group boasted that if President Goodluck Jonathan won the April election, they would make the country ungovernable, and they have kept to their promise.It is now left for the President to go after these people and keep them where they belong, because the level of insecurity we are experiencing is created by those opposed to his emergence as President of the country.And as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, Jonathan has all the facts before him. He knows the people involved; he gets security reports on a daily basis and it is left for him to take action.If he does not want to take action and he is comfortable with the level of insecurity in the country, so be it.As the menace of the Boko Haram sect continues to spread across the country, are you not afraid the country's unity and corporate existence could be under threat'I don't see Boko Haram as a threat to the continued existence of Nigeria. But there is an urgent need for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to enable the various ethnic groups in Nigeria forge a way forward.At times, there are certain things that happened that makes one begin to wonder if really we are one Nigeria. When certain parts of the country produced leaders, nothing goes wrong. But if the other parts produced a President, hell is let loose.If the oil that we are talking about, coming from the Niger-Delta, were to be from the North, those of us in the Niger Delta would not be allowed to even touch it. And they would have seceded long time ago.One thing that the North does not even understand is that the Niger Delta agitation started about 70 years ago, even before the issue of amnesty came up.And even the Niger Delta never said that it want to seceded; it only said, 'let the wealth of the country emanating from our region be distributed equitably, so that it doesn't amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.'Looking at the way we are today and the federal civil service, I doubt if we have up to 10 per cent of South-South people in key positions.We have over 500 parastatals and apart from NIMASA, where an Ijaw man is in-charge, there is no other Niger Delta-indigene heading any other parastatal.But Boko Haram cannot dictate to Nigerians the kind of education, food or clothes they want. If one thinks or decides not to attend school, it is his or her business.No one part of the country has the right to tell the other how they should go about schooling or living their life. Everything the Boko Haram sect is using, including the bomb, is product of western education that they are opposing.What is your view on the suggested amnesty for Boko Haram members'It would not happen in our lifetime! How do you grant amnesty to criminals who have taken up arms against innocent children, women and men' Do they know how long it took the Niger Delta ex-militants to get amnesty'Are we saying that amnesty should be given to all the armed robbers in Nigeria'Granting amnesty to Boko Haram sect will be unacceptable to majority of Nigerians. So, Jonathan should not fall prey to such antics for any reason.What is your rating of the President's style of governance'He is a man I know too well. I see him as a gentleman; one who is ever ready to keep to his promises. One who would not want to hurt anybody and believes in the rule of law.He practises what he preaches and believes so much in the greatness of the country.Unfortunately, it is not a project that he can drive alone; he has to drive it along with Nigerians. But we have seen a team, for instance, a cabinet that is not moving towards the direction of the President. Everyone seems to be going on his/her own ways.There are also the cases of some ministers who think they know more than the President himself.However, there are some exceptional cases and there are very few.I can say that three-quarters of the ministers in Jonathan's cabinet have no business being there, because they are not sharing the vision of the President.What measures would you want the President to put in place to achieve his administration's goals'In a country like Nigeria, one cannot become a President and be going about with kids-glove. That is why I will never buy into his talk of, 'I'm not a dictator, I'm not King Pharaoh of Egypt, I'm not a Goliath, and I'm not a General.' We need a President who must not be a dictator, but a man who would show the entire world that he is in-charge. We need a President that is firm and fair.Jonathan told Nigerians that he is going to spend only four years in office and he knows he has no time on his side.We need somebody who is careful; who needs to exercise some restraints and caution, but there should be a limit to this, so as to avoid being referred to as 'Mr. Slow Poison.'I don't feel comfortable when I go out as somebody from the Niger Delta and people began to make some derogatory comments about the President. But I keep telling people that he has only four years and is not coming back for a second term.
Click here to read full news..
