'There are many governments in Onitsha'
—Ozo Ughammadu, deputy speaker, Anambra State House of Assembly
By Okechukwu Obenta, Awka

Ozo Ughammadu

WHAT is your reaction to the report on the security situation in the state, as presented to the State House of Assembly by the acting Commissioner of Police, John Haruna?
I must say that I am indeed impressed by the submissions of the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, Mr. John Haruna. And also to observe that he happened to be the first ever commissioner of police ever to address this sacred parliament. This honour, I believe, has been accorded the people out of his own desire to brief Anambrarians on the security situation in the State, and also out of our own observations regarding his readiness to combat crime with his men in this state. I will say that he has just been made commissioner for one month and within one month, he has demonstrated substantial and, indeed, enormous capacity to handle violence in this state notwithstanding the poor facilities at his disposal. When he was actually painting the picture of police force in Anambra State, I wept because the facilities so mentioned are not even enough for one local government. And with such facilities, it will be very difficult to combat crime.

From your assessment of the situation, what would you say is actually responsible for the high level of violence that has degenerated into what is now generally described as guerilla warfare?

I wish also to say that as representative of my people, I wish to observe that apart from the organisations mentioned, we are being informed from different areas that there are high-tech strategies being used by some of the organisations because if you watch, the crime level is higher in Onitsha. And the question is, why Onitsha? Indeed, Onitsha happens to be the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State, and having the biggest market in Nigeria, or indeed West Africa. And by so saying, it is expected or assumed that money flows in Onitsha. And because of that, there has been struggle over control of resources at Onitsha. Before now, the governor was handicapped in controlling resources in Onitsha. We had many “governments” operating there under whatever guise: legal and illegal forces. We have a situation where this House of Assembly enacted a law. And when we came out with the law banning an organisation—NARTO (National Association of Road Transport Owners), it was misinterpreted that we ordered the ban or proscription out of hatred, or out of political motivation. No, we did it because the moment any government or any society begins to allow enormous resources to move into the hands of people who are not part of government, or to move into the hands of people who would not be able to control it, then we would have began to build anarchy for the society. And when such anarchy is visited on the people, it can come under different guises. Today, we are talking of MASSOB, we are talking of AVS, we are talking of different organisations. NARTO is being accused of sowing the uniform of MASSOB and masquerading as MASSOB. One has to say so, even at the risk of his life. We are being told, this House (of Assembly) is being told that some individuals sewed the uniform of MASSOB and began to masquerade as MASSOB. I can understand when the MASSOB people were operating in the hinterland, yes, they may do that with machetes and so on. When the kind of thing I observed few days ago– where hoodlums or armed robbers will be operating in an organised fashion with sophisticated arms that police cannot even afford– you begin to ask yourself questions such as: where are they obtaining this from? Is it just for the purpose of the so-called Sovereign Republic of Biafra? Because I know the average Igboman. The situation you find in Onitsha now is a struggle for allocation of resources. These are small boys of 13 to 16 years, arising from unemployment in a failed society, that has failed to provide employment opportunities for the teeming youths. That is why the police is finding it very difficult to manage. These people have controlled millions of naira over the years. And we were shouting in this House. We know today that close to one million naira is collectable at Onitsha on a daily basis. Where does this money go to? Any day you attempt to dislodge a man from where he collects one million naira a day, I tell you, he will do anything to remain in that position. That is the condition today. And we must as a matter of urgency alert all our people in authority in this country. What is happening in Onitsha is struggle for resources of Onitsha; if it is MASSOB, why is MASSOB not operating at Nise, Isiagu (an economically unviable part of the state)? Why is it operating only at Onitsha and Ekwulobia park? Why should it be so? It is more at Nnewi. If MASSOB is interested in acquisition of territory, all territories are equal. Why should they concentrate on areas where they will extort money? We have to say the truth. And all those Anambrarians that are involved must know that they are not made of steel, they are made of flesh and blood. If they succeed in exterminating the entire Anambrarians, there is God. They begin to make life unbearable for Anambrarians all over the place, stealing cars, belonging to members of the state House of Assembly. What does MASSOB have to do with cars belonging to members of the State House of Assembly? They will snatch your car, go and keep it somewhere, and possibly refurbish and paint it, waiting for 2007 elections. The struggle here is also to push away even the governor of Anambra State, so that they can take control of the parks and markets. The Federal Government must be told in clear terms, look at the problem, look at the truth. No humanbeing is above being called to order. And I will urge the Honourable Commissioner of Police, let no person try to blackmail you and make your job difficult for you. It is a difficult job, as long as there are people who are regarded as sacred cows. Sacred cows here must be called to order. They are making things difficult for the present governor of Anambra State. Today, it is AVS, tomorrow, they say it is MASSOB. AVS was established by a law of this House of Assembly. What is AVS? AVS is Anambra Vigilante Service, a neighbourhood watch. We are not talking about Bakassi. Bakassi was a useless affair. We are talking about AVS, human beings that will be assisting the police by way of information. Today, we are shouting
AVS all over the place. AVS, are they not these small small boys? Where will they get money to purchase sophisticated rifles and own as much as 2,000 rounds of ammunitions? Who are the people in the society that can afford it? It is people you can find millions of naira in their pockets. These are the people and they must be called to order. And they should be told that they are responsible for all that is happening in Anambra State today. At Nnewi, who robbed the banks? What is the purpose of robbing the bank? Why were they not robbing before when they had resources at their disposal? Today, they don’t have, they go to banks and all over the place.

Secondly, there are those other people that were freed from the prison. Those people who freed the prisoners are also responsible for all these things. We have many criminals that were let loose from the prisons at Onitsha. Today they are moving all over the places terrorising our people. I am not saying that MASSOB should not also be called to order, No. Every organisation that is creating trouble in Anambra State must be called to order. This House decided to outlaw NARTO because even though it is a legal organisation, registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and therefore legal in operation, we are also a lawmaking body, we have been vested with the responsibility of disbanding any organisation that threatens our lives and property in Anambra State. And we said NARTO should no longer operate in the parks in Anambra State. And over the years, they were allowed to be operating. They operated and people mistook it to be Ngige fighting NARTO. It wasn’t so. It was not Ngige fighting NARTO. It was because we foresaw what is happening today. And if they had listened to us when we proscribed them, today they would have restricted themselves to their own area of responsibility. And I will use this opportunity to say: this is the first time armed robbers operated and police within 48 hours recovered all the vehicles they used in the operation. I must also say that this House of Assembly (before now) has lost about seven cars belonging to members. And till this day none was recovered. By the time mine was snatched, I never had hope it was going to be recovered. I just placed hope in God, even though Mr. Speaker was quite optimistic. We phoned the Commissioner of Police and his deputy. And he said 'Mr. Deputy Speaker, be rest assured your vehicle will be recovered. And within 48 hours or less, the vehicle was recovered'. That vehicle was recovered and it has sent signals to those who have been plotting against this House ( that they are not safe). And because their rifles were recovered from the information I have, their ammunitions were recovered and some of them were shot. If you see my vehicle, the passenger side, there is blood all over the place, that is an indication that somebody was shot (and that person is probably one of them). So, I commend the police. I thank the Commissioner of Police (Haruna) and I urge him to look deeper into what is happening in this state, otherwise you will be chasing shadows when the real substance is there.