The former Governor of Abia state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu was a guest on AIT’s political and current affairs program “Frontline,” on Sunday June 1. While fielding questions, Kalu says that what Nigeria is experiencing with boko haram is a civil war. He also appealed to the government to plead with boko haram as they are humans…“If we are not careful, Jonathan will be the last president of Nigeria because nobody will take this bombing anywhere, because killing of people everyday means that there’s chaos and nobody wants to be associated with chaos, because it is from this bombing here and there that people will start demanding for independence. It happens but God forbid. We want our country to remain as one and a strong country.

Other countries even the European union are expanding their boundaries so why should we allow our country to disintegrate. It’s not about President Jonathan or who is minister or governor or what have you. It is about the nation. President Jonathan does not own this country; neither are the ministers the owners of the country. The country belongs to all of us collectively so we must come out openly as we are coming out now to solve the problem of the nation: to be able to reach out to Boko Haram formally and informally. This is what I have always said. It’s not about the government. Business men own this economy. In the US, do you hear people talk about Obama? All the billionaires they don’t know who Obama is. They don’t even reckon with him because the economy is stabilized. People are talking about only three things: the economy, the economy and the economy. So I want people to come together, we are almost getting there, where the basing of the economy is very good, where the private sector will drive the economy not the public sector. And this is what I see that Iweala is trying to working out. Most of the political, business and military class, farmers know the root of this insurgency. We must come together and say we must stamp out this insurgency and we will stamp it out.”

Specifically what should the business class and the political class do to stamp out this insurgency?

This is a bipartisan decision that will be made by all Nigerians. It is no longer politics. It is not about APC. It is not about PDP. It’s not even about individuals, it’s about the nation. Commerce are no longer thriving, people should come together, the national security adviser should call a conference of few eminent people with the president and they will set up a strong committee and strategize on how to end this insurgency. These insurgents are our brothers, they are not from heaven. They are from here. They are from villages and the villagers know them, the farmers know them, the business men know them. So it is good we give peace a chance and call a mini summit and invite them directly or indirectly, we can discuss with them in Chad, Cameroun or even London or anywhere. So we can come together and plead with them. This is our country, the country is at the verge of collapse, and we are passing through a lot of pains, we are in a civil war! This is a civil war. There’s no civil war that is bigger than what Nigeria is passing throw today. So we must come back as Nigerians to put our foot down collectively as a people and be able to work together.

Some people say that Boko Haram may not be in a frame of mind to negotiate with the government; do you think the time is ripe now to negotiate with them?

They are human beings; they have blood flowing in them. They will negotiate. They are talking to a lot of journalists, they are reachable. So the government should go out formally or informally to reach out and negotiate with them. They are human beings. We will sit down and negotiate this issue. This issue is about negotiation. The people who are saying that the government cannot negotiate with Boko Haram are not realistic about the nation. Even after a civil war people will still go to the table to negotiate. So I believe that the government should set up informal channels to negotiate with Boko Haram and stop this insurgency.

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Orji, .......has always been foolish since 1908

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So much for the cheat-beating philosophy. Advocating for the cowardly way out is like taking painkillers for cancer. It'd still come back, even more ferocious.