In the concluding part of this interview with a Russian
trained medical doctor and political radical, Dr. Junaid
Mohammed, he reiterated the North’s e readiness for
National Conference. He also responds to the issues of
Nigeria’s federalism that have recently dogged the
polity. Excerpts: Appointment with Enahoro
To show how serious I am, I booked an appointment
with Chief Anthony Enahoro through a young man
called Shettima, I flew down to Lagos for two days
and I realized that everything that we have said about
them concerning the SNC was true. And Anthony Enahoro himself knew that was the
agenda but he did not have the courage to come out
and say it.
I also conducted a research and realized that the idea
of SNC has not worked in some African countries like
Benin Republic, Niger Republic, DR Congo and Republic of Congo. And in our country, SNC is presented
corruptly and fraudulently by the people here in Lagos
as if once you have the SNC all our problems will be
solved. Your revenue problems will be solved, all Nigerians
will love themselves, those who are exploiting the
North and other problems will disappear and Nigeria
will be like paradise. Forget what all these people are
saying. We found out that all the countries where SNC
were conducted, after that there was political instability leading to Coup d’état and not once, not
twice. In fact in DR Congo, there was not only coup but a
violent revolution with Joseph Kabila from the North
coming to Kinshasa to take over power. So where is
the argument of stability? So, these Lagos people
agitating for SNC are doing so in their own interest.
After the demise of Anthony Enahoro, they went to look for Pat Utomi to champion SNC. The same Pat
Utomi went to Kano and made some contentious
remarks on Maitama Sule that among all Nigerians, it
is only Lagosians that are not tribalistic. Why, because they made him chairman of poverty
alleviation in Lagos. I disagree with that. First and
foremost, I was alive when a gentleman called
Professor Eni Njoku was Vice-Chancellor of University
of Lagos which was a federal institution, not Lagos
State Government-owned or South-West-owned. He was sent out of office not because he did anything
wrong but because he is a non-Yoruba person. Junaid Mohammed So will the North participate if SNC is convened?
I am telling you that the issue of North against the
National Conference is over; we now say we are ready
anytime the conference is convened. In fact we said
clearly that in the event Nigeria breaks up, the North
will remain one and Abuja will remain our capital. In any situation, we are viable are tired of being insulted.
But before the break up will happen, we want to be
there at the Sovereign National Conference. We should
not be taken for a ride and we have removed the
roadblock and declared that we will participate. Now that they are calling for SNC, let the South –South
people who are now in power cede power. The
president should resign, and the Senate leadership
should resign up to Supreme Court before we hold the
National Conference because that is what it is. There
can be no institution standing if you are convening SNC, and these half-baked literate people now want to
change the thing to People’s National Conference. We believe that once you decide to lead the people,
you have to be truthful. We are ready for the
conference but we really want to know who is who. Is
it Ben Nwabueze representing his Igbo people in
Lagos or Pat Utomi representing Delta State or where?
So these are the major questions left un-answered. Taking you back to the derivation question, why is
North against derivation given that the South-South
lays the golden egg and suffers the hazards of the oil
exploration? The argument is what does the North
have to put on table or will the North share out of the
hazards caused by the pollution in the Niger-Delta? First and foremost, they do not lay any egg, golden or
silver. This oil was put there by Almighty God and it is
not like farming. So, the metaphor of laying an egg is
arrant nonsense. The correct position and what should
be considered is what should be done based on the
physical, material and massive damage? This brought up NDDC, OMPADEC and so called Niger
Delta Ministry to compensate materially those, who
are affected by oil exploration and it is directly from
Decree No 23 of 1992. I agree whatever the
compensation is, it is not enough. I also learnt from
Nigerian politics and during my work in Port-Harcourt that the people of Niger Delta will not be able to
develop that area, it will be the whole of Nigeria doing
that job. I also agree that Northern elites alone will not be able
to eradicate the poverty and insecurity in the North
due to Boko Haram. The elites in the North and the
South-South have no credibility, in fact they make life
hard for the people of the areas. So, that is the
responsibility of a responsible Federal Government. When I look at the people making noise about this
ecological problem, none of them knows the area
better than I do because I did not stay in Port-Harcourt
in an air-conditioned house, I went round by boats and
helicopters and I challenge anybody in Niger-Delta,
who says he knows the place more than I do to come. When we took over then, Rivers and Delta states
produced 55 percent of the oil. When we arrived, we
found out that 95 percent of the contracts were
abandoned in Rivers, I was the one who took care of
those contracts because some of the contractors took
money and ran away and it was some of these Niger Delta elites that took money and ran away. Then, if you get a contract of N200 million from
OMPADEC, they pay you 80 percent up-front for
mobilization. This place in Bayelsa State where the
army cleared, Odi, the roads in that place were
awarded before our arrival and I took over and
ensured that the project was completed. So, people through the pages of newspapers are being misled.
What is worrisome is that the people talking about
derivation have no view on the issue. The only state in the South-West that produces
marginal oil is Ondo State. Are you telling me that they
are not concerned about the percentage of
derivation?. They are concerned but have refused to
discuss it, they felt if the thing comes, good, if not, no
problems. Who are the people behind the collapse of banks in
Nigeria and how many Northerners are there and who
is fooling who? If you don’t have wealth, you don’t
know what it means to be wealthy. The Northerners
have never had wealth, also Northerners have been in
power for long to empower the zone, but the lousy Generals never did anything. Do you know that
majority of the real bunkerers, some of them are from
the North? Northern Generals are behind some of
those things. Or will you say because I am from the North, I should
not slam bunkering? Some of them are friends of past
government and this present government of Dr
Goodluck Jonathan. One thing I want people to know
is that the group that I lead is pro-Nigeria and not pro-
North and you will never see me defend a corrupt Northern elder in my political life of about 40 years.

Abuja is neither a cultural/entertainment melting point nor a region of any economic significance. With its 97 percent merely comprising civil servants and political offices, Abuja has negligible-to-zero Internally Generated Revenue, and would be totally incapable of sustaining 0.0000031 percent of its population, should the Niger Delta also go its seperate way tomorrow.

The thing about the shockingly vast majority of our corrupt public figures, is their innate inability to even look past the materialism that is infront of them, and focusing on the real picture.

But then again, such is to be expected from glorified thugs and illiterate kleptomaniacs.