NATIONAL CONFAB: Delegates Trade Blame Over Military Coups, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) Accused Of Flogging A Woman During His Days As Imo State MILAD!

Gen Ike Nwachukwu (rtd)

The issue of military incursion in governance in Nigeria reverberated at the National Conference Wednesday, as the delegates accused each other of being the real sponsor of coups that brought the military to power.

Former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba first accused the military of being behind several coups that brought it into governance.

"I disagree sir; only two coups were executed against the civilian government, the rest were military against the military and may have been sponsored by the military contractors, but definitely not the politicians.

"I am here to preach that we should consider regionalisation of the country. People have been talking about governors being corrupt but they have failed to speak about the activities of the contractors and their role in fueling corruption," he said.

However, General Paul Omu retired from Delta State countered him by saying that: “All military coups are instigated by politicians and civilians before they are consummated, while most wars were hatched by civilians long before it is fought. “I also like to add that all wars that are fought by soldiers are started by politicians and civilians. General Akinrinade made a statement a few days ago and people tried to shout him down. In military regimes, civilians are 90 per cent participants in the running of the affairs of government.

“In drafting the 1999 constitution, we did not have any military man as at that time who was a judge advocate or who was even a magistrate or a draftsman who could do legal drafting. Having said that I want to draw the attention of the delegates to the main issue why we are here. About 350 delegates have spoken since we started and the beauty of the speech of the President has been over-flogged,” Omu said. He said that what the President wanted was simple: “that the constitution needs some remodelling. The centre, which is the federal government, is very heavy and needs unbundling and we have to help the government unbundle the centre”.

Senator Femi Okurounmu who blamed the ills of the country on the military said, “All these vices of today are the cumulative legacies of the misguided policies of successive military rulers and their civilian collaborators since 1966, starting from the abortion of federalism, through the sectionally skewed creation of multiplicity of states beyond the initially justifiable and balanced 12 states by General Yakubu Gowon, to the introduction of the so-called presidential system of government, which now enables a one-man ruler to personalise all state resources and loot the treasury with impunity: He said the youths are justified in blaming the elders for the problems of Nigeria.

“It is useful for them to also know that Nigeria has not always been this uninspiring. Our country has not always harboured so many cheats and liars, cultists and ritual killers, rapists and kidnappers, money worshippers and religious bigots. “Our leaders have always been so generally perceived as habitual, violence-prone election riggers and self-serving treasury looters. If Nigeria is to return to the path of growth and wholesome values, we must wipe away all the negative imprints of military rule. We must return to federalism and a balanced federal structure.

“The centre must devolve powers to the federating units, which are large enough to effectively wield the powers to be devolved. The present six geo-political zones, or the original 12 states created by Gowon, are ideal for this purpose.

“Further more, if corruption is to be curbed and accountability restored to governance, we must jettison the so-called presidential system and return to the parliamentary system, under which our nation set the pace in growth and development even for today’s Asian Tigers,” he stressed.

General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) reacted to the allegation that he flogged a woman when he was military governor of Imo State, saying that he comes from a family where people don’t raise their hands on women.

The former military governor of Imo State said he also had a strong military background where officers and men don’t raise their hands against women. Having occupied several positions in the Army, he argued that he has never raised his hands against any woman.

He said he had given instructions to a commissioner to lock out latecomers but never took it beyond that. “I have never raised my hands on any woman and will never do that. This is to let all the women here and outside know that I am their very good friend and cannot do anything to hurt them. I just wanted to clear the air on the matter before the press blow it out of proportion.” A thisday extract.