A 2023 presidential aspirant, Mazi Samuel Ohuabunwa, has said he will end incessant killing of Nigerians within 60 days if he is elected president.
The presidential hopeful, who noted that he would reduce the security crisis to the fringes, however blamed poor intelligence gathering for the failings in the fight against insecurity.
Ohuabunwa, a pharmacist, politician and business executive, stated this during a special interview on LEADERSHIP podcast studio in Abuja.
Speaking on his plans to secure Nigeria, he said, “If I become president of Nigeria, within the first 60 days Nigeria will be secure. By being secure, it means that we will have basic security. It is not that we won’t have people fighting or struggling somewhere, but they will be on the fringes.
“I feel that our greatest failing in security is lack of intelligence. The military thinks that winning a war is by the use of force. I don’t think it has proven right – we have fought Boko Haram for 12 years plus.
“But how did we win against the Niger Delta militants? Was it by forcing them to surrender? We need to look at that. But for me, we need to secure Nigeria. Everyday I wake up and hear that somebody has been killed in any part of the country, I feel I have lost a brother, son or sister. That is how I feel, and I am not being pretentious; and that is one of the things that is driving me to contest.
“So we will secure this country: if we have to force it, we will; if we have to acquire it, we will do so; if we have to beg or negotiate for it, we will do so, but in 60 days this slaughtering of Nigerians, as if we have become cows, will stop.”
When asked if it was that simple he said, “It is very simple. Between the time I am announced as president and the time I am sworn in, in that three months period, we would have finished it. Security is service and if you want the best you can acquire it. We are in that state where we need to force things to change.
“The primary business of government is to separate us from people who are just out to kill us. When we keep trying the same thing and getting the same result, some say it is a sign of insanity. We need to do something drastic and, maybe, unusual to stop it,” he said, adding that the state of affairs in Nigeria was troubling.
“For every patriotic Nigerian, it is troubling. You wake up and you hear stories of Nigerians dying, not because of earthquakes or car accidents or some unavoidable circumstances but because human beings have decided to take out their anger on other human beings in the 21st century. Seeing people killed that way, it is really troubling.”
He added that his mission was to change the Nigerian narrative within two years through recruiting detribalised, enlightened, visionary, self-sacrificing crop of leaders who will look for nothing for themselves but to serve.
Ohuabunwa, who noted that Singapore was once like Nigeria, said he plans to change the narrative of Nigeria within one generation.
He expressed regret that the respect accorded the Nigerian passport in the past was no more, adding that he is embarrassed most times when he travels out of the country because of the way Nigerians are treated upon entry into other countries.
“If I become president of Nigeria after two years, when people see you with your green passport, they will ask ‘what is the miracle of Nigeria?’ The miracle will be that we changed the narrative.”
He further lamented the failure of Nigeria over the years to build on the benefits of its diversity and leverage on its human resource and natural endowments.
Although he has not declared for a political party, the presidential hopeful said he had been working with politicians and technocrats of like-mind under the platform of The New Nigeria Group.
He noted that the platform is a political movement comprising members from different political parties who are driven by an ideology to change the narrative of Nigeria.
Ohuabunwa, however, noted that the movement, after much deliberation, will move into either the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a political bloc to seek the presidential ticket.
He, however, said the prospects of using a new political party will not be ruled out even though it will be tough.
Culled from LEADERSHIP NIGERIA
