Umenzekwe congratulates Nigerians, First Lady @65, says Nigeria has advanced …Urges Tinubu to announce release of Nnamdi Kanu in his Independence speech
admin September 30, 2025 0Honourable Chief Modestus Umenzekwe (Onwa Achina) has send powerful congratulatory message to Nigerians as the nation marks 65 years of nationhood. The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain also appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to announce release of Nnamdi Kanu in his Independence speech. Excerpts:
We are celebrating 65 years of nationhood, we want you to use this opportunity to congratulate Nigerians as a whole and the leadership in particular.
Yes, I am very happy to be a Nigerian. I want to congratulate the great men and women and children of this country for being Nigerians as God made it. I also wish to congratulate all our leaders, starting from the President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,, GCFR, down to the Governors, Ministers and all parastatals, Captains of industries, because we are making improvements. Even though my congratulation is coming late, I also want to congratulate the First Lady, Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who few weeks or days ago celebrated her 65th birthday. So I say a big congratulations to them and a big congratulations to Nigerians, may Nigeria age gracefully, keep on advancing, in every aspect of human endeavour.
Now Chief, October 1, Wednesday, 2025, Nigeria will be 65 years old, if it was to be a man he is now a grandfather or mother as the case may be, what can you say about the nation, Nigeria?
Well 65 years is not a joke, one thing significant about this year’s celebration is that it coincides with the birthday of the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu. The First Lady just celebrated 65 years, so you can see that, there is serious advancement. If at 65 and our First Lady is 65, one must have achieved a lot. She has been a Senator for two or three times and now the First Lady of the country. When you look at all the bills she sponsored in the Senate you would know that Nigeria has produced a personality in her person.
Then Nigeria as a country, as I said in my last interview, Nigeria is evolving and it is still evolving. There is advancement in every area of our human endeavour and infrastructural development of the country. Our democracy is deepening, infrastructure is improving; we are getting leaders that are taking hard decisions that will help the country in future. During election we don’t see people carrying ballot boxes again, they have learnt to go to the court to seek redress after election, our road infrastructure is improving, it is no longer the time the governors were complaining we are short of funds, all of them are getting allocations from the Federal Government. We have more universities, more polytechnics, more secondary schools, more primary schools. And the religious bodies, they are working in tandem with the Federal Government in the establishment of schools and all that. We have schools that are being controlled by the religious bodies, from primary, secondary to universities, so everything that makes a country, there is improvement, one way or the other. Yes we are not yet there, but we are moving. That is why when somebody comes to tell me, in America, UK, France will do this, I laugh, because those countries passed through what we are passing through now before they got to where they are, but I believe with time, we will get to where they are today.
You have painted a glowing picture of success at 65, could you tell us some of the challenges the country has faces over time?
Well you see, the problem of Nigeria just like other countries in the world, is a common problem which depends on the way we are handling it or each country is handling their own. Right from independence, it has not been so rosy, and that is why I said we are evolving, we are developing. But in the most recent time, we have security problem that appears to be ballooning, but with the way the President has stepped into the matter, and various state governors, we are caging the situation. In as much as our efforts are not yet enough, but we are caging the situation.
And that now brings us to the role being played by Social Media in some of those things. Certain issues are being escalated beyond normal, I am not condemning social media, there are good things derivable from social media, but the way things are going, I think, the way things are publicized, it is too much, it is too scary, so Government has to look into that and as individuals, you and I, have to be very cautious how we handle certain things on social media. Security is our problem but is being handled effectively.
In the country today there appears to be a disconnect between the leaders and the followers, where did we get it wrong as a nation? What do you think the leadership can do to be able to carry the led along?
One thing in particular in this country is, if it doesn’t favour Mr A, B or C, he criticizes the government. If it favours him, he says the government is working well, some of those people saying so many things about the government, go and look at their records, so when you say the people are not with the government, who are those people,? But if you say some people are not with the government, I can agree with that but not the people, it is not so. That the government took hard decisions on the things that will benefit us tomorrow, does not mean we would condemn the government? Look at our political situation, Mr A will come and say one thing, Mr B will come and say another, all bothering on personal interests. If you seek a position and you are not given, you criticize the government, then if you are given, the government becomes good. So it depends on the way you assess it. The government is trying her best in as much as we are not there yet. In your family it is the same thing, it is not all that easy, governance is not that easy. And that is not to say we go out to damage or shatter the image of the country because we don’t have any other country, we can only stay here, talk to our leaders, engage them, in a very constructive way, but when you go out there to run the country down, and you still come back to Nigeria and you want to be a leader there, I don’t know. Yes, not all decisions are right but decision must be taken to favour the majority either in short run or in the long run. So that is the way I look at it
Do you think corruption is the bane of development of this country?
You see I want to borrow a leave from former President, Muhammadu Buhari, may his soul rest in peace, he said, if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us, so no country will survive with corruption, and that is why the government is fighting tooth and nail to curb it to the barest minimum. Yo can’t wipe it out. Tell me one country that has wiped out corruption, tell me, one country in the world that has wiped out corruption completely, you can only reduce it to the barest minimum.
There is also the fear that our anti corruption fight appear to be lenient, our deterrent system is not working working.
What type of hard deterrent measure are you talking about?
The public believe that Corruption that is seen to destroy the foundation of our society, if proven to be true, just as in China..
We are not China people, we have our own laws, and have you been able to engage the chairman of EFCC to know what and what he has done, how many convictions he has gotten, in fact sometimes we talk outside the box. I am not holding brief for him, I mean the EFCC Chairman, one cannot tell me, they are not doing anything, no. When I listen to radio, TV and certain posts, I get worried, until we are able to engage them. Good enough you are one of the brightest journalists we have in the country, why not go there and find out? it is just like going to NDLEA, or you say police is not doing anything, but let the police go on strike for one hour, you can’t stay in your house, and it is like that in every nation, so our own is not as exception. But that is not to say, we don’t have bad eggs among them. So we keep on sieving the system but it must be in line with our own constitution, not the constitution of China. But when the constitution is amended, if it reflects that of China, fine and good, and that is why I want to commend the National Assembly that set in motion the alteration of the Constitution as headed by Honourable Benjamin Kalu, let us allow them come up with new laws concerning all these things.
There is also the fear that the leadership is borrowing the nation to stupor, so much so that several generation to come may not be able to pay, what is your take?
Tell me the country in the world that is not owing, just one country that is not owing. Have you been able to ask the relevant authorities? I don’t believe in this general statements. I am not saying we must borrow, but I don’t support general statements, if I am not furnished with proper statistics, I find it difficult to talk on the contrary. Tell me a country that doesn’t borrow, name one. However I call on the Federal Government and the subnational to do the best and leave the rest to God.
We are talking about 65th anniversary, at 65 we should be able to feed ourselves, but today the contrary is the case…
Well the situation is worrisome, so to say, but then, since Independence hunger has been there, and each successive government tries her best to ameliorate the system, even in the Western World, you still see people going hungry. What you should be asking is, is the government concerned, government is concerned and that is why the president said, we must allow the poor to breathe, and he is formulating a lot of policies that will attack the situation, but those policies have not started yielding the desired results the way we want it. He has laid the foundation. You see when you plant a corn, you would allow it to germinate, then you nurture it untill it starts bearing fruits. That is exactly what we are doing, that is why we are saying, if Nigerians will understand, they should support the President to go for Second Term, to ensure that some of these policies are properly implemented. So we have just planted a seed, and it is coming up, when you look at some of the policies that are brought out by the government, you would agree with me that they are sincere and if they are followed up, in no distant time, they will bear fruit, so I have hope that things will be better and hunger will reduce.
In the spirit of Independence, usually leaders use periods like this to grant pardon to prisoners or those in detention, what are you telling the Federal Government regarding Nnamdi Kanu? Is it not time they let this young man go.
I have answered this question several times. Nnamdi Kanu is a Nigerian, an Igbo man for that matter, our son, and I said, even from the time of President Muhammadu Buhari, I made an appeal, that, the nitty gritty of the law should not be considered, political approach must be adopted to release him. I have made that appeal and I am still appealing, and if our revered president, in his speech at 65th anniversary releases Nnamdi Kanu, it will be very marvelous. So on that note I am appealing to the President, please, release him, whether he erred or not, please, release him, it is an appeal. I know Asiwaju as a man who has a large heart, I know Asiwaju as someone who has built bridges across the six geopolitical zones, I know Asiwaju as a man who has compassion, I know Asiwaju as a man who is very very generous, but very careful in taking decisions, I know he is chewing the matter, pondering on the whole issue, and at an appointed time he will do the needful, I strongly believe that.
Chief, do you not think it would be in the favour of the president to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, especially as he pursues his 2027 reelection dream, the South East zone will vote him massively
Yes, it is all part of the generosity from the president, if he is so generous to release him, the Igbos will be so generous to equally support him in addition to very few of us that have been supporting him and will keep on supporting him.
Now the president is working towards second term, his Chief of Staff, Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila is there, what other role do you think can be given to him in the next dispensation?
Why do you ask me this question? Femi Gbajabiamila is doing his job effectively well to the best of my knowledge, I don’t know what you mean, and at times, you see, people try to come between two friends to put asunder. He is doing his work and it is not bad if he is given a higher role. If he is given a higher role it is good. It is now left to the president to know where to assign him if he feels he deserves a bigger role, after all Femi’s CV is so strong to attract greater responsibility.
There is also a man so missed in this Administration, he is Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, he is so missed, I hope he will get back to active politics in 2027. As a journalist I have taken time to study his brand of politics and I said, this is the kind of man Nigerians need. So as a chieftain of APC, when is Fashola coming back to real politics?
This question should be directed to him. The man has served this country creditably well, did he tell you that he is being missed? Or the President told you that he is missing him. I feel the man is resting, and you can see him delivering lectures here and there, you know he is not a noise maker, he is a trail blazer, I feel he is resting, but I know he has done great work for this country.
Your word of advice to Nigerians and the leaders
First of all power belongs to God, it is Him that gives power, therefore we must take precautions the way we pursue power, whatever we are doing, we must first of all place it before God, then exercise patience with the government of the day and support all the good policies, be our brothers keeper. When you see something, say something, let’s not run this country down, let’s not cause violence, let is not run our leaders down, let us work as a team, we have no other country than Nigeria.
