Iwuanyanwu retires from active politics — after 43 years

Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) board of trustees, has announced his retirement from active politics after 43 years.

He made the announcement on Thursday at a media parley in Owerri, Imo state capital, to commemorate his 79th birthday.

Speaking at the event, Iwuanyanwu said insecurity can be curtailed if the security architecture of the country is restructured.

In recent times, there have been calls for the establishment of state police, which proponents argue will tackle the insecurity in the country.

The PDP chieftain said governors are helpless despite being the chief security officers of their states.

He said state police architecture will “enhance governments’ powers to use sophisticated ammunition” to fight crime.

“Insecurity in Nigeria can only be curtailed when the security architecture of the country is restructured to create room for state police,” he said.

“The concept of state policing will ensure that laws are enacted given the security formations created by the various state governments’ powers to use sophisticated ammunition to be able to combat sophisticated crimes of today.

“A governor cannot be the chief security officer of his state but remain helpless at the face of external aggression and invasion of his state by bandits only to wait for instructions from Abuja before security forces can swing into action to secure his people just like what is happening in most states today.

“That subtly seems to imply that governors are not in actual sense the chief security officers of their respective states and it equally means they are helpless in carrying out their primary responsibility as a government which they are under oath to do.”

The politician also added that “rotational and zoning of the presidency should now be enshrined in the constitution”.

“Restructuring the country to ensure devolution of powers to the federating units is a panacea to political stability in Nigeria,” he said.

“We need to have strong federating units and a weak centre so that everybody will leave Abuja and go back to their regions/states and develop the place and people will now pursue opportunities in their respective states and not in Abuja. The Local governments will now be made very functional to bring opportunities and development closer to the people.

“The agitation against injustice, marginalisation, tribalism, etc will stop because every region is developing at their own pace with proceeds from their soil, based on how they have been able to maximize and manage the proceeds from their respective regions.  The centre now gets a portion of the proceeds from every region to manage external affairs like immigration/foreign affairs, defence/military, etc.

“It is our view that the Presidency should now be rotational and zoning of the presidency should now be enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Implementation of federal character in all other political positions at the national level and in all appointments and employments would then further give every Nigerian a sense of belonging in the Nigerian project.”