Rousing ovation greeted the address of the highly cerebral mother of Anioma Nation and veteran media practitioner, HRM Obi Martha Dunkwu, Omu Anioma/Nneoha when she spoke truth to power at the Peace Leadership and Security Summit organised by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Delta State Command, in commemoration of the World Peace Day on Wednesday 21st September 2022, at the multipurpose hall of Grand Hotel, Asaba, Delta State.
Omu Anioma who was the Special Guest and fourth Speaker on the lecture theme “Effective Leadership and Economic Empowerment: The Solution To End Racism, Electoral Violence and Farmers/Herders Conflict Towards Peace Building”, told the audience that leaders have failed the nation at every level, insisting that rather than point the problem on its head, leaders are always in the habit of speaking grammar on diverse problems bedevilling the country without proferring solutions.
She said she would never agree with any Speaker who comes to allude blames on the youths as causes of insecurity and crime in the country, maintaining that the actual perpetrators of crime are the leaders who want to capture political power at all cost.
Omu Dunkwu affirmed that the youths are just victims of failures of leadership beginning with the failure of womanhood and abandonment of motherhood at the formative stages of their lives.
She said rather than leverage the critical place of a woman in nation-building and human capacity development, the government has refused to train the woman as the trainer who should actually be helping to mould values in the society. She added that rather than allow the woman space to grow and accomplish her purpose in creation, the male leadership would always want to compartmentalise her and then goes ahead to manipulate the youths in their favour for political power gains.
According to Omu Dunkwu, “We should go back to the basis on how leadership was developed then at the family levels. There used to be women who inculcated sound societal values in their children by being a good example to emulate.
“Women then would respect and honour their husbands, and also encourage their children to do so and to work hard. There was dignity of labour and honesty, transparency and accountability was the order of the day. Men would work hard to care for their families and the families would be proud of the heads of the homes because they were content with what they had.
“When a man planned evil those days, the woman would quickly decode and woke her husband up at night to counsel him against taking laws into his hand. The case is not the same today. Have we all searched our hearts to decide if we are doing the right things or the wrong things.
“My fellow Nigerians, the problem of Nigeria is not the absence of peace, but the perpetual absence of justice. People do lots of evil in our country and get away with it without justice. And that has accumulated so much anger and the resultant effect of such is the insecurity that is pervading every length and breadth of our dear nation. What does it cause to love and be loved.
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“We can’t come here and talk about terrorism, banditry, racism, electoral violence, cultism, drug peddling, armed robbery and more as the problems of peace in Nigeria with a view to pointing accusing fingers on the youths. All these challenges of insecurity didn’t just emerge on their own. Something was responsible as a cause. We must identify those causes by going back to the drawing board; and only then can we come up with solutions that will stand the test of time. As leaders, we must change first to be able to proffer solutions for change, otherwise we should relinquish leadership for the youths with a different mindset to bring us up to speed in economic growth, development and security advancement”, Omu Dunkwu posited.
Earlier, the delighted NSCDC Delta State Commandant, Akinsayan Abiodun had appealed to Speakers to honestly help to proffer solutions to some of the challenges of insecurity in our various environments.
He identified the need for peace and insisted that as security personnel their duty is to ensure the security of lives and property of all citizens; however, they cannot do it alone without a working synergy in information sharing with opinion leaders and critical stakeholders.
The Summit was chaired by Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai who was ably represented by Eric Anigala while other leaders of note like the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC, Rev. Monday Tom Udoh also spoke on the 2023 elections and what INEC is doing to ensure its success.
