This is the concluding interview with retired Air Vice- Marshal Anthony Okpere. Today, he shares his experience as a helicopter pilot who twice nearly got killed during the Nigerian Civil War. Worried about the unabated corruption and stealing of public funds, AVM Okpere, a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airways recommends a radical solution: Shoot anyone found guilty!
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I was involved in the Nigerian Civil War. I came back from Germany in 1967, went back, learnt how to fly helicopter, came back March 1968 and by April 27, I got married. The day after my marriage I was deployed to the warfront. I didn’t have a honeymoon. I was there till the war ended at the end of 1969 and early 70. I was in the Search and Rescue Mission—Medical Evacuation. I flew helicopter. I also flew transport planes. In the whole of the Air Force, I and another person, we were the only airmen qualified to fly helicopter and transport aircraft. My duty was medical evacuation and sending supply to our troops.
I can never forget the first time I got to Enugu. We saw people with distended stomachs, heavy heads. They were suffering from kwashiorkor—a protein and vitamin deficiency disease. I started crying. The image still plays in my head. And these were elderly people and many children with bloated stomachs. The suffering was too much for me to bear. Another incident was when I had to fly to the warfront to pick up some wounded soldiers. There was one particular case that couldn’t be handled in Enugu, so I was asked to move him to Otukpo General Hospital. On landing, the fellow gave up. It was so painful. I was thinking of the young man, his parents at home waiting for him, not knowing that he would not come back.
I just pray for this country that we understand ourselves and may that situation not repeat itself again. May we not go through that mess again. War is terrible. Even me, I had my own brush with death. I crashed my helicopter twice. The second crash was a complete write-off. What happened was, we were to fly the helicopter back to Lagos for repairs. They were old helicopters. You had to fly a particular heading. I was out of Enugu. If I flew too much to my left, I would be in the enemy territory. I had to veer to the right to be able to avoid enemy ground fire. The helicopter was so old that you couldn’t go too high. You had to fly a bit low. Because of bad weather, I deviated to the left and the next thing, I heard was ground fire. And the weather was bad. Because of the bad weather, we had to fly on top of trees. So I moved far to the right. All of a sudden, from nowhere, my tank started leaking. By the time the thing just stopped, I dropped, only to find that we were at Uselu area. I was going to Benin Airport. That was a close shave. Because if we had crashed in the enemy territory, we could have been captured or killed.
The second one was when we crashed in Benin Airport. I was coming from Lagos and I didn’t know my hydraulic was leaking. And the engineer slept off. The helicopter was so old that if the hydraulic is not there, you cannot maneuver any longer. You will need 20 men to be able to pull left or right. So, the last turn I made to land in Benin Airport, everything went out and we were on the ground upside down. I survived by miracle.
COLLAPSE OF NIGERIAN AIRWAYS
The Nigerian Airways where I was once an MD wouldn’t have collapsed if the will to sustain it had been there. One thing I hate about this country is that you carry out a probe, you find people guilty and you leave them, you don’t do anything. So the same rot will continue. There was a probe at the Nigerian Airways. There was a White Paper on it, and a lot of people were found to have mismanaged and misappropriated. Thank God I hold my head high. I didn’t touch a kobo of the Nigerian Airways; my name was not mentioned anywhere. But then, how will the fellow coming behind not do exactly the same thing that the predecessor did? We treat corruption here with the backs of our hand. If I had my way, I would shoot everybody found to have taken public funds to enrich himself or herself. You will go, then the money will go, I don’t care. Because the way we are running this country, we need a new orientation altogether. I remember the very good old days when robbers, when criminals faced firing squad. China, till tomorrow, they shoot. Has the world gone to an end? Is China today not the leading country in the world? I was looking at the bridge they built suspended in the air. I saw the runway they built, the airport they built on top of a mountain. But if anybody steals, they shoot you if you are found guilty. Has the world come to an end? No! But here, we are too religious. We are too fanatical over certain things.
The kidnapping aspect; it’s not Nigerians doing this. The international community has a hand in this. Their plan is to destabilise Nigeria as much as possible. In those days, you see Fulani cattlemen going about with only sticks. Do you see them with AK47 rifles? These sophisticated weapons they are getting, from where do they get them? Is it not from the international community? Look at what is happening in Niger. A kilogram of uranium, is it two cents or how many euros? They are stealing our resources and causing confusion. If the international community remove their hands from this problem, Boko Haram and all the kidnapping would be solved. Once upon a time, you could travel in the night to any part of the country. Didn’t we have Fulani herdsmen then? The situation we are now facing has gone beyond the use of force only. It has to be a mixture of force and dialogue. Look at when Buhari was here. They said some Boko Haram people repented. Then you released them into the society. They go back again to Boko Haram. They were making money. Who organised the jailbreak in Kuje Prisons? They were targeting people that were arrested. Tinubu has inherited a big problem and it requires a lot of tact to handle. Let him look into the welfare of the people. See what you can do to reduce the hardship. There are too many taxes we are paying.