Claims in some quarters that Igbos are not competent enough to provide credible leadership to Nigeria have been described as political antics just to deny them their turn to be President of Nigeria.
Speaking on Arise TV today, Thursday, February 3, 2022, Okwesilieze Nwodo, former Governor of Enugu State and one-time National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said that such notions are designed simply to perpetuate injustice to Igbos.
Nwodo said that Igbos have demonstrated more love and sacrifices for the unity of Nigeria than any other tribe. According to him, in 1999, when two frontline Igbo politicians, late Dr. Alex Ekwueme and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, were poised to emerge presidential candidates of their respective parties, PDP and All Nigeria People Party (ANPP), they were made to concede their ambitions to assuage the injustice allegedly done to South West for the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections perceived to have been won by late MKO Abiola.
Nwodo said it was such sacrifices made by the Igbos for the unity and peace of Nigeria that produced Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, all from South West, as presidential candidates of their respective parties. After Obasanjo eight years tenure, Nwodo maintained, in order to assuage the feelings of the North for keeping them out of power for eight years, President Umaru Yar’Adua was brought in to fill the position for the North. Goodluck Jonathan, he noted, was also considered in the same feelings to calm the nerves of the Niger Delta. Nwodo stated that all these arrangements were made to establish that the nation has a conscience. He therefore wondered “why the same conscience takes a flight when it gets to the turn of the Igbos.”
Nwodo declared that Nigeria needs a presidential candidate with integrity, one who will show clear economic road map to Nigeria, a candidate who can communicate, harness the economic diversities and potentials of the country. He assured that Anyim Pius Anyim, among other Igbos who have declared interest in the presidency of Nigeria, is eminently qualified to provide such leadership. Nwodo said that Anyim, having served as President of the Senate and Secretary to government of the Federation (SGF), has gained all the exposure and experience to fit into the description he made above and to govern Nigeria with the stated qualities.
This is as he maintained that there are other eminently qualified Igbos, mentioning the likes of Okonjo-Iweala, Peter Obi, etc. to rule Nigeria. “We have materials, we have people who have demonstrated credible leadership credentials in the past, wondering, “What is the crime of the Igbos if we cannot be considered fit to govern Nigeria.”
Nwodo posited that the North East has a commission just to heal the wounds and that Niger Delta commission and amnesty programs were also created just to heal the wounds. He asserted that Nigeria indeed owes South East a lot.
According to him, South East ought to be the first to deserve economic commission, just as has been done to North East and Niger Delta, saying: “Why is it that when it comes to South East, equity, fairness, etc, takes a flight. There’s no way that we can sustain a six geopolitical zone, he said with injustice, unfair treatment and denial of rights to one and expect same not to complain.”
