“Tinubu
is one of the most grounded politicians in the country today and as you
know, the South-East is laying claim to the presidency in 2023 only on
moral grounds” ■ Plot one of injustices meted out to Igbo – Mbazulike Amaechi ■ This is why we want self-determination – MASSOB ■ Igbo leaders in APC say support for Buhari in 2019’ll determine fate ■ Tinubu has right to be president in 2023 – Senator Hanga, others
Enyeribe
Ejiogu, Omoniyi Salaudeen, Onyedika Agbedo (Lagos), David Onwuchekwa
(Nnewi) and Jeff Amaechi Agbodo (Onitsha) and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The
nation’s political wind was agitated last Monday, when the Senate
President, Dr Bukola Saraki, revealed that the resolve of the National
Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to
support President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term, was primarily
driven by his desire to consolidate his private agenda of securing the
return of power at the centre to the South-West, and more importantly,
position himself for a shot at the presidency in 2023, thereby dashing
and scuttling the Igbo quest for the coveted office.
Expectedly,
the revelation was like stirring the hornets’ nest. It set off a
firestorm of angry reactions from key Igbo voices, who felt that the
energetic efforts to woo the Igbo into the APC were only intended to
sweep in a far higher share of the Igbo votes in 2019 for Buhari, but
with no real intention to support the South-East quest to produce the
president in the 2023 general elections.
The Igbo hope for the
presidency was rekindled sometime ago when the leaders from the
South-East visited Aso Rock and the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, assured them that 2023 is the most
auspicious time for the Igbo to ascend the presidency, advising them to
go home and support President Buhari in 2019 so that it would be easy
for them to take over from him.
Respected elder statesman and
Nigeria’s First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amechi,
viewed the alleged Buhari-Tinubu pact to be the continuation of the
political, social and economic injustices meted out to the Igbo in the
country.
He also noted that the subterranean moves to scheme out
the Igbo in the 2023 electoral calculations were reminiscent of Chief
Obafemi Awolowo’s collaboration with the northern military regime in the
aftermath of the aborted implementation of the Aburi Accord between
General Yakubu Gowon and the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
“What
Saraki said is obvious because those who follow the politics of Nigeria
know that it is the game that is going on now. We are not surprised.
The Igbo have been neglected and not seen as part of the federation of
Nigeria, but as slaves in the country.
“I have read in the papers
that the military is going to launch Operation Python Dance 3 in Igbo
land alone. If they don’t want the Igbo in Nigeria, let the people of
the North and the West say they don’t want the Igbo again in Nigeria and
Igbo will go their way. We are not equal partners in the federation and
the earlier they conduct a plebiscite the better for us, so that the
Igbo can go. And that is where the case of the IPOB is justified.
“We
are not begging to remain in Nigeria. Let them allow plebiscite in Igbo
land and Igbo will decide whether they will continue to be part of this
nonsense or not.
“In my own point of view, which is the general
point of view, Buhari should be contented with one tenure. He should not
contest in 2019. Somebody from the North should contest for the
remaining second tenure to enable the North serve out two tenures. Then
after that somebody from Igbo land should contest for the presidency in
2023 and should be supported to become the president. Equity, justice
and fairness demand that.
“It was the same thing that Chief
Obafemi Awolowo did, he hated the Igbo all his life. He fought the civil
war against the Igbo and when the war ended he came up with the idea
that every Igbo man should be allowed only 20 pounds no matter what he
had in the bank when he was the Minister for Economic Development and a
member of the federal executive council. The Igbo begged him to reverse
the policy to no avail. Not only that, it was Awolowo who advised the
Federal Government that starvation was the best instrument of war. So,
we are pained to remember that,” he said.
More knocks for the
revealed agenda came from the leader of the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB), Mr Uchenna
Madu, who said that the lingering crisis and disaffection in the ruling
party, which led to the revelation by the Senate President regarding
Tinubu’s hidden agenda against Igbo interest in 2023 has finally
concretized the compelling reasons for the thunderous outcry by Ndigbo
for self-determination.
Madu, however, said that MASSOB would not
shift a millimeter from its position that Buhari is the last president
of Nigeria because the country is already sitting on a time bomb, which
would likely explode soon.
He said: “To us in MASSOB, the current
government of Nigeria under President Buhari is a huge monumental
failure which can never be redeemed again. We have seen the hypocritical
handwriting, which was as a result of the secret and deceitful
pact/agreement reached and agreed by the Hausa/Fulani representing Arewa
and the Yoruba representing Oduduwa against the people of old Eastern
Region on the platform of APC.
“It is very obvious and clearer
that President Buhari will hand over the relay baton of APC to a
Muslim-Yoruba man after his tenure. They are seriously working on this
Islamic agenda, which no APC bigwig from the old Eastern Region can
stop.
Chibuike Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha, Ogbonnaya Onu, Chris
Ngige and others from Igbo land that later joined APC as a national
party are all political errand boys and stooges of the real owners and
controllers of APC.
“With President Buhari’s body language and
Osinbajo’s consistent defense of his master, the appointments of all
security service chiefs from Buhari’s Islamic kinsmen, his continuous
defense and protection of his foot soldiers popularly known as killer
Fulani herdsmen, his insensitivities against non-Muslims and inability
to protect the citizens are all clearer signs and evidences that Buhari
is executing an arranged and planned agenda that is detrimental to
non-Muslims in Nigeria.
“The rot, imbalances and inequalities in
education sector where there are special and preferential laws for
northern citizens against the southern citizens, the economic harsh
policies against the people of Eastern Region, the continuous tribalism
and sentimental hatred exhibited against the people of Eastern Region
and Christians in Nigeria are all manifestations of the worst government
Nigeria has ever had.
“MASSOB still maintains and insists that
President Buhari will remain the last president of Nigeria. His secret
pact with Bola Tinubu and other top selected Islamic leaders in Nigeria
will never be achieved. Nigeria is already sitting on a time bomb, which
will likely explode soon.
The consciousness of future survival
of the people of Biafra, Middle Belt and Oduduwa have been reawakened
for total defense of our lands and our people from every maneuvering of
Buhari and his kinsmen.
“Historically established, Yoruba
forefathers led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo actually betrayed the trust and
confidence, our fathers bestowed on them. They eloquently proved that
they couldn’t be trusted politically,” Madu stated.
Also, the
President General of Ndigbo Unity Assembly (NUA), Dede Uzor A. Uzor,
called on Ndigbo to reject the APC in the forthcoming general election
in 2019 as it has become glaring that the party and its leadership do
not have the interest of the South-East at heart.
Uzor said that
Saraki’s revelation, which has not been denied by Tinubu had confirmed
the fears of the majority of Ndigbo that APC and its leadership had no
good agenda for the Igbo right from inception.
He said that the
vociferous campaign by some notable APC chieftains from the other zones
were veiled acts of “deceit and treachery against Ndigbo.
“We are
shocked by this vaulting ambition of Bola Tinubu. This in effect shows
him as an ethnic irredentist and a self-centred leader, who doesn’t have
the interest of Nigeria at heart. He is not a statesman. He is not a
patriotic leader.
“We have said it again and again that a lot who
parrot ‘One Nigeria’ do not actually believe in it. If Tinubu and
Buhari actually believe in one united, indivisible and indissoluble
Nigeria, they would not be imagining returning power to the Yoruba so
soon after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo just finished eighth-year tenure
under the present dispensation.”
He called on Ndigbo to be extra
vigilant, obtain their PVCs and join forces with other progressive
Nigerians to vote out the APC in the forthcoming presidential election. “Ndigbo should reject APC and its politics with unfulfilled promises.
They
should form and build their own political future. The era of disunity
and individualism should stop. Ohanaeze Ndigbo should organise an ‘All
Igbo Summit’ to fashion out Igbo political position or agenda,” Uzor
said, adding that the era of Ndigbo playing second fiddle should end for
good.
He stressed that Ndigbo constitute a big nation with large
population and, therefore, few elements should not determine their
political destiny.
“We have come of age. Enough of this political and economic marginalisation” he said.
But
at the other end of the spectrum, APC chieftains of Igbo extraction
made light of Saraki’s revelation and reiterated the need for Ndigbo to
key into the country’s political power architecture in a pragmatic way.
The
2016 Anambra State APC governorship running mate, Mr Dozie Ikedife
(Jnr), had a strong word for proponents of the ‘Nigeria President of
Igbo Extraction Campaign as he said: “For us to seriously lay claims to
the presidency in 2023, we have to come to the table with good numbers
in the next general elections. Tinubu has the right to aspire to be the
president and he is working hard to make sure that Buhari gets a lot of
votes from the South-West.
“It is the votes from the South-West
that will help him sustain his ambition to become president. This is
about democracy. We in the South-East are also working hard to bring in
numbers. So, at the end of the elections, the numbers will help us in
our argument. Be that as it may, I don’t want to join issues with what
Saraki said. It is up to Tinubu to come up to deny or confirm it.”
The
young Ikedife noted that if the APC performs well in the South-East in
the 2019 general elections and elects people into governorship, the
national and state assemblies, then “we will have the right to aspire
for an Igbo man to be Nigerian president in 2023.”
To make this
wish realizable, Ikedife said that APC chieftains and stalwarts from the
South- East have been knocking on the doors and mobilizing the Igbo at
the grassroots to be more interested in the party.
“And if you go
by the zoning arrangement, you will understand that the South-West has
produced a president in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo while
Goodluck Jonathan took the slot of the South-South.
What remains
now is for the South-East to produce a president and that is expected
to be actualized in 2023. But don’t forget that power is not given; you
work for it. Politics is all about negotiations and alliance. And what
is important to those of us in APC in the South-East now is to align
properly,” he said.
Also the Director General of the Voice of
Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, an ardent supporter of President
Buhari, a chieftain of APC in Enugu State, and one of the leading voices
canvassing that the South-East should support Buhari to return to power
in 2019 for the Igbo to ascend the presidency in 2023, however, added a
caveat, saying that Buhari has never promised to swing power to the
South- East in 2023 if re-elected with Igbo support in 2019.
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His
words: “Tinubu is one of the most grounded politicians in the country
today and as you know, the South-East is laying claim to the presidency
in 2023 only on moral grounds, which hardly matter in politics. It’s
still uncertain if the South-East will support Buhari in 2019, but the
political climate in the South- West points to that direction. If Tinubu
is really nursing a presidential aspiration in 2023, do you think the
South-East stands a chance in the APC?
“One knows that in law,
they say you don’t interpret a word or statement that is unambiguous. We
never said that Presi- dent Buhari promised us to han- dover to
South-East or handpick one person from amongst us. What we have said
repeatedly is that the zoning convention presents the most pragmatic and
reasonable opportunity for a president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction,
based on equity and natural justice.
“So, the point we have been
making is that the only snag holding us is for the South-East to vote
for Buhari so as to reinforce our position. It is more than a moral
position, especially when Saraki did not say that Buhari promised
Asiwaju. It is a contest and we are not known to shy away from contests,
especially democratic contestation.
“On Tinubu’s astuteness and
grounding in Nigerian politics, I will be an idiot to underrate him. So,
nobody can dispute Asiwaju’s political dexterity, someone whose
lieutenants are today not but stand on good stead in the Federal
Government.
This is why I am beckoning on my people to board the
Buhari victory-train and not repeat the mistake of the past, which is
that we didn’t negotiate as Asiwaju did for his people. Let’s learn from
our past mistakes. For me, it is our turn if we play our cards well.”
More
support flowed in for Asiwaju Tinubu from another chieftain of the APC
in Kano State, Senator Rufai Hanga, who also weighed in on the raging
issue.
With a long range missile, Hanga fired a shot to demolish
and dismiss Saraki’s revelation as a non-issue, saying that he found
nothing wrong with the alleged intent of Asiwaju to return presidential
power to the grip of the South-West after Buhari’s second tenure.
His
words: “What is wrong with that? He is a politician and every
politician is out for something. Everybody has his own way of doing
things. If you have a way of getting what you want, I don’t think it is
something one can begin to make noise about. For me, I don’t see
anything wrong in Tinubu contesting. That is my own opinion. People say
he is a schemer, he is doing this and doing that, because he wants
something. What is wrong with him scheming to get what he wants? After
all, politics itself is about scheming.
What is wrong with
Tinubu being the president? He has proved himself by setting a pace for
development of Lagos, he laid a new foundation for the state and he has
been able to fish out successors who are building on what he started and
doing excellently well. Every concerned Nigerian will want to see what
happened to Lagos happening in Nigeria. Whether you like him or not, you
have to give him respect for that. He is the architect of modern
Lagos.”
For the former APC Deputy National Publicity Secretary,
Comrade Timi Frank, the Igbo presidency project in 2023 would be a
mission impossible. He opined that it would be easier for a camel to
pass through the eye of a needle than for the APC to hand over power to
an Igbo president in 2023.
Warning the Igbo to perish the thought
of 2023 presidency, Frank insisted that the Igbo should rather believe
Saraki’s revelation than trust any promise from the APC-led Federal
Government, stressing that when the chips are down, APC will deny ever
making such promise as it has done with its campaign promises.
“Let
me tell you the truth about Igbo presidency: if there is anybody the
Igbo should believe at this point, the person should be Saraki. I can
confirm to you that APC is made up very desperate set of people that
cannot hand over power to any Igbo man in 2023.
“I can say that
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, was
only trying to do his job of convincing the Igbo to vote for Buhari in
2019 with that promise of 2023 presidency. There is an accord in APC
between the North and South-West that if Buhari wins in 2019, he will
hand over power to the Yoruba in 2023. For Saraki to confirm the plan,
be sure that it is exactly what will happen in 2023. Saraki is a man who
does not talk flippantly and carelessly.
“In all honesty, the
Igbo should take that promise from the Federal Government with a pinch
of salt and stop deceiving themselves that Igbo presidency in 2023 is a
possibility. Let us even accept that the promise is true, should the
Igbo take a party like the APC seriously when it never fulfilled any of
the campaign promises to Nigerians.
“It is detrimental and stupid
of the Igbo to believe that APC will hand over power to them in 2023.
Mark my words, APC will deny that they didn’t make such promise to the
Igbo when 2023 comes. They will say that they only begged the Igbo to
vote for the ruling party,” he warned.
Also the APC Deputy
National Chairman, South-East, Emma Enukwu, warned that the clamour for
Igbo presidency in 2023 is not automatic or cast in stone.
He
further agued that with six states in the South-West geo-political zone
inside his pocket, Asiwaju has strategically positioned himself to wrest
the ticket from the Igbo, stressing that “the sentiment of equity,
fairness and justice has no place in a democratic setting.
“Politics,
we must know, is a game of interest. There is nothing wrong if the SGF
said that the Igbo should work towards 2023 and Asiwaju is showing
interest. If the Igbo are serious about 2023, such will be determined by
the efforts and hard work they put in and the number of votes they
bring into the APC basket in the 2019 presidential election.
“Nobody
brings power to anybody’s doorstep. If the Igbo want to be president in
2023, they have to work assiduously for it because it will not come on a
platter of gold. Promising Igbo president in 2023 is the wish of the
Federal Government, but it is left for the Igbo to actualise it. They
can only do that by voting massively for the APC in the 2019 elections.
They
should not forget that Tinubu has already gotten six states in the
South-West into his pocket. With that, he has every reason to say that
he wants to be the president in 2023. We cannot have only one APC
controlled state in Imo and be challenging somebody with six states.
Politics is a game of numbers and interest.
“You talked about
considering equity and natural justice, but I will boldly tell you that
there ought to be no elections in the first place if we must take those
things into consideration. There is also no need democratising the
country. It is the number of votes you have that translates to
democracy,” he said.
Corroborating the views of Enukwu, the APC
National Auditor, Dr George Moghalu, argued that though Asiwaju’s
interest is still in the realm of speculations, the possibility of an
Igbo president in 2023 should still be predicated on their active
contribution to the APC platform that will guarantee them the ticket.
“Let
it be on record that Tinubu as a human being has right to indicate
interest for any position. Anybody can aspire for any position even
though many of us believe that the right thing to do is for an Igbo man
to go for the presidency in 2023. That is why we are encouraging our
people to know that taking everything into account, supporting Buhari in
2019 remains our surest bet for an Igbo presidency in 2023.”
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