The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Igbo’

  • Igbo students inaugurate leaders

    Odumegwu Christian, 300-Level Public Administration, has been sworn in as the new president of Federation of Igbo Students (FIS), University of Calabar (UNICAL) chapter. The inauguration followed a keenly contested election held at Hogan Bassey Open Pavilion recently.

    The swearing in ceremony, which was held at the parliamentary hall, Malabo Republic, attracted large number of Igbo students in the institution including the president and vice president of Students’ Union Government (SUG), Bassey Eka and and Mercy Mbakwu respectively.

    Other students’ leaders at the event included Ekpo Tete, SUG Director of Welfare, Kelechi Nkoroh, outgoing president of the federation, Emmanuel Ahanonu, National President of Nigeria Union of Campus Journalist (NUCJ), UNICAL council and presidents Igbo students in Abia, Anambra, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi states.

    A lawyer, Barrister Prince Udoka, administered the oath of office on the executive members, which is led by Christian Odumegwu. Others officials are Chiamaka Onwugharam, Vice President, Kingsley Okeke, Deputy General Secretary, Anthony Okoye, Director of Socials, Priscilla Ulu, Financial Secretary and Nnaemeka Nwaele, Director of Welfare.

    In his acceptance speech, Christian expressed gratitude to the students, who voted for him, stressing that his administration would focus on three cardinal objectives which are reviving, re-branding and restructuring of the association.

    He noted that his administration would not relent in encouraging and strengthening Igbo culture, which he said remained one of the riches in Nigeria.

    Kelechi, while giving account of his stewardship, expressed gratitude to God on the success of his administration and also thanked the students for giving him the mandate and support to serve them.

    President of National Association of Anambra Students (NAAS), Henry Ogbueziora, advised the executive members not to forget their academic pursuits as they discharge their duties.

  • The Igbo leadership question

    SIR: It took resistance from Rosa Parker, a 42 year old tailor’s assistant, for African Americans led by Martin Luther King Jnr. and Ralph Abernathy to rise against the“separate but equal” discriminatory law of segregate America. It took the Sharpeville shooting of 67 Black South Africans by the White minority government in South Africa for Nelson Mandela to lead the Umkhonto we Sizwe resistant movement in the Apartheid enclave among others.

    The Igbo nation is in dire need of a leadership that is both responsive and decisive. Leadership vacuum among the people, especially in a country that has scant regard for equity and justice, is beginning to take its toll on the race. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Ndigbo to survive the rat race that has come to define the country’s approach to political and economic power. The political gust unleashed by better organized groups in the country buffets Ndigbo and leaves them groping for direction. The void exposes them to all manner of denials and gratuitous violence. The number of deaths recorded by Ndigbo via sectarian crisis in the country is enough to compel serious introspection. Sadly enough those involved in the humiliation of the race are arrogant and brazen in manners. They don’t care a hoot and are in no hurry to mitigate the effects of their actions.

    The situation deteriorates with successive governments in Nigeria. It will be trite to chronicle afresh all the denials and cheap deaths the people are subjected to. It equally sucks to think the end of the humiliating experiences may not be in sight yet. The descent to political irrelevance appears hard and fast. Besides manifest disparity in the distribution of political and economic favour, the latest treason trial of the leadership of MASSOB bespeaks of Ndigbo as a people whose political fortunes have reached the nadir. Though I do not subscribe to the group and its style of agitation, it does not make sense that more violent groups elsewhere in the country are wooed with amnesty while MASSOB leadership is arraigned on treason charge.

    I recall that in 2005, as a result of upsurge in violent eruptions among ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, the Obasanjo administration ordered the arrest of the leaders of OPC, NDPVF, and MASSOB. Consequently Fredrick Fasheun, Ganiyu Adam, Asari Dokubo and Uwazurike were all thrown into detention. Curiously, of the lot, only Uwazurike, the peaceful agitator, is yet to regain full freedom years after. The grim reality of his current treason trial, alongside some of his unfortunate colleagues, is that he risks long jail term and or death sentence should the trial be allowed to run its course. It rings a note of blatant discrimination, if not barefaced humiliation, to arraign MASSOB for trial while Boko Haram, NDPVF, MEND, OPC, etc are courted with contract offers.

    What Ndigbo lack is decisive and responsive leadership that will rouse the people from political inertia, and refocus them in the fiercely competitive political environment. For as long as the leadership of the Igbo nation is peopled by relevance-seeking, profit – oriented political office holders so long will the people continue to play second fiddle to their neighbours. For a people set on survival now is the time for a bold and courageous leadership to emerge and point the way forward in a country that is already mired in violent ethnic eruptions.

    • Ejike Anyaduba

    Abatete, Anambra State.

     

  • Achebe: Adieu, agent of change

    Achebe: Adieu, agent of change

    The news of the death of the foremost African folklorist, Prof. Chinua Achebe as shattering as it marks the nunc dimitis of pioneer African writing. This indeed shows what stealth death can do even to those whose lives and works have become institutions. The death of Achebe underscores the immortality of all living creatures even as their good works will live on.

    Described by President Nelson Mandela as the “writer in whose company the prison walls fell down”,Achebe  and writing sought   to and did liberate souls and people who were captives man’s inhumanity to fellow men Achebe, the acclaimed asiwaju of Nigerian writing began writing at a time African literature was not in contention and had helped shape the African personality.

    He told his story, the society’s story and parodied the hitherto African and the evolving pre – and post – independent Africa, aside from predicting, with great precision, the destination of the emergent African states who have toed the wrong political lines.

    His book, A Man Of The People, was very prophetic and depicted the early rut in the system which culminated in Nigeria’s first Military coup.

    Just as his all – time best seller, Things Fall Apart exposed the primordial Igbo society, his essay, “The Trouble With Nigeria”, has remained the political reference book of any politician who trains his eyes on effecting social change. His apt diagnosis of the Nigerian social malaise and very succinct prescription for good governance sounds like a text of the lips off Che Guevera. He was a quiet revolutionary.

    Never losing hope in the ability of his Country Nigeria to rise and shine, he had beamed the klieg lights on all those things that had bedeviled social change and growth, and cautioned against resurgence. These he laid bare in his recent work, “There Was A Country”.

    This detailed narrative of the Biafara debacle should be patriotically read with a view to gleaning all the lessons Achebe wanted Nigerians to learn in order to coexist as a people, more so as those threats at national stability are everywhere.

    By his death, we have lost a gem, an archive of historical developments and an agent of change. Adieu.

    The Hon Barr. Nwabueze Ugwu

    Ikpemalueziokwu of greater Awgu land.

     

  • Chime, Ohaneze lament killing of Igbo

    Chime, Ohaneze lament killing of Igbo

    Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime and the apex Igbo cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo have described the Kano bombing as unfortunate.

    Chime, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Chukwudi Achife, said the wanton killing of innocent Nigerians under any guise, not only traumatised the people but undermined the integrity of the country.

    The deputy president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief O. A. U. Onyema, said: “I’m to say the least very disappointed in this bombing of our brothers in Kano new luxury bus park, but I urge the Igbo everywhere in the country to remain calm. They should not show any sign of ill-temperament. Two wrongs do not make a right. Honestly, the bombers have really hit a nerve nexus, but we shall show maturity in handling it.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • Don’t be spectators, Obi tells Igbo

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has urged the Igbo to quit being spectators in the politics of the country.

    Obi, who spoke with a group, Aka Ikenga, on his stewardship, said his doors were open to anyone who wants to invest in any part of Igbo land.

    Present at the forum were former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili; president, Aka Ikenga, Anayo Uwazurike, founder, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi, the host, Dr. Ausbeth Ajagu, former President, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr. George Okpagu, Mike Igboku and Dr. Davies Obikili.

    The governor, who decried the quality of leadership in the Southeast, urged the Igbo to be active in politics.

    He said: “You do not act like spectators and complain of neglect. Can anyone marginalise another without his contribution? We should be seen as participants and not just sit back and hope that manna will fall from heaven.

    “If you call for a meeting, you will hardly see ‘Ndigbo’. Then when other people have completed the meeting and agreed on the way forward, we will come out and start crying that we are marginalised.

    “We need to start deliberating. That is the only way we can insist on what we want as a people.

    “As for me, I am not interested in running for any political office after my stewardship as governor.

    “I neither aspire to be a senator nor do I want to be a minister, but there is one thing I know I will always do, which is to advance the course of the Igbo at all times as well as the entire country.

    “We have realised that the problem with infrastructure in our region is that the Federal Government always assigned our major projects to contractors who are not serious.

    “So, in our last meeting, we agreed that those contractors who handle projects for other regions be assigned to us and not anyone who is just interested in making money.

    “I can assure that it is working. We have said we do not want contractors who see government projects as private enterprise, and we have been justified.”

    He said before the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) decided to support President Goodluck Jonathan during the last presidential election, the Igbo came up with conditions, which were agreed upon.

    “I personally went to Jonathan and told him APGA will not field presidential and vice-presidential candidates for that election and that the Igbo have reached that decision on conditions that visible developments be brought to the Southeast.

    Obi reiterated that APGA was not in any merger talks with any party.

    “APGA has not merged with any party and has not even negotiated for any possible merger. Before APGA goes into such a thing it must be discussed with the terms clearly spelt out.

    “Our focus now is to hold conventions and congresses and work towards building a stronger force.

    “I think it is better to be majority in a minority than minority in a majority.

    “As an individual, I do not believe in moving from one party to the other.

    “I am not leaving APGA for any party. The day I leave APGA, I stop politics.”

  • ‘Igbo may not produce President in 2015’

    ‘Igbo may not produce President in 2015’

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Abia State Okechukwu Nwachukwu spoke with JeremIah Oke in Lagos on the Igbo’s quest for the Presidency in 2015.

    How do you react to the controversy surrounding the decision of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu to return to the PDP?

    As a loyal party man, the PDP where I belong has a constitution that I expect everyone including the leaders of the party to obey. Again, the PDP is big enough to accommodate everyone. If former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu had left the party for another and now wishes to return to a party he was a founding member, the procedure for a re-admission should be followed without influences. However, the leader of the party in Abia State who happens to be the Governor, even his ward chairman, should equally be accorded all due respect to avoid polarizing and dragging the party that is today peaceful into another set of crisis. I believe that the party is supreme and advise that a party in crisis has the tendency to lose elections and so our leadership of the party must thread with caution.

    What is your reaction to Igbo’s agitation for the Presidency?

    I am yet to see Igbo show a serious interest and synergy in the Presidency come 2015. It is unfortunate that we have great leaders of the Igbo race who have failed to understand that the Presidency must be fought for, I mean agitated for. Maybe, with time, we will synergize and Nigerians will understand we deserve it after many years of marginalization.

    How do you see the calls for another state in the Southeast?

    This is not something we should play politics with. In the interest of equity, fairness and justice the South East should be given another state. This is one request that is overdue. But let me advise the South Easterners that we must be careful not to allow individual interest undermine the public interest, hence the constitutional review has too many factors to deal with in the interest of Nigerians at large.

    There was a high level of kidnapping in Abia State. How was it reduced? Abia State has become a peaceful and secured place to live and do business. Thanks to God Almighty and particularly again to His gift to Abians in the person of Ochendo. Indeed, this house “Abia State” has not fallen. It is with the deepest possible conviction that I stand to tell you that the Governor of Abia State is working. While on a visit to my local government recently, I heard him say that the problem of Abians is his own problem and that he cannot ignore so much responsibility that has been given to him by virtue of electing him. So, you can better understand the vigour with which Ochendo has confronted the security problems that bedeviled Abia especially in Ngwa and Ukwa where we once lived with our eyes opened and to a point we had to flee for safety.

    Today, commerce which came to a halt, has picked up again and people are now agitating for roads to be built to enable them make up for lost times. Aba and Umuahia are now bubbling with activities; unimaginably a team of foreign doctors came visiting my local government which in the past was not possible. People now move freely without any harassment, thanks to a Governor who understands the importance of investing on the security of lives and properties.

    How would you assess the performance of the Abia State governor?

    Orji represents yet another commendable attempt of a visionary governor to dissect the challenges facing my state, Abia, in the contemporary times. It is no longer news that what successive governments left undone is what the present administration is tackling. Indeed, speaking as a politician, Ochendo’s approach to governance in Abia State, I must confess, suggests the way to building a sustainable government in Abia which other governors in the Southeast should emulate. This is a government that has touched the lives of Abians in no small measure, in spite of the meager resources accruable to Abia. I hope you are aware that Ochendo has been vindicated by the Senate as a good manager of public funds. My humble advice for every Nigerian is to take a trip to Abia and see massive development in progress so that I don’t sound like a political promoter.

    Abia of today is a clear departure from Abia of yesterday. I agree totally that Abia of yesterday was confronted with real challenges, but challenges that are by no means insurmountable from what I have seen Ochendo doing today in Abia. The problem is that most of the politicians in Abia have failed to give kudos to this visionary colossus. Ochendo has given a face lift to Abia. A new world class secretariat is almost completed, more hospitals are being built, there is massive rural development, new and existing roads are constantly being constructed, all the 17 council headquarters have been renovated. In welfare packages for civil servants and public officers, Ochendo is unbeatable and I stand to argue of any state in Nigeria that is doing better than Abia in terms of welfare treatments. There is free education in primary and secondary schools and uncountable new classrooms have also been built.

  • Igbo leaders should be realistic

    Igbo leaders should be realistic

    SIR: More often than not human beings are what they make themselves; vision and planning are indispensable for success. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo, was a foremost leader in Africa. In the First Republic, he agreed to be the ceremonial President, while Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, got the Prime Minister position, which was where the real power reposed. In the Second Republic, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, another Igbo, agreed to be the Vice President to Alhaji Shehu Shagari from the North.

    Where were the Ohanaeze Ndigbo (the Igbo leadership council), when Chief Obafemi Awolowo offered to support Azikiwe to become President in 1979, instead of Shagari? And why did the Igbo leaders abandon their Arewa friends when it mattered most in 2011? It was because Jonathan’s middle name is Azikiwe, and he made the Igbo leaders happy in several ways, including juicy appointments to Igbo citizens, women in particular.

    If the North-west were allowaed to serve its eight years, as the South-west was allowed to do, it would be naturally absurd for the North to aspire to be President again in2015. Reasonable Nigerians and the international community would have been at a loss why the North would want to cheat the South on the topmost leadership position. Is that not the reason no serious Yoruba has aspired to be President since General Olusegun Obasanjo spent eight straight years as Nigeria’s President? But the Igbo leaders chose to support their Azikiwe. Fine, eat your cake and have it.

    Igbo leaders should go for a systematic plan and sustainable political vision that would eliminate marginalization of any zone and ethnic nationality in Nigeria. Survival of the fittest, arbitrary seizing of power and opportunism cannot stabilize Nigeria; only a considerate resolution of power devolution can do that. Well-meaning Igbo leaders should team-up with the opposition political parties to enthrone General Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, to serve a single term. That will complete the second term of the North-west.

    After that, the coast will be clear for the South-east zone to produce the next President, since Jonathan (from the South-south) has spent eight straight years in the presidency, as Vice President/President (2007-2011), and as President (2011-2015).

    Jonathan represents the cabal that will never allow the petroleum refineries to function; are the Igbo and South-south leaders concerned about that? The Yoruba Council of Elders and the Arewa Consultative Forum are not concerned either. The bodies have compromised, but some opposition political parties have not compromised. So, support the latter, towards a genuine transformation of Nigeria, end to mass misery and insecurity.

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

     

  • 2015: Let Igbo produce President, say Southeast leaders

    Leaders of various Igbo communities in the Diaspora have urged Nigerians to support the agitation of the Southeast to produce the President in 2015.

    The Igbo leaders, acting under the umbrella of the Association of Ndiezendigbo in the Diaspora, in a communique at the end of their meeting in Ibadan, lamented that the Southeast is the only region yet to produce a President.

    The communique , signed by Eze Hycinth Omeroha Ohazuruke; the Ezendigbo of Lagos State and National President of the association, raised fresh issues on the purported support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid by some Southeast groups.

    The Igbo leaders maintained that in the interest of justice and equity, an Igbo should be voted President in 2015.

    “The association is still hopeful that Nigerians will put their conscience in use in 2015 by supporting and electing an Igbo man to become the next President of the country, taking into consideration the fact that with all the contributions of Ndigbo to the development of Nigeria, no Igbo has been opportune to lead,” the communique reads.

    The Igbo leaders, however, praised the efforts of President Jonathan towards fixing bad federal roads in the Southeast and other parts of the country like the Lagos-Sagamu road, Ore-Benin road and Lagos-Ibadan road.

    They commended President Jonathan for listening to the voices of the Nigerian masses by reversing the plan to introduce the controversial N5,000 note.

    The association hailed Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi for the warm reception accorded its members, who visited the governor in the company of the General Secretary and Administrative Secretary of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, High Chief Nduka Eya and Mr. Ibeabuchi.

    “The association noticed the tremendous changes in the state in the area of development and cleanliness of Ibadan. The association admired the construction of a flyover bridge in the ever busy Mokola area,” the Igbo leaders said.

     

  • ‘Igbo have no outstanding candidate for 2015’

    A Non-Government Organisation (NGO), the Transform Nigeria Movement (TNM), yesterday said Igbo have no outstanding candidate for the 2015 presidential election.

    The group was reacting to the Southeast’s clamour for Igbo presidency in 2015.

    The group said yesterday in Awka that it has not seen any credible candidate in the Southeast.

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday in Awka, the Anambra State capital, TNM leader Comrade Obi Ochije said Igbo have no candidate that can defeat aspirants from other geo-political zones and urged the Southeast to look beyond 2015.

    Ochije said: “There are three questions Ndigbo need to answer on this issue. The first is who zoned presidency to Igbo? The second is on what platform can they realise their dream in 2015? Thirdly, does the zone have a credible candidate for the position?

    “It is not going to be a zonal affair; all the six geo-political zones would be involved. For now, I cannot see anybody in Igboland, who can win enough votes from other political zones in 2015.

    “From what is playing out, it is obvious that Ndigbo have no person to stand for such election. What they should do is look beyond 2015.

    “We should stop quarreling over who becomes the next president. Rather, we should pray fervently for the country’s unity.”

    TNM said Ndigbo must liaise with the Southwest to realise its ambition.

     

     

  • ‘Disunity not peculiar to the Igbo’

    ‘Disunity not peculiar to the Igbo’

    What has life after power been like for you?

    Life has always been the same thing it has been to me because nothing changed. I live in the same house; I stay in the same place. So, I’ve not lost anything. Since when I was governor, it’s the same house, the same bed that I’ve been sleeping. Life has been very busy for me; travelling from one continent to the other and being in almost all sectors of the economy. It has been very challenging to make ends meet.

    What has losing the power to control Abia State meant to you?

    I never had any power of running a state before. I was just a mere messenger of the people and I left happily. This is why I’m saying I never lost anything. As governor for eight years, I was just a messenger of the people and nothing has changed. This is the house I had when I was governor, and I have not changed the house or the chairs.

    How would you respond to the allegation by your successor, whom you almost single-handedly installed, that you left virtually nothing behind and that he took the state almost from the scratch when he succeeded you?

    I’m not going to discuss the governor. I’ll leave that aspect for the people of Abia to defend. I have tried since I left not to discuss him, whether privately or publicly. It has been a strong cause of my life not to discuss him. I leave that discussion to the people of Abia. The day I handed over to him, I told him to govern with his conscience and this is the same thing I’ve continued to say.

     

    At what point did you really fall out with Governor Theodore Orji and why?

    This is what I told you, and I say it again, I am not going to discuss that governor as a matter of principle.

    But Orji has alleged that the main source of disagreement between you was the refusal of his government to sell some properties of the state in Lagos and your native Bende Local Government Area to you.

    It is not true. This I can answer you straightaway. There is nothing like that. We were building a university at Igbere and the university people asked the government to lease the Umunnato General Hospital, which I refurbished when I was governor and nobody is using till today. It’s overgrown with weeds. You can send your correspondent in Umuahia to go and look at it. So they asked him to give them 50 years lease; lease with payment. I am not going to make any profit from Igbere – to the best of my knowledge. Why should I ask him to sell property to me? I was governor for eight years when they were doing privatisation. This is a man I told that there was no need to sell government property. If I wanted to buy government property, I was governor for eight years, I could have bought it. But it wasn’t my desire. I have been living in this house at Victoria Island since 1986. I have my office at Apapa since 1986.

    In an interview in Washington recently, you spoke with displeasure about the current situation in PDP. Are you regretting your exit from the party?

    No, no, no. I was just saying that because many people there are now big billionaires, most are using government money to buy private jets and numbering them outside the country. But these guys were nobody at all before. 1 and Musa Adede of Cross River State…we bought the first private jets in 1989. So if people who were nobody before now start calling others thieves, when they are the real thieves, it’s painful. It’s what I cannot understand. Nigeria is a community of jesters where people don’t really know what their problems are.

    You were among those that founded PDP, which you left to almost single-handedly found PPA, but now you are not in any of the two parties. What does that says about your politics?

    It just says a lot about the attitude of the Nigerian people who were not steadfast. I didn’t leave PDP: Obasanjo virtually drove me and Atiku away. I was deregistered by Obasanjo. I give God the glory; I don’t feel any harm because everything we do is vanity. I am standing on the solid rock. As far as I am concerned, Nigerian people have not shown commitment to democracy. Look at my governor, he worked for me. He knows that I am not a money man. If he will say the truth, which I know will come out one day; he knows I never asked anybody to do anything for money. If money were to be my problem, I would have followed Obasanjo because I had full access to him. My challenge in life is the people, not money. When anybody says I asked him not to work, the person is not being sincere. For instance, I own The Sun newspapers; I don’t interfere in their day-to-day job. I like process, I like system, and this is what most Nigerians lack because they were not prepared for leadership. Most people in positions of leadership in Nigeria today found themselves suddenly in the line of leadership. That is the problem Nigeria has today, people are not prepared for leadership.

    Were you also driven out of PPA?

    No. I left because democracy was no longer the process of choice, but force. People who do these things should be ready to face the consequences in future. If we want to come back to politics, it is either they do it right or everybody would be prepared to pay for it. It is disheartening that a lot of people who won elections are not where they have won elections. Apart from the South-west and some parts of northern Nigeria, democracy has not taken root at all. I am disappointed. This was not what we bargained for, which made me leave my business for politics. Nigerians, whether living or dead, will regret what is happening someday. Leadership is not about possessions, it is about the people. Once a leader cannot reconcile with the people, it becomes a problem.

    What are your plans for the future?

    You will soon see my plans; my plans are great.

    What is your take on the preparations for the 2015 elections, especially with regards to the president’s silence over his intentions and the South-East’s agitation for the presidency?

     

    Anybody who wants to run for the presidency should prepare to run. Why should they wait for anybody to tell them whether he will run or not. That is part of the things that are not right in our democracy. I want to discuss the president on performance, not on 2015, and he has said we should give him till 2013, that we would see wonders then. I would be patient till about September or October 2013 to be able to discuss him. I will discuss him fully because I’m not afraid of speaking my mind. I wanted to discuss him this time, but I saw in an interview when he said they should give him another one year to see the miracle that he would perform. But any person who is prepared to run for the presidency should not wait for anybody.

    How will you rate President Jonathan who has been there since 2010?

    I have not seen anything in terms of concrete performance, especially in the areas of security and infrastructure. Here in Victoria Island we are almost always on generator. The fundamental issue is the rule of law. Any president who wants to rule this country should respect the rules and give people justice. If there is no rule of law, there will be no society. The most fundamental issue in any good society for the people is the rule of law. A minister’s son who violates traffic law, for instance, should be penalised like any other Nigerian. Political armed robbers who took the country’s money should not be allowed to walk free. Governance is not about gossip. Once leaders start listening to gossip, they are failures already. People must run government by what the constitution says.

    Do you think the South-east has been fairly treated with regard to access to the presidency?

    The South-east has not been fairly treated. That is why when I see some Igbo people say they are waiting for Jonathan to decide whether he would run or not… Nobody should decide for anybody. As far as I am concerned, it is either you give Igbos the presidency or nothing. Almost 48 years after the civil war, you are telling people they are not entitled to rule Nigeria. Unless an Igbo man rules this country, the country would not be well. That is the truth because we are the salt of the nation. Whether you want to believe it or not, that is the truth. Anywhere you go in Nigeria and you don’t see an Igbo man living there, nobody lives there. So why don’t you give them the opportunity to rule their country? If it is not Panadol, it can never be anything that looks like Panadol. They have given Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and Jonathan room to rule. Now is the turn of the South-east, it’s either the South-east or nothing.

    But the Igbo do not seem to be united…

    Who has had unity before? When they made Obasanjo president, were Yorubas united? When they made Yar’Adua president, were the northerners united? You people should stop deceiving the Igbos. This nonsense should stop. They would say Igbo people like money, who does not like money? The election of 2011 was effectively put together by some prominent northerners, they collected money. So who does not like money?

    Do you think the Igbo currently have a strategy for the attainment of their presidential dream?

    I know the national appeal is there. I am going to play a leading role within my community to organise people for what Igbos are going to do. I wanted to be totally out of politics, but I’m going to sit back in my house and be part of their planning. I will plan for them and give them to go and execute. Awolowo wasn’t a president but he was a very important man in Nigeria. I’m sitting back to help give the Igbos what they don’t have: planning. I’m going to reconcile those who are quarrelling and get one of them to lead. will get it right this time.

    Have you identified such a person with the qualities you desire for a Nigerian president of Igbo origin?

    They would emerge on their own. But give me some months to be able to consult. The most important thing is the process that gets who would run for president. The president is just a by-product of unity. What I’m talking about is to kick-start the process. I have to go back to the drawing board, go back to the academics, traders, politicians, etc, and re-energise them to move forward.

    Do you see yourself as a potential Igbo leader, perhaps, in the mould of the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu?

    I purposely kept away when Ojukwu died because his burial became an avenue for sycophancy. People who abused Ojukwu in my presence, people who never believed in him were praising him in death. I was surprised. That was why I sent a delegation to extend my condolences and I didn’t go. When Ojukwu was alive, they abandoned him. Most of these people who were talking abandoned him. Ojukwu’s brothers are there, they can speak because they know how close I was to him. They know I always tried to be with him at any point of his need.

    PDP has embarked on a mission to reconcile its former members. If you are approached, would you be ready to return to PDP?

    Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think I am talking about party politics now. If I want to play party politics, I would play it in PPA. People cannot always leave when the condition is not good, people should also be there to defend the situation when the condition is bad. I’m not talking party politics now; I’m talking about advising everybody in Igbo land. I want to energise the base. In the next couple of months, I would put in motion the process.

    You said you don’t to talk about Governor Theodore Orji?

    I don’t want to say anything, whether good or bad. Orji is there today as governor of Abia State. I know the value of the office of the governor. I know the value of the position of former governor of Abia State; I know the value of the office of the president. And I say I am not going to talking about it. They have published and said a lot of things.

    But I know that the allegation that nothing was done during my tenure is wrong. Almost all the roads in the state were constructed in my tenure. The Umuahia-Aba road (old road), the Obehie-Azumiri road, the Lokpanta-Udeato road, the Ebem-Ohafia road, all were constructed in my tenure. When I was governor, the Aba roads were motorable. I don’t want to talk about these things. I want the governor to lead the people with his conscience. Conscience is a wound, only the truth can heal it. People are seeing today, they are not seeing tomorrow. I want Nigerians to start seeing tomorrow.

    Go back to your archives. Obasanjo made me the action governor for that regime on account of the Aba roads that I constructed. He came to Aba and campaigned on those roads. Anywhere in the world, roads are maintained every two to three roads, if not, they will collapse. I cleaned up Aba. I like to be modest in my comments and allow our people to decide who is right or wrong. When I was governor, we had free education up to the secondary school level. When I was governor, there were problems in Warri, Rivers, parts of Akwa Ibom, Owerri and Nnewi. People were coming to Aba and Umuahia to live and do their businesses. Nobody has given me credit for all these things because I fought the federal government. I’m the only politician that his businesses were taken. What have I done to these people? I had helped them in the past. I have asked the international agencies to set up a real anticorruption outfit, let us know who the real thieves are. I’m ready to subject myself to the probe, and others, too, should come out. People have been given a lot of waivers, etc. The country is in trouble, it needs to be cleaned up properly. It needs to be given direction.

    You are among the former governors that are being prosecuted by EFCC. Are you saying the charges against you are trumped up?

    My conscience tells me that I have not done anything. I have never discussed with anybody on how to make underhand deals. What I have spent is security vote, which is not much for the size of our state. I applied it to the police and they were happy with what I did with the money. I am the only governor that is being prosecuted for security vote. Even the present governor knows that we were not making deals. Check the calibre of commissioners that I had – Awa Kalu (SAN), Lambert Mmecha, Professor Nkpa (present Secretary to the State Government), Professor Ogbuagu (currently a vice chancellor), Onyekwere Ogba, Ralp Egbu, etc. I will set up a foundation that will deal with the issue of anti-corruption. Material acquisition is not my problem, but jobs for the people. Nobody is talking about creating jobs for the people. Nobody talks about how to build a strong middle class that will be the engine of the society. A population of 160 million people still talking about repairing old rail lines! We must re-strategise on how to build standard rail lines.

    I told the federal government, when I was governor, what they were doing in the power sector that would not work. I gave him a blueprint on how we can have electricity in Nigeria. It is criminal for anybody to think you can draw power from Egbin power station to Abia State, or you will draw light from Lagos to Ebere-Omuma in Rivers State, or draw from Cross River to give light in Sokoto. We have to have cells. Distribution is a problem. Even if you generate, what of distribution? I told them, but nobody listens. Have you forgotten how they kept Abia contractors at EFCC for nine months auditing their books, when I was governor? Which other governor did they do this to? Have you forgotten how they invaded my mother’s house to force me to support them for their third term agenda? I resisted it. I disagreed with Professor Jubril Aminu, a very strong character, as students’ union president, and still eat with him. But that is what Obasanjo does not like. Because I disagreed with him over Third Term, Obasanjo took away all my businesses, he killed my businesses, he tried to ruin me but God did not allow him. If he were patient he would have benefitted from people like us. I used to be Obasanjo’s best friend, but I never knew he doesn’t like hearing the truth.

    What would you say is the legacy you left in Abia after eight years as governor?

    All the low-cost housing schemes in Abia State were built by my government. The Ehimiri housing estate, the two stadiums in the state, were built by my administration. The housing estate at Obingwa had been roofed before we left, even the one at Obakala, apart from the housing estate at Ubeku. Mind you, our resources then were lean – Obasanjo took away our 46 oil wells, which Yar’Adua returned. $650 million was deducted from the state’s allocations to repay money from the wells. I gave Abia people purposeful leadership. Go to the Federal Ministry of Finance and check how much we had from 1999 to 2007.

    I never left any debt for Theodore Orji as governor. I want this to be on record. I left no debt the day I was leaving as governor of Abia State. I’ve heard people say I owed banks N28 billion before I left. That is not true. We were only banking with Hallmark. Hallmark stopped, and we went over to Bank PHB. The day I left, the account was N1.7 billion in overdraft, because Obasanjo asked the Ministry of Finance to hold the money. On June 6, 2007, the overdraft cleared. The documents are there for anybody to verify. I never owed any bank money, which some people now say Abia State is repaying. This is the first time I am coming openly to say this.

    Well, in the process of governance, I’m not saying I was perfect. Wherever I have wronged our people, I’m very sorry for wronging them. Wherever I have done well, they should also praise me for doing well. I’m not perfect, even Jesus Christ was not perfect. I’m human. I must have made several mistakes in Abia as a young man. I wasn’t 50 years old when I was governor. Today, I’m 50 and above. So I know more things that are right and wrong today.