Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the first civilian governor of Anambra State, says President Muhammadu Buhari is unfair because his government “has been pushing the Igbo out of Nigeria.”
YaahooJournalist reports that Ezeife, who made this statement in an interview with PointBlankNews, called for equity and fairness as a yardstick during the 2023 presidential election.
According to him, the Northerners and Westerners, even south-south, except easterners all already have a shot at the top.
Ezeife stressed that the North is believed to be scheming to hold on to power come 2023. In fact, a notable governor is being touted to be the chosen one to take over from President Buhari.
His words: “Well, fairness is fairness, justice is justice. The three largest tribes in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
“No Igbo man has been elected president of Nigeria. Yoruba man has, Hausa-Fulani man and, even a minority from the South-south has also been elected president.
“ The North has been dominating the leadership of Nigeria and the West has had a fair share: up to eleven years, that is if you add the military and the civilian administration of Obasanjo.
“If we are still citizens if Nigeria with equal rights, it makes sense for the South-east to assume that they automatically should succeed President Buhari, not even 2023 but any time he leaves.
“We expect all political parties to adopt a south-easterner as a candidate come 2023, knowing that the candidate would be elected.
“We expect them to consider justice, fairness and equity. We are not going to impose any candidate on them. We believe that we will not have that kind of problem.
“In fact, some youths from the north came here on December 1, 2019. They came from Kano, and they told me that they are organising for other youths to support Igbo for presidency.
“Some old men like Balarabe Musa are saying the same thing. Afenifere has come out to declare same support for Igbo presidency. Edwin Clark has been shouting from roof-top that if we want Nigeria to be stable and progress, Igbo should be allowed their turn. Babangida and the rest of them too!
“As long as the government continues to keep Igbo down politically, Nigeria will continue to remain down politically, economically and so on. I believe it is time for Nigeria to make progress. Look at the Igbo, anywhere they go, they make progress. They have devoted their feet for one Nigeria and anywhere they go, they progress. Igbo people want their children to be bigger than them.
“We don’t want a place or mind for people to stay and remain poor, we don’t have such place. We don’t want talakawa and the issue of talakawa will disappear with Igbo leadership in Nigeria. We don’t want the issue of almajiri; we will build and equip schools and everybody will go to school. Nigeria will be better off, because of our egalitarianism. God gave us egalitarianism and we are promoting it. Some of the problems we have is that people have learnt trade from us and they want us to go so they can “monopolise the space.
“But if we come on board, it will not be about trading, we will ensure that education for all is number one and with education, there’s nowhere the country cannot go. We believe that good reason will prevail in the West among the Youruba, in the North, among the Hausa-Fulani, in the Middle-Belt, the South-South.
“With good reason, president of Igbo extraction will emerge. Good reason of fairness, justice and equity.
“Peradventure this good reasoning fails to play outcome 2023, are Igbo elders going to join forces with IPOB to call for a pull-out from Nigeria?
“The South-easterners are determined. Somehow, the Buhari government has been pushing the Igbo out of Nigeria, as if they don’t want us here; and the young men, IPOB, are reacting to this push from government.
“The older Nigerians have not joined IPOB in their push because of their conservatism and the attraction of the large market in Nigeria and the hope that if Nigeria is rest,” he added.