A chieftain of the apex Igbo socio cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu, has tasked the Igbo to put in more efforts to grab the presidency of Nigeria rather than lamenting on marginalization.
Ozobu, who stated that power is struggled for and not given on a platter of gold, explained that the Igbo have to gain the trust and form alliances to get the support of other sections of the country for the Igbo presidency project.
He noted that there is a problem of political leadership failure in Igbo land which has made the political class unable to unite and frontally fight for the Igbo presidency.
The Ohanaeze chieftain further called on the Igbo to extend the search for the Igbo presidency to the Igbo people living outside the South East zone; Delta and Rivers states as well as the Diaspora.
“Blame the Igbo political leadership if the presidency eludes again. Those representing Igbo land at different levels have lots of questions to answer. Lots of things have gone wrong in Igbo land. There is failure of political leadership in Igbo land. However, we must find an Igbo man from the 7 Igbo states who has capacity and market him to other political zones. He must not be a politician from the South East, but one who is acceptable to Nigerians. We must learn from the past, history must not repeat it.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo has 7 states, 5 in the South East and 2 in the South South.Since we are talking about the presidency going to the Igbo; it will be a good idea whether it comes from the South East or other parts of Igbo land.
“Artificial boundaries are meant to divide the Igbo and we don’t agree with such boundaries. Igbo people are one and not divided. We should act and behave like one people with common interest and destiny. We must unite ourselves and go into alliance.
“We need Igbo presidency, but it has to be through aligning with other sections of the country. Nobody gives power to another without negotiation with other people. As you are talking about how to get the power, other people will be asking how you will protect their own interest. You must give them assurances of their security and accommodation. We must continue talking until success is achieved. We must go back to the drawing board to assess our strengths and weaknesses.”
Ozobu, however, advised the Igbo against opting for secession if the presidency eludes it in 2023, stressing that the political class must not be allowed to put the country into avoidable trouble.
He further called for unity among the people of the 11 states of the former Eastern Nigeria.
“Secession is not an option. Our investments are higher in other states of the federation. We need an arrangement for the presidency. We must find a way to retool ourselves and our interests. We must work for a united Eastern Nigeria because we suffered the same fate during the war. Igbo can’t achieve the presidency without our brothers from the other parts of the Eastern region.”
