Event Date 8th May, 2014
President Jonathan had come again for Igbo votes ahead of the
emergence of successful All Progressive Congress (APC) Primaries which
picked General Muhammadu Buhari as flagbearer. With the emergence of
Buhari as APC candidate, it is obvious that it is no more tea party for
the PDP, and one of the places they are farming seriously is Ohanaeze
Ndigbo as avenue for much cherished Igbo votes. I want to use this
opportunity to reproduce a text of the lecture I delivered at the burial
of the former Ohanaeze Ndigbo President, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, on
the occasion of a colloquium held in his honour at Ohanaeze Ndigbo
National Secretariat, Enugu on the 8th of May, 2014. I do
believe that Igbo leaders must negotiate with Jonathan on what he will
do for the over 60 million Igbos in Nigeria and overseas or else they
can as well look elsewhere in APC or UPC for alternative.
Theme; Contentious Issue of Igbo Presidency; What Ohanaeze Must Tell Jonathan
Being An Address
Presented By Rev Obinna Akukwe on the Occasion of Colloquium in Honor of
Ambassador Raph Uwechue, Late President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide on the 8th of May, 2014, at Ohanaeze Ndigbo National Secretariat, Park Avenue Enugu
Today, we are gathered together to celebrate the demise of
Ambassador Raph Uwechue, a beloved Igbo Leader and former president of
this apex Igbo Organization. Ambassador Uwechue believed in the
actualization of Igbo Presidency after the turn of the South-South. He
told me that on a few occasions we had discussions on the topic. As we
remember the ideals of this Igbo Icon, who refused to betray Biafra
during the unfortunate civil war, despite entreaties from Nigeria, the
best farewell we can give to this great son is to stand by the ideals of
Igbo Presidency after Jonathan tenure for which he stood.
Presently, Igbos are at verbal war with their Hausa/Fulani
neighbors especially since the Boko Haram crisis began. They are also at
war with their Yoruba neighbor especially after the inhuman deportation
of Igbos in the dead of the night. The only sections of the country the
Igbos are at peace with are the Middle Belt and Minority Christians of
the North and our brothers in the South- South and Niger Delta.
The pertinent question is, is the Igbo-South South Alliance enough
to guarantee an Igbo Presidency by 2019, i.e. after Jonathan’s tenure?
Have the Yoruba and South –West not cleverly reached out to our
traditional allies in the North with the purpose of boosting their other
chances at the presidency while the Igbos are yet to concretize
arrangements with the South-South that they will support an Igbo
presidency after Jonathan’s tenure? Is there any agreement between Igbo
elders, elites and that of the South-South that after the tenure of
Jonathan, they will support the emergence of an Igbo man as President?
I know that no such agreement ever existed, either orally or
written and I challenge any Igbo leader to prove otherwise. I asked
Ambassador Uwechue and Prof Nduka Eya ex President and Secretary General
of Ohanaeze Ndigbo respectively at different occasions whether there is
any agreement and they both affirmed that none ever existed.
I have also asked other notable Igbo leaders and South-South
leaders and they all believed that no such thing existed. Therefore, on
what basis do the Igbo believe that Jonathan will stick his neck for
Igbo Presidency after his tenure elapses?
Ndigbo is building hope on Igbo Presidency after Jonathan based on
assumptions, the manner we believed that Obafemi Awolowo will declare an
Oduduwa republic and the consequences cost us 2 million souls and
another 50 years of slavery in Nigeria.
I have been a gospel missionary who have traversed most Muslim
States of the North, including interior villages, and I know that the
average Hausa-Fulani sees Jonathan Presidency as Igbo Presidency.
Governor Nyako of Adamawa State spoke the minds of his Northern
colleagues in his infamous memo to Mr. President. During the period Boko
Haram was bombing Kano with abandon and destroying Igbo lives and
properties, I visited the place first under the commission of Igbo
Church Leaders. I visited Kano again under the commission of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo Abuja and its popular organs and later media activists and
professionals of Igbo extraction asked me to verify the current state of
Ndigbo. I know that Igbos in the far north constantly gets recriminated
for any perceived mistakes of Jonathan. A greater section of Yoruba
also sees Jonathan as another Igbo President. Therefore, the Igbo are
carrying the sins of Jonathan but are they reaping enough benefits from
his presidency.
The solutions to some of the posers include the following: Igbo
leaders must seek a commitment from President Jonathan and the
South-South people that after abandoning their quest for Igbo Presidency
in 2015 for them, they will commit themselves to the same for Igbo in
2019.
Igbo leaders must ensure that the hoax called Enugu International
Airport, which had failed to attract notable foreign airlines because
they judged the existing infrastructure as of very poor standard, is
urgently upgraded to boost commerce in the South East and turn the
region to an economic hub.
Igbo leaders must ensure that the fraudulent construction of second
Niger Bridge which will be tolled for 20 years is stopped forthwith.
For our support for Jonathan, we should have a toll free Niger Bridge
constructed with Federal Government money, not this private
public-private partnershp meant to enslave Ndigbo.
Igbo leaders must ensure a speedy dredging and construction of
internationally standardized Seaport in Onitsha, Oba, Oguta or wherever,
to provide enough commerce boost for our people and stop jobless youth
getting involved n armed robbery and kidnapping.
Igbo leaders must ensure that a brand new Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port
Harcourt and Enugu Nsukka highway, that meets approved standard, is
constructed without delay.
Igbos have sacrificed 2015 presidency for Jonathan, we must pursue a
commitment from him in terms of these infrastructures as a matter of
urgency, peradventure, if Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen succeeds in
breaking up Nigeria before that 2019, Ningbo will not have gone home
empty handed.
May His
Soul Rest in Peace
God Bless You All
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