• Says Gov Ugwuanyi will have massive backing if he joins race

By Ikechukwu Odu

Traditional ruler of Obimo in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, HRH, Igwe Spencer Ugwuoke, in this interview, speaks on the possibilities of the President of Igbo extraction in 2023 and what South-East stakeholders must do to realise the dream. Excerpts:

What strategy do you think the Igbo who have declared interest to run for presidency in 2023 should adopt in order achieve their dream?

It is for interested aspirants to declare interest to run for the position. South-East is entitled to the presidential position to address cry of marginalisation of the zone, just as South-West and North-East are entitled to the position.

Igbo stakeholders will assess those who declared interest and give our collective supports to the best aspirant. The traditional rulers and some prominent leaders of thought will go into the field to lobby and mobilize for the chosen aspirant.

If the Ooni of Ife sees Obi of Onitsha, Chairman of Enugu State Council of Chiefs, and other prominent rulers and stakeholders from South-East mobilising for one aspirant, he will know that we are serious.

The delegation will visit all the traditional rulers and other stakeholders of other geopolitical zones to convince them that, given the contributions of Igbo in our national development, an Igbo man deserves to be the President of Nigeria. We will canvas for their support.

I am happy that former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim has declared interest for the presidential race. The next person who I know will not have any opposition from Enugu State and entire South-East if he declares interest is Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. No party or religious affiliation will oppose him if he declares interest for the position.

Igbo need aggressive mobilisation for whoever will be endorsed by the stakeholders to run for the President of Nigeria from South-East.

Why do you think Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi possess the quality of being the president of Nigeria?

We have tasted Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s government and the difference is clear. I am not saying this because he is from Nsukka just like I am.

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No single individual or group can rise from Enugu to say that he offended them in any way. If you want me to mention names of those who governed the state in the past and the kind of opposition they generated, I will not hesitate, but can you name anybody who is against Gov Ugwuanyi in Enugu North?

Do you think he has done well in terms of delivery of the dividends of democracy to the people of the state?

People should know that his political party is in the opposition at the federal level. If not for his ingenuity, President Muhammadu Buhari could have refused to back any project from coming to the state.

Now, before he enters Aso Rock, he would obtain permission unlike when PDP was in power. So, he has tried in the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people of the state. He is the only governor from South-East who has reverence for the traditional rulers in the state.

What we suffer in Igboland is too much freedom of speech. Anybody can go to the media and say what he likes. Anyone can go to the press and attack any traditional ruler he hates, but you can’t attack the Sultan of Sokoto, Ooni of Ife or the Tor of Tiv and go scot-free, but you can finish any Igwe in South-East and nothing will happen.

Any governor from South-East feels superior to any traditional ruler from South East but the Governor of Sokoto State for instance, doesn’t feel superior to the Sultan.

The Governor of Kaduna State doesn’t feel superior to the Emir of Zazzau. It is only Gov Ugwuanyi and some other persons.

I don’t want to mention names because small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, while great minds discuss ideas. I am a great man who doesn’t discuss persons.

If you are asked to suggest who should be the president of Nigeria in 2023, who would you pick for the position?

I don’t want to give you a direct answer because that would translate to partisanship. However, I will provide my answer with reasons.

In the whole of the five eastern states, it is only Enugu State that has taken the lead for unity and peace. APGA is controlling Anambra State, not because the state wants to make money from the Federal Government but to restore the dignity of the Igbo man.

The Yorubas are controlling APC now. If Bola Tinubu fights for APC and fails, then PDP will win the presidency. If you come to the East, Imo State is no longer a PDP state. Look at Ebonyi State which we all fought for, the governor defected from PDP to APC and he has not found his feet since then.

I learnt that one former governor from Abia State is equally making efforts to become the president of Nigeria. I think he is just doing that so that he can be recommended to be a minister in Nigeria, not that he wants to become the president of Nigeria judging from his past records.

It is only Governor Ugwuanyi who has demonstrated quality leadership on the saddle. PDP, knowing his capacity, made him the chairman of the last national convention of the party and there was no opposition from anywhere.

Things went according to how he signed it. What else do you want to see so that you will be convinced of his ability to lead Nigeria? The scripture said Show forth your blessing, not only in your lips but in your actions.

He has shown us his blessings, not only in his lips but in his style of leadership. But where are the leadership qualities from politicians in Anambra State? They are only good in projecting crises.

In the last governorship election in the state, so many people projected crises in order to manipulate the election, but the will of the people manifested at last. There were no crises during the election.

That was how we fought the Biafran war because I was in the army. The blast I had blinded my left eye, I don’t hear with my left ear or see with my left eye. I fought to the rank of a captain. I was receiving treatment in the hospital when they declared the war over.

You can’t see someone who is intelligent and learned who having witnessed the war, prays to have another experience. Such person, if he exists, is not a normal human being.

I have reasons to back Governor Ugwuanyi to contest for presidency. We will visit the Northern part of the country to campaign for him both in APC and PDP.

We will equally visit all the traditional rulers in other geopolitical zones to convince them to support him. What makes him the most viable candidate is his age.

All I am saying is that Nsukka people want Adada State. I am not against anyone who wants to get Biafra as a country. Nsukka people need Adada State so that we shall have equal share with others.

Look at Anambra State, 70% of them slept in Enugu State during the last governorship election. They could not cross Niger Bridge, they couldn’t go to Imo or Abia States because both are insecure. They know that their safety is at Enugu and Nsukka here.

What do you have to say about President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?

I don’t want to talk much on an incumbent president. President Muhammadu Buhari has done well. I know what is in leadership.

There is an adage which I want to leave with you. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, and it is only those who have worn the crown that knows the uneasiness. Those who are calling for war every time do not know what it tastes like.

I have seen war and do not want to experience it again in my lifetime. Those countries of the world that do not clamour for war know the consequences of fighting one. This thing we are saying about Biafra and Nigeria is just like a village football match.

I was in the Biafra Army and I know who a soldier is. Buhari is a soldier. All these comments you make about him doesn’t bother him.

Sometimes, you will see him at his farm in Daura controlling his herds of cattle even when there are crises in some parts of the country. Some of these things people say about him doesn’t get to his heart.

What I know is that the problem in the country was not caused by Buhari. The problem has been there, but we thought he will just come and change everything overnight. It is not possible.

What we need to make progress as a nation is constitutional amendment. We can decide to make the presidency to rotate among the six geopolitical zones in the country during the constitution amendment.

I condemned this system of government we are practising from the onset; we are not mature to practice it as a nation.

So, which system of government is suitable for Nigeria?

Parliamentary system is most ideal for us as a country. If someone gets to a political position through election, his allegiance would be to those who elected him, but if someone who has not visited his village for the past two years is appointed by the president as a minister for instance, his allegiance would be to the person who appointed him, and not the people.

He would grab as much as he can because he knows he is not going to anybody to seek for re-election.

However, if you get an elected individual, and make him a minister, the person will know that he has an honour to preserve. If you are very observant, no minister wants to be like a member of the House of Representatives.

Rather, an elected member of the House of Representatives who was elected by the people is trying to be like a minister who was appointed by the president. This arrangement cannot work.

Go and see the budget, go and see where a minister is living and compare it with that of a member of the House of the Representatives.

If you go to the office of a minister who was just appointed, you will see a member of the House of Assembly who was elected by the people waiting in the queue to be attended to by a minister.

How does this sound to you? A minister would try to embezzle as much as he can because he knows he cannot seek for re-election and wouldn’t want to regret his stay in power.

We are not mature for this system of government.

If you are made a minister of health for instance, it is expected that you should be a professional in healthcare, but here, you find someone who is an engineer overseeing a health ministry.

How can we make progress in this situation? We are not yet mature to practice Presidential system of government.

In your opinion, what do you suggest the leaders of this nation should do to fix the country?

We must go back and review the constitution. There is a book of Solomon called Ecclesiastes, and it said that everything has time.

The Nigerian state has not grown to practice the system of government we are practising now. In 1980, one dollar was equal to 80 Kobo, today in America, the value of dollar has not reduced 41 years down the line, but in Nigeria, something that was sold for 80 Kobo in 1980 is now above N560.

What is our objective in all this? If you want unity, you must plant a common enemy. We must have something we are pursuing in common. There is no Nigerian Airways again, our railways are not functional. It is still under revival. How many times have Americans revived their railways?

Here in Nigeria, every state and local government area waits for the federal allocations at the end of the month. Are we saying that if we had no crude oil, Nigeria cannot exist?

Only Lagos State is surviving with Internally Generated Revenue, IGR. Where are the 16 local government areas in Kwara State getting their IGR? What export product does the state have?

Fulani herdsmen would not allow Enugu and Benue farmers to cultivate anymore. What has government done about it?

We are all waiting for the federal allocations. Nigeria today is not up to what America was in the 14th century. We urgently need constitutional review.

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