Igbo already projecting for actualisation of presidency in 2023 — Ezeife

By EMMANUEL MOGBEDE

Dr Chukwuemeke Ezeife, a former Governor of old Anambra, has said that the people of the eastern region were already projecting some persons for the actualisation of an Igbo president in 2023.

He said this at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja while speaking on the need to have an Igbo president in 2023 which he said was long overdue.

The conference was organised by the Global Movement for Igbo President in 2023.

Ezeife said it was not true that having an Igbo president might remain a mirage because the people were not united as was being speculated.

He added that contrary to the speculation, the Igbo were the most united among other erthnic groups in the country.

“The Igbo are prominent people, individualistic and not under the command of any traditional ruler, but we are more united than any other ethnic group in Nigeria.

“We have been out of central power for decades, not being President or Vice President, but if something is required, we can easily come together as one to speak,” he said.

He said he was happy that the issue of Igbo presidency was being raised.

Ezeife added that although the Igbo were united on the issue of presidency, some persons were sell out and not Igbo enough to represent the region.

“We don’t want ‘sellable’ people, we don’t want people who can sell their country for money, we don’t want people who are too selfish to help others.

“If you mention some names, they are not Igbo enough and are not acceptable to us because we know they will sell out.

“So we will bring somebody who will show love to all, show love to Hausa, Yoruba and to his Igbo brothers and to all Nigerians.

“It is too early to name names, but we are projecting some people already,” he said.

On the need to restructure the country, the former governor said if Nigeria was well organised, everybody would be happy.

He added that Nigerians of Igbo extraction would be the happiest because they want the largest market possible to trade in.

Also speaking, Mr Godfrey Azu, Media Officer of the Global Movement for Igbo President in 2023, maintained that the eastern region was long overdue to produce a president for the country.

He added that leaders of the region would use as a scapegoat, any politician from the region who betrays the people in 2023.

He further added that leaders of the region were ready to go after any Igbo politician that disrupts the political waters come 2023.

According to him, some politicians take joy in disrupting political waters and stiring it so nobody will drink from it.

“We have told them, we know them, many people we spoke to told us that the biggest problem of Ndi-Igbo is Ndi-Igbo.

“We are saying to Ndi-Igbo wherever they are both in the Diaspora and in Nigeria that we have begun this discourse and have progressed with this dialogue and getting to the point of reaching an answerable report.

“We will not want to find any man among them that goes to stir the waters.

“We are sending the message also to our brothers and sisters in the North and in the South-West, we call upon the Kaduna and Lantang elite, the Caliphates and those in Katsina and the Lion of Boadilon road.

“We call upon everyone of them, they know what their plans are and their secrets, but we are saying enough is enough,” Azu said.

He noted that Igbo were so engrossed with their businesses, going after making money, building the best mansion, estates and hotels everywhere in the country and across Africa.

He added that they, however, forgot that money without political power was a waste of time in the journey of life.

This, he said, was the reason he was calling upon them not to only be regional politicians, but to begin to understand national politics.

Azu added that politicians of Igbo extraction should begin to play key and pivotal role in national politics if they still believed they were part of the country.

“The issue is believing you are still part of this Nigeria and acting to play a key role in deciding the faith of Ndi-Igbo within the country’s national politics.

“We can’t be part of the tripod that formed Nigeria at independence and two of the tripod are deciding the faith of everybody in this country.

“Two of the tripod decide what economy we make and what social life we leave and who becomes who in the politics.

“We are saying in the Diaspora that enough is enough and we are telling our brothers to rise to this challenge,” he stressed.

He added that he was happy that Nigerian youths were beginning rise, haven watched their #EndSARS protest on television in the last few days.

He noted that if the youth in the country were beginning to realise their place in the society and in the political space, it was therefore the right time we began to understand what it meant to organise a peaceful revolution.

According to him, revolution was what made Tunisia and Egypt what they are today as a country.

“We have come of age to have an Igbo president after 50 years of sacrifice, the only way we can kill the spirit of succession in the country is to give Igbo man the presidency in 2023,” he said. (NAN)