What Professor Obiozor must do now to restore Igbo presidency in 2023

In most countries that practise it, democracy is all about families. It is all about putting more money in the pockets of working class citizens. It is all about putting in place affordable medical facilities for citizens. It is all about well equipped schools for students. It is all about clean drinking water and nourishing food for families to eat at an affordable cost. It is all about decent and affordable housing for residents. It is all about making sure that citizens do not lack anything that would make them happy and more confident in the government they put in place with their votes to manage the country’s affairs over the years. It is all about the future of the country.

If we take a critical look at events in Nigeria in the last 60 years, we will easily discover that the reason the country is failing is that politics in the country has consistently been based on the acquisition of power. It has all been about grabbing power and authority and not about service to the people which is what politics should actually address.

There are the seemingly intractable activities of Boko Haram in the north and other armed and unarmed insurgencies in parts of the south. There is the menace of Fulani herdsmen and “unknown gunmen” which has taken on a national dimension. There are kidnappings almost every day somewhere in both the north and the south. There are cult activities everywhere, especially in the south. There is massive unemployment of even university graduates. There is the epileptic supply of electricity and no clean drinking water in the villages, towns and urban cities. Even ordinary food to eat has become a luxury in Nigeria today. The people groan under a heavy yoke, suffering and smiling, as Fela Ransome Kuti would put it.

Politicians are blamed. No one seems to appreciate the fact that the problem with the country was inherited by the first set of politicians from the first day Nigeria had self rule. Everyone seems to forget that right from the first day Nigeria had self rule, the seed was sown for the wrong type of political dispensation. Over the decades, Nigerian leaders continued in that direction of political correctness, oblivious of the fact that the country could no longer continue to move in that direction without damaging its own very existence.

Peter Obi

My research shows that this politics of power is what is stultifying Nigeria’s democratic growth and has largely turned the country into a paradox – so that the richer the country is, the poorer the citizens are. It is this brand of politics that is at the root of the series of rapes of both Nigerian women and the Nigerian economy, the curse of the country today. It is this brand of politics that is behind the impunity of Fulani herdsmen and “unknown gunmen” who either attack and sack citizens from their ancestral homes and make them refugees in their own country or kill and maim them at will for no justifiable reason. It is this brand of politics that is encouraging every insurgency that has continued to challenge the country and its leaderships at every turn and every level. Even the official corruption that has been blamed for Nigeria slanting towards a failed state is as a result of Nigerian politicians getting drunk with the politics of power.

America was in flames a few years ago because President Donald Trump shifted from Obama’s eight years politics of service delivery to his own four years politics of power. We all witnessed the results. So, Nigerians need to move from the politics of power to the politics of service delivery, if they want to save their country from self destruction. That is the realization Professor Obiozor should start from, and concentrate on, in advocating for Igbo Presidency, come 2023.

It is important at this juncture to consider the fact that everyone in Nigeria now seems convinced that the Igbo can never speak with one voice again. Even on the pressing issue of Biafra or referendum which every Igbo is concerned about, they have as the mouthpiece of the Igbo in general, the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), the Movement for the Realization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the Biafra Zionist Front (BZF), the Biafra Liberation in Exile (BILIE), the Eastern People’s Congress (EPC), the Biafra United Liberation Council (BULC), the Joint Revolutionary Council of Biafra (JRCB), the Igbo Hebrew Cultural Restoration (IHCR), the Biafra Actualization and Defence Squad (BADS), the Biafra Revolutionary Organization (BRO), the Salvation Peoples of Biafra (SPB), the Biafra Liberation Crusade (BLC), the Biafra Peace Corps (BPC), the Billie Human Rights Initiative (BHRI), the Ekwenche Organization (EO) and the Igbozurume Organization (IO).

Obviously, this idea of proliferating leaderships among the Igbo is not going to do them any good. To secure the presidency in 2023, the Igbo must speak with one voice which must be articulated by the President General of Ohanaeze, the highest cultural association of Igbo people. Fortunately, the Igbo are on the lead in creativity and innovation in the country. So, how must they get to speak with one voice?

Kingsley Moghalu

Professor Obiozor must expeditiously summon all Igbo stakeholders in the 2023 Presidency, all Igbo aspirants to the Presidency and all leaders of activist movements – the IPOB, MASSOB, BZF, BILIE, EPC, BULC, JRCB, IHCR, BADS, BRO, SPB, BLC, BPC, BHRI, EO and IO – to a crucial meeting. Given the need to redirect the Nigerian political focus from politics of power to politics of service delivery, the meeting must deal exhaustively with the election of a consensus candidate who will effectively represent the Igbo and turn around the fortune of all Nigerians for better, irrespective of their religious leaning, political affiliation and ethnicity. And what the Igbo need to achieve that is a technocrat, not the regular politicians who failed the country over the years both in the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and in the All Progressives Congress, APC.

It is true that many Igbo sons and daughters who consider themselves qualified have shown interest in the race to Aso Rock in 2023. Professor Obiozor and his team must ensure that every opinion of every interest group counts but that the re-emergence of the Igbo in Nigerian political dispensation and democratic evolution is not characterized by the selfish ambition or egocentricism of presidential aspirants. They must all understand and appreciate the fact that the success or failure of this exercise of electing a consensus candidate is what will make or mar the relevance of the Igbo nation in Nigeria, now and in years to come. So, they must be as selfless and as visionary in electing a consensus candidate and pushing for his or her success at the polls as can be humanly possible, bearing in mind that the interest of the Igbo nation should be considered as more important than the private ambition of any of her sons or daughters. That understanding should goad the conduct of the meeting and its result.

At the moment, two aspirants readily come to my mind. One is Peter Obi who many testify succeeded as governor of Anambra State. Many Nigerians believe in him. They trust that he can deliver. But they don’t trust his party, PDP, as much. Many Nigerians believe that APC and PDP are the Siamese twins of corruption in Nigerian politics, joined in their hearts, feeling each other’s heart beat as they sweep the national treasury clean from where PDP stopped or offer umbrella coverage for looters of the national treasury.

That feeling of many Nigerians might jeopardize Obi’s chances unless he can convince Nigerians that he has the magic wand to turn the PDP around. But that would be gambling with his political career and fortune.

And then, there is Professor Kingsley Moghalu who vied for the presidency in 2019 under the banner of Young Progressives Party. Professor Moghalu believes that his basic assignment is to first educate Nigerians on their political demands, rights and privileges. So he instituted an organization that aims at switching Nigerian political practice from politics of power to politics of service delivery. That organization is known as TBAN – “To Build A Nation” and it already boasts of several intellectuals and concerned youths of Nigeria who are disillusioned and dissatisfied with the trend of affairs in their beloved country. They come from many countries across the world to register with TBAN. Moghalu was deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and performed well in instituting the current BVN in banks, which can be used to check criminal activities. He worked for 17 years in the United Nations and rose to the rank of Director.

My take is that Professor Obiozor should lend his weight to TBAN organization and with the massive efforts of all Igbo, no matter where they live, help wrestle authority from the current greedy politicians who have bluntly refused to see that politics of power is ruining Nigeria and the fortunes of its citizens. Once the Igbo are able elect one consensus candidate among all the aspirants, one who can institute modern politics in clear, unambiguous terms, at national, state and local government levels, an Igbo President would be able to make the difference in the service to God and his countrymen. Igbo business men and women can start complementing TBAN by beginning now to invest in their own home towns and local government areas to create jobs for their teeming population of young people. To make this dream of a competent Igbo President come true is what Professor Obiozor must embark on immediately. The time to start is now.

Chief Sir Emeka Asinugo is a London-based journalist, author and publisher of Imo State Business Link Magazine (Website: https://imostateblm.com)