Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former governor of Anambra State, in this interview, says for the unity of Nigeria not to be negotiable, there must be restructuring of the country. He also accuses President Muhammadu Buhari of pushing Ndigbo out of the country and also corrupting the constitution of Nigeria. Excerpts:
meeting in Owerri was for Rochas
Okorocha to lobby Ndigbo against clamouring for restructuring of Nigeria? I
don’t know how Rochas will do that, to listen to anybody about something that
will compromise the Igbo interest. In fact, the unity of Nigeria may be
un-negotiable, but that is not the problem, the problem is do you want Nigeria
as one or do you want the disintegration of Nigeria? If the unity of Nigeria is
not negotiable, then restructuring Nigeria cannot be negotiablebecause
restructuring Nigeria is the only guarantee for the unity of Nigeria. What we
have now is a unity government for a diverse people. Diverse in culture,
including religion and many grounds. You must respect the pluralism of Nigeria.
Cultural diversity If you have six federating units, then, you guarantee the
survival of Nigeria in many ways. Cultural diversity is taken care of, economic
feasibility is taken care of. Right now, we have 36 states, most of which are
not feasible economically. That is why we are borrowing money for salaries. Is
it not a problem now; are we not borrowing money for salaries? During the 2014
conference, another 18 states were proposed and the proposal was to improve the
unity of Nigeria by respecting diverse groups who want to stay together on
their own but within the federal government. If 36 states are said to be
unfeasible, what about adding 18 more? But with six geopolitical zones as
federating units, you can even have 100 states, but they will not be called
states. Any name you call them they can take, but you scale down seriously,
they can be provincial government, they can be anything you call them, they may
even be local governments. Do you know that in this Nigeria, there is a state
where a child must score 139 points in order to qualify to enter a secondary
school, while from another state, you will have nine points? Increased
competition For an Anambra child to go to federal college, he or she must score
139, that is the highest. But when you go round, some states are nine points,
some two. This is very diverse and it is not even helping anybody. So, if you
have geopolitical zones as federating units there will be increased
competition. Within the zone, there will be fair standards. There will be
increased pressure to score well or you will not qualify. But once it is
Nigeria, you will hear, how can you allow Igbo or the Anambra indigenes to fill
the school and Sokoto will not come even if they don’t score anything? What
kind of Nigeria are we running? God created Nigeria and endowed resources on
her, for unmatched greatness. I don’t know what country in this our world that
is more favoured than Nigeria. Here, I can step out in the open naked; I will
not die. But go to Europe and step out in the snow, you will quench in a short
time. Look at resources, any plant that can grow anywhere in this world can
grow in Nigeria. We have mineral resources in surplus, and when we talk about
minerals, it is not just coal and crude oil, we are talking about gemstones,
gold, silver, aqua marine, sapphire of highest quality, etc. Then you come to
human beings with expertise and knowledge, we are talking about many talents
from many tribes. Over endowed, that is what Nigeria is and what have we done
with it? Anybody who thinks clearly will see this point that God appears to
intend Nigeria to be big brother and rallying point for all blacks on earth. We
are the largest concentration of blacks on earth. Therefore, with the resources
we are given, and with the way we have escaped natural disasters like
earthquakes, volcano, hurricanes,etc, we are supposed to develop into a super
power. The role of Nigeria is to wipe out the shame of slavery from the face of
every black man. That is our manifest destiny. Apart from the unity of Ndigbo
which other thing was discussed at the Owerri meeting? We discussed the problem
that the South East is facing in today’s Nigeria. The problem of hatred from
Mr. President. At the beginning, not everybody saw it. I saw it early enough
and thinking it was a mistake and not a deliberate action, I started shouting.
We have not been taken here, we have not been taken there, you have appointed 10
persons nobody from Southeast; you have appointed 20 people nobody is from
Southeast, you have appointed 25, 30, 40 going further we have nobody, no soul
from the Southeast. Respect and dignity So, I started knowing that it is beyond
a mistake. I was thinking it was a mistake and since I believe that the person
who is President must have conscience, I was raising his consciousness to the
mistake so that he can correct it even the ones I tell you to write, you will
find that everything I was saying is true. Instead of being taken seriously for
amendment to be made, I was called enemy of the North and enemy of Buhari. So,
these days, I am not talking too much again, I am talking about Nigeria.
Instead of making the black man to get more respect and dignity, we are
generating shame for blacks on earth. We are generating shame for the blacks
for whom we are supposed to be improving their respect and dignity. Now you
said Mr. President hates Ndigbo, how can the elders of Southeast organise
Ndigbo to speak with one voice as it appears the people don’t speak with one
voice? I am not praising Ndigbo, but they are the most united group in Nigeria.
Ndigbo have been out of central political power for more than half a century,
yet, they can call one another, ”come” and they come. Do you know what it means
to be not even Vice President and not to talk about being president? We have
not had Vice President or president for so long, yet we are still united. They
called us to Owerri and we trooped there. I talk and some people understand me
they didn’t say go to hell. There is no bad name they don’t give Ndigbo, they
say when they hear money they will drop everything and go for the money, lie. I
remember one governor somewhere in the northern part of Nigeria, who told me he
had found a people more greedy for money than Ndigbo. He said these people can
deal with their mother in order to get money. We are so united that if you are
called a bad name, every person knows the bad name you are called and they may
even be avoiding you. Our problem is not lack of unity, it is lack of
opportunity. Whether the present government can implement the 2014 Conference
report. It is a matter of whether the government is serious or not. That was
the greatest assemblage of Nigerians of all types. From deformed people,
disabled people to the latest intellects with experience to the highest level
of traditional rulership. We discussed difficult things where we did not always
agree but we ended up getting a consensus. Some people who are in present control,
those people who were controlling Nigeria then and now, they didn’t want any
change. They said to themselves, what are we going to change? Anything we
change will be at our loss. But they are wrong and we proved to them that they
were wrong. Eventually, they agreed with us, no group walked out because each
group saw it, a long term interest is better inside one Nigeria than in a
disintegrated Nigeria. No group walked out, everything was discussed and it was
a matter of weighing the easier of two positions, disintegration or unity.
Unmatched greatness Any group that intelligently looks at its interest in the
long term, will find a united Nigeria more attractive than a disintegrated
Nigeria. Unfortunately, the people who had disagreed with the restructuring and
things that will make Nigeria permanent are the people who will lose most by
disintegration. If you want Nigeria to be a Super Power and to develop to
unmatched greatness, you want every section of Nigeria to make maximum
contribution; therefore I end every letter I write to a Nigerian organisation
or a Nigerian president with yours for Nigeria as a Super Power. I want Nigeria
to be a Super Power; we cannot be super power if components of Nigeria are not
making progress. Now we are talking about some group wanting to leave Nigeria,
which group, how does Nigeria gain by Southeast of Igbo leaving? Short sighted
people may say ‘we will gain the property they are leaving behind.’ How did
they manage to have those property they are leaving behind? Look at Abuja, what
percentage of the structures, buildings belong to Southeast people? Likewise in
Kano, Kaduna, Calabar and Sokoto. One man from Awka, Anambra State, I went to
visit him in Awka and I was told that he has 300 modern houses in Kaduna and I
have taken some space in Awka to build civil servants houses. It happened that
some part of the space belonged to him, he came to me and said ‘oga governor,
you have taken my land’ and I said, ‘I am told you have 300 houses in Kaduna,
what are you doing in this land in Awka, have you built anything? What I am
saying is we should calculate our loses and our gains whichever decision we are
taking. Culture and tradition Igbo people are not building everywhere for
nothing, it is our culture and tradition. There is an Igbo adage which says,
“Ebe onye bi ka ona awachi” (where you live, you mend). Essentially, where you
live you build, where you live you take care of the interest of that place. So,
if you push the Igbo out of Nigeria like Buhari is doing, pushing Ndigbo hard
to leave Nigeria and then he turns back to say that the unity of Nigeria is not
negotiable, what kind of nonsense is that? You are pushing some parts of
Nigeria out of Nigeria and you are turning around to extol the unity of
Nigeria. How is Buhari pushing Ndigbo out of Nigeria? All these I have been
saying ‘no de make wave in your ears at all? First, he swore the oath to
protect and defend the constitution, he is not defending the constitution, he
is not offering any job to people from the Southeast. That is called denial, he
is corrupting the constitution through the appointments he is making and the
best policy Buhari is known for is anti-corruption policy. He is corrupting the
policy he rolled out in many ways. One of these is unfairness in the distribution
of jobs. As I am talking to you now, people sit in national security council of
Nigeria, the Igbo are described as one of the third legs of the tripod in
Nigeria, not one Igbo is in the national security council. You don’t kill
people and expect them to be with you. The Nigerian Army massacred our people
in Aba, they also massacred our people who carried the Bible to go and do
memorial service in Onitsha area. Fulani herdsmen went and killed our people in
Enugu. Olisa Metuh was going to court handcuffed when people who have greater
charges against them, were swaggering into the court. What are you telling his
people? So, please, I am no longer interested in blaming Buhari, all I am
interested now is asking Nigerians from all parts of the country to pray for
Buhari because he is the President. May God give him the idea to change, may
God direct him to the right path of Nigeria’s developmental governance. That is
my prayer and I will appeal to everybody to forget criticising Buhari. We have
seen that he doesn’t absorb criticism, so why do we keep calling him names if
he doesn’t recognise what you are saying. What do you think is responsible for
the resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta and the IPOB in Southeast? The
IPOB you mentioned has no militancy about it, they have a legitimate case they
have even taken to the United Nations. If you go to the Niger Delta, the boys
are saying, this oil which God located in our area, why are we not part of it?
Why is 80 percent or more oil wells given to the North? Why are you negotiating
with Boko Haram hoping to get money from the Niger Delta? Even the one Yar’Adua
negotiated with the people; you are not following it anymore. Why is the stock
market in Nigeria losing value? Why is the Naira so down? Why is power not
available in Nigeria? Why is water not available in some places? Why are there
difficulties everywhere? The more you have people suffering, miserable, the
more you have militancy and insecurity. Why are graduates not employed? These
are contributors to militancy and insecurity. But President Buhari’s
administration said it did not create it. What was the value of the Naira to
dollar when Jonathan was leaving? Tell me. It was about N197. What was the
total value of stock market when Jonathan was leaving, how many people were
suffering inability to buy anything in the market? What was the price of fuel
when Jonathan was leaving? I think people who refuse to face their problems
cannot solve their problems. Jonathan, who left more than one year ago, is responsible
for problems that arose. The president pronounced your country as bankrupt,
what do you think other countries will say? They will run away. How many
organisations have closed shop in Nigeria? What is responsible for the economic
recession Nigeria is facing today? Our economic policy, our attitude to the
economy generates negatives which are responsible for the misery the Nigerian
people are going through today. The only one thing you can now talk about is
the collapse of oil prices because it reduces revenue. Nigeria has a problem,
we do not respect intellect. I proposed a solution to petroleum crisis to
Obasanjo, I proposed to Yar’Adua but he was not quite alert when I was talking
with him in his office. I proposed to Jonathan but the oil Mafia was so strong
that if your proposal is against their interest, there is no chance of it
seeing the light of the day. I made a proposal, the bottom line of it is to subsidize.
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