Nwodo: Restructuring Will End Clamour For Rotational Presidency

Nnia Nwodo, President General, Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo.

BY LAWRENCE NJOKU

President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, told our Southeast Bureau Chief, LAWRENCE NJOKU why the country needs restructuring over other agitations in the land.

Why have you maintained the call for restructuring against the agitation for Igbo presidency in 2023?

It is undoubtedly Igbo’s turn to produce the president in 2023, under the current Constitution. Anybody who denies this fact is deliberately throwing the country into chaos. It is incontestable and if there must be justice and fairness in the system, it must be the Igbo’s turn, and I implore all political parties to take cognizance of this fact.

I have been misunderstood on the issue of restructuring, as I have continuously said the only way to stop this sectional politics and deliberate leadership marginalization is to restructure the country. And I refer to the pre-independence period, when we had a Constitution that was agreed to by our forefathers, which I am praying we return to, as it achieved better result for our economy.

The Premier of Northern Nigeria rejected to be Prime Minister of the federation because the region was more powerful than the Federal Government. In a restructured Nigeria, the craze to become President or Prime Minister and to operate the zoning system will fizzle out, because the restructured independent components will have sovereignty of their natural resources and the country’s economic growth will be determined by the regions, and not the Federal Government. The Federal Government’s responsibility should be limited to defense, external relations, as well as customs and excise.

The presidency is attractive to people because of the country’s vast resources, which is being centrally held. The President has so much power and anybody who wants to use it to feather his nest will do so, as long as he has legislative majority. This has been the pattern since the 1999 Constitution took off. All I am saying is that, once the 1999 Constitution is overthrown and there is an agreement among Nigerians to restructure, the clamour over where the President comes from will no longer be an issue.

It does not vitiate the point that, as long as the current Constitution is used, the rotational tradition cannot be stopped. When we had regional governments, we were doing much better and our institutions were working.

Where did we get it wrong as a nation?

You know that the army’s incursion into governance destroyed the country’s evolution of democratic terms. Then, we detested the lack of absolute transparency in the electoral system, which led to thuggery and sometimes rigging. But what is happening these days is much worse than what we had then. The thuggery and rigging have developed to a sophisticated scale, far in excess of what obtained when we had regional governments.

In fact, the reason a state of emergency was declared was because the coalition of NCNC and Action Group won the election, but it was declared in favour of Akintola’s party. And to show Akintola that he did not win, the coalition decided to ensure there was no governance in the country. They filed lawsuits, and maimed Akintola’s followers. They burnt people alive. It was clear that the majority of the people on the streets were those who won the election, and the Federal Government that supported Akintola decided to appoint Majekodunmi as the administrator of Western region.

The unfortunate thing is that people of this generation have not been given opportunity to read history of what happened in the past and so, when we say these things, it looks like we are just talking, that it is not grounded in history. But the truth is that those of us that witnessed it feel so demoralised, because life was much better then.

Presently, the demand for oil is going down. The direction education is going globally will do away with old methods of producing oil. Those countries developing these technologies have left us behind. Even our teachers have no capacity to teach the children new modules because they have not been trained for it.

You blame military incursion for the country’s woes, but you served as minister in Abdulsalami Abubakar’s administration…

The Abdulsalami Abubakar regime was a transition government. We assumed office in August and handed over in May. We were basically in government for eight to nine months, and the sole agenda was to return the country to civil rule. As the Minister of Information, it was my responsibility to mobilize all transition agents to ensure that the people were aware of the electoral rules and procedure for election, voter’s rights and rules governing the process.

So, since we were focused on having a new government, there was no need introducing fresh policies we could not complete. Because of its short stay in power, every Minister that served in Abdulsalami’s administration must not be held responsible for the country’s under-development. What I did in the Ministry of Information has not been erased.

As Minister of Information, I changed all the television studios of NTA and FRCN. I gave instant broadcasting capacity to NTA and FRCN, using brand new motorized studios. I insisted that the manufacturers supplied us directly, which they did at a discount. The engineers from the two corporations watched the assemblage of the facilities, which is why they are still working. I also bought new vehicles and new cameras.

You are one of the Igbo leaders marked for attack by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), though you supported the group for some time. At what point did you disagree with them?

I think IPOB is misguided, and what I feel is that sometimes when their revenue is low, they look for cheap publicity, just to create the impression that there is disunity in Igboland. Nobody has defended IPOB in Igboland more than me, and I am wondering whether some us deserve what we are getting from the organisation.

Only a few days ago, an Ambassador sent me a film of the invasion of the Nigerian Embassy in Conakry, and I am yet to understand why it happened. The people that invaded the Embassy are clearly Igbos and some of them had the Biafran flags and were chanting, “Iwe n’ewe anyi,” meaning ‘we are angry.’ They made it obvious they were Igbos.

They tore the Nigerian flags, as they went with Biafra flags. They broke air conditioners and windows. For crying out loud, why would you fall into the trap of the Nigerian government declaring you as terrorists? Is that how people undertake lawful demonstrations? I found it funny.

If there is a war today, will the people doing these things be able to fight? I was a Biafran solider at an impressionable age of 17. These boys cannot be more Biafran than I am. I worked under Col. Onwuatuegwu of blessed memory. It is easy to sit in an arm-chair in their comfort zone, with funds donated to them by Nigerians all over the place and make pontifical pronouncements. It is rather unfortunate.

These people have masterminded all kinds of things. My house in the village was burnt. I get telephone threats everyday. I used to absolve them in the past, but now, I am going to prosecute all those that have been fingered in some of these things, because this is not in our character.

Tell me why Ekweremadu, in whose home the strategy for Nnamdi Kanu’s release was conceived, should be dealt with the way they did?

The former governor of Abia State, Theodore Orji was the one it fell upon to get Nnamdi out on bail, but he was also on bail from a trump-up charge by EFCC, and you cannot take somebody on bail when you are also on bail. So, Ekweremadu suggested to Abaribe to bail him, and the latter agreed. All of them supported Abaribe. The former Minister of Aviation, Chidoka, volunteered his land as part of surety. Neither Abaribe nor any of those that ensured Kanu’s release has been contacted by IPOB since their leader jumped bail. And we have been pleading with the Federal Government to forgo the charge, but what do we get in return?

There is no Igbo man that has attacked the Buhari government more than I have. I am not trained to be insolent. I only attack Buhari’s policies and not his person. They call Nigeria a zoo; they call people all kinds of names. But that is not the issue. Our point is that we are being marginalised in our country. We are being treated like second-class citizens. The system we are operating is repressive, and it looks like there is an arrangement to hold the Igbo down after the civil war, because all our savings were reduced to 20 pounds.

We were only given five states, while others have a minimum of six. We were given 95 local governments, while others have over 100. When we were given quit notice in the North, I took a census. I found out that there were over 11.6 million Igbos in northern Nigeria. In the last election, there were over 3.6 million registered voters in Lagos State alone. We also found out that there were one million Igbos living in Ghana. There is more Igbos living outside Igboland and clearly, our population is sizeable.

Now, Fulanis are invading Nigeria, crossing our borders, and registering as Nigerians in our national identity card scheme and overthrowing our immigration and international laws. This is bunkum and I say it every day. Do they want me to take up arms and fight the Federal Government? No generation survives a war twice.

What is your take on insinuations that Enugu International airport was deliberately closed to keep Southeast’s economy down?

The current government has shown that it has bias against the Southeast and is concentrating every development in the North. We have things in the Southeast that could be used to boost our economy, if the Federal Government is interested. Government knew that the airport was going down, that the runway was not good, but refused to maintain it until it became hazardous. You now closed it for safety reasons and said you would repair it before the end of December and suddenly you realised you had no money to do it.

But you know that movement of goods and services in the region where the airport is situated, is one of the things that can catalyse the region’s economy. Interestingly, in less than six months, we built an international airport at Kaduna, used by no airline.

How independent is the judiciary and INEC under this government?

This is the only country where politicians who belong to different political parties appoint electoral body exclusively. The President was elected on a party platform. The National Assembly members are elected on a party platform, and in this instance, both the President and majority of the National Assembly members come from one party. So, the members of the electoral commission are chosen by one party and given to the National Assembly, which rubber stamps it.

This is the only country in the world where after an election, you spend over 180 days in court disputing who won the election.

Tell me any other country in the world where election petitions have lasted for six months after an election; where people who have spent six months in office were removed by the court because they were not properly elected. The same applies to the judiciary.

The governors appoint judges in the state, while the President appoints the judges at the federal courts, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. This is not right. In the previous regional arrangement, the bar association nominated these people. And our revenue system does not allow consolidated fund for the judiciary. So, if a member of the judiciary wants to buy a car, he/she goes to the governor, they want an office, they go to a governor. If they want police, they go to the Inspector General of Police.

In other places, the court has its own police, so that when there is to be enforcement of judgment, the court police go to undertake it. They take orders from the Chief Judge. The judiciary has minimal contact with the executive and legislature, but that is not the case here and nobody wants to address it.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

2023: Igbo Town unions Meet With Ohanaeze

Chief Nnia Nwodo, President-General, Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo. Image: Wikipedia

BY RAPHAEL EDE

The Association of South- East Town Unions held a closed-door meeting with the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, in Enugu on Saturday, to strategise and plan for the Igbo to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023.

The meeting, which lasted for over three hours, was preceded by a meeting of the National Executive Committee of ASETU.

The National President of ASETU, Chief Emeka Diwe, who spoke to Sunday PUNCH on the outcome of the meeting with the leader of the Igbo apex sociocultural organisation in his Enugu residence, said they discussed other issues affecting the Igbo’s interest and welfare.

Diwe said, “Part of the reason for the meeting was to douse the tension in the land; there is too much tension and suspicion.

“Ndigbo will remain in Nigeria and get what is due to them in Nigeria.”

On Igbo presidency, he said, “We are still consulting, the coast is not clear yet, but we want to see how to first address the rising tension and suspicion in the country and we feel it’s necessary to send the signal that Ndigbo will remain in Nigeria to get their due.

“The meeting we had with the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo is an outcome of the brainstorming we had before we moved to the residence of Chief Nwodo for a closed-door meeting with him.

“There are a lot of eye opening revelations obtained from our consultation with Chief Nwodo, and that will lead us to further seek more interrogations and consultations from other Igbo quarters and hierarchies.”

The ASETU chief said the union had become a formidable platform to articulate the interest and welfare of Ndigbo and galvanise them towards a particular direction which should be viewed as the metamorphosis of the defunct Igbo Union.

“The Association of Igbo Town Unions is a continuation of Igbo Union; it is not a recent development. Ohanaeze is the apex Igbo sociocultural organisation with elitist colouration,” Diwe said.

The group a fortnight ago ended a retreat in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, where, among other things, they agreed to set up a joint community-based Vigilante Outfits and Security Trust Fund to check the rising cases of insecurity and invasion of Igboland.

SOURCE: PUNCH.

Just In: Ohanaeze President Denies Receiving N6.2b For Ruga From Buhari

BY CHRIS OJI

ENUGU (THE NATION) -- Ohanaeze Ndigbo has denied the allegations making rounds in the social media that its president general, Chief Nnia Nwodo alongside former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu received N6.2billion from President Buhari for the establishment of RUGA in the Southeast.

In a statement issued on Friday, the apex Igbo sociocultural organization said neither Nwodo nor Ekweremadu have authority over lands in the Enugu or anywhere in the Southeast.

In a statement by the group, it says:

“Our attention has been drawn to an insidious social media story making the rounds that the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, and a Distinguished Senator and former Deputy Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Ike Ekweremadu, collected a whopping N6.2 billion from President Buhari out of N22.2 billion budgeted to plant RUGA in the country. The story which was purported to have emanated from a faceless traditional ruler from Umuchigbo Abakpa in Enugu State sounded preposterous and deserves to be consigned to the dust bin where it rightly belongs knowing that the purveyors of the story may have underestimated the intelligence of some audience of the social media but who certainly may not be as gullible as they think and will do with some clarifications. Why did the writer not mention the name of the traditional ruler and whether he was there when money exchanged hands? One would have expected their detractors to have established the veracity of their claim by giving an insight into how the money exchanged hands or through which bank accounts they were remitted to Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu. It will also would have been good if the accusers had clarified if Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu collected the money as individuals or on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. For the sake of clarity, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has no control over land in Enugu State or in the South East neither does Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu. Again, Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu are not traditional rulers and therefore don’t have custody over land in the South East. They should also have authenticated their allegation by stating where the said RUGA settlements are in Enugu State or in the South East. It is sad that upon all Ohanaeze Ndigbo has been doing to improve the image of Ndigbo in the comity of Nigerian Nations and efforts to restore Ndigbo to their rightful place in the country, either some Igbo sons and daughters still allow themselves to be used to deride their own or some external forces are determined to undermine the unity of Ndigbo, afraid of what strength Ndigbo can derive from such unity. It is pertinent to put the public on notice that more of these senseless, vitriolic and demented attacks are expected to come from the stable of these traducers. It is also worthy of note that many Igbo organizations abound which are out to enrich their pockets and have opened bank accounts where they deceive Ndigbo to pay money into, money that is usually unaccounted for. These organizations only lay claim to their existence by attacking Ohanaeze Ndigbo and its leadership. The consolation is that social media users are knowledgeable and discerning to disregard such mercenary organizations.”

1999 constitution designed against Igbo –Nwodo

Nnia Nwodo, President Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo.

BY MAGNUS EZE

ENUGU (SUN NEWS ONLINE) -- President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, has said the military carefully structured the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against Ndigbo.

Nwodo who was guest on Arise TV’s live personality interview programme noted that the constitution was based on extreme discrimination and jaundiced against his people. He noted that the Igbo by every available record should not have the least number of local government areas, states andNational Assembly seats.

“The military designed a constitution at the end of the war to contain the Igbo. We have the smallest number of local governments of all the six geopolitical zones; smallest number of representatives in the National Assembly; the smallest number of local government councils, two states in the North West of Nigeria have as much local governments as we have in the South East,” he said.

The Ohanaeze leader also said the mandate of the apex Igbo body was not to actualise a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction but to push for a restructured federation where everybody would be free to achieve its dreams; an egalitarian society where people develop at their pace.

Ndigbo, he said, had been contained by the federal authorities, through its policies and programmes, but stated that their potential; energies, creativity and industry would enable them emerge at the world stage. Nwodo also said that there was no alternative to restructuring the country even as he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of not being faithful to his manifesto.

He recalled that Buhari had promised to restructure Nigeria during the 2014 electioneering but reneged after he won the election.

“The president has not been faithful to his manifesto. After he won the election, his party set up a committee on restructuring headed by Kaduna state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai and they made this report that which was accepted by the national leadership of his party.

“And when he faced interviewed by the press, he said that our problem was not structure but process.

“He swallowed his manifesto; he swallowed the decision of his national executive committee and he says we are looking for our personal interest. It’s rather the president that is looking for his own personal interest,” Nwodo stated.

The Ohanaeze chieftain insisted that the president has failed it by not resonating the aspirations of majority of Nigerian.

He further condemned the detention of convener of #RevolutionNow protests, Omoyele Sowore, and for the umpteenth time, called for the unbanning of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He also flayed the president for recycling some members of his cabinet, especially those that have corruption cases pending in the court as well those under the investigation of the antigraft agencies.

Nwodo, An Enemy Of Ndi’Igbo?

Nnia Nwodo

BY CHARLES MBANI

INDEPENDENT
Most times and in my quiet moments, I ponder about the fate of Ndi’gbo in the political and leadership configuration of Nigeria. I accept the constant reality that we have been marginalized in Nigeria, a country which remains our international identity for now. Igbo nation has never had a fair deal in this country since the unfortunate Biafran war of 1967-70.

I am not happy or even excited that the rest of Nigerians hold the Igbos in contempt and disdain. We are ranked among the three major tribes in Nigeria, pegging along with the Yorubas and the Hausa/Fulanis.

Nigeria has had democratic leaders from these two other ethnicities, except Ndi’gbo. The highest we have ever gone in leadership of Nigeria is Vice President and some ministerial portfolios. And for nearly four decades and after the end of the civil war, Nigeria has dumped us where we are today.

I do not necessarily blame the rest of Nigerians for this erroneous perception of Igbo nation. A people in the comity of other competing ethnicities package themselves to attract attention. A bride attracts the groom by her beauty. Unfortunately, Ndi’gbo has not packaged itself as a beautiful bride before Nigerians. That’s why the rest of the country scorns us; it is reason we flaunt ourselves naked before the communality of Nigeria.

Worse of it all, our leaders, whether political, traditional or cultural are not leading us to the path of redemption. We are still living with the individualistic tendencies, our colonial masters found in us; ruled us for years and later granted us independence.

I cry every day, wishing that the likes of Zik of Africa, Prof. Chinua Achebe and other intellectuals like Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Ikemba of Nnewi, Chief Odemegwu Ojukwu were still alive to guide us with the wisdom to navigate Nigeria. Though, dead, but their wisdom is stored in history books, which we read every day, but have refused to adopt in practicality.

With no apologies to any of my kinsman, brethren, the elderly or the young, I wish to say, Ndi’gbo has no leadership at the moment. If there is one, it means, they were so enthroned to finally destroy the hopes and aspirations of Igbo nation in the Republic of Nigeria. I crave for personal independence and freedom as a human being. I like it.

In same manner I have passion for the Republic Biafra. But you do not become anything of your wish with brute force and brigandage in today’s world. Tact, diplomacy and wisdom are required. Ndi’gbo leaders today have none of these leadership acumen.

Our leaders are partisan, uncouth and disoriented. Each time they howl, it means there is no food on their dining tables or easy cash to leisure in Harlem. They hardly think about Igbo nation in fantasies that would invoke in anyone us, the fond memories of Zik or Ojukwu and the rest. These leaders exist today for themselves and their families alone.

I am convinced they don’t even have the wisdom to interpret and explore to our advantage contemporary political cum leadership issues in Nigeria to speak on our behest. I am sure, our guardian god, “Amadioha” and other ancestral custodians have abandoned us to our fate.

I was pained throughout the period of the electioneering campaigns for the 2019 general elections. I could not believe the extent Ndi’gbo leaders sang discordant voices. It’s the disunity we market to Nigerians every time.

Rather than unite us for a common cause, which should ideally be the pursuit and realization of a President of Nigeria of Igbo extraction, these leaders recoil into their shells, without consulting anybody and come out, disgorging petrifying rubbish, draping with the least understanding of the informal arrangement of power rotation in the country.

In 2019 for instance, had these leaders known, the first bargaining chip would have been to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection bid to end North’s eight-year reign in Aso Rock, so that power can rotate back to Southern Nigeria. An insightful Ndi’gbo leadership would have lobbied to have any of our kinsmen as Buhari’s running mate in 2019. They didn’t know or preferred not to know that a focused leadership of a people lamenting day in, day out about marginalization should have struck at that point.

President-General of Ohanaeze Ndi’gbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo appears to be our greatest problem now and archenemy in disguise, posed as our leader. He failed to discern the political undercurrents in Nigeria and aligned with some groups like Northern Elders Forum, Pan-Niger Delta forum, the Middle Belt Forum, as well as a faction of Afenifere, in Abuja to kick us out of the leadership arena. They so senselessly made loud statements about the endorsement of PDP’s 2019 Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

They left their own son, Prof. Kingsley Moughalu who also contested the elections and endorsed another Fulani man against Buhari. That’s the extent of the idiocy of Igbo leadership. My brother, Moughalu wept and wept over this betrayal by his own people. I gravely feel his pains. Atiku has lost the election to Buhari because only Southeast did not see anything good in President Buhari, but the rest of Nigerians, over four million of them overruled Ndi’gbo with votes in favour of Buhari.

But Nwodo is not tired with his destructive plots against Igbo nation. He is still sniffing and vomiting the same rubbish after the post -2019 era against President Buhari. And it is unknown to him that the Southeast rejection of Buhari twice as reflected in the votes of the 2019 presidential elections might compel this President to form alliances with the Southwest in 2023 at the expense of Ndi’gbo. Are we cursed? Are our leaders insane? What is the beneficial imperative of pulling the daggers at Buhari now, as Nwodo is doing?

Nwodo is personally free to hate President Buhari. But must he do it on behalf of Igbo nation? He renewed the tears in me by his conscious destruction of the destiny of leadership of Nigeria by Ndi’gbo. I wept profusely when a read a recent interview credited to Nwodo published by “The Sun” newspaper wherein he said; “If you are a Fulani and you are a Chief of Army Staff you can be there forever. When your tenure finishes it can be elongated, something that has never happened in the history of our country and does not have any justification in any establishment law that we know.”

Ohanaeze Ndi’gbo President-General, please sir, there is neither wisdom nor diplomacy in this statement and your entire preachments in the interview about ethnicity. Maybe, you don’t know, but let me be blunt to you; there is nothing feasible that can enable Atiku wrest power from Buhari now!

There is no Northerner that would endorse the leadership retirement of President Buhari in the manner you think for an Atiku. A focused leadership of Igbo nation should be courting Buhari and not these excoriates of his government by our apex socio-cultural leadership.

Chief Nwodo, you are free to live with Atiku in your dreams; but stop mortgaging our political future in Nigeria because you want to sip from Atiku’s endless tea of wealth. I am shocked to the marrow that you don’t know retired military officers are recalled to serve the nation in times of need like now. It happens everywhere in the world.

That you are complaining about the elongation of the tenure of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and leader of counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusufu Buratai and other Service Chiefs, speaks volumes about your intellectual inadequacy. It’s impossible for you to keep disgracing Igbo nation with backdoor deals, very hostile to our collective interests and expect the rest of us to keep quiet.

I now perceive you in the mould and bearing of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, very aberrational in every sense. Are we saying, self-determination must be realized through such criminality? Of course, some agree with Kanu’s style; but millions out there including me are opposed to it.

At this age, we want to tell the whole world that Igbo nation is so ignorant of the lawful means of self-determination or secession, until a questionable “don” assembles a gang of criminals to unleash violence on us before it becomes a reality? I respect Senate Deputy President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu for telling Nnamdi Kanu and his apostates the gospel truth through a letter before the proscription of IPOB. When we are ready for a Republic of Biafra, we know the genuine and lawful, internationally recognized conventions to apply.

Lastly, I appeal to Nwodo to use his leadership to unite Ndi’gbo with Nigeria. What I see now under our leader Nwodo painfully bruises me with scars of lack direction, penchant for divide and rule with selfish and very biased political views.

Ndi’gbo should think beyond today because tomorrow is greater. There is no reason to make President Buhari our enemy now for Christ’s sake! In spite our stout opposition to him, this President has continued to patronize the Southeast in capital projects. What else does Ndi’gbo want?

Sadly, Nwodo, majority of our people are beginning to think that you, Chief Nwodo, as leader of Ohanaeze Ndi’gbo, is much more a problem to us now than Kanu, initially considered a huge burden on the progress of the Igbo nation. It’s better if you change your style, Sir.