By Edward T. Dibiana
Against the perception in some quarters that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) are damaging the image of the Igbo before other ethnic groups and de-marketing their long held Igbo presidency ambition by its activities, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Primary Healthcare and Communicable Diseases, Sen. Chukwuka Utazi, has suggested the contrary, arguing that similar agitations by some elements in other geo-political zones did not prevent the emergence of presidents from such areas in the past.
The two-term Senator, who represents Enugu North Senatorial District, made this assertion in an exclusive interview with 365Daily, in Abuja.
According to him, competence, capacity, equity and acceptability, rather than mere agitations or the perceived activities of a few in a region, should be determining factors for the realisation of the Igbo presidency. Such qualities, he stressed, are not scarce among the Igbo.
“When you talk about the IPOB, note that the trouble of OPC didn’t stop Obasanjo from taking power in 1999. The Niger Delta militants were on rampage in the waterways of Nigeria, but did that stop the presidency of Jonathan? The Boko Haram have been making a lot of trouble up and down, here and there, but did that stop the presidency of Yar’Adua and Buhari? The answer is no, that is not the issue.
“Sentiments apart, you would always have elements that are agitating in one part of the nation or the other, for one reason of the other. So, IPOB is doing their own thing. The option of an Igbo man being a president could be that needed solution to put IPOB agitation to rest.
“When the Yorubas were fighting the June 12 annulment and all that, this Fayemi that is today a two-term governor of Ekiti State, opened a radio station outside the borders of Nigeria, launching one thing or the other on the airwaves of Nigeria. With all those things they were doing, did it stop Nigerians from saying let Obasanjo, who was in the prison, go and become the president? The answer is no! So, if you ask me, it is best to give the South East the opportunity to become president, which would silence Nnamdi Kalu and their allies, just like we allowed Jonathan, and the Niger Delta militancy died down.
“So, anybody talking about IPOB de-marketing the Igbo is only trying to play on sentiments and he is not addressing the issues; and the issue about Nigeria is that the Igbo have everything to lose and everything to benefit from Nigeria. The no victor, no vanquished statement made by Gowon, after the civil war would be put to test in 2023 if we really say that the South Easterners are not conquered people.
”This is the opportunity to prove it and see the magic the South easterners will perform, because we know the picture of the South east after the civil war but go there today and see what is happening, what we have been able to do with ourselves.
”Come to Abuja here, we know what we have done here, go to South West and see what we have done there and what we do wherever we find ourselves. So let’s give the South East the opportunity to showcase what they have been doing in all the places as private businessmen. Good businessmen can be great people in government, because if you can manage a private business, you can also manage a country very well.
“In other democracies around the world, before you are put in a position of leadership in government of such magnitude, they will look at your antecedents; what you have done and what you haven’t done before you are given such opportunity. And such people of high capacity and proven competence abound in the South East,” Senator Utazi said.