By Willy Eya and Vincent Kalu

Three days after Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha urged the South East to jettison the clamour for Igbo presidency until 2023, people from the zone have literally been torn apart by the comment.

While some argue that the Imo governor was not only in order but realistic, others berated him for postponing the dream of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction till 2023. There is also another group which insists that the Igbo are no more enthusiastic about the presidential seat but how to ensure the restructuring of the nation or achieving self determination for the ethnic region.

Recently, former president Olusegun Obasanjo expressed his support for the next president of the country to come from the South East zone.

The ex-President who spoke when the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun State chapter visited him at his Hilltop residence in Abeokuta for a special New Year service, said that injustice and marginalisation are the instigators of conflicts along ethnic and regional lines in the country.

But on Tuesday after a closed door meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha had told the people of the South East to jettison the hope for the Presidency until after the North led by President Muhammadu Buhari would have completed its eight-year tenure.

Okorocha specifically urged the people to rather rally round and support the President Buhari-led administration to succeed in the next four or eight years after which Igbo could begin to clamour for their slot.

His words: “What I do know is that Ndigbo should talk about presidency after President Muhammadu Buhari. I think we should support this government. President Muhammadu Buhari has a tenure to work for four or eight years according to the zoning arrangement, and everybody should follow the zoning although I am not an advocate of zoning.”

Since his comment on the issue, reactions have continued to trail the Imo governor’s call on the Igbo to wait till 2023.

Leading the pack of those who reacted include former governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife.

He said Okorocha cannot speak for the Igbo and observed that nobody takes what the Imo governor says seriously. Ezeife noted that any Igbo man who is reacting negatively to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s proposal that the next President of Nigeria should come from the South East cannot be truly Igbo.

He said: “You should also know that some people can take a kobo as far as it is money and sell their people. I think Okorocha has been promised the vice presidency ticket by some group and for him, that is enough for losing the Igbo presidency. This is because if he is the vice president, the Igbo people cannot produce the president at the same time. I do not think that Okorocha meant what he was saying. Sometimes, he plays games with words. Okorocha is very close to me. I know him very well and honesty may be scarce in the statements he makes and in this particular statement that Igbo should wait till 2023, honesty may be absent. If it is not absent, then the ‘Igboness is not there.’

For the National chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chekwas Okorie, the statemen from Okorocha should not come to anybody as a surprise because according to him, it is in his character.

He said that any time Okorocha thinks that something is out of his reach, he would think that the entire Igbo nation would have to halt for his own aspiration. 

Okorie said it has always been the turn of the Igbo people even during the time of Dr Alex Ekwueme and Shehu Shahari.

He said: We are talking of 1979. Between then and now, it has always been the turn of Igbo next time. That time has never come and how many years are we counting. I am sure then, Okorocha may have been in the primary school. This has been the lot of the Igbo. In 1979 that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe ran for president, he did not have to wait for our turn.”

He recalled that Zik was able to bring Igbo people together on one political platform, the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), adding that the ruling party then, the NPN  could not form a stable government until it formed an accord with the NPP.

“That was when Chief Edwin Umezeoke became the Speaker of the House of Representatives.Come 2019, an Igbo man would run for the presidency of this country in spite of the likes of Okorocha. Whether Okorocha goes and jumps into the Lagoon, you would see that an Igbo man would contest for the presidency of the country in 2019.”

Former President-General, Ohanaeze, Dozie Ikedife said for many Igbo, Nigerian presidency is no more the issue and it is like too little coming too late. He however, noted that if the people of the South East are invited to provide a president for the country, it would be the beginning of a real forward movement for Nigeria.

He reasoned that the main people that make up the South East are the Igbo and they are very fair-minded in sharing, adding that if they want water to run in Enugu, they would want it to run in Abeokuta, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Bayelsa etc. 

He said: “If there is anything to share, they would make sure that every corner of Nigeria gets a fair share of it. If there is appointment to be made, they would make sure they distribute it equally and instead of not giving others, they may even deny their ethnic groups just to make it known that they are fair in the distribution. That is the difference between the Igbo and the rest of the ethnic groups in Nigeria.”

He said that the Igbo believe in uniform development affecting everybody, insisting that an Igbo man becoming the president would be the real beginning of the forward movement of the nation.

Responding, former factional National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA), Maxi Okwu observed that Okorocha is the only governor on the platform of the APC in the South East and that since President Buhari came on board, he has been rubbing it in on the zone that they did not vote for him.

He said that Okorocha has not said anything new but argued that with the way things are going in the country, if election is conducted today, the APC would fail.

He argued: “And talking seriously, some progressive Igbo like us see that the issue before us, is not that of who becomes Nigerian president but let them restructure the country and allow us to develop at our own pace. The issue of Igbo presidency should not be the priority of the Igbo for now.  Ask the people of South-South what they got from Goodluck Jonathan. In the North which has produced both military and civilian presidents, they have nothing to show for it.

“We are seeking restructuring and if that fails, can we now begin to think about being asked ‘do you want to stay in Nigeria or not?’ – Referendum. This is what we want. Nigeria’s presidency is not the issue even to all Nigerians.”

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But the Security Adviser to the Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Don Linus Onwukaike does not believe that Okorocha erred in his statement. 

He said the advice from Okorocha is the most reasonable thing to do until after Buhari’s time and recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo who provoked the debate did not at any time during his tenure supported the Igbo cause or quest for presidency.

Onwukaike said that even when he ran two times against Alex Ekwueme, he did not consider it proper to support an Igbo but instead, a third term.

He said: “It would have been improper to want power to shift from the North after one term when it is usually two terms for each zone. Let us allow Buhari to finish his term and by that, we would have been sure that the northerners would have been swayed enough. Naturally, at that time, power having gone to the South West, South South and North, it would automatically come to the South East. So, what Okorocha said is in order and for anybody to think otherwise, I do not think it is tenable. Let us support Buhari to complete his tenure.”

For a statesman and former presidential aspirant, Dr. Uma Eleazu, Nigeria is already in a sinking ship and to be president in 2019 or 2023, doesn’t make any meaning to the Igbo.

He said what the Igbo want is restructuring of  the country and not the presidential seat, arguing that only that could save her.

“This country is bound to collapse if we fail to restructure. So, what we should be talking about is restructuring the country and not 2019 or 2023.

Former House of Reps candidate, Chief Ndukwe Ikoh described Okorocha’s statement as self-serving even as he noted that the country will not move at the speed expected without an experienced, credible Igbo man at the helm of affairs of the country.

He said if an Igbo man had been the president before now, Nigeria would not have been in the bad state she is presently.

“The Igboman is a very strong uniting factor, business inclined, large hearted and very articulate. If you add integrity to it, then you get the leadership that has been eluding the country.

He has the capacity to turn things around, and the earlier we realised it, the better for the nation. I don’t subscribe to Okorocha’s 2023 for the Igbo to be the president.

Another former governorship aspirant in Imo State, Ziggy Azike said Igbo are republicans hence, Okorocha is entitled to his views.

He said the country is in a state of crises and needs a leader who knows what it takes to survive adversity. “When somebody is in the state Nigeria is, he doesn’t depend on atmospheric oxygen. He needs oxygen in a tank. What this country needs at a time like this is undiluted talent.

Somebody who has proven track record to overcoming adversity, and this is what the Igbo offer Nigeria. We are overcomers. Nigeria is in dire strait and every right thinking Nigerian should know that when you are in the type of crises we are, what you should talk about is, who is the best man for the job? He shouldn’t care where that person should come from.What Nigeria needs now are people who have track record of managing adversity to prosperity, and it is  only the Igbo that have the capacity at a time like this.”

He recalled that the Igbo, in 1970 started life with 20 pounds, and after a decade, turned out millionaires and billionaires.

Former APGA guber candidate in Abia State, Reagan Ufomba described Okorocha’s comment as idiotic.

He said what have kept Nigeria the way she is economically are policies that want other regions to wait.

He said: “Okorocha’s comment is idiotic. You can’t ask anybody to wait. Why should we have to wait? The craze with our leadership is because everybody wakes up and thinks he can manipulate things.

“We don’t run one party system in Nigeria. I think he was talking of APC. UPP can talk of itself, likewise APGA or PDP.

I look forward to the day leaders will talk like leaders.

“That statement is limited to APC and its membership. Okorocha is not an Igbo leader and shouldn’t talk for us”.

National chairman of APGA, Dr. Victor Oye, said Okorocha did not consult anybody and lacked the authority to speak for the Igbo.

He noted that one person cannot speak for Igbo which he said, is a whole nation.

“That was his personal opinion. Ohanaeze has not said anything on that. Why should one person just wake up and start speaking for Ndigbo?”, he queried.