Igbo wasting time about 2023 presidency – Bishop Onugha

From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi

The Bishop, Methodist Church Nigeria, Onitsha Diocese, Rt Rev Livinus Onugha, has urged the Igbo to remove their minds from electing a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023 ‘because the possibility is not there.’

The bishop, in his Easter message, questioned why Igbos could be sincerely allowed to produce a president when they were considered not qualified to produce the Chief of Army Staff, the Inspector General of Police, Comptroller General of the Customs and Immigration or any of the sensitive federal positions. He described the entire setting as hoping against hope. He said that the present Nigeria as constituted and governed would never allow an Igbo man to be a president of the country.

‘My problem is that you people don’t write or say what I say. When you go back you doctor and doctor everything because you don’t want to loose your jobs,’ he said.

‘Quote me: Nigeria is not working and can never work. The truth is that we are not culturally, religiously and socially the same as people who insist on oneness of this country. I doubt the possibility of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Those who keep telling us that an Igbo man will become president of Nigeria in 2023 are not telling us the truth.

‘Nigeria is a failed state. Let them go and allow us to go. Why are they forcing the nation on all of us.

‘We have nothing in common with those who think the leadership of this country is their birthright. Nigeria is already a failed state, I repeat. We are Isrealites. Let them continue to persecute us but one day it will end,’ he said.

The bishop accused Britain of hatred of the Igbo because they (the Igbo) are recalcitrant and resilient. He alleged that the British never wanted anything Igbo to rise in Nigeria. According to him, in the colonial days, it took the colonial administrators a few days to overrun other ethnic groups in Nigeria,  except the Igbo, which he said took the British 30 years to conquer. He noted that it was that reason which made the British to be careful with the Igbo.

Bishop Onugha regretted the disruption to academic progress in Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgents, the COVID-19  pandemic and the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) strike, which he said had forced students home for one whole year. He said that it was unimaginable that the leadership of the country could not settle with the striking lecturers to save students from untold hardship.

‘Where are their children? All my children are in this country for their education but their children are in Britain, America, Italy, India, Germany and other countries. How many children of past and present governors are here. Where are the children of the National Assembly members? They are not here. So, that’s why they can afford to allow others to suffer,’ the bishop stated.

On Anambra State, the bishop lauded Governor Willie Obiano for leaving a legacy of a cargo airport to the Anambra people. He said he had taken a trip to the airport site to see things for himself.

He said when completed, Anambra airport would be equated with the ones built in the Netherlands, France, the UK, the US and other advanced countries.

On the Easter celebration, the bishop noted that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the hope of all Christians. He said there would not be Christianity without Easter, adding that no other being could be compared to Christ who died and resurrected after three days. He enjoined Christians to remain steadfast and love one another.