…lambasts ex-transport minister for opposing S/East
By AYO ESAN, ABUJA
A member of the Ijaw Monitoring Group and a Niger Delta Activist, Comrade Joseph Eva, has urged Nigerians to allow the Igbo to produce the nation’s president in 2023.
In a chat with our correspondent, Eva also criticised the former minister of transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, for saying that the Igbo would not be allowed to produce the nation’s president in 2023 because they refused to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressive Congress in the 2019 general elections.
Eva said, “It is unfortunate that Amaechi, an Igboman, made that kind of a statement. Amaechi is an Igbo man; so I don’t expect him to make that kind of a statement.
“However, I’m not surprised about Amaechi’s comments. It shows that he is not experienced in Nigerian politics. Amaechi only has experience in Rivers State politics and not Nigerian politics. He is also not a student of political history of Nigeria.
“For those of us who are students of political history of Nigeria, those of us who are involved in Niger-Delta struggle, and are involved in the Nigerian struggle, who confronted the military, and are part of the NADECO struggle, who fought for the hard-earned democracy that Amaechi and others are enjoying today, we will not make that kind of comments made by Amaechi. We need to educate Amaechi to show him that he is not only inexperienced in Nigerian politics but also very wrong in his remarks on Igbo and the 2023 Presidency.
The activist added, “In 1999, the Yoruba were not part of the mainstream politics but they produced a Yoruba man in the person of Olusegun Obasanjo as the nation’s President. The South West’s dominant party then was Alliance for Democracy, a regional political party that was not in the mainstream, yet Yorubas produced the president.
“What I expect Igbo to do is to put pressure on other geo-political zones in the country and insist that everybody and all zones and ethnic groups are equal in this country. The Yoruba insisted in 1999 that the annulment of June 12, 1993 election, which a Yoruba man won must be reversed, and that if not that there will be no Nigeria again, and the whole country bowed to Yoruba’s wish, under pressure.
‘In 1999, the two major presidential candidates emerged from Yorubaland, and they got the Presidency by putting pressure on other geo-political zones. If Igbo insist that there will be no Nigeria, if the South-East geo-political zone is not given the Presidency in 2023, the whole nation will bow to their wish.
Eva further stated, “If the Igbo insist that since after the civil war they are being treated like second class citizens, and that they won’t take it anymore, other parts of the country will bow to their demand. Nigeria will kneel down before Igbo. I believe Igbos can have it in 2023, if they apply the right strategies, except they decide to sell their birthright. For the sake of their children and coming generations, Igbo leaders must stand up and say that they are also equal partners with other ethnic groups in the country.”
He urged the ruling All Progressive Congress to forget about whether Igbo voted for APC in 2019 or not, just as he urged the Igbo to apply pressure on other parts of the country, saying, “If they can do that, I believe they will have Presidency in 2023.
“If we are talking about national unity and cohesion, if we are talking about equity and justice, then it is very unfair that Igbos have not been able to produce an elected president of Nigeria. It is a shame that a major ethnic nationality like the Igbo can’t produce a president for Nigeria. For the sake of unity of this country, Igbo should have it in 2023,” he said.
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