Supporting Buhari Is Conspiracy Against Igbos — Isiguzoro In this interview with IHUOMA CHIEDOZIE, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, says the failure by the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan at a recent meeting was temporary At a recent meeting of the Ime-Obi (inner caucus) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu, a motion for the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the Igbo for the 2015 presidential election resulted in conflict. What’s your reaction to this? I think a lot of people actually misunderstood what happened at the Ime-Obi, the highest decision-making organ of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. What actually happened was that the meeting was coming to a close and the endorsement of President Jonathan was not on the agenda of that particular meeting but our elder statesman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, moved a motion which was not part of the agenda, that the Igbos should adopt Jonathan. The motion led to an uproar and the President-General (Chief Gary Igariwey) had to adjourn the meeting because Igbos are still consulting. We have consulted widely with the traditional institutions in Igboland, with the religious institutions in Igboland, and the feedbacks we are getting is that Jonathan deserves a second term Jonathan has at least empowered the people of the South-East, he has done very well by giving us an international airport, linking us back to the world, by approving the construction of the second Niger Bridge, even though it is by PPP (public/private partnership), and also through the Sure-P Programme, the YOUWIN Programme, and his agricultural projects. Jonathan deserves a second term. In a fortnight, Igbos are going to know the direction, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will take a critical decision on 2015 and I pray that all stakeholders will see in their infinite wisdom that Jonathan deserves a second term. Are you saying the Ohanaeze Ndigbo never rejected the motion for Jonathan’s endorsement? No! They never rejected it; they merely put it aside because it was not part of the agenda.When the motion came, there was an uproar because it was not part of the agenda. The Ime-Obi did not reject the motion, what the Ime-Obi did was to decide that in a fortnight, they will meet to endorse who the Igbos should support in 2015. Is it likely that Ohanaeze Ndigbo will endorse Jonathan? Yes. We are putting pressure on the President-General, Chief Gary Igariwey. At the appropriate time, we will make it official that Jonathan should be the Igbo candidate in 2015. How will you convince those in the Ohanaeze Ndigbo who are against Jonathan’s endorsement? They are people who are angry because they felt that they have not been reached by the presidency. You know the South-East is for Jonathan, but these people who are saying that Jonathan should not go back are saying so out of anger because they feel belittled, they feel Jonathan has not reached them — they feel Jonathan is reaching out to the Igbos through a wrong channel. They feel Jonathan is reaching the Igbos through some money bags, that Jonathan does not understand it is the people that can make him succeed in Igbo land. They want to send a message to Jonathan that they can make or mar his chances of getting the Igbo support. We have reached out to a lot of them but they are still telling the presidency to reach out to them, and they (presidency) can reach them through us. But some Igbo groups say they are against Jonathan because after the Igbo people voted for Jonathan in 2015, he made so many unfulfilled promises. They say he has taken the Igbo people for granted. Yes, Jonathan took the Igbo for granted but it was not his fault. It was because of the people that surrounded him, who had been giving him a false impression that Igbo land would suppor him. Yes, Igboland was intact for him in 2011, and Igboland will always be intact for him, but the problem is that some Igbo leaders around Jonathan have been confusing Jonathan, telling him that they can buy everybody but they are not even reaching out to the appropriate people. There were a lot of promises made and those promises have been achieved up to 60 per cent. In an exam, when somebody has 60 per cent, that person has passed the exam. The point is that the Igbo people should not be taken for granted — Jonathan should reach out to the people directly, there should be no third party. Jonathan should have a town hall meeting with Igbo leaders and Igbo youths, because these Igbo leaders, some of them don’t have voter cards but the youths are the people who will vote. We are saying Jonathan should empower 5000 Igbo youths and once he does that, we will have something to tell our people. Why do you think Jonathan is a better option for the Igbo than Buhari? We have seen Buhari as a military head of state and we have seen that Buhari is also a good candidate, a good option we know, but the North is far from the South — Jonathan is from the old eastern region, Jonathan is part of the old eastern region and he is our little brother. That is why it is better we support somebody from the old eastern region than the northern region. Buhari is a good candidate but Jonathan is a better candidate because Buhari is an old man of 72 years. He may not understand how we feel, he may not understand the modern age, but Jonathan is a youth at heart who once had no shoe but today he is the President of Nigeria and we believe he will understand us better. Are these good enough justification for Ohanaeze to endorse Jonathan? Yes. From the consultations so far, the thing is swinging towards Jonathan but that should not make Jonathan take Igbo people for granted because it is only the Igbo people that can make him go back there. And we are also looking at him because of our sister, the First Lady, Mama Peace, who is so dear to us because the First Lady has been so good to Igbo youths. If you cannot see Jonathan, the First Lady is there as the mother of the nation to cover us because she has listening ears for her children. It is better to work with Jonathan than to work with a conspiracy in the All Progressives Congress against the Igbo nation. Those who are saying that Jonathan should not be re-elected, those who are supporting Buhari, they are doing that as a ploy to get Jonathan to recognise them and empower them. Source:punch
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 14:51:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015