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By Christopher Isiguzo

Still basking in the euphoria of his re-election as the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, the chairman of the Forum of Speakers of the five South east states Houses of Assembly, Eugene Odoh,  Monday called for closer interactions among the lawmakers in the zone, stressing that the seeming disunity among the people of the area had continued to deny them huge resources.

He said the zone had lost a whooping N80 trillion in the sharing of allocations from the federation account by the people of the zone over the years as a result of the short fall in the number of the states in the zone.

Accordingly, the Forum of Speakers,  he said,  would see the issue of additional state for the south east as a major focus for lawmakers in the zone in the present dispensation, adding that once the issue of state creation begins at the National Assembly, they would provide all the needed support to their colleagues at that level to ensure that the zone gets its fair share.

Odoh who lamented that the zone being the only zone among the six geo-political zones in the country with the least number of states had lost several billions of naira from the Federal Government, stating that by the time the people begin to relate more closely, they would begin to find solution to their common problems.

Odoh made his feelings known while addressing newsmen shortly after his emergence as the speaker of the Assembly for the second term.
Source: ThisDay, 7^th June 2011.

S-East, S-South Professionals Commend Jonathan
on Anyim, Azazi

The South-East and South-South Professionals, SESSP, a development and advocacy group, has commended President Goodluck Jonathan on the appointment of Senator Anyim Pius Anyim as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, as well as the  re-appointment of General Owoye Azazi, as the National Security Adviser, NSA.

A statement issued in Lagos, Tuesday, by the group's President, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju and Coordinator, Media Directorate, Dr. Nick Idoko, said the appointments had signposted the President's resolve to assemble a team of technocrats that will drive the reforms to engender the positive changes Nigerians desire so badly at this time in the nation's historical trajectory.

The group said:  "This development was a clear indication that President Jonathan will always show preference for quality and value-based leadership and would support those who, apart from their eminent qualification, have the best interest of the nation at heart."
Source: Vanguard, 7^th June 2011.

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By Alvan Ewuzie and Peter Agba Kalu

Erstwhile Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife of Anambra State has lent his voice to the raging matter of political office sharing in the emergent dispensation. Speaking to Daily Sun recently in Abuja Ezeife said he perceives the controversy in the media as one set to cause a needless confrontation between President Goodluck Jonathan and political leaders in the South-East geo-political zone.

He said Ndigbo would resist every move to confront Jonathan on the matter, stating that the zone extracted some promises from the president (which he refused to disclose ) and he has seen nothing yet to indicate that Jonathan would renege on his promises.He advised Igbo leaders not to join in the press war because it was a ploy to get the zone to be at unnecessary logger heads with Jonathan. He said the People Democratic Party (PDP) knows what is right and would do so.

He spoke on the foregoing among other issues. Excerpts:

From all indications, the Igbos seem to have supported president Jonathan without any serious bargain and are now crying and begging for position without being sure of any, is it not a shame?

No, I do not understand what you are saying. we really had serious bargain with the President as to what he can do for our people before the election. The sharing of offices by the act is the party affair and not that of the President, and I want it to be clear that no body , no trick can be used to put us at loggerhead with the President. Some of you were here when the South East leaders forum made serious efforts to get Nwodo' s successor named, and I would like to give you the detail of what happened, so that you can know the efforts we made, why it was made and how far we went.

First, when Nwodo resigned, we knew that there was a problem because with his absence , no South Eastern person was in the National working committee of the party, and these are the caucuses of the party where things are cleared and we have no representative there. The negotiation people are talking about with the President, actually we voted for the President en masse and if the election comes again, we will still vote for him in that way because we are very proud of him. We wanted to have a chairman so that we will be there when deliberations are on, but our people in PDP, for whatever reason, did not follow us , therefore we did not get the chairman. I can say that the President was in support of the proposal and was eager for the chairman to be named , even before the election, and that chairman could have stayed till the next convention. So, it has nothing to do with election negotiation.

Could you say some of the things you negotiated with the president to do for the Igbos?

I am not going to tell you

Why ?

You will see them happen, and it will not be long before they begin to happen. We reached an understanding with the president and we believe that he will not fail us, and the few things he had done convinced us that he meant what he said.

As a result of the fall out of the Presidential election, there is a strong demand for a Sovereign National Conference, what is your stand on that?

Even if there had been no post election violence, there is over due need for Nigeria people to meet and take fundamental decisions about their

country. Should we continue with 36 states as a federating unit and keep issues of state creation? I will suggest that we should reduce number of federating units, optimally to six and treat every zone equally. The zones can then come together and have their own constitution. Due to the fears the states within the zones may have, the Federal Government can lend support until all the problems are resolved within the states of the zones. The zonal constitution may be federal so that the states will change what they have now, because as they are now, they cannot develop.

We are depending on oil , sharing oil money every month. That is not how it is supposed to be. If we have about six states in a zone, they can do better and pull their resources together, they will do better in terms of development. There are particular areas which require larger attention, like roads, power and water. Now, we have been talking about police , in this arrangement, each zone would have its own police and with that the personnel of the police will be familiar with the area they are policing. Other issues will also be taken good care by the zones. Also, there will be greater integration, greater commonality of culture among the people of each particular zone. What that means is that the people will act more like one and between zones, there will be competition. The South east zone, North west zone and South west zone, they are homogeneous people . What we have now is all Abuja affair. So there are many merits to reduction in the number of federating units, we may also have one unicameral legislature where we are represented equally, and we will appreciate each other more. So, I agree with the position of constitutional conference, constituent assembly, and it should happen in a matter of years.

Do you support the call for the abolition of NYSC programme?

I must tell you that I do not know that people are seriously calling for the abolition of the NYSC, I must also say that by the grace of God , I was part of the initial groups proposing that the scheme should be reformed for greater integration of Nigeria. The purpose of Youth Service is for Nigerians to know themselves increasingly. One irrational act should not be held for another. On post election violence, Let me give you the mathematics of stolen mandate. How many governors are in CPC? Only one from Nasarawa, how many Senators are also CPC? How many in House of Reps and other positions? Then how does Buhari think that he would become President with only one governor out of 36 states. How does he win by virtue of having his villagers vote for him.? CPC does not even qualify as a regional party because it did not cover the region enough and has no structure at all. Then , leave North west and go the South east, South -South and Middle Belt, if any body says he is in CPC, he is answering a name. So, nobody's mandate was stolen. Tony Momoh told the National Television that the INEC Computers were programmed to deduct 40% from Buhari's votes, that is part of the mathematics of stolen mandate. Now, multiplying Buhari's vote by 1.4 to bring back the 40%, how many million did he have behind Goodluck Jonathan? So, there is no reason and justification for the post election riot, except that people are unmasking themselves, letting us know what they truly were. Some people decided to go and incite people to shed innocent blood.

Nowhere in the book we are using whether Quoran or Bible is suicide bombing approved, instead anyone who commits such will go to hell, whether Christian or Muslim. So, the reason for the post election violence is difficult to find, except that some people are anti people, wanted particular people there. Now the cost of the violence, which consumed some Youth Corp members, we cannot abolish the scheme that was really very good. Madness makes people target the Corp members who went to serve their fatherland in other states.

Do you not think that the violent protests are indirect means to blackmail the Igbos out of the 2015 presidential race?

I think what has happened has increased the chances of Igbos in 2015, as far as that particular violence is concerned. People now see what is going on , and what they do not know is that we are coming with a great force of integration and unity. We have been in the wilderness for too long, after the civil war, did people not know who the Igbos were before the civil war? Were we bought with six or three pence? Today, we are going back to what we used to be, and the more people try to make us frustrated, the more we unite to fight back, and now I do not see the reason our people should be killed. Some young men asked me if the Igbos should retaliate and I said no. I told them that it is wrong for one to kill someone staying in his land , who did not quarrel or did anything wrong to him .

That really showed that they are properly brought up in Igbo tradition, otherwise, they would not have asked before doing that. In fact, I am not pretending, Nigerians become safe when Igbos take- over the leadership of this country, there are no two ways about it. I mean that ordinary Hausa, Nupe, Tiv, Yoruba and other Nigerians will surely be safe under Igbo presidency. Why is it so? This is because there will be more economic development, industrial aggression etc. Then, we live everywhere in Nigeria and we have very old philosophy which says 'where you live, you mend it'.

Therefore, no Igbo President of Nigeria can please Igbo people by concentrating power in southeast, constructing roads only in south east and providing any form of infrastructure in south east alone. It is unfortunate that Igbos are facing a lot of conspiracy from all across the country, especially from old men in power who have grudges against the Igbos.

If our PDP people had stood up and helped when we were lobbying for a replacement of Nwodo, you would not have been here talking on this particular issue. But the point blank situation I am giving you is that Igbo has taste. Right now, everybody is demoralized, small children, bishops, politicians and many people are calling me asking to know what is happening, what has the Igbo done.

You made two fundamental statements, firstly that the Northern youths who engage in violence were not properly brought up, secondly that the greatness of Nigeria is encoded in having a president from Igbo land, are these true.

I said that neither the Quaran nor the Bible approves the killing of innocent people. Anybody with the right faith and good religion cannot go to kill people. Those who did in the north are misguided.

Do you think that Buhari should be held accountable for the violence that followed the Presidential election as a result of his utterances?

I believe if CPC is comprehensively responsible for the post election violence and unjustifiably so. Buhari said his mandate was stolen and the election was rigged. He also said that he would challenge the South-South election. These are provocative statements and when the statements turned out into violence, they came out and condemned violence. As he was busy condemning the killing, he still insists that he was rigged out. What does he want his followers to do, especially the unenlightened ones.

I think what should be done is that if there are areas in the North that are too violent, Christian corps members should not be posted there. Since nobody from the North has nothing to worry about in the South, they should continue to come. So, I have not seen reason abolish National Youth Service.

How do we checkmate the killing you see after sometime, it will no longer be violent. Muslim devotees would no longer be violent, for instance if you go to the Christians and say that Jesus Christ is a mad man, nobody will talk to you because we are really sure who He is? If you say the same to Mohammed, there will be violence and killings.

Christianity had been longer than Islam. In the past when the Muslims moved from Hegira to Mecca, Muslims fought in the cause of Islam, until religion is allowed to truly practiced. People who did not want them to practice Islam and were blocking them by then, they were asked to fight back. But for propagating Islam, do not use violence. It is not something you sell by force. There was a minor Jihad when Mohammed and his followers left Medina to Mecca, they were obstructed by violence and he said fight because of Allah. Mohammed instructed that no one should fight for Allah. I see Islam as a principled and much respected religion that needs not to be misunderstood.

As it stands now, would allow any of your children to serve in the North as a corper?

My first daughter was posted to Sokoto and I was governor then, and she cried to tell me that she was posted to Sokoto. I asked her who was there when they were posting you, and she said that God was there, then I asked her to go there, even when I had the power to change her posting. National Youth Service gives someone advantage of knowing other parts of the country better. When another daughter of mine was due for youth service, I also educated her on the benefits of one serving outside her area, and when she was posted to Lagos she started crying. Another son of min e served in Yorubaland. So, I have answered your question with my children.

If any of your children were involved among those murdered in Bauchi, would have still hold the same view?

Yes, Yuguda, the governor of Bauchi State totally misunderstood, I understand him to have meant that it was the destiny of those that died, because people do not fight without God knowing. It was how God decided it and therefore we cannot question him, unless Yuguda made another statement than the one I read.

Why then did he say that he was misquoted?

You know, in politics, when people want to crucify you, you find escape route.

With the nation of about 140 million people, the 1940 km of roads we have are death traps and unmotorable yet the government is talking about vision 2020.

Do you think that Jonathan's government will fair better this time around?

One reason, I supported Jonathan is development, change, no leader of Nigeria, military or civilian had put economic development of Nigeria at the forefront. After he won, the price of petrol in the villages dropped to be the same in Abuja, that has not happened in 30 years. Secondly, since after the election, power has improved across the country, except to the people who have defiency in distribution. Jonathan ensured a credible election where the people's votes counted. You saw how Nigerians trooped out to vote? That is the kind of thing I am talking about. We can now be able to change any government that we do not like.

Remember, I am not a party man, I do not belong to any political party, but I support good governance.

What is the position of Igbos concerning the Presidency in 2015?

My position is that the issue of 2015 is more of a sustainable Nigeria. By 2015, every zone in Nigeria shall have held the office of President for not less than 5 years, except the South East zone. Middle Belt has held it for 18 years, North West has held it for 15 years, North East above 5 years, South West has held it for more than 11 years and now South South would have held it for more than 5 years by 2015. The concept of zoning or rotation of Presidency has the meaning, only in the contest of the six geopolitical zones. If all the 5 geo political zones had held it for more than 5 years, then on ground can the Igbos be deprive the position.

People say that when there is problem they negotiate with other people and give Igbos money to settle their own case. Let them say what they like. But if thinking equity and fairness, think about Igbo, population, electoral performance, think about Igbo, yet we find it difficult to find ground of which the Igbo can be denied the Presidency of this country.

So what I want to say is that the Igbos are now prepared to take the bull by the horns. We will not take things for granted. It is Igbo Presidency in 2015 or nothing.
Source: Sun, 23^rd May 2011.

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By Ochereome Nnanna

AS I said before, those elected into various political offices must understand the meaning of their mandates. When we say votes must count, we are not just saying the election should not be rigged.

We are emphasising that those we voted for should understand the message behind the vote. Why did Nigerians choose Dr Goodluck Jonathan as their President and not retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari or Malam Nuhu Ribadu?

Why did the Igbo electorate choose Jonathan over Buhari and Ribadu? It was not because they do not like Northerners. The Igbo have a long history of productive political partnership with the North. The Igbo electorate of the South East gave Jonathan nearly five million votes, just about 200,000 less than the haul that GEJ procured from his native South South zone.

Add the rest of Igbo votes in other parts of the country where they rank as the second largest group after the indigenes, and the Igbo might have accounted for not less eight million of the 22.5 million votes that catapulted Jonathan to a landslide victory.

Clearly, the Igbo votes won the election for Jonathan because if you remove them from the president and give them to Buhari who scored over 12 million votes, the latter would have won with a comfortable majority. The Igbo people have never been so instrumental to the victory of any political leader in the history of our nation. This is a heady moment for Igbo to bask in their rediscovered electoral might and reassertion of their majority stake in the Nigerian political commonwealth.

This election must have shut the mouths of those who, before the polls, declared that the Igbo had no electoral worth. I speak pointedly of our loose-talking elder statesman, Chief EK Clark, to whom this statement was credited.

It was a very deliberately trodden political path by the leaders and people of the South East. At the outset of the last transitional process, a consensus was reached that the Igbo would not present a presidential or vice presidential candidate, as all efforts were saved for the envisaged date with history in 2015, when the Igbo expect Nigerians to concede the presidency to the South East.

At first there was a choice between going with the North under the zoning arrangement and supporting Jonathan who hailed from a cousin geopolitical zone. The South East governors, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and other Igbo interest groups such as Ndi Igbo Lagos, mobilised consensus around a block vote for Jonathan.

It, therefore, came as a shock to many that Jonathan, the leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, did not seem to reckon with the contribution of the Igbo people to his emergence and did not consult its leadership before acceding to the removal of the post of National Chairman of the Party from the South East and zoning the Speaker of House of Representatives to the South West.

The President has thus treated the Igbo like people whose votes did not count. However, we are not here to condemn him because power sharing is yet to be concluded. But unless certain home truths are brought back to him on time he may end up making very costly mistakes and alienating his next-door neighbours.

The Igbo people voted for Jonathan for two reasons. Number one: To bring the civil war, which has been raging in the minds of the Nigerian political establishment for over 40 years, to a final stop. Number two: To mend fences with their cousin geopolitical zone: the South South, which also harbours a number of Igbo speaking ethnic groups.

The emergence of an Easterner as the elected president of Nigeria was a vision put together by the Council of South East and South South, COSESS, led by Ambassador Matthew Mbu and retired Commodore Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe in 2001.

It is over 41 years since the Biafra-Nigeria war ended with a fraudulent "No Victor, No Vanquished" official declaration. Any wonder that fraud has become an integral part of the Nigerian political personality?

Part of Jonathan's historic challenge is to restore the integrity and credibility of leadership in this country by keeping his promises and ensuring that no part of this is ever again left out in the cold. Buhari, being a combatant during the war, might not have been totally purged of the prejudices arising therefrom.

Added to his narrow-minded ideas of political leadership, he did not present a credible choice for the people of the South East.

But Jonathan, not having that kind of background, has a better psychological platform to ensure that that ugly chapter of the nation's history is brought to a close without any further delay.

The late President Umaru Yar' Adua, who was also not a combatant at the war front, took a bold step when he appointed the first ever Inspector General of the Nigeria Police from the South East, Mr Ogbonnaya Onovo. Jonathan built on it when he also broke a crucial barrier by appointing the first Chief of Army Staff from the zone since the end of the war, Major General Azubike Onyeabo Ihejirika.

A lecturer of political science at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr Afolabi Olugbemiga, put it intelligently in a recent television programme when he asserted that President Jonathan ended the "military blockade" of Igbo nation when he appointed Ihejirika as Chief of Army Staff.

He advocated that he (Jonathan) should also end the "economic blockade" put in place during the civil war, by appointing an Igbo man as the next Accountant General of the Federation, a post no Igbo person has every held since independence. No Igbo has ever been Minister of Works.

GEJ's challenge is to remove these no-go areas. He must end not just the civil war but also all other wars we can feel but can't see.
Source: Vanguard, 23^rd May 2011.

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From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka

First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi has lambasted the present crop of Igbo politicians describing them as undisciplined, immature, and self-centred. Amaechi, who is one of the few surviving pre-independence Nigeria nationalists in a chat with Daily Sun blamed the current political woes of the zone on the politicians' naivety and fire-brigade approach to issues. The nationalist who also reminded President Goodluck Jonathan of his pre-election promise to the Igbo, said it was time for pay-back time for Jonathan to reciprocate the overwhelming support given to him during the April polls by righting the wrongs and the injustices done to the race by the previous administrations.

Bemoaning the politicians' lack of tact, the Amaechi recalled: "During president Obasanjo's administration, when the Igbos wanted to contest for the presidency, no fewer than seven aspirants emerged from the PDP alone. They only went there to split their votes. But the Yorubas studied the political situation in such a way that the two political parties that emerged in 1999 presented all Yoruba candidates, Obasanjo and Falae so that a Yoruba would eventually emerge.

"Others plan 10 years ahead but Igbos are known for bridge approach. They come to fight when there is war and afterwards disappear."

The octogenarian however, charged traditional institutions, governors and other highly placed Igbos to throw their full weight in the pursuance of the liberation of the Igbo nation.

He stated further, "our dreams are closing up and we need to take quick steps to recover our selves. At a time we started producing Engineers, technologists and businessmen to control the economy but all the dreams are gone. Now, our children drop out of school for petty-trading. The Igbos were hitherto leading in education. We produced the first female pilot in Nigeria.

"Any Igbo politician who finds N20 million in his account now becomes a leader. They don't respect their political fathers or seek advice on how to handle some issues, so we need to get the foundation right and this is the right time.

He therefore, advised politicians of Igbo extraction to go back to the drawing board and make personal sacrifices that would better the interests of the Ndiigbo in general. He noted there was the need for the Igbo to plan ahead, strategize if they must be respected in the country's political arena.

On the "unconditional massive support" given to Jonathan during the last general elections, Amechi who spoke to newsmen in Awka in reaction to agitations for certain key positions to be conceded to the South-East, said that such demand was non-negotiable.

The elder statesman said "We gave Goodluck Jonathan unconditional massive support during the just concluded election believing and hoping that he will not short change the Igbos. We are still looking forward to that.

"The Igbos across the country gave Goodluck stronger support than his zone because we believe he is our son. We expect him as our own to rewrite the wrongs and injustices against the Ndiigbo by the previous administration".

Lamenting what he called the relegation of the Igbos to the background since the civil war ended in spite the major role they played in the fight for Independence in 1960, Amechi said, "beyond agitation for appointments, the Igbos have been ignored in so many other areas.

"For instance when you open pages of newspapers you will see award of road contracts across the country but in the South East , the Onitsha-Owerri Road Project awarded over 10 years ago is yet to be completed. The Onitsha-Enugu, Enugu-Port-Harcourt, Enugu-Abakiliki roads are all in bad shapes.

"The same is applicable to other areas of development. There is no favourable platform for South-east. There is also no adequate replacement of retiring Ndigbos in government service at the centre. Look at the issue of the Second Niger Bridge, a vital project for the South East. We have heard less of the dredging of River Niger. We need a change which we believe is in Jonathan,"

He spoke further; "the Igbo hold not only the largest population scattered all over the country but are also enterprising, so why the continuous relegation of the South East because of the circumstances of the civil war? The elder statesman asked.

During the reconciliation after the war, the then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Godwon retd) declared no "no victor no vanquish" and promised the Igbos will not be treated like defeated region but it is not working."
Source: Vanguard, 24^th May 2011.

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