Appeasement of the North was Jonathan's doom – Ezeife

Appeasement of the North was Jonathan's doom – Ezeife

There are different shades of opinion on the voting pattern recorded in the Southeast in this presidential election with some peo­ple blaming the Igbo for putting all their eggs in one basket. In this interview, a former governor of the old Anambra State and respected leader of thought in the region, Dr Chukwuemeka Pius Ezeife, disagrees, saying the election is a bless­ing in disguise for the Igbo. Excerpts:

The 2015 general elections have come and gone. What in your opinion is the sig­nificance of the result of the presidential poll?

The significance is great for Nigeria. By the result of the 2015 presidential election and how it was received, God is saying: “I am God, there is no other. I am the beginning and the end. I am sovereign; I created Nigeria with a purpose; I cre­ated Nigeria for the benefits of all blacks on earth. I don’t want Nigeria to violently disintegrate.” This is the message from God. He has shown us that he is interested in the affairs of Nigeria. So, we should begin to take ourselves more seriously as a nation and not being on the edge of disintegration. America predicted disintegration. We ourselves talked of disintegration. I think we should take the destiny of this nation more seriously. God is inter­ested in the affairs of Nigeria.

We must deal with our religious divides; oth­erwise, it will divide us irretrievably. Some Igbo people came from Kano and said a friend in the North said no pagan can rule Nigeria again. Though we have avoided disintegration, but if we stick to that, there may be a way of dividing Ni­geria without disintegration. And we don’t want that. Whether peaceful or violently, we don’t want disintegration. So, we must stop to Christianise or Islamise the people. If we are to Islamise or Chris­tianise, we should use only convincing language, not by gun.

Over the decades, the South-south people were made to believe by some other Nigerians that Igbo were their problem. This election result has made it crystal clear who their friends and enemies are. I think we should be able to manage and build one Nigeria.

Senator Kanti Bello was right when he said that it was not Jonathan but Igbo who lost most in this election. He was the one who said Buhari’s victo­ry saved Nigeria from disintegration. He is a three time senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He knows what he is talking about.

Some Igbo people are bemoaning of their put­ting all their eggs in one basket. And some of these clichés deceive even intelligent people. By this election, Igbo showed resolve and solid mind. Many right-thinking people see it as a blessing in disguise for the Igbo people. They see it as a wake-up call so that we can work on the Igbo economy and make it so strong that anybody who has to go out of Igboland (emigrate) is doing so because he wants to enjoy the weather outside not that he doesn’t have something at home doing. If the South-south people are interested in work­ing with us, we will work together to develop a robust lower Niger economy where citizens will be contented staying there, but are free to leave to other parts of the country. But in order to work with the South-south people, we shouldn’t allow the euphoria of solidarity shown by the election to deceive us. We must be weary of our relationship. We must plan long range. For example, if we have political things to share, we may make 50-year plan so that every party in the arrangement knows what is there for him and he is sure that there will be no change of agreement. We will use our expe­rience in Nigeria to develop a robust political eco­nomic system for South-south/Southeast Nigeria. This may be why some people say the election is a blessing in disguise. Indeed, the meetings I have had with brilliant young men and some brilliant old men points to the effect that this is a wake-up call for Ndigbo and also for the South-south peo­ple and generally for Christians in Nigeria.

You did mention in your earlier state­ment that there is the need for the coun­try to play down religion in politics. But what you have just said now seems to be at variance with that position. Isn’t it?

No. What I have said is the only way to deal with religious aspect. We have Muslims and we have Christians. How do we play down religion is the issue. One way to play it down is to ar­range things long range and change laws. One law should be as Quran stated at the initial stage that there should be no compulsion in religion. But later on Jihad took over. We need to sit down, analyse, and find a way to block effect of religion, but every group must be on its own guard to make sure it doesn’t play the fool. If we keep pretend­ing that there is no problem, the problem will kill us. There is religious divide problem in Nigeria. We have to confront it with eyes opened, not by closing eyes and pretending nothing is happening. That is just what I said.

Talking about the South east having all their eggs in one basket, do you think there is political maturity in the way Igbo voted in this election?

What I see is political unity in the way the Igbo voted. I made a statement on the result of this elec­tion two days after the election. I said I was happy with the way our people voted. Some of our peo­ple are even demanding apologies from some of us who they say led us into putting all our eggs in one basket. But those who are making such stupid statements should have brought more baskets for our people to throw their votes into. You are either a political mature person able to influence people or you are not and you should not talk nonsense when people vote according to their minds.

Is that why the Igbo didn’t give other parties the benefit of doubt in this elec­tion?

How can we give the benefit of doubt in that election? Think back; some people said they were born to rule, but by chance, a minority per­son from economic base of Nigeria came into power and some who said they were born to rule said they would make the country ungovernable for him and they succeeded in doing that. Boko Haram is one of their prominent strategies. And if you look around, you will see solid performance of the man on the ground.

Almajiri school is one. But people are looking at the face of the performer to know whether he is spitting fire or he is not spitting fire, whether he is a tough man or an ebullient bulldozer. And when they looked at him, they found tolerance, peace and appeasement. Appeasement is one of the greatest mistakes of President Goodluck Jona­than. He kept appeasing the North. He gave them IG of Police, National Security Adviser, Minister of Defence and virtually all courts, including the Supreme Court are headed by the North West. Yet, they were not appeased. And many of us knew that they were not going to be appeased. The sym­pathy I have is for the Yoruba.

Many Yoruba, because of their sagacity, gave more importance to implementing 2014 National Conference resolutions. Many Yoruba who voted for Jonathan voted because of it. But then, there are still others who saw their brother as vice Presi­dent to a sickly president and who are therefore expecting the Yar’Adua/ Jonathan situation to arise again. Beyond that, there is a bigger mas­querade who has signed agreement to take over the number two position.

Even though attempt is being made to ally with the South-south to form a robust economy as you did say, what is going to be the position of the Igbo in the political future of Nigerian?

The Igbo must seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added on to them. This time, remove God and put the economy. We must build a robust economic base as strategy for inter­vention in the Nigerian politics. If we are strong enough economically, and we want to leave Nige­ria, Nigerians won’t support us to leave. We will negotiate and maintain one Nigeria, but negotia­tion will be from strength, not from slavery. God didn’t create us a slave. We, the Igbo, are the next most populous group in every part of Nigeria. If you remove Yoruba in Yorubaland, Igbo is the next populous group. If you remove Igan in Igan­muland, Igbo is the next populous group. If you remove Hausa in Hausaland, Igbo is the next. And we develop with enthusiasm where we are with­out saying this is not our home. We totally vote with our feet for one Nigeria.

Which group would you suggest the Igbo should ally with between Hausa/Fu­lani and the Yoruba in their aspiration to lead Nigeria?

We don’t know. That will develop. And if we are economically quite alright, we leave the poli­tics to Yoruba and Hausa. But remember, what is sweet can become sour. What is some time re­ferred to friends and enemies in politics changes. My friend, Tinubu, who is very intelligent, saw the possibility of forming an alliance with the North and they did. But they will be making a very bad mistake, if they shunt the Igbo aside.

Do you think the Igbo will have a fair representation in this incoming govern­ment with the scenario that is playing out now?

This is party politics; you make your bed the way you lie on it. The way the Igbo have voted we should not expect to go and run government for Buhari. But we are a zone out of six and we have very competent human resources. If you want to help Nigeria, you must accept that the Igbo race is a God’s gift to Nigeria. If you want to help Ni­geria, you must use them. It is not out of place for Yoruba and Hausa to agree that after Buhari it is Igbo so that they will not have justifiable reason to do something that may happen in future.

What is your expectation of the incom­ing government?

There is one thing Buhari can do and Nigeria may become great as a result of it. That one thing is fighting corruption. In fact, I have a programme that combines anti-corruption with welfare. As much as God has blessed us, there are still many people who cannot afford three square meals per day. That should not happen.

And if we go after stolen money systematically and thoroughly, from stolen money, we can main­tain sustainable welfare for all times. But that will mean that anti-corruption will be anti-corruption. Stolen money is stolen money, it doesn’t matter how long you have stolen. He should go after the stolen monies and stop further stealing.

What he gets from there can be used for sustain­able welfare. Stolen money has no time bound. No matter how long you have stolen, we take it back from you. Buhari was talking of past investiga­tion reports. That won’t take us anywhere because so many thieves went away without even being mentioned. If you own a skyscraper and you can­not explain how you came about the money, you forfeit it for the state. What you cannot justify owning was stolen and there is no time bound to the recovery of stolen wealth. Government should look for people who can do it and provide them with monumental security. Those who will do it the way it should be done will be exposed to the danger of being killed.

-SUn