•Says no Igbo speaking person from Delta, Rivers should aspire
•Nigeria is in pains, agony, needs restoration of dignity of man, national healing ― Ohanaeze President
•Says time to use South East against South East is over
•Warns against use of violence, military to address Nigeria’s problems
•Calls for fairness, justice, equity and purposeful leadership
AHEAD of 2023 general elections, former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor should come from the South East geo-political zone of the country.
Clark has however described as abominable and condemnable if any Igbo speaking person from Delta and Rivers States aspires for the exalted position because such a person speaks Igbo, adding that no person from Oshimili South and North, Aniocha, Agbor or Ukwani should come out for presidency, but they should all join the South East to achieve it come 2023.
Speaking Sunday at his Asokoro residence, Abuja when he received the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and some South East leaders led by the President General, Professor George Obiazor, the Elderstateman who is the National Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF said that the time has come for the South East region to produce the President of Nigeria and 2023 is the time.
The Ijaw leader who called for synergy, sacrifice among the people, said that the struggle may not be easy, but the region must reach out to other geo-political zones of the country in order to woo and engage them, just as he warned that the South East region must put its house in order, work in unison and as one indivisible zone.
Clark said, “the era we have reached now is that we have agreed to work together, how do we go on, how do we move on? I think that is the stage we have reached.
“I don’t belong to any political party, but I speak my mind. The man who brought politics into Nigeria was late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, I knew him when I was I was 20 years when he visited Warri, we trekked 12 miles to see him. Some of the problems we are having today in Delta was as a result of the support for Azikiwe and without that, we would not have gotten Midwest region that later became Bendel State and now Edo and Delta States. We are together, we are one.
“We are supporting the South East region. Anybody from Midwest, Oshimili South and North, Aniocha South and North, Ika, Agbor or Ukwani, if you say I am ready to be the President of Nigeria because I speak Igbo, that is punishable because when you do something that people don’t like, it abominable.
“I have said it, all the Igbos in Anioma, Rivers, in Delta, where ever they are, this is the time for Igbo, South East President. We have the same problem, when we went to the 2014 National Conference, we said that the South East has five states, they should be given additional states so that everyone will have same states like in other zones if that will stable Nigeria, create them.
“We want the President coming after Buhari to come from the South East, we are together.
“Let me advise, if you must fight a war or fight for anything at all, we must put our house in order. What do we do with other voices that are not in tandem with our voices? We must find a way to see what can be done, they have own point, but at the same time, they should also listen to us.”
Earlier in his remarks, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Professor George Obiozor who noted that Nigeria as a country was in serious agony and pains, said that the time has come for the restoration of the dignity of Man National Healing.
The Ohanaeze President General who warned against the use of violence and military tactics to address the problems confronting the country said that they are used, the more factionalised the country would be and the more factionlalised we are, it would then lead to a synchronised national crisis and if not checked, could lead to inevitable disintegration.
Obiozor who noted the time has come for the South East and South-South to form a stronger synergy, said that the time when South East people could be used against South East was over, adding that one of them cannot be hated and you show love to the other.
According to Obiozor, this is not the time for people to claim that they love the South-South more than the South East Zone, just as he stressed that people can be fooled for a while and not forever, adding that what they are facing today is light at the end of the tunnel.
Obiozor who called for synergy among the people of both zones and other parts of the country, said, “today, what we need is to synergise among ourselves, the day we will do it, history will change. We all know that we have the same kind of problems.
“Honestly, you cannot hate one of us and like the other side. For people who tell us that they will like people in the South-South more than the South East or they will use one against the other, the time is over. You can fool people for some time, but not forever. What we are facing today is light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t know who does not believe in one course.
“The national question is the issue that requires a different kind of solution and resolution. The more you apply violence and military tactics to it, the more the country is factionalised, the more the country is factionalised, the more ethnic militia groups and eventually leads to what is called synchronised national crisis and the rest is history and inevitable disintegration.
“We should start doing something to address the problem. I urge the Federal Government to reconsider the use of force, I want the government to conspicuously impress the values of justice, equity and fairness as its true sense so that Nigeria will face clear ease of unity. It is time for the government and the people to start the process of healing. Nigeria is in agony and pains, it is time for national healing.
The President General of Ohaneze was accompanied during the visit by his Majesty, the Obi of Obinugwu, Imo State, Dr Cletus Ikechukwu Ilomuanya; Ohanaeze Secrerary General, Chief Okey Emuchay; Senator Ben Obi; Chief Onyema Ugochukwu; Prof. A.B.C. Nwosu; Chief Dubem Onyia; Chief Guy Ikoku; Hon. Goddy Nwazurike, among others.
Also present to join Chief Clark in receiving the Ohaneze leaders were former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah; former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo; Senator Bassey Henshaw; Ambassador Godknows Igali, among others.
