(IYM), an amalgam of 42 associations,
Evangelist Elliot Uko, in this interview said
the South-East would not support
President Goodluck Jonathan's re-election
in 2015 unless he fulfils his promises to
the zone. Excerpt:
The IYM recently carpeted South East
governors, saying they have not done the
needful, can you explain further?
The South East governors forgot that the
South-East has been deliberately
forgotten by successive federal regimes
for more than 40 years. They forgot that
what is needed is an aggressive and
united development agenda. It is
necessary to recreate the Eastern
Nigerian Development Commission of the
1950s and 1960s. The region should
integrate economically for maximum
results.
Our industrial base take-off must include
a petrochemical plant and the business
areas of Aba, Nnewi and Onitsha must be
integrated to form a Dubai of West Africa,
the governors must work together to
address electricity challenge in the zone
in order to meet energy requirements in
order to explode our manufacturing
dream. Without the by products of a
petrochemical industry here our dreams
of industrial revolution will remain a
mirage.
They should as a matter of urgency
develop a South East industrialization blue
print and invite foreign partners to
develop an economic road map for the
transformation of this zone which is
blessed with abundant human talents.
What is lacking is the drive which only
government can engineer.
Are the governors responding positively?
They have made a case for the
development of the 9th Mile corner,
Enugu as an industrial hub which is a good
one, but they must go beyond that. They
must integrate the South East as one
giant industrial unit. Only the government
can drive that, the private sector will only
partner with government that is the way
it's done the world over. Lack of Igbo
development agenda, regrettably is
responsible for the decay and confusion
in the South East. Latent talents are
ignored. These talents should be ignited.
There should be an Igbo political road
map. They should develop an Igbo
agenda without delay.
The IYM also said President Goodluck
Jonathan has not really appreciated the
massive support Ndigbo gave him in
2011. What do you mean?
We expected massive industrial and
infrastructural development. We are not
seeing that. We thought he would keep
his promises. From the way things are
going, it is clear that only the Enugu
international airport could materialize
before 2015. He promised us at Enugu
Stadium, at Imo, Ebonyi, Abia and
Anambra campaign rallies 29 months ago
that we would see a functional seaport at
Onitsha and Oguta, Power plant at Oji
river, dry inland port at Aba, second Niger
bridge, re-work on the Enugu-Onitsha
road, Enugu-PH road etc.
But we suspect he wants to shift all those
to his second term; that is not fair. We
want him to establish a South East office
in his office and review weekly the
fulfillment of his promises to Ndigbo if he
wants a second term. He will have
problems with his second term dream if
he does not fulfill all the infrastructural
promises he made to Ndigbo. That is the
truth. We gave him 100 per cent support
in 2011; we will only repeat that, if he
fulfills all his infrastructural promises to
the South East. He is our man but he
must not take Ndigbo for granted.
We are on ground and we know the
grumbling of our people. We believe we
are doing him a big favour by giving him
early warning signal. Ndigbo are not
happy with the delay tactics of shifting
every thing to his second term. Those
telling him that Ndigbo are dead meat are
only deceiving him. We want him to fulfill
his promises to Ndigbo. We plead with
him to watch again the video of his
campaign rally at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium
in March 2011 and remember all the
promises he reeled out one by one. Our
people are waiting expectantly.
Ndigbo paid a heavy price for supporting
him. Igbo votes saw him through and
gave him the needed 25 per cent in 24
states thereby averting a run-off. In
anger over 800 Igbo souls were
slaughtered as the results of the polls
were announced, only the 10 youth
corpers were compensated, nobody
remembers the 800 Igbo lives lost in
gruesome decapitations in Kano, Bauchi
etc in April 2011. We made him
President, we will do it again, if he
endeavors to fulfill his promises to our
people.
We also want him to hand over power to
an Igboman. He should reciprocate our
massive support. It is only fair he does.
We also want him to protect lives and
properties of Nigerians resident in the
North. We note an improvement and
pray that sanity eventually returns to the
North. We also want him to set up a
committee to work out the modalities for
the convening of a National conference to
restructure Nigeria along the lines of true
federalism. Promises made in 2011 must
be kept before talk of second term.
Northern elders led by Prof Ango
Abdulahi have said that power must
return to the North by 2015 and that
they will keep power as long as they wish.
What do you say to that?
The truth is that Nigerians including
Northerners do not really care about
where the president hails from; all they
want is good governance. Nigerians want
a government that will fight corruptions,
grow the economy, create jobs, build
modern infrastructure and give everybody
a sense of belonging. They don't care if
the president is Yoruba, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo
or Tiv. The new generation wants to see a
Nigeria where thinks work. So those who
want power for their region to dominate
others are only living in the past. Fierce
struggle for central power by respective
regions portends danger to our survival as
a nation.
Nobody wants to be dominated by others.
Such unguarded utterances by elders are
unfortunate and worrisome Nigerians
want good governance not ethnic or
regional president. It is clear that Prof
Ango Abdulahi and company are only
banking on exploiting religion and
ethnicity to drive their regional agenda
the very bad factors that led to the birth
of Boko Haram. Nigerians have grown
beyond that. Prof Abdulahi and his ilk will
find out that Nigerians will not vote
according to religion and ethnicity. People
like him are only working towards the
early destruction of Nigeria. They will not
succeed.
As Nigeria prepares to mark our
centenary as a Nation, do you support a
loud celebration?
My brother, Nigeria is going through a
very trying period in our nation's history.
Millions of unemployed youths, some of
them educated, insurgency, which is man-
made, fierce regional struggle for central
power which is very unhealthy.
All these point to the urgent need for a
National conference. The centenary
should be used for quiet reflection on our
nationhood and the journey so far. All the
political crises here and there are all
actually about regional struggle for
power. Some people are bent on pushing
out Jonathan in order to return power to
their region; it simply means that a
national conference is needful at this
time.
The centenary should be an opportunity
to convene a national conference to
address the problems facing this great
nation whose potentials are stifled by
ethnicity and corruption. We should use
this great opportunity to search for a
workable structure and system that would
douse all the tension in order to enthrone
true federalism, good governance that
would give every section of Nigeria a
sense of belonging.
I can only add that we must as a nation
stop rewarding crooks, corrupt elements,
religious bigots and other divisive
elements and instead honour and reward
nationalists and those who sacrificed to
keep Nigeria one. Those who Laboured
for one Nigeria Have not been properly
rewarded. People like Herbert Macauley
and Nnamdi Azikwe. We have been
celebrating those who have contributed
to the destruction of Nigeria. It's a shame
really.
0 100000:
Post a Comment