Why Igbo presidency may not help Nigeria, by SAN

An aspirant to the 2021 Anambra State, Emeka Etiaba, has said the emergency of a President of Igbo extraction in 2023 cannot help Nigeria except the country is restructured.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated that restructuring would boost the country’s development.

However, Etiabia, who spoke to reporters in Nnewi yesterday, said he was in support of a President of Igbo extraction in 2023.

He said: “It doesn’t matter who is saying it; Nigeria is not working. It’s absurd for President Muhammadu Buhari to be flying to Mali to foster peace in spite of the barrage of security issues confronting the nation.

“The only thing that would help Nigeria is to have a structure that will actualise equity and balance. You may not believe this, but the Igbo presidency thing cannot help Nigeria except the needful is done. That is restructuring. This does not however mean that I don’t want an Igboman to become the President of Nigeria.”

On the recent hike in electricity tariff and fuel price, he lamented that Buhari had not fulfilled the promises he made before his election in 2015.

The senior lawyer said: “It was on the basis of those promises that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was humiliated out of office. For example, the APC government has not been able to repair any of the four petroleum refineries in six years down the line. That is a clear summersault.

“They promised to allow forces of demand and supply determine the price of petroleum products. That may not be a bad idea, but other structures like enhanced transport system, rail system and other things must be on the ground. For me the government at the centre has shortchanged Nigerians.”

He promised to develop Anambra if elected, adding that the power rotation arrangement in the state should remain.

“This is because I don’t think any person in Anambra South will vote for a candidate from other zones,” he said.

Etiaba said the PDP would win the governorship poll if it puts its house in order.

Meanwhile, the Millennium Centre for Training and Leadership (MCTL) has said a President of Igbo extraction will help to create a sense of belonging in the South East.

In a statement by its President, Okey-Joe Onuakalusi, the group said it would be in keeping with the ideals of inclusion, fair play and justice for the emergence of President of Igbo extraction.

“This is germane for national cohesion and consensus, and inter-regional interaction for national development. A strong sense of belonging and unhinged national acceptance would help to dissolve the agitations by Pro-Biafra agitators. It would also create a nexus to heal the wounds of the past and generate national integration,” the group said.

The MCTL urged the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and PDP, to zone their presidential slots to the South East.

“Ceding the presidency to Ndigbo candidates in all the political parties should be viewed as a national duty to promote unity, peaceful co-existence, justice, equity and permanently erase the notion of perennial marginalisation of Ndigbo in the affairs of the nation,” the group stressed.

They named Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Mr. Peter Obi, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as strong candidates that can run on the APC and PDP tickets in the 2023 presidential election.