I SEE A BIG CLOUD HANGING OVER NIGERIA – ELDER STATESMAN MBAZULIKE AMAECHI (PART EIGHT)

The Lamido of Adamawa on the floor of the chambers of the national conference raised some issues of grave national importance. It was hotly followed by another statement by the Adamawa State governor, who in a memo to Northern governors
accused the Federal Government of pre-meditated genocide against the North, using the Boko Haram insurgency as subterfuge. How do you situate the two outbursts vis-à-vis the security situation in the country?

The Lamido of Adamawa’s outburst was unfortunate.

As for that of the governor of Adamawa, I read it; I also listened to what the Lamido of Adamawa said. As for the governor, I can only categorize him with people who should be in a psychiatric clinic. He is not healthy. Such people, who are from the military constituency not much is expected. These are the people who took over from the nationalists. He was one of the top shots in the military. Such people should be in an asylum. That is where he belongs. Even looking at him, the way he looks, the way he leaves his beard wild, he should not belong in a decent place. In any case, let me tell you. Ndigbo are not begging. We want to be part of Nigeria, but if the other people don’t want us and if they want the country to break up, let it break up. We are not begging. We want a big country. We introduced one Nigeria in our own time. Mallam Umoru Athine was made the first mayor of Enugu and he served for two terms. An Hausa man from Sokoto State. Alhaji Umaru Yishau, the king of the Hausas in Onitsha, was elected to the eastern House of Chiefs. John Umoru from Etsako was elected into the Eastern House of Assembly and Zik appointed him parliamentary secretary to the premier. We believe in one Nigeria. We are the only part of the country that gives concrete action in that regard. But every time people will task us over the nation’s unity. We are proud. Look at this dog (points at one of his huge Alsatian dogs) the name is Asikaburu (if they agree that we should be together, let us be; if not let us not be). That should be our attitude now.

Let’s talk about 2015. The country is increasingly getting hotter politically. The main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is tenaciously seeking to wrest power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP. What do you see in 2015?

I see a big cloud hanging over Nigeria and only common sense and maturity will make us sail through that period. We have two major parties now, the PDP and APC. On the APC side, we don’t know who and who are interested in the presidency. We advocated before the national conference, that power should be reduced at the centre because power and wealth are concentrated at the centre. That is why everybody wants to go to the centre desperately. The Sardauna of Sokoto was the leader of his own party which had majority in the National Assembly, but yet he did not come to the centre. He was contented with the power at the region. So, because of so much power at the centre, everybody wants to go there. On the PDP side, the president from all indications and body movements is interested in running. Constitutionally he has the right to run for a second term. The North is saying, no it is their turn. On the side of APC, their problem I think will be the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Yes, they say during the Abiola era, it was Muslim/Muslim ticket. But the circumstances at that time are different from that of today. So Nigeria, will definitely not accept a Muslim – Muslim ticket or a Christian – Christian ticket. These are problems for the political party to solve because they are potential explosive areas; particularly with what is happening in the North now- the Boko Haram thing. As for Ndigbo, they have to decide where they want to go. If they want to go with the present president, it is okay. What has he done for Ndigbo since he assumed office? I personally organized the first Igbo summit on August 16, 2010 to ask Ndigbo to support him. But I must ask; have we got anything? Has he fulfilled his promise? Let me tell you something about the excitement of the construction of the second Niger Bridge. The other time there was movement of laying the foundation stone. But you saw the statement by the minister of works a few days ago, that they were suspending work on the Niger Bridge. That there was no ecological survey. I drew attention in one of my statements to the press. Just a few weeks ago the government wanted to carry out what they called mid-term assessment of their development investments. And the following figures – government figures, were released. Total investments in the north central, N 495 b; total investments in the North west N 397 b, total investments in the south west N 215b, total investments in the South west N 215b, total investments in the South south N 212b, total investments in the North east N 114b, total investments in the South east N 74b. The South east is the lowest, below N 100b. N74b in four years? And the south East gave everything to support him. But then our politicians don’t seem to bother about what happens.

Culled from Sunday sun