2023: “All eyes on the Igbo, Peter Obi is Among Nigeria’s best” – Clem Aguiyi

“Mr. Peter Obi is among Nigeria’s best. If growing a post COVID- 19 economy is our need as a country, we need not look far. Obi has the capacity to grow the economy, he has capacity to end corruption in our public sphere assuming corruption is our biggest problem. Nigerians are watching to see how the demystification of this Moses of our time will commence from among the Igbo.”

I write this, knowing the next few days will be spent absorbing horrible names and insults , while fending off the most ill mannered of my readers. What I also know is that I will win some converts and sway some free thinkers who are willing to deal with the truth and our harsh reality.
Whichever side you are, I wish you God’s blessings. Without sacrifice, there is no progress. I am happy to be your lamb. As we debate 2023 , the just feeling is that, it is the turn of the Igbo of the South East region to produce not just the next Nigerian President but a president who will heal Nigeria and fix her broken politics.

However, there are people who are out to take down any Igbo with the least aspiration to be president of Nigeria and these elements are hands in glove with some Igbo men and women who can easily be bought with a mess of porridge.

When Orji Uzor Kalu, OUK, was wrongly sent to jail by a judge that was acting outside jurisdiction , those in the know saw the hands of Jacob but the voice of Esau. As he was led to jail, OUK lamented that his travails have everything to do with 2023 but justice.

Why not holding brief for anyone, I will wish that every public officer in Nigeria will be subjected to the same standard of scrutiny applied in the case of OUK. No public officer in Nigeria who had handled security vote will escape jail.

There are also Nigerians who are out to take down the Igbo race. Funny enough, these fellows are in bed with some Igbo who like the miserable dog are contented with the little crumbs that fall from the masters table. Nigerians are watching to see how Ndi Igbo will respond to these internal threats and contradictions.

There are Igbo who argue against a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. They question the benefits of an Igbo man or woman as a president. Me thinks that there should be no conspiracy and glass ceiling preventing any citizen of Nigeria from aspiring to be the president of Nigeria.

2023 is a litmus test for Nigeria to determine if the Igbo are equal citizens of Nigeria or not, and if indeed we have reconciled with each other and ready to move as one people under one nation. A Nigerian president of Igbo extraction will no doubt heal and unite Nigeria.

There are also those who argue that nothing good will come out of Nigeria except the 1999 constitution is dismantled or rather that they want Biafra. These people though vociferous send wrong and mixed signals to the rest of Nigeria , making some to genuinely question what the Igbo want.

Without mincing words, Ndi Igbo want a united Nigeria that is fair to all. Igbo people want peace and security for all, they want justice and equity. They want a restructured Nigeria that will guarantee economic and cultural autonomy to the federating units.

Ndi- Igbo are not planning for secession and there are absolutely nothing that we want for ourselves that we do not want or wish for the rest of Nigeria. Biafra therefore is not the primary need of Igbo but a child born out of frustration and necessity because Nigeria is not working and those in advantage are not willing to make it work for all.

How does one have faith in a country that cannot take care of little things, where bribery and corruption reign supreme. Last week some faceless hackers, hacked into my Facebook account.

The faceless hackers completely seized control of my account, which they used to send scam messages terrorising my friends. I faithfully reported the crime to the police. To my dismay , the police demanded that I pay N100,000 for them to track the scammers. I was told I was going to pay additional N250,000 to mobilize the police to execute arrest if the tracking was successful. I was caught between paying bribe to the police to do their job or to negotiate with the criminals squatting on my account and terrorising my friends.

My point is that people are genuinely frustrated with this country hence the agitation for Biafra. Nigerians are nevertheless watching to see how we manage our frustration and how we appeal to their conscience and sensibilities.

Nigerians are also watching how we manage our republicanism and unbridled competition and excessive individualism. Ordinarily, these qualities, which ought to be our strength have become our biggest albatross. We must learn to build consensus and communal brotherhood rather than always fighting to finish.

We find it easy to attack and destroy the reputation of our own while celebrating characters from outside with far worse reputation. Nigeria is watching to see how we will dance naked in the public, how those who couldn’t walk will now want to run, how every hamlet will throw up a presidential candidate.

As we speak, Ohaneze is turned against itself in anticipation of 2023 instead of our building a strategic agenda and making stringent effort to form a national coalition around one or two Igbo candidates in the major political parties and building bridges across the Niger and Benue. We must be clear that Nigeria is not ready for the kind of musical chair that happened in the National Assembly when the position of Senate President was zoned to the South East which saw every state in the zone producing a Senate President.

Mr. Peter Obi is among Nigeria’s best. If growing a post COVID- 19 economy is our need as a country, we need not look far. Obi has the capacity to grow the economy, he has capacity to end corruption in our public sphere assuming corruption is our biggest problem. Nigerians are watching to see how the demystification of this Moses of our time will commence from among the Igbo.

Those who are doing everything to take us down as a race are watching to see how we are going to lead the destruction of whatever is left of OUK, yet this is one visible bridge builder that we can boast of knowing our wish and vote alone cannot produce a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction.

People on the sideline are watching to see how Ndi Igbo will dent Ogbonnaya Onu’s impeccable credential and how we shall speak ill of one of our most courageous and experienced leaders in the name of Chief Chris Ngige just to pull him down. We forget only God chooses who to anoint as king.

In Anambra for instance, the battle for 2023 is already raging pitting the state governor against Prince Arthur Eze. People have taken sides for and against without even understanding the issues in contention. Arthur Eze believed rightly or wrongly that Buhari has given the South East more infrastructure than the previous government peopled by South Easterners. The question was what did we do with those positions in the past compared with what the occupiers from the North are doing with it for their people? The prince believed that marginalization wouldn’t be too visible if there are elected local government leaders that are accountable to the people. The agitation for local government financial autonomy and 2023 is what has pitted Arthur against Obiano. Already there are casualties in the fight as all the 13 traditional rulers that followed Arthur to Abuja to visit President Buhari has been suspended from Office. Nigerians are watching!

We the Igbo can make the rain in 2023. Nigerians are watching to see how we will put our acts together and whether we will allow our frustration take a better part of us. The time to wear our thinking cap is now and we must confront our own demons and constructively engage other Nigerians.