Anambra State former governor, Chukwuemeka Ezeife has bared his mind on the state of the nation.
He said: “As long as you marginalise the Igbo or treat them as badly as they are being treated today, and deny them leadership for so long, Nigeria will remain backward.”
“The Igbo have the assignment of developing Nigeria to become an economic superpower. The Igbo have that assignment to help Nigeria. Assuming Peter Obi emerged as the president, all he has to do is to provide a level playing field where Yoruba, Hausa, Itsekiri and others will play on a level-playing field.”
“Nothing would have made Peter Obi, (the presidential candidate of the Labour Party) favour the Igbo. Before the election, I had an agreement with all the youths in the East that in a country, a slave cannot be a president.”
“What we are saying is that we are becoming slaves in our country of origin and I told them if Nigerians voted for Peter Obi to become the President then we are not slaves in Nigeria and they agreed.”
“The problem we are having now is that the country voted for him but he is not the President and that is the major problem. The main point is that whatever the case is against the Igbo, for as long as they stood and trusted them to where they are today it is a shame to black men.”
“I don’t really know why Nnamdi Kanu is still with them. When we went to meet former President Muhammadu Buhari on Kanu’s issue, he gave us the impression that we succeeded and that he would release him.”
“The court itself said Kanu should be released and now I thought that when Tinubu got into office, the first thing he would do was to release him.”
“I understand that some Igbo people are saying he should be kept there but I don’t want to talk about that. Why is Nnamdi Kanu still there even when the court has cleared him?”
“I believe the release of Nnamdi Kanu will have a great impact on that. Secondly, it is a matter of attitude. The Federal Government somehow seems to have the attitude of doing things to make life impossible in that area.”
“Where are the gunmen? Who is paying them? Those gunmen, we know them now. They were employed and paid even the one from Finland is said to be paid by some forces in the Federal Government, so in the interest of Nigeria, and not the South-East, it must be stopped.”
“God created all of us and gave us our destinies and I think whatever happens, the fact is that it’s going to explode in economic development. On the killings mentioned, there is nothing to do except to change attitude.”
“The Federal Government should make the development even, stop the killings and we the elders must accept failure. How could you bring up young people who become cannibals and forget your values all the way?”
“It is time to go back to the beginning, establish our values, and educate our people through the schools, churches, unions and all manners of avenues available. Although we are old, it would have been better if one was dying and left a good thing behind.”
“Looking at the killings in Imo State, they are saying it is because of Kanu. But Kanu is not behind all those negative thoughts. Whatever he said in the past you have seen them manifest now in the present.”
“He is even gifted by God, and he is the greatest problem now because holding him for another minute is causing serious problems in the East.”
“If I am to beg my brother, my friend, Tinubu, whose journey in life God helped me to contribute to, I will tell him to please release Kanu because it is the wise and correct thing to do.”
– Culled from PUNCH