Comrade Joseph Eva is a member of the Ijaw Monitoring Group and a Niger Delta Activist. In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on sundry issues as they affect the nation. Particularly, he feels that it will amount to sheer injustice if the Igbo race is denied the presidency come 2023.
Excerpts:
Some All Progressives Congress leaders, including the former Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, are saying that the Igbo should forget 2023 Presidency because the South-East geo-political zone didn’t vote for APC and President Muhammadu Buhari during the 2019 presidential election. What’s your take on such a comment?
It is unfortunate that Amaechi, an Igboman, is making that kind of statement. Amaechi is an Igbo man so I don’t expect him to make that kind of statement.
However, I’m not surprised about Amaechi’s comments. It shows that he is not experienced in Nigerian politics. Amaechi only has experience in Rivers State policies and not Nigerian politics. He is also not a student of political history of Nigeria.
For those of us who are students of political history of Nigeria, those of us who are involved in Niger-Delta struggle, and are involved in the Nigerian struggle-as we confronted the military and were part of the NADECO struggle that for the hard-earned democracy that Amaechi and others are enjoying today- will not make that kind of comments made by Amaechi. We need to educate Amaechi and other APC leaders expressing that view and show them that they are not only inexperienced in Nigerian politics but are also very wrong in their remarks on the Igbo and 2023 Presidency.
In 1999, the Yoruba were not part of the mainstream politics but they produced a Yoruba man in the person of Olusegun Obasanjo as the nation’s president. The Southwest’s dominant party then was Alliance for Democracy, a regional political party that was not in the mainstream but yet the Yoruba produced the president.
What I expect the Igbo to do is to put pressure on other geo-political zones in the country and insist that everybody and all zones and ethnic groups are equal in this country.
The Yoruba insisted in 1999 that the annulment of June 12 1993 election which a Yoruba man won must be reversed, and that if not, there would be no Nigeria again, and the whole country bowed down to Yoruba’s wish, under pressure!
In 1999, the two major presidential candidates emerged from Yorubaland, and the zone got the Presidency by putting pressure on other geo-political zones. If the Igbo insisted that there will be no Nigeria if the South-East geo-political zone is not given the Presidency in 2023, the whole nation will bow down to their wish. If the Igbo insisted that since after the civil war, they are being treated like second-class citizens, and that they won’t take it anymore, other parts of the country will bow to their demand. Nigeria will kneel down before the Igbo. I believe the Igbo can have it in 2023 if they apply the right strategies, except they decide to sell their birthright. For the sake of their children and coming generations, Igbo leaders must stand up and say that they are also equal partners with other ethnic groups in the country.
Amaechi and those APC leaders should not look at today but tomorrow. In this country, you must know how to fight for your rights and the Yoruba have shown others how to do it.
When June 12 election was annulled, Yoruba stood up and said there would be no peace in Nigeria, and that doesn’t mean that they would be throwing bombs; it is a psychological warfare, and this, the Yoruba people did successfully. They organised series of protests and seminars. They also put up other means of applying pressure on other parts of the country, and eventually they had their way, as other parts of the country, including the then nation’s leaders, succumbed; and this was how Obasanjo, a Yoruba man, became the President in 1999.
In fact, the Yoruba insisted on having a political party of their own, which led to the formation of the AD. Not only that, it was agreed in1999 that all political parties must field a Yoruba man as the party’s presidential candidate. Is that not an honour for the Yorubas? This was an honour that money can’t buy. So what’s Amaechi talking about?
Why are you canvassing for an Igbo president in 2023?
If we are talking about national unity and cohesion, if we are talking about equity and justice, then it is very unfair that the Igbo have not been able to produce an elected president of Nigeria. It is a shame that a major ethnic group like the Igbo can’t produce a president of Nigeria. For the sake of unity of this country, the Igbo should have it in 2023.
I don’t think President Buhari will work against the emergence of an Igbo president in 2023. When he toured the country during his campaigns, Buhari publicly stated that he regarded all parts of Nigeria, and the entire country as his constituency. He said no part of the country was more important than the other. So why is Amaechi deviating from what his boss and principal, President Buhari, publicly stated?
I don’t expect Amaechi to make that kind of statement not only because he is an Igbo man but he is also a political leader. He should not be seen to be working against the interests of his own people. Amaechi has been engaged in provincial politics, but here we are talking about national politics; so he should learn how to play national politics. Otherwise, he would be tagged a betrayer of his people.
What I expect Amaechi to do now is to apologise to the Igbo. He should also say that the statement credited to him was a slip of the tongue, and henceforth, from now, he should be part of the team that will work for the actualisation of Igbo Presidency in 2023.
As one of the activists that took part in the June 12 struggle, what’s your reaction to the federal government’s decision to annually celebrate June 12 as Democracy Day?
It was a good step in the right direction. We have to commend President Buhari for having the courage to do the right thing by honouring the memory of the late M.K.O. Abiola and others who lost their lives during the June 12 struggle. By doing this, Buhari is strengthening national unity.
Those of us who are part of the struggle for June 12, that are still alive, are happy with the decision of the federal government to celebrate maiden June 12 Democracy Day by inviting world leaders to Nigeria for the event. Forces of darkness behind the annulment of June 12 have now been put to shame.
Some Nigerians are suggesting that the federal government should change June 12 Democracy Day to M.K.O. Abiola Day; what’s your take on that?
June 12 is still okay. When you talk of June 12, everybody knows you are talking about M.K.O. Abiola. If you change it from June 12, you will create confusion.
What I expect us to do now is that M.K.O. Abiola should be recognised as one of the nation’s former presidents. His picture should be in Aso Rock with that of the other past presidents of Nigeria, because Abiola won an election.
Declaring June 12 Democracy Day, and a public holiday is not enough without officially declaring Abiola as a former President of Nigeria. Abiola won an election, and it is for that reason that June 12 was born. President Buhari should just send a bill to the National Assembly, which should be passed by the Senate, and this will make it possible. It is not that Abiola is coming from the grave to become President of Nigeria but it will just be a symbolic gesture.
I know that with the June 12 Democracy Day declared as public holiday by President Buhari, some enemies of June 12, like former President Ibrahim Babangida, will be crying and weeping in their respective houses. I’m sure that he (Babangida) would by now be saying that if he had known, he would have done what was right on June 12 when he was in power.
What is the way out of the present state of insecurity in the country?
I don’t know how President Buhari sleeps with all these things happening all over the country. But I’m expecting him to address the problem. All Nigerians want to hear him speak on how he intends to address this festering problem of insecurity.
Some people have suggested the idea of state police as a way out of the present insecurity challenges. What’s your reaction to that?
State police or community policing is the answer. What is happening today in Nigeria security-wise, is very frightening; and it calls for soul-searching. We have to buckle up and find solution to it. Is it not a shame that a District Head in the President’s own state was abducted for weeks without trace? Every day, the situation is getting worse. But I believe President Buhari will address this issue in due course.
The comparison of Miyetti-Allah with the Afenifere, Ohanaeze, and PANDEF by the Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mallam Garba Shehu, recently generated reactions. How would you react too?
That’s an insult. You are not using Arewa Consultative Forum as a comparison with Afenifere, and Ohanaeze but Miyetti-Allah, how possible? Some of these people just want to create problems for President Buhari. I believe President Buhari must have warned him. Shehu Garba should be ignored. He needs to examine himself. Is he okay? Nigerians should ignore him.
I believe President Muhammadu Buhari meant well for Nigeria but some of his overzealous aides should not create problems for him. They should watch some of their utterances.
To show you that Buhari loves Nigeria, he was recently quoted as expressing support for restructuring and a return to the true practice of federalism. He, however, should caution some of his aides, who, through their actions, are making enemies for
him.
