The year, 2015, when general elections will be conducted in Nigeria appears to be distant. Nevertheless, the truth is that time flies, which has prompted the immediate past President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, to articulate in specific terms the
necessary conditions to be met ahead
of time to actualise the Igbo
Presidency, provided President
Goodluck Jonathan is not going to run
for a second term.
The elder statesman pinpointed unity
and support of other ethnic groups as
the unavoidable dynamics to achieve
the Igbo Presidency project, “otherwise, it will be a pipe dream.” He took a swipe at people, who he said thoght the Igbo coud not produce Nigerian President of Igbo extraction.
He said they should stop insulting the
Igbo “when we have many good
presidential materials from the South-
East geo-political zone.” Dr. Ikedife also talked about sudden increase in the prices of petroleum products and
condemned it. Excerpts: For the Igbo to clinch the Presidency in 2015, there are certain things that must be put in place without which it will be a pipe dream.
One, the Igbo must be united. Number two, we must know what the
Presidency is thinking: whether
President Goodluck Jonathan has made a statement as to whether he wants to run in 2015 or not. You know you cannot underrate the power of
incumbency. And if he is running, then the whole thing takes a different
posture. I do not think that if he
eventually decides to run again in 2015 that the Igbo would want to come out and oppose him in that respect. So, it should be known whether the seat is going to be vacant for new entrants or whether it is going to be somebody continuing from where he stopped.
But supposing that he says he is not
going to run, then, of course, there are many Igbo, who are potentially good presidential materials and it doesn’t require rocket science to comb them out. They will come out. There are many of them. I can even begin to mention names but may be, it is too premature to mention names and,even now, you are focusing your mind on some of them in your search and thinking of the matter.
It does not take miracle. First of all, the Igbo must be united. They must know under what umbrella they are going to seek the Presidency of this country.The other members of the Nigerian populace are of course very important.
If they are sympathetic towards the
Igbo’s aspiration, it will make it
feasible, possible and achievable. But if they vehemently oppose it, the task
will become more difficult and the
achievement will become tedious. But
as for the desire, or having made a
case that the Igbo should produce the
next President after Goodluck Jonathan,there is no doubt about it.
The Igbo are very well decided on that
and very well determined to work for it.Some other ethnic groups are said to be afraid that if an Igbo man is allowed to become the President of Nigeria that he might divide the country into independent segments. How do you react to that? Whoever is saying that is simply playing mischief.
Who are the people now fighting the
division of this country? Is it the Igbo?
Are the Igbo the people championing
Boko Haram? Are the Igbo the people
clamoring for Islamic State? Are the
Igbo the people championing Oduduwa State ? This is a wrong accusation,mischievous accusation,
uncomplimentary accusation. The Igbo certainly are not that way inclined.They (the Igbo) have invested in Nigeria more than any other ethnic
group, the Hausas, the Yorubas, the
Ijaws, the Ibibios, name them. So, it is
a mischievous accusation. If the
country will be divided, forces that will
divide it will make it divide. Don’t
blame it on the Igbo. This is an
extension of a mischievous thinking,
wrong thinking that the Igbo wanted to divide this country to carve out the
sovereign State of Biafra .
That is a wrong interpretation of the
events of 1965, 66, 67, wrong
interpretation because Igbo were
hounded and killed in every part of the country and they decided and said, okay since we have been chased from every part of the country, let us go to our home land and look after ourselves.
And the war was declared against the
Igbo. So, the accusation is a
continuation of wrong thoughts that
the Igbo wanted to divide the country.
The Igbo never wanted to divide the
country.
And it is high time this thing was made as clear as possible to the rest of the population, anybody who cares to listen. Some other people are also of the opinion that the Igbo, because of love of money, can sell the Presidency to other ethnic groups if given the chance. Are you of the same opinion, Sir? I don’t know where you get these mischievous views and opinions about the Igbo. Who are the wealthiest people in this country today? They are not Igbo. Count the wealthy people in
Nigeria ; they are the Yorubas, the
Hausas or Fulanis.
The Igbo do individual lone range
struggling. And when they struggle
people say they love money. It is not
true. Have you ever seen a Yoruba
person, Hausa person, Jukun person or Ibibio person who goes to throw his
money into the River Niger or into the
Ocean? Have you seen one? Talking
about the mischievous stealing in this
country, how many of them were done by the Igbo? You read papers.
How many Igbo are involved in dirty
dealings, money laundering and
cheating? They are not many. The Igbo are just people who struggle from sun up to sun down for their daily bread.
And people say they love money. Tell
me the other Nigerian who will come
and give you scholarship, give
scholarship to your children and take
your responsibilities.
They must stop that insult on the Igbo. It must stop. Let’s digress a bit, Sir. The pump price of Premium Motor
Spirit (PMS) was recently pegged at
N97 per liter away from its N65 former price after labour and government had haggled. Surprisingly, the price has pushed up again to over N100 per liter.
How do you react to that? Well, it is
true that in many patrol stations except NNPC mega stations they sell well over N100 per liter. Some sell even as much as N120 per liter. It is a little bit disappointing that after a lot of haggling, sweat and negotiations that the price could not be maintained at N97 per liter which the populace even thought was a little too high.
What I might ask is what is the
government doing about it? Or is
government not aware that petrol is
being sold at N100 plus, N110, N120 in many parts of the country and they are doing nothing about it. Diesel is sold at N160, N180, a liter and they do nothing about it. Has the government succumbed to what you may call market forces, simple law of demand and supply? If demand is high then the government can do a lot of things to increase supply, beef up the refineries in the country, install new ones if need be.
It is not enough that you refine enough for local consumption and refine enough for export. It is still noticed that crude is being exported and the refined ones are being imported. It is totally negative; government will ensure that this is stopped as soon as possible otherwise we misapply our sense of economics. And whether you want to reduce the price or increase it you must know that market forces, demand and supply come to play.
So long as we have crude oil, we must
try to meet the demands of domestic
needs. It is only when you do that then you can regulate the price, otherwise it will be like it is a joke or a hoax or a deceit to say that you are pegging the price when you cannot control or regulate that price. It looks as if labour has compromised since it has been quiet over this continued price increase of the petroleum products. What are your comments? E-hm, I’m not a labour leader and I’m not a member of any labour union.
In many places you buy well over N100 a liter and diesel around N160, N180. I think attention should be called to it, so that they will see whether the
prevailing price is what was agreed on
or whether the laiddown is from people who may have been enjoying the subsidy and now that they understand that the subsidy has been removed then they are trying to get the subsidy from the public by increasing the pump prices of the petroleum products. It is something we have to understand well before we talk seriously on it.
Even the National Assembly does not
react to that. Shouldn’t the general
public read meanings to that? Well, I’m not a member of the National Assembly or State House assembly. I’m not a member of either of them. But I think now that you have said so their attention should be drawn to it so that if they are not aware, and I will be surprised if they are not aware,
although they may be getting from
mega stations at the official rate, that
prices of the products have continued
to be on the increase, then their
attention should be called to this
situation and let’s see how they will
react to it.
LINK:
www:sunnewsonline.com/new/politics/2015-jonathan-only-problem-to-igbos-presidential-aspiration-dr-ikedife-ohanaeze-chieftain/

I understand Ikedife is an elder and I understand he wants the best for Igbo but what is with him and the nigerian presidency obsession? Why is it he's the only one clamoring for it? Is this his way of announcing he would run or gini? None of the other Igbo politicians wants it, he should leave them be. Jeez!!! There are some stuff he said in the interview, I agree wholeheartedly with but still people are clamoring for something different and he's disturbing them with presidency. If he cares so much for Igbo, then seek out Igbo governors and advise them on how to develop their state higher than what they've done so far. Attack the ones that aren't performing, praise the ones that are and force them to do more, force them to build seaports and airports in their state, do something proactive instead of him clamoring for presidency.

Lol @ Igbo been president! Godforbid!
Nigeria is nobody's portion come 2015!
Everyone shall have their own president!

Thank the man for talking openly about one thing
Ppl get wrong about 67. Igbo has never wanted to
Divide Nigeria but they weren't accepted anywhere
in the country ! The mistake we made is thinking about
East instead of Igbo alone by now we won't be called terrorists! Corrupt! We gonna worship one God! Lastly won't answer we are from Nigga area atleast a peaceful
Botswana in West Africa!!

Goodluck Jonathan is also Ebelechukwu Azikiwe. The igbos have already had their turn.

floriana: Goodluck Jonathan is also Ebelechukwu Azikiwe. The igbos have already had their turn.

Fucck you!
Blood sucking northern cannibal.
One day,we will be rid of you.

chucky234 is a bleeding infidel...rubbish man..he wants to start another tribal war so those amala people will have some silly things to say...i piss on op and thread...

Aren't we tired of all these tribal/ethnic nonsense? When will we ever stop?

They can shove their president in their A.s.s hole,is better we start searching for president of alaigbo alone;i wish our general!in alaigbo ignore some committee that was against 7 million pound sterling that could have been trade for more ammunition's to blew these louse scrounger scalawags; away,by now we will not have that Nigerian stigma stains on us....we will be so much better by now..

solomon111: Fucck you!
Blood sucking northern cannibal.
One day,we will be rid of you.

Don't take it personal man. Afterall it won't be you in Aso rock even if igbos are to do another turn.

deshclones: chucky234 is a bleeding infidel...rubbish man..he wants to start another tribal war so those amala people will have some silly things to say...i piss on op and thread...

The money spent on your education is a total waste,always keep your 16yr old watery brain away from my thread as I'll not hesitate to bash you next time.
Why don't you just be a spectator if you got nothing to say,clueless goon roaming aimless on NL.

GEJ 2015-

Every Nigerian from anywhere deserve a chance to be president and should take it when that opportunity does arise. However, from this interview here are some points that are of note:

1. Ibos may not have directly declared war in 1967 (they were in no position to that anyway) but they indirectly declared or invited war by secession. Secession is an act of war.

2. There are Nigerians who are Ibo who can be president but some people can now point to the fact that Jonathan actively campaigned as the ibo president with his Ebekechukwu Azikiwe name

3. Good that Ikedife points out the importance of other Nigerians in getting elected but the biafram ibos have made enemies of a lot of ibos by their empty boastfulness, chest beating, unfounded arrogance and greed for other people's land and resources. This was one of the reasons why they were chased out in 1966/67 that led to the civil war. Time they learned from it, otherwise history might just repeat itself.

4. There's nothing to say that ibos have invested more than other Nigerians, this is just stupid talk that alienates other people. That one man builds a 10 M naira house and another man builds a 500,000 naira and spends his money raising a 100 cows as business, it is beyond stupid to insinuate that a man who has the house has invested more. This is one of the reason why Nigeria is not making progress because if a policeman or soldier works for only a salary of 100,000 naira but puts his life on the line for every man who makes 10 million naira, how can you say that the latter made more investment? The professor who learns the secret of science and imparts knowledge of unquantifiable proportions to students who may devise knowledge to change and make the world better but earns an annual salary of 10 M has not contributed less than another man who imports 100 M container of motorcycle into the country for sale. The giftings, talents, training and interests of every man will be different but what is important is to make contribution to the country. So if 40 M people from some states in the north contribute their best in their areas of strength and 30 M ibos contribute their best in whatever form, it does not mean they have done more just because they go to Lagos, Kano, or their villages to do whatever they do.