The threat of Boko Haram with its attendant destruction of innocent lives still remains a major source of worry to many concerned stakeholders in the country. And, of course, one section of the country that appears to have been worse hit by activities of the dreaded group is the Igbo, which has heightened the fear of possibility of reprisal attack in recent time. Dr. Pius Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a former governor of Anambra State and prominent leader of thought in the South East, in this interview with Sunday Sun, warned against further attack on Igbo communities in the north among other issues. Excerpts…

It appears your role as a leader is not as much appreciated as the number of people flocking around you. How do you feel about this?
I am not in politics. I have retired from party politics. So, in what way can I be controversial? In fact, I have not been controversial in Igbo land because I am a progressive. If I am controversial, it is within the rank of senior people not within the ordinary man. And, of course, I help people who come around by giving suggestions and ideas. But as for the leadership thing, I don’t know when it will come.

What I am doing is within me. I enjoy helping people. Indeed, this office does nothing else other than attending to people’s problems. Even though we are a property company, what I do mostly is to receive young graduates who are looking for jobs or looking for notes which could open the doors for them. Also, I help people who run into police problem and want somebody whom police can trust when he says this one is not a thief. Churches do come to consult too, asking for my opinion on some issues. In the same way, those who own property used to come and seek my advice.

Some would say I want to sell my land. One of them came to me recently and said he wanted to sell his land. And I said why? He said because of Boko Haram. I told him that Boko Haram will come and go but your land will remain and be appreciating. So, I am open and enjoy helping people, though it is tiring and stressful. But even if you don’t succeed, the most beautiful time is when people call to say I have been offered a job where you sent me to. One of them happened this week and I am still enjoying that one. It comes once in a while like that because jobs are not surplus.

Why is it difficult to have a consensus on Igbo leadership?
Much as I know, by our tradition, it is collegiate leadership. Just one person coming out like Abraham Adesanya to say I am the leader of the race is difficult. We called Ojukwu, Ikemba, Igbo leader and he was always there to be consulted and people respected his opinion. But in terms of leadership, it wasn’t so much so. For example, in 1993 presidential election, he campaigned for Tofa everywhere but my little campaign for Abiola swayed the votes away from the voting behavior. I think what is important is getting the right crop of people to direct the affairs of the race. But we haven’t quite recovered from the war. That is the main problem we have now; otherwise, by now, there should be some people who are seeing to be higher than others in the scheme of things. I don’t know whether you know about campaign for Jonathan.

You mean you led the campaign for Jonathan?
We were many that went to the north to negotiate with their leaders. But some people sold out and said they would vote for the north in 2011 and in return they gave us 2015. I was the only Igbo out of them and eventually the Igbo people dumped all their votes in Jonathan’s basket. I was happy about it. And, of course, our governors also contributed to it. We were the first people to say we were not going for presidency or Vice President. And that had its implications.

Now, how achievable is 2015 for Igbo presidency?
There was a press conference I gave and I said that the only people who would not make Igbo presidency realisable are Igbo themselves. You must convince yourself you want something and that you want it hard enough for the forces of the universe to join you to achieve it. Our people listen to all kinds of talks-the Vice President is running, David Mark is running and so on. But we told our people that nobody should come out to say he is running for now. We want to organise corporate campaign for Igbo Presidency. And when eventually the time is ripe, the person comes out.

And nothing in reason, nothing in logic, nothing in justice, equity and fairness can stand against an Igbo for president in 2015. By the time Jonathan finishes, whatever time it takes, every zone in Nigeria shall have provided presidential or chief executive leadership of Nigeria for more than five years except the South East zone. Ironsi was in power for just six months before they massacred him and buried him with millions of Igbo people because of Nigerian civil war. If every zone has had a taste of power, why shouldn’t we go for presidency? And, of course, our going has advantages for Hausa, it has advantages for Yoruba, it has advantages for every Nigerian. No Igbo president can satisfy our people by concentrating action in Igbo area because more Igbo live outside Igbo land than those who live inside Igbo.

If you provide light for Nigerians in Kano, you are providing light for Igbo in Kano. Therefore, any Igbo as president will take every part of Nigeria as his home and work to develop it. Two, there are still vestiges of feudalism in some parts of Nigeria. The Igbo is the antithesis of feudalism. We are egalitarian and individualistic in nature. And when an Igbo president takes on, that aspect of Igbo society will rob-off on other societies. There will be social mobility. And that aspect of social mobility will impact very well, especially in the north where we sell the idea that you are responsible for your welfare, you are responsible for whatever happens to you in your life. In the morning, you go to somebody’s place for your breakfast.

For your dinner, you go to another person’s place and you say you are a human being. So, gradually, majority of Nigerians will see Igbo’s egalitarian system with high social mobility as a plus. Thirdly, there is another thing I call achievement orientation. Igbo man goes to every nooks and cranny of the country, makes a home of it and building houses better than the landowners. After sometimes, Igbo man feels hated by the landowners. The landowners have no choice than to be jealous of him. So, they envy him and even fear him.

They don’t hate him. But this rubs-off achievement motivation and achievement orientation. It rubs off on other people when they see it. When we have an Igbo president, you will see it more dramatized everywhere. Also, an Igbo presidency is like the cap of the president going on the head it was meant for because Igbo is the only autochthonous major group in Nigeria. How do I mean? If you go anywhere in the world and you find an Igbo man or woman, he or she is a Nigerian. If you go out and find Hausa, he doesn’t have to be a Nigerian. If you find a Yoruba, he may not be a Nigerian. So, Igbo race has its roots complete in Nigeria. It hasn’t got any external branches.

What about the myths about your roots in Israel?
That sphere of roots to the extent that may be true is too ancient to challenge autochthonousness of the Igbo race. Where did the Jews start their life? The first man was created in Africa. Africa is the first home of Adam. And every person living in the world today is born by a black woman. Science has proven this beyond reasonable doubt. Isn’t Hebrew likely to be a corruption of Igbo? We circumcise from day one. We name our children on the 8th day. The ceremony for circumcision for boys is clear.

The Hebrew say God gave them circumcision. God didn’t give us, we gave ourselves. So, who is original in terms of circumcision? The Igbo, of course. I am happy about a Yoruba man who did a research work showing the kinship among many of us. He posited a theory that if three among the five words describing senses-sense of sight, sense of smelling and so on-are the same in two languages, those two languages are connected somehow. With that theory, there are more than four coincidences between the Igbo and Yoruba.

There are also such coincidences between us and Idoma and Igala. Even today, we are answering the same name. Idoma will say Ejima for twin boys. Ejima means the same thing in Igbo language. Ada is used for first born in both ways. And then, I discovered that some Fulani are closer to Igbo than Hausa. There are also claims as to a cluster of Israel in South Africa. It is a community that is totally black but Jewish in everything. What was the original colour of Jesus Christ?

It will be difficult to know because when you see Jesus Christ in painting or photograph, he is whiter than the whites with long hair. But in those days, the lightest person among those kinds of people was just kinky hair like Ethiopian whites. Population move and criss-cross; we don’t know whether Israel started from Igbo or Igbo started from Israel. Nobody can tell.

If by consensus, Igbo is allowed to produce the next president, don’t you see any challenge in arriving at a consensus candidate?
Some people are banking on it that 1000 of us will come out. But we are going to surprise them. For example, people of my age are already eliminated from the race. At 73, only madness can make me think of presidential ambition. Senator Uche Chukwumerije is also 72. Nobody who is 68 and above will qualify to contest. That has already eliminated so many people. Besides, we want authentic people who would represent us. But they must be popular because we don’t know other people who may want to challenge us. So, we must bring a popular person and support the person. Anybody who is thinking that that is going to be a problem for the Igbo is going to be thoroughly disappointed. And, of course, if you think back, the way we voted for Jonathan doesn’t suggest that we are so divided.

But that could be attributed to the role of the governors in their respective states because their second term ambition was tied to the election of Jonathan
The governors didn’t lead the way for Jonathan. Older politicians like me, Mbazurike Amaechi led the way. In the East, the Igbo had had some problems with none Igbo east. Some of the problems were imaginary, though there could be some substance to some of them. But most of them were created by the Hausa and Yoruba and people who don’t want Igbo to be elected as president. Of course, an Igbo man doesn’t have diplomacy. He talks, he brags. But they are learning now.

They fear us and are jealous of us. They planted all kinds of differences. Why did we go for Jonathan? We went for Jonathan not because his name is Jonathan. Some people will say Ebele, Azikwe. We did not go for Jonathan out of consideration for his own merit. We went to repair the damage in the eastern zone. We assure the none-Igbo east that Igbo east has nothing against them and that the lies of the past must be buried with the truth of today. That is the reason for voting massively for Jonathan. The governors were sure of being elected. In any case, my governor in Anambra wasn’t even in PDP.

Yet, he supported Jonathan all the way. Nigerians should know that when the chips are down and it is important for us to unite, we can unite. The presidency in 2015 is important to us. So, anything you see may be surface, but deep down, we are united because we see that our people will be pushed to violence if they are skipped for 2015. And those of us who are the elder statesmen cannot stop them. And you know, the way we trade, the way we engage in industry is the same way we engage in everything.

If it is war, we need to get there, we will fight it with everything we have. Nigeria with support of Britain, America and Russia said they were coming for two months of war with Biafra that had nothing. By then, Biafra had nothing, they were just doing propaganda that if Nigeria comes, they would crush them. They had no gun. But because of the determination of the people, what they thought would last for two or three months lasted for three years. This time around, nobody will fight in our territory. If anybody provokes us, we will fight it where it is provoked.

You mean you don’t need to go back home?
Going home to do what? Die here!

Why then are you recalling your people back home with the attack of Boko Haram?
Because of children and women.

Igbo has always complained of marginalization under successive administrations. Would you say that Igbo have had their fair share of political appointment in this dispensation?
No at all. I am from Anambra State; you wouldn’t find any Anambra person in any big office. And that doesn’t bother us at all because it makes it easy for us to talk with our colleagues from the South East. In the past when we had more Anambra people, others were complaining.

We don’t want to complain now that there is no any Anambra person in high political office. We can’t blame the president so much for giving us Secretary to the Federal Government which he thinks is a good position. And the SGF can help to redress the marginalization that has been meted to us over the years by appointing people from the South East to many of the commissions. But so far, we haven’t seen it happen. The SGF is still learning the ropes and we hope eventually he would engage in trying to repair the damage of the past.

In the same way you are complaining of marginalization do the Hausa and Yoruba. In your assessment of distribution of offices in this administration, would you say that Jonathan has been fair to all sections of the country?
Let me start with your first point that Hausa and Yoruba are complaining of marginalization. What Hausa and Yoruba wanted to do by making their own complaints is to dilute the Igbo complaint. They knew they have federal presence in terms of projects, they knew they have their people present in government establishments than Igbo. Sometimes, Lagos road is bad but go to Igbo land. Go from Enugu to Port Harcourt, Onitsha to Awka, Enugu and you will find roads that are impassible.

Today, though efforts are being made to make amends, but affirmative action for the past wrongs has to go beyond equalization of poles. So, neither Yoruba nor Hausa have been marginalized in the appointment of political office. In party affairs, the Igbo was cheated, the Yoruba was robbed. The Igbo people were cheated because they were supposed to hold the position of chairman until the convention. But that did not happen. The Yoruba people were robbed because they were supposed to produce the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hausa always comes on top whosoever is in charge. And even when they come top, they are not satisfied because unless they are holding presidential office, some elements among them always feel that no other person can hold it.

Many believe that what is happening in Nigeria in respect of the activities of Boko Haram is a reaction to injustice done to the region by not conceding presidency to the north in the 2011 election. What is your reaction to this?
We have six geo-political zones. There is no concept of two zones in Nigeria. The North and the South were the areas amalgamated to get Nigeria. Then, you had three regions. From three regions, we moved to six political zones. Where then does the two zone concept come from?

I am happy you say the northerners say they are making the country ungovernable because they thought a northerner should have been president and not Jonathan. The important thing is that we Nigerian people should accept Nigerianess and share with all Nigerians what belongs to Nigeria, including leadership. There is nothing like born to rule. Anybody who says he is born to rule is going to rule his family not the whole of Nigeria. For 38 years out of 50, the north ruled Nigeria. What justice is in that? It cannot be justified by quality of people. If you judge by quality of people, the north is even worse off.

When they said they would make Nigeria ungovernable, I did not believe they would go far as they have gone. I did not believe they could do it. But what they are doing now will keep them out of presidency for a long time to come. Zones have meaning only in the context of six geo-political zones. We don’t have any other zonal arrangement beyond six geo-political zones. So, I don’t understand what people are agitating for. They should hold back Boko Haram now so that they don’t delay their getting back to power. For as long as this thing messes up the president we all supported, our friend from that side of the country will not see the presidency in many years to come. And even if it has to go north, middle belt is part of the north.

Do you still see the possibility of a united Nigeria with all that is happening now?
Every group has its interest best served by one single Nigeria. Igbo has demonstrated it. We know we have Igbo places to go to but we believe in one Nigeria. Hausa needs it more than any other group in Nigeria because what caused amalgamation in 1914 is even worse now. Yoruba with their commerce and finance need a large market. They will go, if only they are forced to go. But one Nigeria is better for Yoruba. It is better for Itsekiri, it is better for Urhobo, it is better for all the groups in Nigeria. But we have to reorganize Nigeria from the way it is now. It cannot continue the way it is now.

The South-South people are being accused of making inflammatory and volatile statements
What have they said that is more volatile than a pronouncement that you make the country ungovernable? And after the election, it was doom’s day. We interact with South-South people now having voted for them. We even sent them a communiqué. What the South-South is saying now is resource control. We need to organize Nigeria in a way that if God gives you resources, nobody comes to take it from you in whatever guise. They are not talking down on any group of Nigerians. But if you are talking down on them, what do you want them to say?

To the extent of threatening secession?
Why not? A person rejected does not reject himself. If I am from the South-South and you say you will make the country ungovernable because the man at the helm of affairs is from the South-South, you are rejecting me. If you reject me, would you say I should reject myself? If we want to live together, we live together. If we want to break, let’s break.

How would you react to the president’s statement, saying Boko Haram had infiltrated his government?
I am disappointed by that statement because they are not spirits. If you know they have infiltrated the government, you flush them out. If there are some people you are suspecting, you don’t keep them. Jonathan has been using carrot approach and not stick. But these people wouldn’t understand. They feel that he is weak.

They say he is not in charge. Is he in charge?
He is the president of Nigeria and he can do what he wants to do. Because of his religion and personal preference, he wants things settled amicably not violently. But since the option of peaceful settlement is being rebuffed on a daily basis through the support for Boko Haram by the principal actors in the north, Jonathan may be compelled to use his power. He needs to use his power, he needs to be presidential, he needs to use his teeth and bite some people so that others can sit back.

But he said he doesn’t need to be a tiger to be in charge.
He doesn’t want to be a bulldozer; he doesn’t want to be domineering; he doesn’t want to be violent; he doesn’t want to show you I am Mr. President. But now, he has to show it because he has no other choice left. Nigerians have rejected his style; he has to come with another style.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2012/feb/05/national-05-02-2012-003.html

i think everyone should watch out for easter.

Very incisive and decisive. Good one there