Published January 16, 2021

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Tunde Ajaja

The immediate past President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo socio-cultural group, Chief John Nwodo, has called on the Federal Government to initiate and conclude the process of restructuring the country before the 2023 elections to avoid a situation where some sections of the country may boycott the exercise.

He said Nigeria used to be the envy of nations, given its pedigree in education, agriculture and well-being of its people because there was a regional system of government that allowed regions to enjoy sovereignty over their national resources until the system was thwarted. He, therefore, cautioned that to avoid the “coming catastrophe”, Nigeria must restructure.

Nwodo, who was the ninth president-general of the apex Igbo group, spoke in Lagos on Friday at the 17th Chief Gani Fawehinmi annual lecture, with the theme, ‘The constitutional history of Nigeria’s dysfunction: Any pathway to indivisibility and common progress?’

The event, organised by the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, was also attended by the Governor of Borno State, Prof Babagana Zulum, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), legal practitioners and human rights activists, among others.

There have been agitations for the restructuring of the country so that states or regions could control their resources.

Several prominent individuals and sociocultural groups, especially those in the southern part of the country, have stressed the need to restructure the country, insisting that the current system was tantamount to a unitary system of government, which they said could not work for a diverse nation like Nigeria.

Nwodo, who was a keynote speaker at the event, explained that there was a time the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy was agriculture, and that all the regions had different items they were producing and exporting, which availed them funds to develop their regions.

He added, “There was only one reason why things worked so well then. We had a regional system of government that allowed regions to enjoy sovereignty over their national resources whilst paying royalties and taxes to the Federal Government. Our domestic security was independent and uncontrolled by the Federal Government.

“Suddenly, the army came to power and abrogated our constitution, turned us into a unitary state and imposed a unitary constitution on us. They seized our natural resources and donated them to the Federal Government to share without adequate respect for derivation.”

Speaking on what must be done to avert “the coming catastrophe”, he said, “Nigeria must restructure and give its component units sovereignty over its natural resources provided they pay royalty or some form of taxes to the Federal Government to maintain federal responsibilities like external defence, foreign missions, customs and immigration.

“Emphasis must return to agriculture and education. Domestic security must remain in the hands of the federating units because living safe in Nigeria today is by luck. The secularity of the Nigerian state must be respected. These irreducible minimum conditions are not negotiable. If it does not happen, we will have no alternative but to go our separate ways.

“Processes to begin our restructuring as a nation must be concluded before the 2023 elections so as to avert a situation where sections of the country may boycott the elections and present the country with a constitutional force majeure.”

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Nwodo, who was a two-time minister, also decried a situation whereby the President and federal lawmakers exclusively share the appointment into the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying Nigeria could learn from South Africa and the United Kingdom.

He stated, “In South Africa, the Chief Justice appoints the head of the electoral body and he does so first by advertising for those who are qualified to be in the commission to apply. After people have been nominated, he publishes the list of those nominated and those who have been objected to are delisted before the final stage.

“In the UK, the electoral commission is headed by the speaker but composed of all political parties in the ballot, making rigging impossible. That is why results are announced instantaneously after the collation of results. Nigeria must restructure. So long as INEC and state electoral commission members are appointed by the President and governors respectively, there will never be a free and fair election.”

He said despite the country’s abundant human and natural resources, it remained the poorest nation in the world and a major importer of things it produces.

Speaking on education, Nwodo said Israel, United States and some other countries were leveraging education to come up with world-class innovations while Nigeria maintained a record of having the highest number of out-of-school children, coupled with some immoral practices, like sex-for-grade, in higher institutions.

He added, “If the source of knowledge is contaminated, like a contaminated water reservoir, can you get clean water. Our higher institutions must be devoid of sharp practices and acts capable of compromising their integrity within and outside our borders. Education, road and agriculture are critical areas in the development of a country’s economic potential.”

post=98117823:
The use of that word Boycott is damn so funny sha .

Anyways, let's chip in our bits and #HardTruths as ever.....

SOUTH EAST: IS IT NOT TOO LATE?

I have read the recent transmissions by Senator Bukola Saraki directed at my Igbo tribe. I have deliberately kept mum on this as I had earlier resolved to speak less on Igbos as regards the 2019 Elections and 2023 Presidency having said quite a bit. 

However seeing as some of my brethren have swallowed the cheap bait, I will chip this in just to keep the reality before us, at least for posterity sake. Truth is bitter but it's still the best medicine. 

My people say; 'He who does not remember where the rain started beating him, will not remember where it stopped'. 

REWIND TO 2014. 
A new National Party was being conceived. Political Parties, political players and Regions were being wooed to the new alliance. 

'We' Igbos (read South East) vehemently refused to touch it even with a long pole. We packaged, sold to ourselves and bought the baseless propaganda that it was an Islamic alliance that would birth an "Islamic" and "Hausa" Party. Simply because those our brethren heavily invested in the PDP at the time were afraid of losing their vested selfish interests.
Till today I'm still trying to fathom the basis for that wicked and twisted deceit especially as many of those Igbo elites who sold that dummy have since ported to the same APC.

We failed to even identify with that new Alliance. Hence the Party, APC was birthed without any remarkable input from us or presence. The few amongst us who aligned were called all kinds of names and abused to high heavens by us even when they were proven right afterall.

Thus the few Igbos who were part of it were at best fringe players as they didn't have the required clout to make serious demands and do the necessary political wheeling and dealing required in Politics to strike the hard bargains since politics is all about interests and numbers. They were even suspect, so much so that it was only their personal political sagacity that gave them whatever they got.

That Party went on to win the Presidential Election which in truth, most of us never believed it could or would, because of our half baked permutations and poor understanding of Nigerian politics. But it did. 

Curiously we turned up at the fore front of telling this same Party how it should share it's 'spoils of war'. We became hypocritical moral champions with an over bloated sense of entitlement. Who does that, in all political reality and practicality? But we did, even while vehemently and vociferously still refusing to shift our position, style and rhethoric.

We dug in. Supported every bad thing and person against the Party, the elected President and the Administration while denying any and every good done to and for our Region.

Fast forward to where we are today. Almost four years after the 2015 misadventure, we have stayed put at 2015, refusing to move forward, refusing to shift grounds, refusing to play pragmatic politics, telling ourselves the same lies we cooked and bought in 2015 and some more. 

Now barely 5 months to another election, we have started again saying "APC cannot give Presidency to Igbos in 2023". "Buhari cannot hand over to an Igbo man because Buhari hates Igbos". "APC is deceiving you", bla bla bla.

Of course. We will believe Saraki, who has only but a fanthom dream of becoming President and whose only known record is selfishness but we can't believe Buhari who's already President and who has a record of voluntarily picking two great Igbo sons as running mates in the past? Chukwu aju.

It is interesting and vital to note here that the PDP which many of us still proudly support and adore was in power for 16 solid years and in those years there were 4 Presidential Inaugurations and on none of those was an Igbo man found worthy by the PDP of even Vice Presidency and we are still bold to say it is the APC that has not even finished one and a half tenure that doesn't want to give power to Igbos. Odi nma. 

NOW; Seriously, let's be sincere. As things stand today politically, why would the APC even hand power to us Igbos in 2023? 
On what grounds? 
On what records?
On what politics?
Is power given to anyone? 
Is it an appeasement or a gift? 

The APC is a political party. The main focus of a political Party is to hold power and keep it to enable it deliver on its agenda. So if the APC reads that the SE does not want the Presidency or does not have the capacity to help them win and keep power, they will stick with the regions that can and work with individuals who are interested. 

Make no mistake, I have always said, I do not blame us Igbos for the decision majority of us took in 2015. It's our right. But continuing to pretend that it was other regions, Buhari or the APC that made us do what we did then or remain where we are today is purely self deceit and I refuse to play that ostrich game. 

As far back as 2014, I and many others made that argument that Igbo Presidency was very feasible in 2023, ONLY under under the APC, ONLY IF we did a couple of things right politically. I personally continued to speak loudly on that even after the 2015 elections until when I realized that we were not ready to play the politics that was required and now I dare say it may be too late. Or is it not? Time will tell.

For now, we can continue to tell ourselves that we cannot hold the Presidency of Nigeria. I heard and read many of our brethren go from PDP to Biafra/seccesion (read IPOB) to Referendum to "Igbos do not need Presidency but Restructuring" etc forgetting that all that didn't lie squarely with us alone. We think other regions are not reading our body language?

I really don't care what Saraki writes or says because they've all come to realize that it's very easy to play us like a flute. So like Saraki, like Fani Kayode, like Fayose, like Atiku, even Jonah Jang of all people, they keep playing us.

I've learnt not to bother myself anymore to avoid unnecessary abuse from nonentities . As some of us have said, it's good governance we want, even if only one village will be producing the Presidents. So be it.

Ka Chineke mezie okwu. 

post=98117823:
The use of that word Boycott is damn so funny sha .



Ka Chineke mezie okwu. 

Simplyleo:
Really?
Boycotting election?

thesicilian:
Lol. Boycott fire

oguns222:
Nigerians will still vote. It is difficult to keep them in agreement.

Mannabbgrills, alias Eriggs, since you are now suffering from joblessness, you should go and search for more of my past comments and report them to mods like the cry cry baby that you are.

It's absurd for a an old man with heavy beards like you to be acting like a child.

If you had put as much effort to your BBQ grills business, it wouldn't have perished on your head like it did. The way your BBQ grills business perished goes a long way to determine the quality of your life.

A man who can't keep a business running successfully is busy reporting to mods. You no dey shame?!

tutudesz:
Regional Government is the way forward, where 6 regions exist and resource control is the foundation stone. You can't be using the resources of 1 region to develop others so many states should be converted to Local Government, because they can't do without monthly pocket money from daddy(FG) Imagine IGR of some state below N15 billion yearly
Allocation above N30 billion yearly
Recurrent expenditure N20 Billion yearly
Capital expenditure N15 billion yearly
Such states are Useless without federal allocation.

Igbochief001:

And most importantly let people chose which of the 6 regions to join ...that's the most important thing ....

SilverNorGold:


My beloved brother, wetin our beloved Patriots, Comrades them, do your unpatriotic soul really pain you... See as you dey lament.. .. Better give your life to Nigeria and ask God Almighty for forgiveness. You dey terrorise our noble compatriots on Nairaland and you expect them not to report you? Sey wetin? You terrorise them offline come still terrorise them online, my brother change. CHANGE or be CHANGED.. If you no change, Nigerians go change you by fire by force. SAY NO TO TROLLING. SAY NO TO ONLINE TERRORISM AND BANDITRY. SAY NO CONFLICT.

Give your life to Nigeria and have a rest of mind.

God bless us all.

tutudesz:

Presently we have 6 regions, the Igbos of South South can decide whether to join South East or remain With South South.

oguns222:


Lolz. I was expecting that. Now that I have exposed that Mannabbgrills is the same person as Eriggs, he won't be able to reply me with Eriggs. He will look for another monicker to use or send.

Have you heard the story of a pig calling himself the neatest animal on Earth? That's the story of your life.

You, a human with rotten morals laying claim to Patriotism. What an irony!

Very soon, bobrisky will give us a lecture on how to be godly.

SilverNorGold:


My beloved brother, I dun give you advice. If you like take am, if you like no take am. Na you go still lament at last, not Nigerians.

God bless us all.

Igbochief001:

Yes same with Yorubas in north , southern kaduna can join middle belt same with southern gombe

tutudesz:

Southern kaduna issue will be creating more states infact regional Government will mean creating new state, because most tribes will want to leave their present state for many reason. Solving one problem in Nigeria creat another problem.

Igbochief001:

It won't be called states again but Provence ......more like a mid point between local government and states ...there won't be states and local government anymore ...just Provence, region and central government simple

No more allocation so if u want Provence u must sustain it and make it work ,

Each region determine how they share themselves and what system of government they want ... parliamentary or federating Provence

Each Provence manage their resources ..pay 40% to the region ...region in turns pay 40% to the central government

U would have regions police but also Provencial security outfit

tutudesz:

Making sense but will our useless politicans be ok giving up power and title of Mr Governor

Igbochief001:

And most importantly let people chose which of the 6 regions to join ...that's the most important thing ....

post=98117823:
The use of that word Boycott is damn so funny sha .

Anyways, let's chip in our bits and #HardTruths as ever.....

SOUTH EAST: IS IT NOT TOO LATE?

I have read the recent transmissions by Senator Bukola Saraki directed at my Igbo tribe. I have deliberately kept mum on this as I had earlier resolved to speak less on Igbos as regards the 2019 Elections and 2023 Presidency having said quite a bit. 

However seeing as some of my brethren have swallowed the cheap bait, I will chip this in just to keep the reality before us, at least for posterity sake. Truth is bitter but it's still the best medicine. 

My people say; 'He who does not remember where the rain started beating him, will not remember where it stopped'. 

REWIND TO 2014. 
A new National Party was being conceived. Political Parties, political players and Regions were being wooed to the new alliance. 

'We' Igbos (read South East) vehemently refused to touch it even with a long pole. We packaged, sold to ourselves and bought the baseless propaganda that it was an Islamic alliance that would birth an "Islamic" and "Hausa" Party. Simply because those our brethren heavily invested in the PDP at the time were afraid of losing their vested selfish interests.
Till today I'm still trying to fathom the basis for that wicked and twisted deceit especially as many of those Igbo elites who sold that dummy have since ported to the same APC.

We failed to even identify with that new Alliance. Hence the Party, APC was birthed without any remarkable input from us or presence. The few amongst us who aligned were called all kinds of names and abused to high heavens by us even when they were proven right afterall.

Thus the few Igbos who were part of it were at best fringe players as they didn't have the required clout to make serious demands and do the necessary political wheeling and dealing required in Politics to strike the hard bargains since politics is all about interests and numbers. They were even suspect, so much so that it was only their personal political sagacity that gave them whatever they got.

That Party went on to win the Presidential Election which in truth, most of us never believed it could or would, because of our half baked permutations and poor understanding of Nigerian politics. But it did. 

Curiously we turned up at the fore front of telling this same Party how it should share it's 'spoils of war'. We became hypocritical moral champions with an over bloated sense of entitlement. Who does that, in all political reality and practicality? But we did, even while vehemently and vociferously still refusing to shift our position, style and rhethoric.

We dug in. Supported every bad thing and person against the Party, the elected President and the Administration while denying any and every good done to and for our Region.

Fast forward to where we are today. Almost four years after the 2015 misadventure, we have stayed put at 2015, refusing to move forward, refusing to shift grounds, refusing to play pragmatic politics, telling ourselves the same lies we cooked and bought in 2015 and some more. 

Now barely 5 months to another election, we have started again saying "APC cannot give Presidency to Igbos in 2023". "Buhari cannot hand over to an Igbo man because Buhari hates Igbos". "APC is deceiving you", bla bla bla.

Of course. We will believe Saraki, who has only but a fanthom dream of becoming President and whose only known record is selfishness but we can't believe Buhari who's already President and who has a record of voluntarily picking two great Igbo sons as running mates in the past? Chukwu aju.

It is interesting and vital to note here that the PDP which many of us still proudly support and adore was in power for 16 solid years and in those years there were 4 Presidential Inaugurations and on none of those was an Igbo man found worthy by the PDP of even Vice Presidency and we are still bold to say it is the APC that has not even finished one and a half tenure that doesn't want to give power to Igbos. Odi nma. 

NOW; Seriously, let's be sincere. As things stand today politically, why would the APC even hand power to us Igbos in 2023? 
On what grounds? 
On what records?
On what politics?
Is power given to anyone? 
Is it an appeasement or a gift? 

The APC is a political party. The main focus of a political Party is to hold power and keep it to enable it deliver on its agenda. So if the APC reads that the SE does not want the Presidency or does not have the capacity to help them win and keep power, they will stick with the regions that can and work with individuals who are interested. 

Make no mistake, I have always said, I do not blame us Igbos for the decision majority of us took in 2015. It's our right. But continuing to pretend that it was other regions, Buhari or the APC that made us do what we did then or remain where we are today is purely self deceit and I refuse to play that ostrich game. 

As far back as 2014, I and many others made that argument that Igbo Presidency was very feasible in 2023, ONLY under under the APC, ONLY IF we did a couple of things right politically. I personally continued to speak loudly on that even after the 2015 elections until when I realized that we were not ready to play the politics that was required and now I dare say it may be too late. Or is it not? Time will tell.

For now, we can continue to tell ourselves that we cannot hold the Presidency of Nigeria. I heard and read many of our brethren go from PDP to Biafra/seccesion (read IPOB) to Referendum to "Igbos do not need Presidency but Restructuring" etc forgetting that all that didn't lie squarely with us alone. We think other regions are not reading our body language?

I really don't care what Saraki writes or says because they've all come to realize that it's very easy to play us like a flute. So like Saraki, like Fani Kayode, like Fayose, like Atiku, even Jonah Jang of all people, they keep playing us.

I've learnt not to bother myself anymore to avoid unnecessary abuse from nonentities . As some of us have said, it's good governance we want, even if only one village will be producing the Presidents. So be it.

Ka Chineke mezie okwu.