₦airaland Forum

For decades, Ndigbo have remained one of the strongest pillars holding Nigeria together economically, intellectually, commercially, creatively and socially. Yet, despite these immense contributions to nation-building, their region, the South East, has continued to remain politically marginalised at the highest level of governance.

Since the end of the civil war in 1970, no Igbo man has led Nigeria as President. The reason for that has always been that it is not yet the turn of the Igbo. More than 50 years later, one is forced to ask: when exactly will it be the turn of Ndigbo?

This question becomes even more disturbing when some South East politicians themselves now echo the narrative that it is not yet the turn of the South East to produce the country’s President. One is left to wonder if not now, then when? After another 50 years of exclusion? Or after every other geopolitical zone has ruled repeatedly?

The truth must be told honestly. Many of these politicians are not fighting for the interests of Ndigbo or for justice, fairness and equity within the Nigerian project. They are fighting to protect their political careers, preserve their personal relevance and maintain access to power structures that benefit their pockets rather than their people.

What makes the current political moment even more tragic is that, for the first time in modern Nigerian history, the nation has produced a presidential candidate in the person of Peter Obi, a man widely regarded across Nigeria and beyond as disciplined, prudent, competent, visionary and incorruptible. And he happens to come from the South East, a region that has remained excluded from the Presidency since the end of the civil war. In a truly fair Nigeria, these realities should strengthen the moral and political case for his leadership.

At a time when Nigerians are crying for transparency, accountability, fiscal discipline and genuine leadership, one would have expected the opposition parties and political leaders across the country to unite behind the most credible and widely accepted candidate capable of rescuing Nigeria from its current socioeconomic and political woods. But instead, what do we see? We see fresh alignments and calculations designed once again to keep power rotating among the same geopolitical interests that have dominated Nigeria since independence.

We see political parties preparing candidates from regions that have already occupied the Presidency multiple times, while the South East remains perpetually excluded from serious national consideration.

Whenever discussions arise about equity, fairness or the need for the South, and by extension the South East, to produce the President, the rules suddenly change. We are told that zoning no longer matters. The position is suddenly declared “open to all.” Yet somehow, this supposed openness never truly extends fairness to Ndigbo.

This recurring pattern creates a dangerous impression, which is that certain powers within Nigeria have collectively decided that the Presidency may rotate endlessly among other regions, but should never genuinely be entrusted to the South East.

The South East has excelled in commerce, education, entrepreneurship, entertainment, sports, medicine, technology and national development. Yet politically, the region continues to be denied a true sense of belonging within the Nigerian federation.

What message does this send to younger generations of the Igbo growing up today? That no matter how qualified, patriotic, hardworking, or competent they may be, there are still invisible political ceilings placed above them. The message is simply that they may contribute everything to Nigeria, but forever remain politically expendable within it.

Beneath all of this lies another uncomfortable truth: the fear of a genuinely disciplined, accountable, and incorruptible leader disrupting the entrenched political order.

Nigeria stands today at a defining crossroads. This moment is no longer about ethnicity or political party loyalty. It is about competence, integrity, national rebirth and the future survival of Nigeria itself.

Millions of ordinary Nigerians, including the youths, workers, traders, professionals, market women and men, are tired of corruption, wastefulness, insecurity, nepotism and leadership without vision. They are longing for a Nigeria where public office becomes a place of service rather than personal enrichment.

A Nigeria where prudence replaces reckless looting. A Nigeria where honesty replaces corruption. A Nigeria where hard work is rewarded. A Nigeria where public funds are treated as sacred. A Nigeria where citizens can once again hold their heads high with dignity and pride. That moment is now before us.

We must rise above division, political manipulation and fear. We must choose competence over tribal calculations, integrity over corruption and national progress over selfish political interests.

I call on the youths of Nigeria, the working class, students, artisans, professionals, market women and men, and all citizens, who genuinely desire change to rise and take back this country through the power of their votes. Nigeria belongs to all of us.

History is watching this generation. Posterity will remember whether we stood for justice, fairness, competence and national redemption or we remained silent while politics continued to deny millions of Nigerians a true sense of belonging and dignity. The time to act is now.

Prisca Chinwe Eboh - a legal practitioner, writes from Australia

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thesun.ng/obi-candidate-nigeria-needs-but-the-system-fears/%3famp

Watching the above video should show to rational and sane people that the true about Peter Obi personality and capability is well known to many including those of them maligning him today.

Thank goodness! Many of them know the truth and have attested to it before. Sadly, Nigerian politics is something else. However, politics really brought out the evil in people the world once thought are people of good moral standard & conscience.

For the first time in modern Nigerian history, the nation has produced a presidential candidate in the person of Peter Obi, a man widely regarded across Nigeria and beyond as disciplined, prudent, competent, visionary and incorruptible.

And he happens to come from the South East, a region that has remained excluded from the Presidency since the end of the civil war. In a truly fair Nigeria, these realities should strengthen the moral and political case for his leadership.

At a time when Nigerians are crying for transparency, accountability, fiscal discipline and genuine leadership, one would have expected the opposition parties and political leaders across the country to unite behind the most credible and widely accepted candidate capable of rescuing Nigeria from its current socioeconomic and political woods.

Parachoko:
The Agulu Fraud Will Never Become The President Of Nigeria

@PeterObi is better than @officialABAT both as a governor and a businessman. If Peter Obi had the revenue and FG infrastructure of Lagos, he would have truly turned Anambara more than Tinubu left Lagos........

https://twitter.com/BwalaDaniel/status/1584803684063453190?t=zrQA6htLm89BpTK0UByAuA&s=19.

"Even Peter Obi is ahead of Atiku Abubakar.......ahead of him in terms of capacity to make decisions.

Festus Keyamo said Tinubu increased Lagos’s IGR which is true. But much more than that, Tinubu increased Lagos’ debt. Tinubu met a debt of less than $200 million and left a debt of billions of dollars. Lagos alone owes 6% of Nigeria’s external debt and approximately 4% of her domestic debt.

Tinubu’s debt overshot his IGR, which is a net loss for Lagos. Besides, with AlphaBeta, are we sure the IGR got to the coffers of the Lagos Government, or to private hands?

"How Festus Keyamo exposed Tinubu on Channels TV" – Reno Omokri
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/how-festus-keyamo-exposed-tinubu-on-channels-tv-reno-omokri/

Corruption, greed and nepotism are the 3 hydra headed issues that are stagnating and dragging the entire country backwards

Who among the top contesting candidates for presidency can tackle such issues? 🤔


You all heard tilumbu saying he can't even tackle security issues because THE POWERS THAT BE will 'take him out'

This is the truth, non of the other contenders would perform better than Peter Obi.

Why would the power system fear Obi?

1. Obi speaks of consumption to production, what exactly does Anambra produce apart from Hero beer?

2. Obi claims to be squeaky clean, why did he hide money in a tax haven under Gabriella Investments that got exposed in the Pandora papers? People who hide funds in such places do so to avoid taxes. Why was Obi avoiding taxes? This shell company was opened while Obi was governor.

3. Obi admitted to saving Anambra state money in a bank where he was shareholder. Saving money in a bank means the bank had depositors' funds that could be used for loans or investments whose profits increased dividends held by shareholders. Can Obi show the public his dividends earned before, during and after his tenure as governor?

4. What are Obi's legacy projects? He claimed to want to lift northerners out of poverty. But statistics prove that poverty index was worse during his tenure, compared to others.

No one is afraid of Obi. Obi could not manage Labour Party, Obidient Movement, Kenneth Okonkwo, Datti Baba Ahmed, Aisha Yesufu, campaign funds, Peter Akah, Morris Monye, and so many others. Infact, he is hardly proud of his record in Anambra and keeps referencing Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Rwanda.

He even advised Tinubu to copy reforms in Argentina which led Argentina to a ditch.

Obi has no manifesto, he has no plans, he has no ideas; give him microphone and watch him say things to ruin himself. If those promoting him love him so much, why didnt they vote for his party in local elections?

Yes, PO is the only politician that corruption fears.

Anybody against PO is corrupt as fxxk. Don't let them gaslight you.

APC and her henchmen will come and start crying now.

Peter Obi irritates their demons.

You mean the system fear 13 months doctor strike,Mad Man mentee,Lack of LG election in Anambra for 7years,inability to build a single school for 8years,Ojukwu betrayal,pandora scandal man,Abacha associate,party prositute,the increaser of poverty in Anambra, Malami and Abacha defender,Pathological liar,incoherent speaker,dull,gay man with woman voice.........



They are very grandiosely deluded in that PETER OBI CAMP

Peter Obi gives the incumbent monsters in power sleepless nights

Nobody gets the presidency based on his tears or the weeping of his tribe.

Work for it.
Build bridges.
Stop the yeye optics.
Abandon content creation.

Most especially, watch whatever you say at every point in life and time.

Written by sun, a newspaper by what people ? Imagine arguing Nigeria needs a man that refused to pay minimum wage.

Refused to pay lecturers n doctors over a year. Same man was caught red handed looting N250 million monthly from Anambra for 8 years.

Peter Obi special centre professor. You people kid too much.

Racoon:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thesun.ng/obi-candidate-nigeria-needs-but-the-system-fears/%3famp

Una go cry tire. Power system ko, energy system ni

You wrote all this for the guy who took advice from a mad man. Is it the same Obi that I know? Anyway one man, one vote.

We heard of this narrative about Buhari before Buhari happens to us.

No be small thing. Out of the 100 news posted on NL under politics section daily, Peter Obi's news dey always carry weight.

Even God forbids a calamity like Peter Obi

Have you people forgotten that there is nothing like go and verify as it's either fake or exaggerated?

I dare any of the Obidients to engage me in any of the sectors when Obi was the governor.

Obi failed woefully in all sectors yet his tribalistic supporters want to force such failure on Nigerians. Tufiakwa

Rebuttal on Racoon's submission:

Racoon:
Peter Obi: The Presidential Candidate The Country Needs, But Power System Fears by Racoon(op): 5:19pm On Sep 06
For decades, Ndigbo have remained one of the strongest pillars holding Nigeria together economically, intellectually, commercially, creatively and socially. Yet, despite these immense contributions to nation-building, their region, the South East, has continued to remain politically marginalised at the highest level of governance.
Who marginalized the South East? In Nigeria, being president requires building bridges across regions. You cannot continue to shout marginalization while expecting subservience to your ambitions from others. You insult your own people who work with others. You present Obi as an Igbo project, instead of a national project. That is a hardsell.
Since the end of the civil war in 1970, no Igbo man has led Nigeria as President. The reason for that has always been that it is not yet the turn of the Igbo. More than 50 years later, one is forced to ask: when exactly will it be the turn of Ndigbo?
Nigerian presidency is not turn by turn Nigeria limited. Alex Ekwueme was vice president to Shagari. When he ran for the PDP ticket in 1999 and 2003, who opposed him the most apart from the military? When Dim Chukwuemeka Ojuwku contested in 2003, can Ndigbo explain why more than three other Ndigbo candidates contested that election? Did Ojukwu win the South East? Ndigbo marginalized Ndigbo, and should look inwards.

This question becomes even more disturbing when some South East politicians themselves now echo the narrative that it is not yet the turn of the South East to produce the country’s President. One is left to wonder if not now, then when? After another 50 years of exclusion? Or after every other geopolitical zone has ruled repeatedly?

The truth must be told honestly. Many of these politicians are not fighting for the interests of Ndigbo or for justice, fairness and equity within the Nigerian project. They are fighting to protect their political careers, preserve their personal relevance and maintain access to power structures that benefit their pockets rather than their people.
This is mostly true if applied to Ndigbo politicians. Why exactly is Kenneth Okonkwo openly villifying Peter Obi?
What makes the current political moment even more tragic is that, for the first time in modern Nigerian history, the nation has produced a presidential candidate in the person of Peter Obi, a man widely regarded across Nigeria and beyond as disciplined, prudent, competent, visionary and incorruptible. And he happens to come from the South East, a region that has remained excluded from the Presidency since the end of the civil war. In a truly fair Nigeria, these realities should strengthen the moral and political case for his leadership.
This needs to be qualified. Saving state money in a bank while state developmental projects, like building schools, were ignored was not prudence, but recklessness. Inability to articulate a clear vision for Nigeria apart from rhetorics does not make a visionary.

At a time when Nigerians are crying for transparency, accountability, fiscal discipline and genuine leadership, one would have expected the opposition parties and political leaders across the country to unite behind the most credible and widely accepted candidate capable of rescuing Nigeria from its current socioeconomic and political woods. But instead, what do we see? We see fresh alignments and calculations designed once again to keep power rotating among the same geopolitical interests that have dominated Nigeria since independence.

Politics is not about asking people to unite behind anyone based on sentiments. You can't run away from competition and ask for coronation. If you cannot convince your own party to give you the ticket, it is foolhardy to expect the nation to do same. Obama convinced his party to vote for him. Trump did the same. Tinubu fought for the ticket. Atiku did the same. Why should Obi be different?
We see political parties preparing candidates from regions that have already occupied the Presidency multiple times, while the South East remains perpetually excluded from serious national consideration.

Let the South East work with other regions to build trust and cohesion. The first democratic experiment was truncated by soldiers who carefully excluded people from a particular ethnic stock from executions. How do you get such people whose people were murdered to trust them?
Whenever discussions arise about equity, fairness or the need for the South, and by extension the South East, to produce the President, the rules suddenly change. We are told that zoning no longer matters. The position is suddenly declared “open to all.” Yet somehow, this supposed openness never truly extends fairness to Ndigbo.

This recurring pattern creates a dangerous impression, which is that certain powers within Nigeria have collectively decided that the Presidency may rotate endlessly among other regions, but should never genuinely be entrusted to the South East.

No one within the ruling class wanted Tinubu. He fought for the ticket. Okay, which Igbo politician is close to Tinubu? In 2015, the APC wanted to zone senate presisency to the South East. Lo and behold, the South East had no elected senator under APC platform. Bukola Saraki had to make a deal to give the deputy senate presidency to the Igbos. In 2023, the Igbos could have clinched the seat, but no ranking senator was found yet again. Who is to blame?
The South East has excelled in commerce, education, entrepreneurship, entertainment, sports, medicine, technology and national development. Yet politically, the region continues to be denied a true sense of belonging within the Nigerian federation.
How?
What message does this send to younger generations of the Igbo growing up today? That no matter how qualified, patriotic, hardworking, or competent they may be, there are still invisible political ceilings placed above them. The message is simply that they may contribute everything to Nigeria, but forever remain politically expendable within it.

The message it sends is simple. You can have talents and excel. But relationships can make the difference where talents cannot take you.

Beneath all of this lies another uncomfortable truth: the fear of a genuinely disciplined, accountable, and incorruptible leader disrupting the entrenched political order.

Nigeria stands today at a defining crossroads. This moment is no longer about ethnicity or political party loyalty. It is about competence, integrity, national rebirth and the future survival of Nigeria itself.

Millions of ordinary Nigerians, including the youths, workers, traders, professionals, market women and men, are tired of corruption, wastefulness, insecurity, nepotism and leadership without vision. They are longing for a Nigeria where public office becomes a place of service rather than personal enrichment.

A Nigeria where prudence replaces reckless looting. A Nigeria where honesty replaces corruption. A Nigeria where hard work is rewarded. A Nigeria where public funds are treated as sacred. A Nigeria where citizens can once again hold their heads high with dignity and pride. That moment is now before us.

We must rise above division, political manipulation and fear. We must choose competence over tribal calculations, integrity over corruption and national progress over selfish political interests.

I call on the youths of Nigeria, the working class, students, artisans, professionals, market women and men, and all citizens, who genuinely desire change to rise and take back this country through the power of their votes. Nigeria belongs to all of us.

History is watching this generation. Posterity will remember whether we stood for justice, fairness, competence and national redemption or we remained silent while politics continued to deny millions of Nigerians a true sense of belonging and dignity. The time to act is now.
Let Obi present his plans. You cannot use sentiments to hand over a country to someone who is not aware of the stakes.

Prisca Chinwe Eboh - a legal practitioner, writes from Australia

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thesun.ng/obi-candidate-nigeria-needs-but-the-system-fears/%3famp

ppogba:
Nobody gets the presidency based on his tears or the weeping of his tribe.

Work for it.
Build bridges.
Stop the yeye optics.
Abandon content creation.

Most especially, watch whatever you say at every point in life and time.

And you're currently living in society of corrupt systems! 🙄

Someone that'll still foolishly do nonsense "Yes Sir" to the slave masters na him una dey push like this....


A pity

Needs.

But the man in question is not really selling much.
I have not seen a government as socio-economically vulnerable as the present one but all I see is pussyfooting by those who should grab the polity by the scruff if the neck.

God knows if I were to be in their position I will drag the government's feet over hot coals. Days after campaigns flagged off...nothing.

It is like they have all given up.

JHicks:
We heard of this narrative about Buhari before Buhari happens to us.

That narrative was probably bought by gullible prople who did not know his anticedent as an unrepentant tribalist, laid-back do nothing disaster who was only successful fir a short while as head of state because of Gen Tunde Idiagbon ( RIP)🙄
Other than this, buhari was a desperate jihadist who never hid his personality and a very corrupt Minister of Petroleum without accountability for how he mismanaged his the office of Petroleum Minister till date...so don't even try to use buhari as a cover for you not wanting PO...just tell us another story 🙄

Racoon:
Watching the above video should show to rational and sane people that the true about Peter Obi personality and capability is well known to many including those of them maligning him today.

Thank goodness! Many of them know the truth and have attested to it before. Sadly, Nigerian politics is something else. However, politics really brought out the evil in people the world once thought are people of good moral standard & conscience.

Thank goodness that Obi knows the truth about Atiku's personality and capability, which he attested to in 2019 when he rescued him from the political wilderness of IDPs that his former Fidelity Bank protege consigned him after his failed attempt to be Anambra godfather.

newsbook:
Anambra State governor, Chief Willie Obiano has re-echoed his allegation that his predecessor, Mr Peter Obi demanded the sum of N7.5billion from him for sponsoring his election in 2013.

Obiano and his predecessor, Obi have had a frosty relationship shortly after his swearing in.

Obi has however denied that he demanded for the sum of N7.5billion from Obiano, saying that his problem with him was his (Obiano’s) underperformance.

Obi said if he needed the said sum, he would have simply taken it from the N75billion he left for the Obiano administration at the end of his tenure.

But Governor Obiano while speaking on Wednesday evening at Ezechima Primary School, Onitsha where he inaugurated his reelection campaigns in Onitsha North Council Area, said the clarification became necessary because of the recent accusations against him by the former Governor.

He stated that his predecessor had demanded the sum of N7.5billion from him as funds spent in prosecuting the election on his behalf, but that he refused to pay the money because it was not true.

Obiano said he refused to pay because he strongly believed that public funds should be used for public good, and not to settle godfathers.

These, he said, was the reason they fell apart.

The governor said that another reason he refused to pay the money was because he was aware that enough money was raised for his campaign by his friends and associates, all of which were never accounted for by the former governor.

On the actual sum the former Governor claimed he left behind, Governor Obiano made it clear that he inherited liability of about N127 billion debt from him in contracts awarded and other responsibilities, which he has been religiously undertaking in the spirit of continuity.

He said Obi flagged off several roads even on the day he was leaving office and saddled him with the burden of paying for it, but he assured the people that he has his eyes on the ball and will not allow anything to distract him from fulfilling his promises.

The Chairman of the Governor’s Re-election Campaign Committee, Chief Victor Umeh said APGA as the political spirit of Ndigbo, has in the past three and half years, availed Anambra good governance at its best, reminding the people that the upcoming guber election was not about Willie Obiano but about ensuring that the state remained free from political godfatherism.

A former Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo in his speech said that at this time, the State needs a tested hand like Governor Obiano who has the experience and expertise to effectively steer her affairs.

https://dailypost.ng/2017/10/19/peter-obi-demanded-n7-5bn-sponsoring-election%e2%80%8e-obiano-insists/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVNFlau1g0


Jan 26, 2019

The Vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Peter Obi has advised Nigerians not to allow few politicians determine the future of the country but see themselves as stakeholders by being actively involved in the forthcoming general election.

Mr. Peter Obi stated this while addressing members of the Igbo Community in Benin on why Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should be elected as president.

"Tinubu made living in Nigeria expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again" - Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

The truth is, emotions blindfolded a lot of Nigerian youth then and they are bereft of the volume of information about Peter Obi. Now armed with so much and having had time to reflect, the true perception of Peter Obi has come forth. No matter what or how people feel, our vote has the final say with the backing of God!

Agulu media committee has been mobilized with some shishi. You are doing well, election time action time

emkz:
Why would the power system fear Obi?

1. Obi speaks of consumption to production, what exactly does Anambra produce apart from Hero beer?

2. Obi claims to be squeaky clean, why did he hide money in a tax haven under Gabriella Investments that got exposed in the Pandora papers? People who hide funds in such places do so to avoid taxes. Why was Obi avoiding taxes? This shell company was opened while Obi was governor.

3. Obi admitted to saving Anambra state money in a bank where he was shareholder. Saving money in a bank means the bank had depositors' funds that could be used for loans or investments whose profits increased dividends held by shareholders. Can Obi show the public his dividends earned before, during and after his tenure as governor?

4. What are Obi's legacy projects? He claimed to want to lift northerners out of poverty. But statistics prove that poverty index was worse during his tenure, compared to others.

No one is afraid of Obi. Obi could not manage Labour Party, Obidient Movement, Kenneth Okonkwo, Datti Baba Ahmed, Aisha Yesufu, campaign funds, Peter Akah, Morris Monye, and so many others. Infact, he is hardly proud of his record in Anambra and keeps referencing Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Rwanda.

He even advised Tinubu to copy reforms in Argentina which led Argentina to a ditch.

Obi has no manifesto, he has no plans, he has no ideas; give him microphone and watch him say things to ruin himself. If those promoting him love him so much, why didnt they vote for his party in local elections?

Don't mind the op and co , they think everyone is dumb like them .

correctguy101:
Someone that'll still foolishly do nonsense "Yes Sir" to the slave masters na him una dey push like this....


A pity

This is very normal during election time. They have to show proof that they are working hard for their candidate

The hustle is very very real

Just exactly what was happening to Alex Oti few years ago but today, Abians are very happy that Oti came.


Politicians are very wicked people, how I wish Nigerians will know this and fight for good leadership.


🥸🥸🥸

Basic123:
You mean the system fear 13 months doctor strike,Mad Man mentee,Lack of LG election in Anambra for 7years,inability to build a single school for 8years,Ojukwu betrayal,pandora scandal man,Abacha associate,party prositute,the increaser of poverty in Anambra, Malami and Abacha defender,Pathological liar,incoherent speaker,dull,gay man with woman voice.........



They are very grandiosely deluded in that PETER OBI CAMP

Coming from someone typing with borrowed airtime and data.