₦airaland Forum

chukwudi44:
Saraki has spoken he is fulani so can all the noise by Yorubas here please cease

Yoruba culture must be so great, influential and alluring that it made him.to drop his Malian Arab names and adopted Olusola, named his first son Bukola and his daughter Gbemisola.

They must definitely be yorubanised Malians.

Meanwhile, theit family house is in Iseyin. Go there, they will show you.

He thought, he and his people are the only ones that have monopoly of madness.

Maybe, someone forgot to remind him that the crusaders and Knights Templar were also Christians, but were one of the most ruthless and merciless military machine ever seen.

dearpreye:
Good one there. We have been shouting on this Agge Port Project for years. Move it there ASAP.

It's now finally dawned on him that every President must make their states a viable place.

Move it there.

He should also carry it on his head, as he is heading back to wherever he came from.

The Dumbo of the Dumbest President I have ever seen, just waking up when the party is over.

His presidential order and all his last minute appointments will be reversed with just a statement on May 29.

BrokenTV:
We are not flocking at the feet of Tinubu he is incosenqutial to us. But Usman has warned you to stay clear out of Buhari way. Yoruba always serving Hausa since Nigeria came into existence.

Igbos in servitude of their other Nigerian Masters since 1860.

Igbos in slavery to minority ethnicity since 1900.

Igbos have been bowing to their masters that conquered them since 1970.

Igbos have been worshipping the minority ethnic group that hijacked their abandoned properties and renamed their towns since 80s.

Igbos have been begging us, their Masters, for political relevance since the 90s.

Bunch of conquered slaves to all other Nigerian tribes. We are your masters and be eternally grateful to us all, that Gowon did not decide to annihilate you completely.

Who has a master now?

ShymmexOBE:
I saw a list earlier today (it seems the source is legit cos it's Osundefender and I believe it's pro-Yoruba/APC).

If they get outplayed in the scheme of things, that's gonna be funny and sad at the same time - tragicomedy.

But hey, I don't see the geezer lasting more than two years in office, especially if he gets senile and create enemies for himself within his party, by the end of his first year. I'm calling it first - the same way I said he was the chosen one after seeing him with the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013. Make sure you remember this quote.

Yeah Osundefender is pro-yoruba/apc.

It's a game, we are all watching closely. One thing I am sure of is, as usual, we always know all the moves of our opponents and we are always 10ce prepared for any eventuality.


May 29 is just around the corner. The game continues.

disumusa:
Mumu igbo, iam from yoruba part of kogi, and sunday awoniyi was elect as arewa chairman, so yoruba and hausa are related, i,e religion,dresin,norms,value,and enviromentaly

Don't mind those losers.

Just because we do not go around shouting Kogi Yorubas, Edo yorubas or kwara yorubas makes them think we do not know the boundary of our ancestors.

For their information our boundary runs deep to Ajaokuta to the East and Jebba to.the west along the River Niger known as Odo Oya.

ShymmexOBE:
Err, bruddah, I don't think heading the Senate and/or being the speaker of the house is actually a win, in the real sense of it, since the country has a constitution and members of both houses would still have to deliberate/vote in/on whatever law/constitutional-amendment they might want to make.

I'm more interested in the ministerial portfolios and how the important ones are shared among the APC strongholds in all the geopolitical zones. If the Yorubas don't get at least the finance ministry and possibly aviation (and a next one), then they lost out. Strongholds have to be compensated.

David Cameron just selected his new cabinet and Northern England only got one. And that's basically because they don't vote for conservatives up there. My point is that: when it comes to politics/election, you've to always cater to your base. But from what I'm seeing, it seems these muthaphucking Northerners are trying to play a fast one on the Yorubas - and it doesn't look pretty at all.

I do not see that happening bro.

Just wait and see the scheming unfolds on May 29.

There is really no cause for alarm yet. It is a win win situation. Bukola will either become Senate President and a NEasterner will be the Speaker of House of Reps. That is the worst case scenario.

I m not too particular about where the Ministers are from, in as much as they are chosen based on potential pedigree and merit and GMB puts the round peg in the round hole.

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Force saraki cum kwara state to be south west na?

The same way you cannot force Delta Igbos, Rivers Igbos, Kogi Igbos and Benue Igbos to be part of the artificial division of SE.

Gbam. Case closed. QED.

ekenedegreat:
OK! If he is not afraid let him deport those that is your government or those that is in Alaba Intl market let's see.

Lol.

This is how you court trouble without using your number 6, if you have any at all.

If he deports them, what will happen? At best, you will run to The Hague dancing round the Israeli Flag in your usual herd mentality dance steps of "nzogbu nzogbu".

Na so u na dare him, he shut down Ladipo. Kalu dared him, he sealed off his house. He is about shutting down Computer Village. Guess what? Nothing will happen.

He will shut down Alaba and even the begging of all your governors, ohaneze and aka ikenga will not deter him.

Copy that. Dare him at your peril.

SHARIAREPORTERS:
Kwara is headed by an emir
Kwara state geo-political zone is north central
Saraki u all claimed to be a yoruba man was once d chairman of d northern forum
D top men in kwara state house re fulaniz
Stop bin childish, u can claim offa, buh dey all bow to emir of ilorin
As far as ilorin cum kwara is concerned, fulaniz remain d masterz

Igbos in Kogi and Benue are in which region?

Does that make them non-Igbos.

See the folly of the red cap wearing okoro man.

The Genie of Owu keeps showing the inconsequential people how relevant he is.

Some people will definitely have HBP over this news.

BrokenTV:
My friend channel your frustration to Alhaji Samsudeen Usman your master.

My enemy channel yours towards Tinubu,

An incarnate of Awolowo

The deflator of your ego

Bow at the Master Tactician's feet.

The Kasperov of Nigerian politics.

He is your master, boy.

BrokenTV:
Take it or leave it power has returned to northern, you guys are bystanders like other tribes, you guys where just used and dump by them. Even the stooge that you where dashed as Vice will have no say in government. It stuck to be in your position. You never learn from the past.

As usual, an okoro man only sees the now of now. He never sees beyond his nose into the future.

I won't say more than that. Decode it, if you have the brain to decipher the coded message.

You are the losers in this game and as the reality keeps hitting you in the face, the pain keeps getting beyond the bearable level. You are not a king maker in this land and we showed you that you are not. Get that into your agbari ojukwu of a skull of yours.

We your masters have spoken. Abide and mechuonu gi

meforyou1:
Common sense you don't have

The same way your pentium 1 vestigial brain needs upgrade.

BrokenTV:
You can continue ranting as long as you like but the truth is that your Tinubu has played into the lions den thinking he can control the lion, keep consoling yourself, APC has been hijacked from the Southwest thats one bitter truth you are finding difficult to take.

When confronted with the truth, they take the defensive mode of calling it ranting
We know your types and we are used to it.

Do I give a hoot about Tinubu or APC? The bottom line for me is that the Clueless Unpresidential Drunken Master was sent packing, to usher in a government that knows what it is doing.

However, politics is not done on the pages of newspaper but in the dark of the nights. Watch out for deft political manoeuvres in days ahead. The same that swept your Mandela of Otuoke away.

StOla:
You have just been offered for free the best advise money can buy, but with the typical Igbo arrogance and stupidity, you beat your over-battered chest and claim supremacy.

You can't continue to despise 2 of the 3 biggest tribes in Nigeria and hope they will run after the great Igbo with the presidency.

Tinubu has said worse about Buhari in the Past, Amaechi has said worse about the broom party in the past, El Rufai has said worse about Atiku in the past. Yet, they know they need each other, and would readily let go of old and useless grievances to achieve their respective goals.

El Rufai was the Abuja Minister and kitchen cabinet member of the Obasanjo regime who frustrated Atiku when he decamped as VP to the party AC, from where he equally frustrated Obasanjo's 3rd term ambition.

Amaechi once referred to the broom party (ACN) as people who go about with broom yet they've left their houses unkempt.

With Political Humility, a once fiery Tinubu sought Obasanjo's support for his party. He bowed to Buhari, yet was the one who stood firm while Atiku tried to buy the APC's presidential ticket.

Amaechi was seen driving Elrufai with his own personal car.

El Rufai was seen stooping to the ground, discussing with Bisi Akande, the founding Chairman of APC.


All the examples above typify the intricate virtue of political humility among erstwhile political enemies.


When the Igbos have learnt to behave in a way that is nationally lovable, and display political maturity, I will proudly vote for an Igbo as President of a Nigeria they love and not hate.

Word.

Y

BrokenTV:
HAHAHAHAHAHA
I cant stop laughing at your joke. Let me not just remind you about the Kwara dynasty, quote me when you regain your self from the shackles of your masters, since you never learn from your past. Quote me when you win the speaker of the senate or house of rep. Your Tinubu has been relegated to the background, if doubt me read two articles by northern where your brothers where cursing Igbo's leaving the writer who is an Hausa.

What happened in Kwara? I am.listening. Whose master? Ilorin you meant to say I guess? Is Emirship a religious title or cultural title? Answer the question and let us see how daft a Nigerian Slave you are. Which religion has the highest population in Ilorin?

However, a minority ethnicity declared your properties abandoned, hijacked your properties, renamed your streets, and even went to the extent of renaming your towns. Deal with what your minority Masters have done to you first, before coming here to spew rubbish.

You are a novice. Wait till May 29. We told you the same thing about GEJ, you were all running your mouth about power of incumbency. Hope we demystified it for you. May 29 will show you who is the master tactician. Politics and politricks are not done on the pages of newspaper.


all your politicians combined together cannot lace the shoes of Tinubu. Achieve that first, before you will come back here to quote me.

BrokenTV:
For those Yorubas's giving themself false hope that they can still influence the activites in government or barksing on the euphoria that they can vote Buhari out in 2019 if he did not perform are joking, as it stand right now every other tribes are followers, northern oligarchy have come to stay. So Yoruba should stop deceiving themselve and face reality.

..

Even in the days of formidable Northern Oligarchy with full military backing, they were pushed out when we were tired of their madness. They know whom to joke with and whom to take serious.

IBB learnt the hard way.

Abacha learnt the hardest way.

GEJ learnt the harder way.

When they carry their beans cake beyond mosque once again, we shall be there for them.

Vicotex:
You see red colored roofs , u dey call em' brown.

Show me then i show you the kindom of brown roofs in africa.

Soon he go begin dey claim lagos

I will show you the red mud of alaigbo

The garbage street of Aba

The dustbin road of Ontisha.

Let me show you your gully eroded land.

He will soon start claiming "Lagos y1bo".

Vicotex:
Mumu, which one yoruba people get?
Brown roofs and untidy communites litterd with Shi.t

Just like Aba and Onitsha.

Do you want to see their pix?

superstar1:
That is just what has happened to President Jonathan – a man that went to school without shoes; who had opportunities to make Nigeria good for other children who do not have shoes, so that tomorrow they may be presidents of Nigeria. But he messed up the chances he had.

GOLDEN WORDS THAT SHOULD BE GLAZED.

nwaanambra1:
the highlight is one of the major reasons why he had problems with Jonathan. Odumegwu doesn't know how to embellish words - but truth be told, we all mustn't be diplomatic with speech, we need men like him to create a balance in the polity.

He is the Igbo version of Gani fawehinmi and Tunde Bakare. The same way Col. Umar is for the North.

Just following the law of sowing and reaping. Sow one ambulance and you shall reap 10 in return.

Have you also not read that '' we shall take from the have nots and give to the haves''.

One out of the ''80% of Abuja Properties''' they own, has gone to the rightful owner.

nwaanambra1:
i swear that man make brain die!

Nigeria is really a country with overload of intelligent men and women! NL is a practical example - compare to all other African forums, its on NL u will see super intelligent guys proffering solutions even in ways that are so very funny!

thts why it still baffles me that of all the intelligent men and women in naija, why Jona? well sha - 'Goduwin'!

Eziokwu Naija Rocks!

As caustic as NL is, i have to give it to most contributors in Politics Section of NL, whether based on politics or ethnic arguments. Guys in here are super brilliant.

I have been provoked to read more on issues i never taught i could be interested in. I have done research and study as if i was preparing for an exam, just to separate the truth from lies and propangada.

Odimegwu killed it in that interview. I doff my hat to the Shine Shine Bobo himself. His only problem is he lacks diplomacy in speech.

He dissected the election and Nigeria in and out.

NgwaManNaija4LF:
Shaa, Oba can not make such comment on my face without a dirty slap from me, infact you look at faces before speaking.

To be candid, he was actually talking to his friends in a jovial manner. it was not as serious as most people took it. You can see the cordial mood at the meeting.

If he says it to your face, there is NOTHING your 10,000 can do. At best, you will declare him persona non grata on alaigbo soil. C'est fini.

ekenedegreat:
For your information, fashola did not deport any real person from Igbo rather he deported destitutes.
Oba akiolu denied his statement when he saw the storm coming that is to show that, even your oba is suffering from cowardice and that is a typical yorubaman for you.

Another make-me-happy lies. He deported Ibos and nothing happened. That is a known fact.

He shut Ladipo and nothing happened.

He sealed off Orji Uzor Kalu's house, nothing happened.

Oba Akiolu made the statement and nothing happened, even in the presence of your red cap wearing dummies that were applauding him.

Which one is cowardice, the people applauding the person insulting and threatening them or the person that had the bravery to insult and threaten them to their face? Every word always has different meaning in alaigbo. No wonder, the sissy Ojukwu could be seen as an hero.

What makes you have such confidence in Buhari?

Personal example! There is nothing as personal example. Buhari had been military head of state. Some others who had occupied the same position simply emptied the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). But he did not. He had headed the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but he did not steal. He had been military governor, he did not steal. There is nothing as personal example.

Second, Buhari doesn’t talk much. He is a man of few words. He is measured. But anything he says, he is clear. He doesn’t talk from two sides of the mouth. That clarity of thought and speech mirrors intention. A leader will never do well unless his intentions are good. Everybody knows where he stands on corruption. General Buhari will perform at least 100 times better than Jonathan. So, that change is already good to that level. My only concern is his health, especially on the old age part. But my grandfather lived up to 110, even without being a soldier. So, Buhari can live up to 110 with the military discipline he has and his lean frame.

But I worry for him because fighting corruption will come up against devil incarnates in Nigeria. Everything must be done to protect him. Buhari will be one million times better than Jonathan. Jonathan betrayed the trust of Nigerians.

But the fear, as you know, is that the expectations are quite huge and the economy is bad, especially with the dwindling price of oil.

I don’t fear; I can never fear. Nothing in life should make you fear. It is the eyes of the children that fear the painted devil. You should have the ability to look at any issue, analyse it and deal with it. It doesn’t need fear. The situation in Nigeria is simple. One trillion dollars was reported by African Business Council to have been stolen from Nigeria from 1960 to 2005. For somebody to put a figure on this money, he had idea on who had it. This money is somewhere in asset. It is not mysterious; it is real.

If we auction Nigeria’s oil and gas tomorrow, we can have N1 trillion again. How much do you need to develop Nigeria? A president of Nigeria can raise the money to develop the country in six months. But he should invest it prudently. All it requires are huge physical and social infrastructural projects, huge agricultural projects, huge data projects, and after few months the country will take off.

Japan has no resources. Singapore has no resources. Lee Kuan Yew (the late Singaporean Prime Minister) came and found the best Singaporeans from everywhere in the world and encouraged them to come and develop their country. What fear are we talking about? If we start by retrieving Nigeria’s wealth from those that had stolen it, you will have enough money to equip the schools in the country.

How would you assess Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economy?

Okonjo-Iweala is a total failure. She is my sister. At personal level, we respect each other. But as Finance Minister or Coordinating Minister of Economy, she is a failure. It is a disgrace that she is doing that job the way it is. She does not even understand the economy she says she is coordinating. She is rather part of the problem of the Jonathan administration. Don’t exonerate her because she supervised the fuel, kerosene subsidy – the two sources through which corruption took place.

But even beyond that, she is too naive, given her background, to know what the militants are doing with our oil. So, for her to say that she is coordinating the economy means that she does not understand what she is talking about and what is happening. If she knows, she won’t be using that title. Even in the Finance Ministry where she is, she has not performed well; else, the economy would not have crashed. She is a major part of Jonathan’s failure, because she is trusted.

Okonjo-Iweala de-branded herself in this Jonathan’s administration. The economy, under her, is lying prostrate. Part of Jonathan’s problems is that he allowed some unreliable people to have their way through him. He trusted many unreliable people who actually do not know what they are doing. It is either he is not interested in governance, hence he does not care or he lacks the intellect. Okonjo-Iweala is one of those who had their way through Jonathan. And it is a shame. If I were Jonathan, I would have sacked her after a year or two for failing the administration.

This shows that her performance with President Olusegun Obasanjo was rather provided by Obasanjo’s clout and not through her own proficiency.

It was obvious that the international community took particular interest in the election and supported the opposition.

Forget the international community. Buhari was voted president by 15 million Nigerians. There was no (member of) international community in that number. He should rather try to find out what those Nigerians who voted for him and even those who did not vote for him want and begin to work for Nigeria and Nigerians. That is his mandate. If he is doing the right things, any country that loves Nigeria and Nigerians will support him. The way it happens is that if you are performing well and your country loves you, the international community has no choice but to support you. All you need is to serve your country, focus on your country and every other person in the world will come and support you. It is your country you are serving, not the international community.

You don’t pander to the international community. When they see that you are on the right track, they will reach out to you.

Nigeria has what it takes to be made a great country by Nigerians. They are all over the world. All you need do is to assemble them and inspire them to perform. That was what Obasanjo did in his economic team where Okonjo-Iweala became a star. But her performance under Jonathan and the reasons she is giving for failure have shown that it was Obasanjo who performed and not her. There is what you call leadership inspiration. It is a technology, an asset. The human beings you have with ideas who can add value are more important than all other resources in Nigeria.

It’s time we began to look for good people and stop promoting those who come to have their way and talk rubbish, when 25 million Nigerians do not have jobs, and 12 million children are out of school. This is the country with the highest number of out-of-school children. These are time-bombs. Government must be responsive to them and give them meaningful life as Nigerians.


CONCLUSION.

What is your impression on the role of Ndigbo in the last election?

First of all, the votes you saw from the South East were not the votes of the Igbo. Some Igbo people supported Jonathan due to lack of analytics, guided by corrupt, unfocused and criminally-minded political leaders, who pretend to represent the Igbo but represent themselves, and some people listen to them. I don’t belong to that category. But even at that, the votes from the South East and South South were not the real votes of the Igbo. They just wrote the figures. Jonathan could not have scored the votes ascribed to him from Imo and Rivers where the governors are of the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was not possible. But the general tendency in the South East and South South was that they were supporting Jonathan, just as the general tendency in the South West and the whole North was that they were supporting Buhari. That was where I did my analysis and said Buhari would win and it turned out so.




Now, the elections have come and gone. The Igbo supported who they wanted to support. Other peoples supported who they wanted to support. That is the beauty of democracy. That is the first point. But let me warn that the Igbo support in the election should not be limited to the five South East states because the Igbo are not only in these states where they have been marginalised and cut off from the sea and had their oil wealth excised to other states. There are Igbo in the seven states around Igbo land. There are large populations of Igbo in Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Bayelsa, Cross River and Kogi. In these seven states also, the Igbo voted.

There are also large populations of Igbo, ranging from 15 to 20 per cent in every other region in Nigeria. This is because everywhere you go, after the local population, the next significant group is the Igbo. That is why the people who want the Igbo down refuse to do proper census for Nigeria. Even in the false census they do, they don’t want people to put their states of origin and religion. If they allow state of origin, you then add all the people from Igbo states to get the real population of the Igbo.

Many people that voted from the North and South West were also Igbo. The Igbo are spread widely because they are very enterprising people. They are the only ethnic nationality that the whole Nigeria is their home. So, don’t use only the South East to judge the Igbo. The Igbo are more than the South East.

Finally, there are lessons to be learnt. If you want good governance, vote the right people. If you don’t want good governance, stay away; and when they put anybody there, his policies will affect you. What I have said has bearing on the Catholic Church that many Igbo are faithful. The seven themes of the social teachings of the Catholic Church command all Catholics during political issues to look for people who are ethical and vote for them because it is only those ethical people that can maintain the seven themes of the social teachings. That was why I wrote at a time that Buhari is more Igbo and Catholic than those who say he is a Muslim. If Christians are these criminals in PDP, then I would want to belong to another religion.

Also, the Igbo should get organised because politics is a game of numbers. And the Igbo have the numbers in Nigeria.

There is this allegation that at the election, the Igbo put all their eggs in one basket.

You cannot measure Igbo votes by only what happened in South East. Many Igbo voted differently. I was in Lagos and voted for APC. All my workers in Lagos and Abuja did so. So, what happened in the South East will not be enough to judge where the Igbo voted. In the forged figures that they sent, Buhari defeated Jonathan with more than two million votes. A lot of Igbo were in the figure, but they are spread all over the country. But the most important thing is that everybody voted for who he wanted. So there was nothing like the Igbo putting their eggs in one basket.

The second side of the argument is that even if all the Igbo, including me, had voted for Jonathan, Buhari has won. He will soon be the president of all Nigerians, including all the people that did not vote for him, and he said so himself.

It is now left for APC, who did a merger between the South West and the North, as it were, to have a progressive policy, programmes and projects to convert the Igbo to become members of APC, so that it will become a mega party.

The Igbo should also try to join APC to create a strong platform for the region. APC, on its part, should do special programme and projects to attract the Igbo, so that it can really stand on the three legs that hold Nigeria. It is when the APC stands on this tripod, that it will be sustainable. If the party fails to do this and it is comfortable standing on two legs, when the demographic statistics of Nigeria is properly defined, its leaders will see that they cannot win elections without votes from the South East. The Igbo constitute 33 per cent of Nigerian population. You cannot win election in Nigeria, with proper voters’ register, without the vote of the Igbo. So, for APC to be sustainably successful, it must stand on three legs – the Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani. This will foster genuine unity among the people and banish the politics of divide-and-rule. Even if PDP reforms itself, it needs this wisdom. That, for me, is a vision that we shall continue to pursue, so that we shall begin to discuss issues.

Do you see PDP playing effective opposition politics?

The party has been stealing Nigeria dry in the last 16 years. They have also gone to rig election in oil-rich states. And they did it deliberately. So, the way Bola Tinubu used Lagos as base to help create APC, if after the court cases PDP still keeps Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta states, it has a base for the governors to keep funding the party for it to be a strong opposition. Again, by the time they begin to play proper party politics, they will register their members to contribute in funding their party, appropriately. It is the members of the party that should be funding it. They should not allow the governors to be funding the party because that was how they destroyed the internal democracy in the party. There is a lot of work to do. But PDP has people to guide it in doing that. They have oil-rich states to be supporting them before they can restructure themselves for the party members to be funding the party.

Now, APC has gone, for the first time, to the centre and has more states that earn their money as Lagos. But if they do their politics and party development very well, in 2019, they may capture Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. That is, if they fail to do so now through court cases. Even the Delta result is in contention. When there is free and fair election, the oil-rich states would be shared between the two parties. The economically powerful states will be shared. It will be governance that would matter. But the basis is that there must be accurate census figure. What we have now is holding down the Igbo man. That is why they don’t want accurate census. That is what has killed Nigeria. But now, everybody’s eyes are open and we shall be shouting until the right thing is done.

Do you think the Hausa/Fulani who allegedly benefit from this faulty census regime would agree for Nigeria to have an accurate one?

Look at the entire North and tell me the advantage you see. Do you like what you see in the North East? The level of literacy is least in the North. The North West has the highest failure rate in WAEC (West African Examinations Council) tests– about 90 per cent. The least is South East, with 47 per cent. They have no advantage. Nobody will have advantage under falsehood. Because these things are built on falsehood and confer sense of entitlement, that is why they are not working. And that is why the region is not developed. They have a few people who, while in government, made money and are living in opulence, but the rest of the people are in total darkness.

An Igbo gateman in the house of a managing director is praying to be bigger than his boss. That culture is why the South East is vibrant. The South East doesn’t need government to exist. It does not mean the Igbo will not be in government to even bring in the entrepreneurial spirit to save Nigeria. But the North has no particular advantage.

It is an intellectual thing – mindset thing. We will engage in this dialogue to prove with historical facts and figures that it is because of the prevailing falsehood that Nigeria is in a mess. And it is better for us to get accurate figure.

If we do so and stop this attitude of sharing cake instead of baking cake, you can tell the South South to keep their oil wealth in a true fiscal federalism. But they should also do the investment to mine it. It is not cheap. After the business of mining the oil and selling it, you pay certain percentage of tax to the federal government. When, therefore, the North East knows that it will not get easy money, it will develop agriculture in the region. The whole North East can feed the entire African continent.

The South East can be based on industrialisation and commerce and become the Dubai of Africa. The North Central can become the power zone of Nigeria. Every region in Nigeria has things (of advantage), but it is this sense of sharing and accompanying laziness that is holding us down.

When the situation is now based on production instead of consumption, value addition instead of useless entitlement, everybody will begin to work hard. Because you need to go and work hard, you need data to plan. So, you need your demographics, you need economic indices. Without data, you can’t plan, and without planning, you can’t make economic successes. You cannot control what you don’t know.

So, there is no advantage in the North. Buhari couldn’t have won the election if the South West did not join him. He would have lost because he could not have become president of Nigeria with only Northern votes. He needed at least 25 per cent of votes cast in at least 24 states to emerge president. The people who put that clause in our constitution did it so that it can be well for Nigeria when it is good for all Nigerians.

So, nobody has advantage over the other. It is convenient for some people to say ‘oh, the Igbo are marginalised’. It is a mindset thing. Nobody has more advantage. Everybody is equally powerful, but you have to know your strength. When we know our individual strengths, we begin to tell ourselves the truth and not what is currently going on.

How can the Organised Private Sector (OPS) assist the in-coming government?

The in-coming government has so many issues that the OPS is completely insignificant in addressing them. Do you really have an OPS? What you have are rent-seekers and people who run around, collaborate with government people and steal money, get tax waivers, get concession, get subsidy money, steal with private sector people and share it. You don’t really have a robust OPS. If you check the Nigerian corporate landscape, what do you see? You see banks who steal people’s money and make profit without adding value to anything people are doing, or telecomm sector where the service is poor. The same thing happens in the power sector where people are billed for services not rendered. So, there is really no OPS.

You can have one multinational (firm) here and there. But even then, because Nigeria is not properly structured, they are not doing the right thing. So, the ball is in the court of the federal government. Buhari has to come and step up to be counted. When the fight against corruption is stepped up, a lot of the people in the so-called OPS will be in prison with their collaborators in public service. Everybody will sit up. Fighting corruption will solve 80 per cent of Nigeria’s problems. When, then, you bring demographic, scientific, economic data as well as science and technology and blend, you begin to have economic revolution in Nigeria that will create jobs. With that, you banish crime, stop kidnapping and put the street urchins (area boys) to use.

The moment you address the incidences of multiple taxation, militancy, favouritism, we shall move ahead, because they are signs of insecurity. Once you take care of these factors, particularly insecurity, you cause an industrial economic revolution in Nigeria and then fund it with money retrieved from people who had stolen from the country as well as plug the necessary loopholes.

It is easy with a committed president, who can show you that he is a sovereign who can affect every institution in Nigeria. The president can affect the efficiency in all arms of the government. If it is becoming difficult, we abolish immunity in our constitution, so that everybody can face the music.

Are you done with the governorship of Imo State?

Are you now insulting me?

No.

You shouldn’t ask me that question. I ran for governorship of Imo State in 2007. If I am going to run for elective position again, after talking with you like this, would you expect me to go and run for governorship of Imo State when the problem is in Abuja? I am too big to run for governorship. I am 62. If we support Nigeria to move forward and the day they say the presidency has come to the South East, who are the people who will come out that are credible to run? It is people like us who have the training, experience and good ethical background. So I can’t run for governorship again. But the issue now is not who will run for presidency. Buhari, I believe, will do well, by reputation. He should be there till 2023. Let us wait till then and see what happens.

How would you assess the governance style of Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha?

Rochas is a cowboy! What he is doing in Imo State is not governance. He has brought disgrace to governance. He is my brother. I like him. He is my friend. But he has brought total disgrace to governance in Imo. Rochas has privatised governance in Imo. Why I don’t talk about political problems in Imo is that the state is too small for me. The entire thing is obscene and he makes it up with all these populist razzmatazz. One of the things the Igbo will begin to do is to hold their government to account. What Rochas is doing in Imo cannot be done in any of the western states. That was a comment a former Nigerian leader made while I was discussing with him. And I believed him.

If Abuja is good, all the states will be good. But Rochas is a disgrace in government. He is my brother and friend. But this is the truth.

But he belongs to APC. What about the touted change? Should it not have affected him?

Don’t forget that in his first term, he originally came on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) before becoming a member of APC. Now that he is under APC government, maybe the president, who is his party leader, will make him change, because the approach he used in the first term is not sustainable in the second term. If he tries that system in the second term, we will call him to order.

He has really not done well in government, forget all the caricatures he does with his “my people, my people”, jingle. Leadership is more serious than such empty populist sentiments.

If called upon, would you offer yourself for service?

What do you mean by if called upon? If you even ask me, I will tell you the jobs that I can do. Why shouldn’t I? There are no many people that are as trained as me. Nigeria doesn’t have many CEOs (Chief Executive Officers), leaders that are as trained as me. People like us don’t come cheap. But I can work without salary and I will not take bribe. I will change Nigeria from there. You don’t have to be president to change Nigeria. There is a ministry you will give me and I will create 25,000 jobs in five years. This is not World Bank grammar. I am talking of operations. But you will need data to plan, manage and control. So, if they call me, why shouldn’t I go? How many people are as trained as me? Am I not intelligent? We have to provide our first eleven and make them models, if not Nigeria will collapse on the heads of these people. No nation survives on falsehood. If what is happening continues for the next 10 years, people cannot move freely on our streets.

We need people who can serve the nation and are happy they are serving. I am an en employer of labour. I don’t need to be employed. But I can serve my nation without salary.

You have spoken about corruption, but the thinking out there is that most people surrounding the president-elect are perceived to be corrupt…

You people should be stating things clearly. Let me take Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi for example. There may be other people you have in mind. Tinubu has never been the president of Nigeria. He has never managed our NNPC, nor had he been Petroleum Minister. Tinubu just ran a state. Let us assume he had made money running the state, what should be done is to take Lagos from where Tinubu met it and look at where it is now; look at what Tinubu has done as a man, setting up APC to save Nigeria from the crooks in PDP and you tell me if you quarrel with him or not. I will not quarrel with him.

They say he is tax collector of Lagos. He set up efficient internal revenue regime. Why couldn’t other states do so? Some states only depend on federation account. Lagos has no oil. The money in Lagos was created by somebody and it started from Tinubu. He created the internally-generated revenue that Lagos currently has.

Let us say in doing that, he even took 20 per cent, what did he do with the money? He survived PDP Tsunami in 2003, helped other states in South West to recover, extended it to Edo and some other places, now he has saved us from PDP. In my article ,I said God has forgiven him everything, including his Original Sin.

So, is he your role model?

It is not an issue of role model. Is he an effective political leader? The answer is yes. What about the people who had taken our money outside the country and did not do anything with it? If 90 per cent of those taking our money outside Nigeria can bring the money back, you may not have poverty in Nigeria. I have no problem at all with Tinubu. He is an effective political leader. Buhari is lucky to partner with him, just as he is lucky to partner with Buhari. They really complement each other.

I know Amaechi fairly well. We are not on one-on-one basis, but I have analysed him very well. For a governor in the South South to look Jonathan in the face and say I don’t agree with what you are doing shows the stuff he is made of. Only men do such things. For that alone, I respect him. Again, why is he quarrelling with the president? He said they took oil wells belonging to his state and gave them to Bayelsa and that his people were shortchanged. That is his responsibility. Look at his allocation and go and check what he has done in education and infrastructure. Compare these to the situation in Akwa Ibom, his neighbours. Won’t you score him very well? We have to be pragmatic. Reality is not idealism. You make a success of life by combining the good, the bad and the ugly. Certain bad are acceptable, certain ugly are acceptable to blend with the good. But there are certain people who are evil. The fact that such people as Tinubu, Amaechi, Ogbonnaya Onu and others teamed up with Buhari and created APC to save Nigeria from the evil arrogance of PDP should be commended. For any party, individual and any force that lifted PDP away from Nigeria, God will prepare a special place in heaven.

You seem to have completely condemned those in PDP while lionising those in APC

I would never support corruption in any way and by anybody. Ninety-nine per cent of corruption in Nigeria happens when you don’t have an effective president. There is an inspirational component in leadership and you will see it when Buhari assumes office. If Buhari is inaugurated and his body language alone shows complete abhorrence of corruption as he has been saying, all the 36 state governors will be lifted up. Even if the governors enjoy immunity, by the time their corrupt acquaintances start getting jailed, they will know that there will be no hiding place for them after office. A good president can wipe out corruption from Nigeria.

The president is not the first among equals for nothing. He is not number one in protocols for nothing. The President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is the sovereign, personification and embodiment of the Nigerian state. What he does is very important. If you have a good president, the National Assembly cannot be corrupt. If you have a good president, the corruption in the judiciary will be cleared in six months because he appoints the judges.

You can clean Nigeria up in one year by democratic means. And all that will start from the president. In democracy, you have rule of law. Cases last in courts because we don’t have a president who wants to fight corruption. A good president will uplift every institution in Nigeria.

That is why strong institutions only come after strong leaders. Strong institutions don’t make themselves. It is people who make institutions and put the mechanisms and culture to sustain the institutions. What Jerry Rawlings did in Ghana is still effective in the country, till date.

Here, you have criminals who buy private jets and are flying them. Sadly enough, the president would make friends with them. You will see him in their gathering.

Leadership solves all problems. If Buhari becomes President of Nigeria on May 29, and he wants a formula on how he would re-engineer Nigeria in all the states, judiciary, legislature, local government, I will give him. He just requires to do one or two things to get it right. Nigerians are good people; if not, we won’t survive the locust in the hands of PDP for 16 years. Nigerians are enterprising and hard working. They only need a president that will set the direction where the nation will be fair to everybody. If this is done, I believe that in 20 years’ time, you can make Nigeria a first world country. I have a strategic architecture for that. PDP has set this country backwards.

But we have not tested the APC.

We have not tasted the APC, but Nigerians clamoured for change. The change has come. We should give them a chance. That is all we are saying. We know what they can do to make Nigeria great. If they do so, Nigerians will agree that the change has come. We know the change we want. We also know what we don’t want. If they abandon the change they promised us and start doing another thing, after four years, we throw them out. That is why it is important that we must get our population census right; we must get a proper permanent register because what is issued now is not permanent. It can’t be permanent because it was based on false demographic data. When we set up all those foundations, any government that doesn’t do well, you vote it out.

That is just what has happened to President Jonathan – a man that went to school without shoes; who had opportunities to make Nigeria good for other children who do not have shoes, so that tomorrow they may be presidents of Nigeria. But he messed up the chances he had.

That was what happened to Ikedi Ohakim, the then Imo State governor, in 2011. He got to office and forgot his humble background. Four years after, the people paid him in his own coins.

There must be leadership lesson in all of these instances. You win because people trust you. When you are there, maintain the trust of the people – serve. The biggest thing a man can do is to serve his fellow citizens.

So, we need to give APC chance. It promised us change because the current situation is not good. When they come, if they serve well, we will acknowledge it. If they do not do well, we will tell them. Nigeria has gone beyond the level where anybody can mess it up. That is why democracy is good.