2023: Anarchy Looms If Southeast Does Not Produce Buhari’s Successor – Eze Udo Abuja Says  

BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – Chairman of the Igbo Traditional Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Dr Uche Egenti has said that common sense dictates that for the purpose of national cohesion, fairness, justice, sense of belonging, dignity, every Nigerian should desire a president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

Egenti, who holds the traditional title of Eze Udo Abuja, pointedly said that doing otherwise would be an invitation to anarchy if the Southeast is not allowed to produce a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Egenti, who spoke with some journalists in his Abuja Palace, noted that the Yoruba (Southwest) produced former President Olusegun Obasanjo and presently has Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while the South-south produced Jonathan for six years as both vice president and President, adding that the North produced late former President Umaru Yar’Adua for two years and presently has Buhari for eight consecutive years. 

In his words; “So should the North come up again in 2023 to seek for the office of president, it will be an invitation to anarchy. Similarly, should the South-west come up again, it is also going to be an invitation to anarchy. Should the South-south come, it’s an invitation to anarchy.

“So 2023 is not negotiable for president of Igbo extraction. I have those that I know will listen. Let PDP field an Igbo person, let APC field an Igbo person, let Labour Party field an Igbo presidential candidate and let APGA field an Igbo presidential candidate, let some of them come together as a party for the sake of peace, equity and justice, let these political parties field Igbo men and then allow us to make our choice.” 

Egenti however said that the “parochial interest and Igbo’s provincial ways” of doing things may be a hiccup to actualizing the project thus canvassed the urgent need for unity of purpose to facilitate the quest.

He further said; “The reason why we are not growing politically is because we are very parochial. We are not metropolitan. I keep talking about it. The moment we leave our provincial method of doing things, we will grow. 

“I spoke to our people and I told them long before now that I want us to reason like the Yoruba. Look at the last Senatorial bye election in Katsina, wherein two blood brothers – one PDP, one APC, the same father, the same mother, contested that election and the people made their choice and there was no quarrel, there was no fight. When they finished, the elder went to embrace the younger.

“But you see, because of our nature, there is no love in Igboland and I want you to challenge me. We lie to one another, we run one another down, we don’t pray for one another’s growth because of the nature of where we come from, our people have not received good love. 

“I come from Imo. It is not possible to see an Anambra man become a Councillor in my village, you know it can’t happen. Let us tell ourselves some home truth. No Anambra man will accept an Enugu man to become a Councillor in his village. You saw what our governors did when they entered office, an Enugu man working in Abia was sacked and asked to go home, an Abia man working in Enugu was sacked, an Anambra working in Imo was sacked.  

“But you will agree with me that Bola Tinubu governed Lagos state and he is from Osun state. The commissioners that served Lagos State, some of them were not from Lagos. They were commissioners under Bola Tinubu, Aregbesola and others, even Igbos benefitted. Even in this session, we have Igbos in the Lagos State House of Assembly,” Egenti noted.