By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CeleOkaf11
Prominent Igbo Politician and a Chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Chief Longers Anyanwu (Ebubedike), has said the 2023 Presidency is a low hanging fruit for the Igbos of the South East Nigeria if only they are prepared to close ranks, plan ahead and work with other Nigerians from other geo-political zones to achieve their political quest.
Anyanwu said that despite all that have happened in the past, there is no reason the South East zone should be lukewarm about getting an Igbo to occupy the position if the right politics is played. He assured that the Nigeria's presidency in 2023 is possible for the Igbos of the South East zone but that certain fundamental issues must first be addressed by the people within and among themselves.
Longers in an exclusive interview with NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper, said there is presently no doubt across the party lines, whether or not, it is the turn of the South East for the position of President of Nigeria in 2023, but the major issue now is the level of political preparedness of the zone in galvanizing support from the major political platforms, from other geo-political axis of Nigeria and from their own people which, he said, is also very key.
Anyanwu maintains that while it will be politically suicidal for any Igbo presidential aspirant to take his or her people for granted, such aspirant must be ready to secure a buy-in of his aspiration from his people because the options and choices for the South East presently are indeed many. The current political situation in the country, as far as the Presidency quest is concerned, Longers Anyanwu said, is a tough and keen scenario. "There will definitely going to be a lot of political interplay", he told NEWSLEADER.
Anyanwu further explained thus: "The question of opportunity for the South East zone in the 2023 Presidency is not in doubt. From across the party lines, the opportunity is there. But the question is: what do the Igbos want? Do they want a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction or just an lgbo president? That is where the crisis of understanding begins. If the Igbos want to be president of Nigeria, they should prepare well for it because time is of the essence. The issue of capable and suitable presidential aspirants from across the party lines is certainly not the problem here. But are the Igbos planning enough considering that there's virtually no time left as INEC has already announced that we have less than a year to the Presidential election (Saturday February 25, 2023).
"Remember, others are not waiting for the Igbos. They are also interested because what we are talking about here is power! So the Igbos must be clear about certain things: Do they want to go on their own through the pro-Biafra concept? These are questions that must be addressed first. The Igbos must determine as a people what they want. Nigeria has moved on. What are we planning? What strategy is on ground towards the actualization? Who are we talking to, within and outside the political parties? Who are our frontline candidates across the parties, and how are they accepted across the country?
"Who are the voices speaking for the zone in this respect? Do others believe Igbos should get it, if yes, fine but if no, why? And how do we get them to change their position? What is the zone bringing to the table within the political parties when the issue of Presidency is being discussed and permutations are done? Is there is a prior consensus in our favour? And so many other issues for consideration. The lgbos have a big challenge now to win the Presidency next year and show all Nigerians that they are indeed for Nigeria, and that the issue of Biafra agitation is not to scare anybody but to draw the attention of the whole Nigeria that they are not being fairly treated. Simple!
"The Igbos are always for Nigeria and other Nigerians are very much aware of this. So when some people raise the issue Biafra, against the Igbos, you discover that they are merely trying to see what they will use to cause distraction or do seeds of political disaffection to get the Igbos deprived. That is just the problem!
"So, if care is not taken, the greatest obstacle to the Igbo Presidency in 2023, will be the Igbos themselves if we don't do what we are supposed to do. Others are watching us. If people, eminent leaders from the South South, our neighbours, and the South West like Chief Edwin Clarke and Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, could come out to say that it must be Igbos of South East in 2023, then it is clear that it is turn of our people in 2023. Every other argument to the contrary is baseless!", Anyanwu maintains.
Longers who is a former National Chairman of Accord Party and also an ex-Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development in his home state Imo, also told NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER during the interview that the Igbos eschew the vice behaviour of political selfishness. "That is one of the identifiable problem among our politicians", Longers Anyanwu explained, warning that such culture of selfishness has worked against the Igbo political interests in many respect.
He continued: "In politics, you can't be a lone tree standing in the political forest. It is dangerous to work or stand alone. You must work with people. You must use your influence to make people. They will be your political loyalists, your pillars when the time comes. The question is: How many Igbo ministers or notable politicians today can beat their chest and say that he or she has been able to send three or four persons to the federal parliament as a lawmakers. Except in the time of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. He was influencing the appointment of ministers from different states in Igboland then. I know of ministers Chief Iwuanyanwu has singlehandedly made like Prof Ihechukwu Madubuike, Vincent Ogbulafor, Ogbonnaya Onu and co.
"Chief Iwuanyanwu didn't nominate himself. Igbos should realize that political party and power struggle is not what you can do alone. After all, president Buhari with all his popularity couldn't do it alone. He needed some people to succeed and he achieved that during the political merger that gave birth to APC in the 2015 elections. Even if you want to go it alone by breakaway, you still need to vote in a referendum. A people must decide where they are going. Somebody must provide a direction to that journey. That is one area Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fared better than most Igbo politicians. They call him 'talent hunter' ! There is no excuse or limitations which the Igbo politicians have not to make their own people that the likes of Tinubu does not have.
"When l talk about "making people", l mean identifying talents for leadership among your people who will work for the ordinary people and for our country while in positions. The Yorubas have Tinubu who made things happen for them. Tinubu said he does not have all the answers to the problem, but he can smoke out those with potentials to help solve the people's problem. He said even though some of them disappoint him, but he will keep on hunting and projecting those talented unknown quantities so to use that word. It is not an easy thing to do. This very person has almost beaten known records in making people.
"How many people can seat in the comfort of their sitting room and be influencing the appointment of Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ministers, Honorable members, Local government chairmen, senators, State Commissioners, special advisers and special assistants in government, just all manner of appointments. The Asiwaju has singlehandedly influenced the appointment of people in those positions without taking appointment for himself. It is not an easy thing at all. That is networking. That is how politics is done. Tinubu has used his party to change the political fortunes of the Yorubas. You must reach out politically. It is not enough to say it is our turn (for 2023 Presidency). We will go for the top job. So who will go? I have reflected on the situation of my people in Igboland. A lot of work needs to be done if we must get there in 2023. Presidency of Nigeria is not a tea party.
"Former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, was in charge of his party APGA just like Tinubu was incharge of his own party, the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Tinubu used the ACN to negotiate a merger that brought the Yorubas to the fore-front of power again after the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency. But Peter Obi was unable to do that? Ogbonnaya Onu tried in this respect. He used the ANPP (All Nigerian Peoples Party) when he the party's National Chairman to help initiate the merger that put APC where it is today. President Muhammadu Buhari also did same with his party the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change). What did Peter Obi do with APGA (All Progressive Grand Alliance) that the Ikemba, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu left for him. Nothing!
"Infact immediately Peter Obi finished his governorship tenure in Anambra state, he dumped the party and joined the PDP and wanted to use the party to immediately become Vice President or president. In politics, things don't work that way. A Tinubu couldn't have done that. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is not a saint though, but he used his party at the time (the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA) to conquer Abia state politically and get the governorship position in Imo and Abia states. Orji Kalu used his party, the PPA to also penetrate the South-East. This was about the time the Asiwaju Tinubu had created his own party ACN and was using it to galvanize and reposition the South West.
"There is what the Igbos call the "nshiko" (crab) mentality where anybody who wants to climb is brought down. Peter Obi, with his intelligence and ingenuity, could not even grow his party APGA beyond his immediate environment, Anambra, throughout the period of eight years he spent as governor. So, the Igbo hope for presidency in 2023 is very bright. It is very bright if the right things are done. It is the dream of every tribe in Nigeria and for me as an Igbo, l will definitely support it. But l ask: can you point at any Igbo politician today who can proudly say that l made so so and so person politically in Igboland or in neighboring Igbo South-South state like Akwa Ibom, Rivers or Delta states? Power is not voluntarily given. You have to work for it.
"This issue of bring him down syndrome has affected the Igbos so much. Igbos need people who will work for them in 2023. People who will negotiate for them in the North-West, in the North-East, in the North-Central, in the South-South and in the South-West Zones especially. You have to have people who hold juicy appointments who can dispense favour when the time comes. Today, if somebody in Lagos wants to help you, he will tell you to go to so so and so agency of government and see so so and so person so that he can give you patronage. And as a Journalist, that person can send you to somebody in any of bluechip agency of government to get adverts for your news medium. Has the person not helped you? Our people in Igboland want people who will serve in servitude till eternity. I am not saying that loyalty and appreciation is not good. Our people are republican by nature", Anyanwu stated. NNL.
