By Musa Inuwa (Niger State Correspondent)
A presidential aspirant for the Ohaneze Ndigbo election and a security expert, Dr. Valentine Iheukwumere Oparaocha, has observed that what the Igbo man needs most is the security of their lives and businesses. He promised to pursue this objective if voted into power as the next president of the Igbo socio-cultural organization.
Oparaocha, a retired State Security Service (SSS) officer said he joined the race for the number one seat of the apex Igbo organization knowing what his people needed most at this critical period and how to go about guaranteeing that if given the mandate.
In an interview in Minna, Oparaocha who has been endorsed by the Ohaneze chapters in Niger State and the FCT Abuja said he knows the many questions of the Igbo man in the Nigerian context. Part of his 3-points agenda will include security build-up around the lives of Easterners, Igbos in particular wherever they may find themselves globally.
He told journalists that his message while in Owerri, the Imo state capital on 10th January 2021 is to encourage other contestants to support him because “What the Igbos needed most is to be secured in any part of Nigeria and world over, every other thing comes second”.
As a security expert, Oparaocha who holds the title, Ochudo Ndigbo, said after retiring from a meritorious service to his country, he decided to offer himself for service to his Igbo people because he knows and understands their pains and worries more than any other contestant.
He promised to work hand-in-hand with the Governors of the Eastern states and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) to ensure that the region is safe from all forms of incursions by people with evil intents while also not jettisoning youths in the region but encouraging them on the need to discover who they are.
Oparaocha who said he believes in the indivisibility of Nigeria said the Igbos will be better off remaining part of the country but will put his wealth of experience as a security officer in providing what the Easterners has been yearning for over the years.
According to him, “Managing the ESN is far better than trying to break up Nigeria or agitating for a separate country, Biafra. With kidnapping and armed banditry becoming an embarrassment to the Nigerian government, the network is certainly a good development that will help security agencies neutralize some of these security situations”.
“We have and I think that is working out very well in the east. But they must seek legitimacy because we cannot forget in a hurry about the Onitsha and the Bakassi Boys and the clash of interests. There have been many other difficult security situations solved with the help of such well organized regional vigilante groups”.
He said the likes of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) needed to be properly guided aright, “I see the IPOB composition as mostly young people or youth organization that did not see the Nigerian/Biafran civil war. They're equally being supported and sponsored. But they need to be guided”.
“People should not die for a course they believe in and I am sure you will agree with me that it hasn’t gotten to that level yet. I never liked this Egwueke thing set up to checkmate the IPOB. That thing could have been averted and this again is centered on the security where I will be displaying my wealth of experience as a security expert in protecting the Igbo and by extension the entire Eastern Nigeria”.
On the 2023 Igbo Presidency, Valentine Oparaocha has this to say: "I believe that what is good for the geese is also good for the gander; since Nigeria’s independence about 60 years ago, the north has produced Presidents of this country more than the entire south against this rotational Presidency arrangement”.
“In southern Nigeria again, the south-west has had its slot, followed by the south-south in the person of the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, though he did one term after completing his joint ticket with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, what is bad if an Easterner or an Igbo man, in particular, becomes President of this country in 2023?".
For effective piloting of its affairs, Valentine Oparaocha said, “I will consolidate on the gains of my predecessors, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who has done his best to bring Ohaneze Ndigbo to where we are today”.
He was however quick to add that, “My priority if by God’s grace I emerge, the next Ohaneze President is to work for Nigeria’s next President of Igbo extraction in the next election. I will put all machinery to work because there is no way we can achieve the desired success from outside the nation’s seat of power, the Aso Rock and the National Assembly”. NNL.
