Prof Gregory Ibeh, chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has told the two leading political parties to trade cautiously with unfolding plot to ignore the quest by the South East geopolitical zone to have a shot at presidency, warning that ongoing scheming aimed at obstructing the zone in the building up to 2023 may prove a costly mistake.
Prof Ibeh, a foremost Igbo intelligentsia and entrepreneur insists during an interview that the only viable restructuring open to the country at the moment is for the South East to be allowed to produce the next president of Nigeria and set the country on the part of growth.
The Founder and chairman of Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, particularly issued a note of warning to his Peoples Democratic Party against jettisoning the zoning arrangement that has benefited the party from inception in 1999 and helped the PDP maintain quietness.
He stressed that despite the Insidious and sometimes provocative comments that people of zone wants out of Nigeria, that the Igbos have demonstrated unassailable and practical demonstration that they do not just believe in Nigeria but have through their vast investments in physical infrastructure and human capital development set the pace among its peers.
He therefore insists that it is only rational for those who have made such commitment , demonstrated strong belief in the unity of the country through massive investments outside their regional base, be allowed to administer the country and place her on the part of growth.
According to him such opportunity would put a lie to separatist accusations made against the Igbos and put a stop to ongoing agitation among Igbos youths for a place in the country
Asked to chose which proposition between the restructuring of the country and Nigerian president of Igbo extraction, Prof Ibeh retorted:
“Does it go without? Why must you give me option to chose? As if they are mutually exclusive. All of them go together. The first restructuring is to restructure for South East to produce the President. That is the first restructure. (Otherwise) If we continue on this way it means that all other issues we are talking about in restructuring will remain the same, we’ll maintain the status quo, and that is the danger in the agitations that people are making now.”
“So the first restructure is to give opportunity to those who have not produced and those that have worked hard and have a lot of investment in this country, who believe in the country. One of them should be given opportunity.”
Prof Ibeh was also the least amused by the musings within the PDP that the party may throw it presidential ticket open in 2023 saying that be a joke taken too far as it goes against the founding spirit of the party that has ensured justice, equity and calmness in the party.
“I have been in PDP since 1999, I have been a great actor in it, I have served in a lot of presidential campaigns and support group director, so I know to an extent what goes on but in order to make the polity work, zoning is critical because all of us cannot run office at same time.”
“It is a narrowing down and it brings equity to the table, brings justice to the table and then reduces a lot of heat on the polity. Why are they crying that if you bring Igbos into the presidency of Nigeria that one million people will come out, yes’ it is typical of every tribe in Nigeria today, it is no longer Igbos.”
“Because as a political animal if any opportunity comes everyone would like to aspire and if what is required is school certificate or university education, we have a lot of able people from every part of the country. But when the party takes care of his through zoning, it is narrowed down.”
“For instance. TheIt is Southeast, they can go further to say this people have produced before, these have not gone before, then there would be focus and when they come down they will check who is holding what office, who’s here who’s there. By the time it gets to the minutest level, you will see zoning is best arrangement that could bring quietness and acceptable political action that can be trusted because it gives hope to politicians who ordinarily don’t believe this thing could come to them. Zoning the presidency is an equal opportunity to everyone.”
” Like I always say, the South East zone is one zone in Nigeria that ought to be given opportunity to produce the president come 2023 for obvious reasons. It will cement, it will weld the Igbos to the main fabrics of the nations powerhouse, control and give a sense of acceptability to my people.”
“I don’t think of myself, I am an Igbo man. It is only when we are given this opportunity that we can say Nigeria is a democratic nation. And then it will give us manifold growth in all aspects because the mere fact that you are Nigerian president of Igbo extraction has not put food on the table of all the Igbos.”
“If it is anything like nepotism, it is not the way of an Igbo man because Igbo man is more of Nigerian than the rest, he has no segregation of any kind. He will lead by example and the Igbos will not come and cluster him that he should give them this or that appointment. No, because they are all busy with all kinds of entrepreneurial activities or the other.
“You don’t expect a trader in Onitsha to abandon his business and come to Abuja because his brother is the president, even the man who became president would not even allow that, he would say he’s for Nigerians and he would work by the books and use best practices to lead. And we need to demystifying that toga and scenario that people erroneously paint ,that we are this, we are that, we want to declare a nation, they are afraid of Nnamdi Kanu. All those insinuations should be put behind. I tell you because by the time Igbo man leads this country governance will be at its best”, he said .
