Nwodo believes that for equity, justice, fairness and inclusiveness, it is right to not just give the South East the chance, but also, for all patriotic Nigerians to support the zone to produce the next president.
But then, if by chance, an aspirant from the North emerges as the Party’s candidate, would that be injurious to the PDP’s desperate plans to take back power from the APC? “If a Northern candidate emerges, the PDP is going to shoot itself on the foot,” he said. And will the South East support a northern candidate, Dr Nwodo declared, “I’m in Enugu and I know what is going on here. The ordinary man on the street in the south east will not vote for any candidate that is not from the South-East”.
Explaining what informed his firm stand for the South East to produce the next Nigerian president, Nwodo who spoke during an interview on Arise Television said, “Where I stand is that Nigeria didn’t start in 1998, it became independent in 1960 and since 1960, whether you were elected an executive president or whether you were a military dictator, both carrying executive powers; if you look at how these executive powers have emerged in our country, the South-East of Nigeria has enjoyed it for six months and that was under Aguiyi Ironsi. Every other part of the country when we talk of the current six geopolitical zones, have had a shot at ruling this country not less than two times. “Therefore, that zone that has never had a shot at the presidency, has a very strong case. Secondly, that zone has been accusing the federation of monumental marginalisation of his people. Not to talk about the civil war. We are heading to 60 years after the civil war and we have not been given any opportunity to stand at the commanding heights of governance in our country”.
He further lamented that “In the past seven years, the marginalisation has reached monumental level. Every appointment federal government pronounces, is likely going to be outside the South East of Nigeria. Every intervention of the federal government, whether it is in welfarism, in infrastructure, South East comes at the bottom of the six geopolitical zones.
We are asking the federal republic of Nigeria, what is the crime of the people of the South East? Why the permanent marginalisation? Why is it that anytime something good is coming to the south east, reasons are manufactured why it must not go there?
”We in the South East feel extremely despondent; we feel we are not part of the federation. We feel the civil war has not ended. It’s because of this that our people are agitating passionately, putting their patriotism, capacity and competence, putting their love for our country at the fore front to be given the chance to bring on the table, the vast talent that the Almighty God has bestowed on our people for the benefit of our country. I believe if the talents in the South East are put on the table, this country would go far”.
He appealed to other political parties involved in the 2023 elections to ensure they pick candidates from the South East, stressing that it will be unfair to jettison the already existing rotation in Nigeria. “We are making this repeated appeal, that the political parties in this election should choose their candidates from the south east.
There is no rational to jettison the rotation that we have in the country. You don’t change the goal post at the middle of the game. We have all agreed across political boundaries to zone the presidency of Nigeria between the North and the South. There’s a rotation in place; it’s been working for us. Why do we want to truncate it at this time? “And if it comes to southern Nigeria, we have recently had eight years of president Obasanjo and six years of Osinbajo as Vice President. Does this give moral justice, equity and fair play for the South West, to take it again? And the South South has served six years of Jonathan’s presidency. Is it fair that it goes back to the South South? The only equity, justice and fairness; the only thing that will bring unity, peace to Nigeria is to go to the South East. This is the truth that cannot be controverted. It is something that its time has come in order to reunite our country”.
Asked his opinion on former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s declaration of interest to run for the number one office under the PDP, and as a Northerner, Dr Nwodo said, “Atiku seems to be the first northerner that threw his hat into the race. Those of us who are his close friends have had personal meetings with him. We have tried to persuade him. The South East and the South South have been his strongest political stronghold in most of his political outings and indeed, he has chosen his vice presidential candidates the last two times he was in the race from South East.
”I’ve worked as his director of Finance and administration when we were in ANC. We have given him massive support. In the last election, we actually gave him 95% of the votes in the south east. It was because certain people had promised Buhari that they were going to give him 25% that they were trying to steal Atiku’s votes in the South East so that they would get a spread by getting 25% in some of the states. This was massively resisted across the South East. “So, I’ve appealed to him, this is payback time for us. We expect that if our candidates win that nomination, one of the first people that will throw their hats to support our candidate from the South East, will be Atiku Abubakar because we’ve had understanding with him that we have paid our dues for him and it’s time for him to pay”.
Going forward, he maintained that “It is in the interest of good conscience, fairness, brotherliness; we say in our national anthem, in brotherhood we stand. This is time that we should stand in that brotherhood and I think that nobody will lose anything if the presidency is zoned to the South East. Instead the country has a lot to harvest from that- a lot of healing, peace, abandonment of agitation for secession from our country, a lot of comfort for the wounded and traumatised”.
The South East he stated further, “has sacrificed blood and tears, anger and sorrow. I believe that we can begin to heal our country. 2023 offers us a wonderful opportunity to heal the wounds of this country. To rise from the ashes of the civil war, marginalisation, nepotism, sectionalism, to a united Nigeria that is strong and ready to take its rightful place in the comity of nations”.
Aside Atiku Abubakar, another strong contender for the PDP’s presidential ticket is Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike who is from the South South but Nwodo does not believe Wike has any business being in the race. “On the basis of Justice, fairness and equity, I believe that Governor Nyesom Wike should not be on this race. I expect him as a current politician to know how much the South East has supported the South South politically, economically and in everything that the South South is enjoying in the federal republic of Nigeria today. I expect collective unity of the South South, in backing the South East this time”.
Who then is his preferred candidate? The former Governor of Enugu State believes it’s not about whom he prefers but whom Nigerians can trust for good governance. “Of all the candidates from the South East, whoever Nigerians want as the most preferred candidate, the South East will be comfortable with that. If it behoves on us that we should go with one candidate, we will make an effort to get a consensus. Where that fails, let them go to the field and test their popularity and let Nigerians choose whom they think is best suited to govern them”.
Buttressing his view that a president from the South East will mean an end to agitation for secession, Nwodo paints a scenario that could emerge if the South East is not given the chance to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023. “Today, on Mondays, people can’t go about their normal business in the South East. We have local, state and federal governments; the military and paramilitary organisations; they’re not able to give us cover in order to go about our business on Mondays because IPOB threatens that people should not come out on Mondays. Even when they have removed the threats, criminals have taken over every Monday to harass people and that puts fear into the people and, security agents are not there to protect them. So the sit-at-home continues.
“Now, I want to ask, supposing the presidency comes to Southern Nigeria and does not come to the South East, we have an 8-year presidency in Southern Nigeria not from the South East, and it goes by rotation to the North, for another 8 years, and you expect the leaders from the South East to hold the IPOB, those who support them in permanent check for sixteen years.
This is like giving us live snakes to carry in our hands. And young people are so traumatised; they don’t feel anything about Nigeria. Nigeria must reach out to this young people. We have said it repeatedly in Ohaneze Ndigbo, let the federal government listen to these young people and ameliorate their pains.
“You had agitation for resource control, President Yar’Adua reached out to the young people- the militants of Niger Delta. We have peace there today; we are exporting our crude oil without any interference. May be if we had robust discussion with Boko Haram, it would not have lasted this long. Why can’t we have a discussion in the South East to break this jinx of agitation? What are they agitating for? Is it something that is impossible for Nigeria to do? What do you want these young people to do? Nobody is listening to them and we their leaders are saying, give us a chance to rule the country.
And the country says they have no conscience to listen to our plea but they say, you go and hold back these people who feel traumatised and marginalised for another 16 years otherwise, we will come with operation python dance day in day out until they are all slaughtered and wiped out from Nigeria. Is that fair?”
