WHY IGBOS WILL NOT BE PRESIDENT IN NIGERIA – APC LEADER, TONY MOMOH
WHY
IGBOS WILL NOT BE PRESIDENT IN NIGERIA – APC LEADER, TONY MOMOH
A former Minister of Information, Prince Tony Momoh has given
reasons it will be difficult for an Igbo to be president in Nigeria.
Momoh, a leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, cited
disunity among Igbos and their preference for supporting the candidates with
huge financial chests during election.
He said this when he spoke with the Independent on why it had been
difficult for the Igbos to produce a president since 1999.
The former Minister pointed out that the problems facing the Igbo
was their inability to be united and queue behind one single candidate.
He said, “The fact is the Igbos have been in a difficult place
since the civil war. They started from scratch after the civil war and they had
to reestablish themselves in the Nigerian polity and they had to start moving
up slowly in the institution. Many of them their senior people in the Army were
no longer there but they have moved in the Army to the highest level, even to
the level of Chief of Army Staff.
“The Igbos are a wonderful people. For instance, at the end of the
war, inspite of what you’ve had, they gave you 20 pounds. Every other thing
collapsed. Then the Igbos came back to Nigeria and Nigerians celebrated with
them and forgot that there was any war. Where they have property, apart from
Port Harcourt, people were collecting the rents for them and gave it back to
them. But the fact is climbing the social, political and economic ladder takes
time.
“But because of commercial activities, they dominated the economic
terrain in Nigeria, the Igbos are the main group of any city in Nigeria. Even
in Lagos today, they have Igbos in the House of Representatives.
“But the Igbos are as disunited as the youths of Nigeria who wants
to be president. We were in ANPP. We went to Lagos with the late Chuba Okadigbo
who was Buhari’s running mate in the 2003 presidential elections. We met the
Igbo chiefs in Lagos and asked for Igbo votes.
“The chief said we should come back the next day. We came back the
following day and he said ‘look at that corner, that is N6m that PDP gave us.
Bring us N6m and we will vote for you. I will return the N6m given to us by PDP
to them.
“That is trading and I am not surprised because they are
businessmen and they talk business. For you to be talking business, the highest
bidder is the person you will befriend. Nigeria will always try to divide the
Igbos through financial compromises.
“I speak truth to power, issues and institutions. If for instance,
you have an Igbo aspiring to be president, you may have about 20 people from
the same South-East wanting to be president. The issue is, how can they sit
down and say we decide that we want a particular person as our candidate?
Nigeria knowing that weakness will cause trouble so that they cannot be united.
That is the problem.”
