ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
Before the inaugural session of the Igbo Conversational Group, principally convened by a former Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the Southeast region and indeed the entore Igbo land was treated like a conquered territory by the two frontline presidential candidates. While Buhari and his APC spent millions of dollars in buying a speaking space in Chatham House and also negotiating with stakeholders in also buying up the support of stakeholders in other regions of the country, President Jonathan and his PDP strategists gallivanted across the zones, and especially, the Southeast, entering into deals and agreeing on compromises. The Southeast was not on the card at all.
This sorry situation made the eminent political leader and philosopher king, Chief Ohakim to galvanize some of Igbo nation’s best brains for a discussion on the future of Ndi Igbo in the present and future scheme of things. They sent letters to the two presidential candidates, stating the demands of the Igbo nation and promising to support only that presidential candidate who will commit to promoting and protecting Igbo interests.
To the credit of this development, the two presidential candidates laid siege to the Southeast region which was hitherto treated with disrespect by them. You may recall that during the Statewide rally in which the two presidential candidates visited all the States in Igboland, none of them was heard making any statement of promise or committing to any contract with Ndi Igbo, but this time around, both of them came and apart from making promises, also made credible commitments to the advancement of the Igbo interests.
My personal sentiments have always favored President Goodluck Jonathan and he made me proud in this very trying moment by not just making more trustworthy commitments but by taking actions that earlier cast doubts on his commitment to the advancement of the Igbo interest.
As one cannot give what he does not have, Buhari cannot commit to what he does not know. He hardly understands modern economics and extant development dynamics, hence, one cannot be surprised that the only commitment he made to the Igbo nation is that which is not in his powers to achieve, and also not in the best interest of Ndi Igbo. The idea of bringing Naira at par with the dollar is not only a ridiculous promise, but also an insult to the sensibilities of an Igbo man who is known globally as business inclined and economically conversant. If anything, this appearance has made it clearer to Ndi Igbo who their real friend is among the two presidential candidates.
Jonathan made clear cut commitments to the advancement of Igbo interests and developments by commissioning the first phase of the Alaoji power station project and the Geometric, and committing to doing “Anything humanly possible I can do for the Southeast, I will do it.”
One of the issues that raised the ire of the discussants and observers at the inaugural session of the ICG, was the speech of Hon. Nze Chidi Duru, who lamented the great economic loss being suffered by the Southeast and especially Professor Barth Nnaji and his business partners over the bureaucratic hitches and political loopholes that have delayed the effective takeoff of the Geometric Power Station in which the Enugu born professor of robotics, has invested well over five hundred million dollars. The President promised to resolve the problems between the company and other power distribution companies to enable the company commence work. This promise, if kept will go a long way in guaranteeing the industrial growth of Aba. The killer among the commitments made by the President is his assurance that the Southeast will get an additional State to enable it be at par with other zones of the country.
While we await the outcome of the Igbo Conversational Group’s meeting to finally consider the commitments reached by the presidential candidates before finally declaring open support for one of the candidates, we must not fail to appreciate the fact that someone really took the risk of endangering his personal political chances by daring to bring up these issues. At least, we have strong evidences of commitments from President Jonathan, whom I and I believe majority of our people will want the ICG to endorse, and also strong evidences against those who may be supporting Buhari’s endorsement.
