No election until Jega quits, says 77 years old Ezeife and hear how N5 Billion is tearing Ohaneze apart from Anambra former Governor

Former Anambra State governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife is angry with everything connected with the forthcoming elections on March 28 and April 11, and declares that it should be put on hold until the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC , Prof Attahiru Jega leaves the stage.

Ezeife spoke in Abuja that Jega, is highly compromised and incompetent.

“I don’t even want the elections to go ahead , if it must be conducted by Jega as chairman of INEC,” he declares, matter-of-factly.

He demands that Jega should either resign or be suspended, and that if the elections should lead to the “death” of Nigeria, an Interim National Government, (ING) should be set up with President Goodluck Jonathan at the helm.

Ezeife, ever blunt, says he sees Jonathan taking another oath of office on May 29, despite the prevailing situation in the country even  as he insists that those behind Jonathan’s campaign are just after the financial accruals.

On the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress,APC, General Muhammadu Buhari (Retd), the former federal permanent secretary, says the party made a mistake in picking him, because younger elements like Kano State governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal would have given Jonathan a tougher race.

Ezeife, who was special adviser to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo gives reasons why he parted ways with the ex-president, describing him as ‘a bully’. He also speaks on APC propaganda, a new INEC, and the Ohanaeze crises among other burning issues. Excerpts.

The election slated for February 14 and 28 were shifted by INEC. What do you consider as the undercurrents that necessitated the postponement, apart from what INEC told the world?

The major cause of shifting the election is the un- readiness of INEC in many activities connected with the elections, from training to distribution of PVC, to printing of voters’ cards, etc. But the Southern Nigeria Leaders Assembly, SNLA, don’t even want the elections to go ahead if it must be conducted by Jega as chairman of INEC.

We were lucky some days ago to get minutes of three meetings of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, and we found from the minutes that all the actions, or most of the actions of Jega in INEC were  guided by the decisions of the Northern Elders Forum. Let me give you instances. You know sometime ago, your newspaper published me as saying that the North has hijacked INEC. Why did I say so? Jega was supposed to create 30, 000 new polling units. This is how he allocated them: 21, 000 plus to the North; 8,000 plus to the South. South-east with five states has fewer polling units in Jega’s allocation than Abuja and Zamfara State. It is clear that Jega knows that South-east and South-south are the main support base of Jonathan.

Now what happened? We found out that  efforts at creating new polling units were exactly as directed by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). They created massively more polling units and distributed them in such a lopsided way that the North will have so much more than the South. I think that decision must have been made two weeks before Jega jumped on the implementation.  Just along the same line, we discovered many things. Number two; Jega was instructed to depress the voting power of South-east and South-south by being very  strict on registration of voters. On the other hand, for the North-west and other favourable areas to them, they told him not to have any regard for age. So, a 20-yr-old or  5-yr-old , anybody of any age can be registered in the area. So, systematic rigging began a long time ago. That one was done. You can go and check it out, and you’ll see the voting strength of the South-east and South-south in the 2011 elections.  Compare it with those of the North-west in the 2011 polls, and juxtapose it with what it is now in the 2015 elections. Number three; the Northern Elders Forum agreed with Jega that the distribution of permanent voters cards, PVCs and anything connected with the elections favour the North. And when they come to the South, they discriminated between South-west and the rest of the South. But I won’t say anything about South-west, because they didn’t mention South-west in the minutes. Then, NEF, decided to assemble lawyers. One step of the lawyers was to go to court to attempt to disqualify Jonathan. They had done that in compliance with NEF decisions. Another step is to be ready to go to court to face those who are challenging the announcements. So, we have far more information now. That so called PVCs were being printed in Maitama by some people – the same type of people in religion and tribe. And, you can see the print quality. It’s only when they noticed monumental failure in it, that they went to China. Now, the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and Concentration of IDPs is in the North. IDPs are mainly from the South-east – people who ran away from Mubi, Bama; Kaduna, Kano, etc. They were registered before they ran away, and therefore will lose voting rights. They are disenfranchised.

I thought they said they will give them a chance to vote?

Where and how will they give them a chance? They are now in many villages in the South-east. So, the proposals for IDPs are for rigging purposes. Now, take the distribution of PVCs. Go to Lagos and see what is happening there. Lagos has 5.7 million voters. About 2.8 millions have not gotten PVCs. People are systematically excluded and disenfranchised.  You saw the report I was giving you about PVCs in the areas where there is insurgency, they give them 80% – 99% collection of PVC. In other areas, very calm areas of South-east and South-south they give lower rates of collection. So, we found irrefutable evidence. That’s why, actually when even with the intervention of the Senate Committee on INEC, Jega continued with the polling units. And you look at the decision of the commission, they were divided along North – South lines. Yet he was bent on implementing it. Then, some people went to court. That was the time he withdrew the polling units. I made a statement that he had shown clear intention to rig, and cannot be trusted as umpire to conduct the election. You push him away from polling units, he would find other ways. He has so much compromised everything that I doubt why Nigerians are cursed. Professorial positions are much respected and of high value. Professors should have very high moral compulsion.

The least for him is to resign. The whole saga is ethnically motivated – Hausa/Fulani – Muslims. Some of them have taken a decision that power must return to the North at all costs. This is in the minutes of NEF. They think Nigeria will be bound by it. Everybody is behaving in manners to actualize it. That was what we saw and called a press conference.

But most of the leaders of the SNPA were not present at the conference. Were they?

There was no time to assemble everybody, and it was not necessary because the leader for the South South was there, the coordinator for the South East (myself) was there. I was with Alex Ekwueme that morning. I won’t like to talk about his health. Then Femi Okurounmu, the person who prepared the grounds for the national conference, and who has been consistent with the leadership was available. So, we had the leaders of the three major ethnic groups.

But Edwin Clark is a card carrying member of PDP. To give it some measure of credibility, don’t you think non-partisan leaders should have been the ones to address the issues? 

I am not a party man. When I was in a party, I was in Alliance for Democracy, AD, and Social Democratic Party, SDP. When I turned 70, I left politics. This press conference should have been addressed by one person. The truth is the truth. You as a pressman, take a careful look at the details of the minutes and see whether there is any flaw in what we are saying, otherwise, you won’t see me talking like this.

You said they assembled lawyers to defend a possible Buhari victory. What other things did they put in place to support Buhari?

In the minutes, when you read it, you will convince yourself that Jega has been so compromised that his continued stay there is not morally wise. He should be honourable enough to resign and save the nation this confusion. The president is a very soft person. His tolerance  is unmatchable. Therefore, he is talking about easing him off by letting him go on terminal leave.

But he has recanted on that, hasn’t he?

If he recants on it…well…… …. the only way the president would be seen to be presidential is to suspend him immediately; so that the person who is coming to replace him will have time to scrutinize what he has done.The president has no reason to hang on exchange of views in the press with Jega. He has the right to appoint and dismiss.

But the Senate has a say in his dismissal or suspension doesn’t it?

He only gets ratification from the Senate. The National Assembly doesn’t appoint. They ratify.

What about speculations about his retirement from office?

No! No!. in this case, it’s different. His normal retirement period is three months. He has to start it in March, and that is very constitutional. But if he starts to exchange views with the president on the pages of newspapers, ordinary Nigerians will know that the president is not out of step, and deserves some respect, no matter how Christian and soft he is.

Still on the postponement, there are views that the election was postponed because PDP was not ready and needed more time to catch up with the APC. Do you agree?

My brother, I am not in PDP. I support Jonathan to be re-elected. From the minority area he comes from, he should be able to complete two terms like others  before him did. It’s not because he is not “born to rule” therefore, he must go. Even when he was vice president and the opportunity came for him to be acting president, he was denied that, until when the “Doctrine of Necessity was introduced”. There was no need for Doctrine of Necessity because the thing was clear. And now, he cannot stay there and complete his terms. And a group of Nigerians insist  that he should come back.  There was no way Buhari would not have been announced the winner on February 14, whether he wins or not. All these things about PVCs, all these things done with registration of voters, all these things done with every aspect of voting were in favour of APC and Buhari. But the President is the president of Nigeria. The opposition, whether they are getting money from heaven and hell should not outspend the president. He should be able to outspend the opposition. See, PDP and their candidates have been buried in propaganda. I don’t know, if you score APC 75% in propaganda, you have to score PDP 25%. So, that is what has happened, so that the “born to rule” group who are sponsoring both Boko Haram and APC have made ordinary Nigerians to say they are sick and tired of Jonathan. Why? Just because Jonathan cannot stop Boko Haram.

Let us  talk about insecurity. The first responsibility of government is the security of the people and they say, Jonathan has not been able to secure Nigerians. Somebody put fire on a house, moves outside and starts shouting: Fire! Fire!! Fire!!! Jonathan cannot stop this fire o! Whatever efforts that are made to put out the fire, it is burnt down. They go to another house and put another fire. After shouting many times, the people, gullible people begin to believe what is the opposite. Jonathan becomes the oppressor.

I want to explain what is happening. Now we had Ebola. Nigeria performed miracle on Ebola. With single minded commitment, we drove out Ebola. What do I mean? Nobody was siding Ebola. Nobody was sending text messages to Ebola bodies to show where our military are, or where they want to attack. The president, the minister, the doctors, all of us were committed to fighting Ebola. That cannot be said in the fight against Boko Haram. And the ‘born to rule’ group are the initiators, supporters, funders of Boko Haram. If you plan an  offensive, they leak it to Boko Haram, and you face the consequences. So, Jonathan has done marvelously in the context of the situation. People are alive today, healthy, walking the streets, saying with their own mouths that they would make the country ungovernable and from that proceeded all the sufferings we have in Nigeria. Whether it is unemployment, blood-letting, all the problems people say they are tired of, are the effects of ‘born to rule’ group not wanting Jonathan in power.

Some people are proposing Interim National Government because of the postponement of the election. Is it necessary? There are also speculations that PDP in order to beat or cage Buhari is considering adopting a younger person of Northern origin to run against Buhari. How possible are these?

There are many speculations. Many of them I can’t talk about. When we were going to the National Conference, I wrote a small paper. One small portion of it was where I asked a question that if the National Conference comes into conflict with the timetable for 2015 election, what do we do? I proposed that if there’s a threat to Nigeria’s survival as a result of the election, or as a result of the National Conference, let us secure the land before looking for the mat on which to lie. Securing the land is getting the constitutional framework, the structure of the nation right and then go into the elections. If there is peace, based on mutual understanding, equity, justice and fairness, then we can go and conduct elections without anybody hearing who is the candidate, and who is not.

Stabilize the economy of Nigeria, create conditions where people can trade and do business.  But they have to think about politics also. If you allow them to choose, they will choose peaceful environment for business and let any other person be president. So, I am not in support of  an Interim National Government at this time. And I fail to see the merit. But there is a persistent point from my earlier paper. The persistent point is that 2015 elections will scatter Nigeria, divide Nigeria, create doubts about the permanence of one Nigeria. Anything else is better. It’s at that stage that you can say, let’s have Interim Government. And if there is an Interim Government, there is no other way to do it. You just can’t get anybody to come and head the government. That is  coup. Let the governors, senators remain in place, the House of Representatives should remain in place. You give them a term, let’s say two years.

But the AGF said it is unconstitutional. Is it? 

I am talking about the death of Nigeria, and whatever can be done to revive it. Instead of Nigeria dying, you have a way to save it. I wouldn’t be a constitutional lawyer there. In that case, you can give them two years, and within the two years, the recommendations of the National Conference which most Nigerians accept as laying the foundation for a new and better Nigeria, should be implemented. Whether it’s through referendum, or whatever, the mandate of Interim Government should be to implement the 2014 National Conference resolutions  and give Nigeria a stable basis for existence, and give the permanence of one Nigeria a chance. So, the other wild idea about PDP changing this or that, I don’t know anything about that. I haven’t heard it from a source that will make me think seriously about it. You mentioned a possible coup? Well, God is available to everybody. The South South people have packed up, the Boko Haram people have packed up. They have jammed their storage of weaponry. Only the South East is still waiting. No ammunition, nothing. I don’t know anything about the South West. But God gave us something. The Igbo are the gift of God. Whatever we want to do, we do it to the best of our abilities and thoroughly. If there has to be a war now , we left before, after the pogrom but they forced us back, God help everybody. This country is one of the greatest created by God. Climate is excellent, material resources surplus, human resources, what don’t we have? Igbo, Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, Ijaw, all Nigerians, large and small groups have the greatest vested interest in the country. If we stop the idea of Christians wanting Christianity to dominate Nigeria, or Muslims wanting to Islamize Nigeria, (and this is a major problem) the country will stay and grow. This islamisation threat is a major problem. What I am saying is that the islamisaiton threat is beyond Nigeria. Western countries, whether they are now pulling out from it (because they know now that we know) are threatened. They believe that Nigeria cannot resist islamisation and that Islamic Nigeria with her population and location will make world ordering, or governance very difficult. The decision is that, it’s best to have Nigeria split up, so that it will not be too heavy in the comity of nations. That’s the origin of the prediction that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015. And of course, 2015 is an election year, and it was well calculated that there will be chaos. That was just wishful thinking. The US promised to help combat Boko Haram, but all of a sudden they chickened out, saying that we committed human rights abuses in a situation of emergency rule. There is emergency in the area, and you are saying that somebody is committing human rights abuse? What abuse did he commit? So, you can find that the Boko Haram is becoming an instrument in favour of those who don’t want Nigeria to remain together. And unfortunately, the core North, the Hausa/Fulani didn’t give rise to Nigeria. To begin with, it was the amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria protectorate that gave rise to Nigeria in 1914; to use the resources in the south to cover the deficit of the North in 1914. The core North is trying to create a situation that will disintegrate Nigeria.

But do you think that on a very credible platform of free, fair elections, Jonathan will beat Buhari?

On a fair and free platform, there will be no contest between Jonathan and Buhari. Number One, we know Buhari, we know his antecedents, we know what he has said with his mouth. Buhari terminated the democratically elected government of re-elected Shehu Shagari in 1983. Some people said that he did it to prevent Ekwueme from becoming the president of Nigeria after Shagari. For whatever reason for which he did it, he terminated a government chosen by the people. He performed illegal actions, killing people with retroactive legislation. He packed the late Umaru Dikko in a container, in a crate to bundle him home. Grave inhumanity. He collected all the leaders of Nigeria and put them in jail. He said with his mouth that Sharia will get to every home, every village, that a Muslim cannot vote for a Christian, that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North. So many things are wrong with the records of Buhari that the question is why should they want to inflict him on the nation? Therefore, in a free and fair election, and it is the electorate that will determine who wins, Buhari will have no votes.

If you look at Jonathan, it looks like he is not there. He doesn’t look very presidential, and very determined, and a courageous fighter. He adopts appeasement strategy in dealing with the North. Your core opponent has the Minister of Defence, National Security Adviser, Inspector General of Police, and now the Chief Judge of the Federation. I forgot to mention to you that in the minutes, you will find that the Northern Elders Forum, decided to select some people to go and talk to all Northern Judges. We discovered a comprehensive plan to rig the national elections by the Northern Elders Forum, and no human being born by woman can defeat the argument.

Let’s go to Jonathan. Jonathan went to school. We are not talking about getting school certificate or not. He made Second Class (Upper) in his first degree, did his masters degree and then a PhD, and became a lecturer. He is an intellectual. Nobody can fault his brain power.

Some groups of Nigerians, young ones, were treated as waste materials. They were called Almajiris. Today, there are more than 120 schools to convert the waste materials to development resources, because education is the basis of development resource in today’s world.

Jonathan built schools to change what is considered as waste materials to development manpower. Jonathan has without advertisement revolutionized agriculture in Nigeria. People don’t know, just like the APC has buried PDP and Jonathan with their propaganda. How can anybody describe Jonathan as clueless. Second Class Upper? Masters? PhD? Clueless? Something is missing. Ebullience is missing in Jonathan. Ebullience, fire eating are missing.  No president before Jonathan has achieved as much as Jonathan. Do you know that when people see the railways running, they think of something else. They don’t credit it to him, because APC says he did not do it. Power was so bad in Nigeria, before Jonathan summoned the guts to reform the power sector, such that any minute of darkness means loss of income to some private companies and nobody likes loss of income. So, as soon as they perfect distribution and production, you will find out that power returns life to the market. With PHCN, it was darkness.

Agricultural reforms, power reforms, industrial plants, employment. We had high unemployment, but look at the thinking that brought SURE – P. Do you know what SURE – P has done? Take away SURE – P in the South East, then there is problem. Just like his academic performance shows, his performance in projects in national development is high.

Who is in charge of this government? There are charges that Jonathan is not fully in charge; that a few other people are running the show.

Jonathan has some predilection to sticking to his decision and his friends. He brings you on to work in his government, he keeps you, and is reluctant to remove you, even when it can be demonstrated that you are of no use. This is even when some of these people are not working for his success. Look at the campaign now, it appears many people around him are looking for money. They take money; they organize up to 9,000 groups and these groups were given certificates and some of them were forced to register with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and with the PDP. They were asked to come for rallies. On their own, they paid their way, stayed in hotels at their own expense, and went home. They were then looking forward to when the campaign will start and will be mobilized. Now most of those people have not been mobilized and have become liabilities. It is very possible that they will turn to opposition. 4,000 co-ordinators of various groups met and sent a letter saying, you know we have been coming to Abuja on the auspices of Jonathan support group, and your promise was to prepare us for campaign. Now that there is campaign, they have forgotten us. People are coming with big money to us and we are resisting it. Well, I just told them if you know what is good for Nigeria, do it, irrespective of the treatment given to you by Jonathan’s people. Follow your mind. Look at Nigeria, who can advance Nigeria? The 2014 National Conference recommendations were lauded by Nigerians. They said it will form a new and better Nigeria. Who between Jonathan and Buhari will implement it?

You know that Buhari will never implement the conference resolution. The “born to rule” group will never allow that. The people who support Buhari – Hausa/Fulani Muslims- are bent on having Nigeria stay on this, because of the advantages they have over us. Even during the conference, you know what happened? They were raising all kinds of problems, imagining all kinds of leadership scenarios – third term agenda, fourth term agenda, this agenda, that agenda. But, because of maturity, the conference eventually ended peacefully with beautiful recommendations for everybody in Nigeria. Had it been that it has been implemented, things will be different. We the ones who are already in  our twilight, would like to see it implemented and then go, knowing that our children are in good hands. But if you leave this Nigeria the way it is, oh my God, you go back to the village and buy bullet and gun.

PDP is said to be panicky and sufficiently intimidated. How do you look at May 29, the official inauguration day?

I believe in the Almighty God in heaven. Jonathan, I see, from everything about him, from deputy governor, to governor, to vice president, to president, I see him as a tool in the hands of God. And he reveres God. He has faith in God. He trusts God. If you call him clueless he laughs at you. He knows the direction. Jonathan is a tool in the hands of God, to do God’s purpose. If Jonathan has furnished the purpose God wants him to achieve, he will go. If not, no man born of a woman, can take that office from him. That’s why I see, I look in the future and see Jonathan taking the oath of office for President, (2015 – 2019) because the way I feel, his tolerance of the weakness of man will continue to guide and rule this nation. I like what General Babangida did say the other day, that Nigeria is safe under Jonathan. This is because the way he reacts is like the ordained of God.

He even summons pastors, mallams and bishops and takes decisions based on communication with powers that be. You will see Jonathan being sworn in again. It’s the APC that is making it easy for Jonathan to come back, because God is using all of us, including me to bring him back.

The fact of bringing Buhari by APC makes it easy. Kwankwaso is a younger man and maybe there would have been trouble. The Speaker, Tambuwal, if he has been APC candidate, I tell you that we would have braced up for surprise. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, it has to be by the will of God. Fortunately, I have very good relationship with all of them. Buhari, Ango Abdullahi who is now becoming a northern irredentist, and Maitama Sule, who all of us worshipped as a ‘one Nigeria man’ is now becoming a northern irredentist. They know that what I am saying is what I feel to be true. This is the only truth, and nothing but the truth, and I am not saying we should condemn a person to let everybody know that God, who created us, gave us our lives to live, same way He will protect Nigeria.

What’s your panacea for the resolution of the post-election postponement crisis?

The postponement of the election was necessary. I am not in the social media to know what they are saying. The social media has been converted to a platform of propaganda. For me, there must be a drastic decision. Number one: Jega must go, because enough is enough. Number two: we should reconsider all the PVCs, TVCs (all the VCs) and junk them. We should find a way to make use of Option A4 – The option we used when Abiola was elected. We can modify it and use it. And then, set up a new INEC, which will within four years be able to do what can be done in six months. This present INEC was not able to be ready for presidential election in four years, and they never complained of being starved of funds. Nigerians must learn to obey the injunction to love their neighbors as themselves. Whether you love your religion, whoever you are, the law is love your neighbor as yourself. We must stop butchering human beings. Almighty God is Almighty. He can be with us, He can help us, but we cannot help Him. No person who has friends can kill another person, another child of God.

Just before I misinterpret situational injunctions, Mohammed the prophet of Allah made it clear that religion is not by compulsion. When it is to fight, you fight; until religion is freely practiced. If religion is freely practiced, what are you fighting?

Therefore, Jihad is a defensive operation, not offensive. If you read the Quran properly, you find that some people decide to choose situational injunctions and treat them as if they’re  permanent. After he was to go back to Mecca from Medina, they were resisted. What choice? Therefore, he preached for war. Give yourself to God for war. If you die there, you go to paradise. That was when the situation warranted it. The ordinary thing is fight until religion is really practiced. The ordinary thing is that religion is not by compulsion. This is Quran. In some circumstances, you hear cut his fingers, knock his head off. That’s also in the Quran. But the majority of Muslims are taking the peaceful aspect of Islam, and only a few are jumping into violence. Look at ISIS. Iraq is ninety something percent Muslim. What is ISIS doing there? Their own version of Islam? They believe that until the world is under Islamic government-sharia, they have not done their job. It’s not true. Mohammed didn’t mean that at all. Some of them don’t even like you reading Quran. But we read everything, and we see that some people are abusing their religion.

Beyond coup, Interim National Government, do you see Nigeria breaking up?

Allah, by God, by Chineke, Oluwa (by all the names you call God). God created Nigeria for a purpose. God used the instrumentality of British imperialism to create Nigeria, but not for the purpose of the British, but for the purpose of God. To provide the blackman; original sons and daughters of God, a big brother, and a rallying point to develop into a superpower. God gave Nigeria the impetus for industrialization and development, to wipe the faces of the black, wipe off slavery, put shame on slavery for the sake of the blacks. Today we are still ashamed that we were slaves. It is the job given to Nigeria by God to develop this country to match any superpower. And therefore, everybody should see the original sons and daughters of God as equal or even superior.  Americans are white; a German will argue that he is superior to the black. What happened was that God gave us good climate and we were “lazing” around, eating fruits everywhere, whereas the Europeans were in hot pipe race. They started to pick their steps from the hot pipes, and gradually they jammed the process of continued improvement, overtook us by far, and then looked back and said “are these human beings?” or are they half formed apes? They started buying us for their plantations, etc, until the Lord planted in the soul of some of them the repugnance of the act and we are now free again. Since the beginning, this is how human beings were ranked in the whole world. Number one – the Egyptians, number two – all other blacks, number three – Indians, number four – the blue eyed barbarians (the whites). Today, with technological development everything is upside-down. And we are ashamed. This is the manifest job of Nigeria to wipe off the shame of slavery from the face of all blacks. What that means is that Nigeria must remain one, because size counts in the comity of nations.

On endorsements, Obasanjo is said to be rooting for Buhari. What do you say?

Obasanjo didn’t have a good time with me. I was an adviser in his government. He was too much of a bully, and that’s not how it should go. He hated me for that, for telling him point blank that he does not know it all. Obasanjo has committed so many sins against humanity. I don’t think that he believes that either voters or candidates reckon with him. I don’t think he believes they have any effect on anybody. It is bad for a leader to be doing what he is doing. I don’t know what cult the military have. Even those who didn’t believe him before, they still pledge on  their lips the endorsement of Buhari. If they are Generals and military people, I think that was the temptation Obasanjo fell for. I think that having endorsed him, he is satisfied. Now, if he regards him, is another thing. Obasanjo was not that superstar, but he laid the foundation for the Nigeria we are having today, which is a Nigeria aspiring to be united and permanent.

The only thing left now is for Jonathan to win the election, minority from the south to win the election and the Muslim Hausa/Fulani will accept to be Nigerians with the rest of Nigerians and not arrogate to themselves ‘ born to rule’ psychosis. I was a governor of Anambra State. I gave Anambra State the title “Home for All”. My counterpart in Sokoto adopted “Born to Rule”. That’s where the phrase came from. They believed it before, but to be brazen enough to make it public is the problem. Islamization and ‘Born to Rule’; they must go. I will attack Islamization with brain power and holiness. I will attack ‘Born to Rule’ as I have done, appeal to them that they are not working in the long term interest of their people by seeking the break-up of Nigeria. People from the middle belt, some of them call to say  that if the south is going, they are joining the south. If Islamization is what you do to convert me with reason, and my mind goes for it, very good. But Islamization is by force convert or die. I beg you, those in the press, help Nigeria to survive. Don’t go to extremes. Pull back. Don’t advertise the wrong ideas. God gave us everything. Man is messing up everything, and the Nigerian man must stand up to be counted.

The crisis in Ohanaeze is getting messier. There is a leadership in place for two years now. Now, the council of elders have set up a caretaker committee. Which of the groups is legitimate?

There is no crisis in Ohanaeze outside of Jonathan, Buhari politics including those who are members of the Elders Council. We met in Enugu, when Uwaechue was president of Ohanaeze. Under him, they extended the term of office of Ohanaeze executive from two years to four years. All meaningful members of Ohanaeze were there, the youths, the women. Some people didn’t like it. In fact, some people went to court to say that the process of doing it was not legitimate. No court has pronounced support for them. Some people just got up and said their term had expired. Let’s set up a caretaker committee. There is no legitimate meeting of elders that I have not attended. I am an elder. I am 77 years old. If you are doing anything about Ohanaeze and I am not informed, you are lying. Money doesn’t shake me. Look at my life. People were blaming me for leaving so much money in Anambra State when I was leaving as governor. I didn’t take my salary for one day for all the time I served as governor of Anambra State.  And I had no security vote. I am just telling you. But some people fall for money. Because some small money was given to some people by Governor Rochas Okorocha and other APC people, they forgot the interest of their people and began to talk from both sides of their mouths. Indeed, there was one group that demanded to know what Jonathan had done for Ndigbo. Immediately I told them, they were making and circulating flyers. Have you ever had SGF, Chief of Army Staff before? Have you ever had Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Naval Staff simultaneously? They never had meaningful ministries. Now they have finance, coordinating the economy, health, power, aviation. I was present at most negotiations by the Igbo with Jonathan directly. I brought Mbazulike Amaechi to lead us in one of them; because I respect age and experience. Mbazulike Amaechi has legitimate grounds to be angry with Jonathan’s government. Such people are there. People who helped in 2011 and believe that they have been forgotten. All I said is think about the interest of your children and forget personal hurts. We demanded international airport, and got it. There are many things Jonathan did for Ndigbo that raised our pedigree. The President General of Ohanaeze, Igariway is the man who with great integrity leaked the stinking things happening in the Ohanaeze of his time. And that is why I support him. He revealed some not very clean happenings in Ohanaeze.

Like what?

There are some establishments that are supposed to be owned by Ohanaeze, but run by some groups of people,  not accounting to Ohanaeze. And even the people appointed by Ohanaeze to be members of the Board of Trustees were ignored. So, Igariway, who broke the news to some of us has enormous courage, and that was the most single reason we support his regime. You know people are gullible. This propaganda without conscience is killing us. The other day, somebody sent me a text that Jonathan gave Ohanaeze N5billion, and Iwuanyanwu got N300million out of it. That was my long time friend that sent it. Since then, I haven’t called him. They accused Igariway of all kinds of things. He accused them when he exposed those things. Igariway is clean. He may have a defect as a leader, but it doesn’t include fraudulent activities. You know, they blew up Ohanaeze secretariat. The objective of people doing this, I don’t know. They are allowing self interest to blind us to the interest of generations unborn. If you are  a genuine Ohanaeze man, you should be occupying the secretariat. Instead they hide in a hotel and issue communiqué.

BY CHIDI OBINECHE of Sunday Sun