Igbo Presidency: Marginalisation Of S/East May Boomerang, Obasanjo Warns

Obasanjo was reacting to the criticisms he received after reports in some quarters purported him as calling for an Igbo presidency in 2019.  

The former president was quoted as saying that “Irrespective of the thinking of the people ahead of 2019, I personally think that South East should have a go at the Presidency too.”  

Mr. Obasanjo, in a recent interview with journalists, however, clarified that many misunderstood what he meant by that statement.  

He explained that he only likened the marginalisation of Igbos with the crisis being experienced in Southern part of Kaduna today.  

Obasanjo said that the crisis in Southern Kaduna had escalated because Nigerian leaders failed to attend to it on time.  

Speaking further, the ex-president noted that the Igbos haven’t been given a chance to rule Nigeria, hence their clamour for recognition must be taken care of to avoid the unforeseen.  

“Look, Christian Association of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter, came to see me here. They asked me to brief them on the situation in Southern Kaduna.  

“I have been briefed by Bishop Matthew Kukah who comes from that area. I have been briefed by General Martin-Luther Agwai who comes from that area. I gave them my own understanding of that issue.  

“I told them the Southern Kaduna issue is historical, cultural, religious and political. So if you now want to resolve the issue, you have to take all these issues together.  

“And I said the problem is when we fail to attend to something the time we’re supposed to attend to it and then it boomerangs on our face, then we don’t have anybody to blame.  

“I said, here in Ogun State, we have a bit of Southern Kaduna problem. I said since Ogun State was created, we have had four elected governors.  

“We have three senatorial districts —east, central and west. It has rotated between east and central. And I said west has not had a governor.  

“So I said I don’t know when you will get there, but if you don’t get there when you should get there and the west decides to go into agitation then you have yourself to blame.  

“I said the same with Nigeria; at independence we had a country of tripod. The north, the east and the west. The north, majority tribe is Hausa-Fulani. The east, majority tribe is Igbo. The west, majority tribe is Yoruba.  

“Hausa-Fulani in the north cannot complain. Yoruba, they cannot complain. Even those who didn’t vote for Obasanjo the first time, they had to accept later.  

“I said the Igbo haven’t had that chance. Now, we must be mindful, that we do not ignore that. That must be taken care of.

“That’s all,” Obasanjo said.