Blunt, vocal and determined, award winning director DicksonIroegbu has become a leading voice in the call for power shift to south eastNigeria. In this interview with Uzor Ngoladi, he further bares his mind on the
impending doom that will befall Nigeria as an entity if the clarion call is notheeded in 2023. Excerpts:Many pressure groups are agitating for a president ofsouth east extraction come 2023. Don’t you think is premature?
We want power to move around the six geopoliticalzones of Nigeria. It is the turn of the south east to lead Nigeria. The truthof the matter is that our case is like a pregnancy. When it is due for thechild to be born, the child should come out naturally. If there is anythingabnormal that will make the child not to come out when it is due, the mother ofthe child will definitely be seen as abnormal. Nigeria as a country is abnormaltoday because of the level of injustices that has been meted out to the south easternpart of the country. 2023 is actually the only available opportunity for Nigeriato redeem her image as it affects the south eastern part of Nigeria. After thecivil war, we said ‘no victor, no vanquished’. How has that been applied as itaffects the south easterners? You will agree with me that the south easterners havenot been reconciled to mainstream Nigerian political system. 2023 provides usopportunity to do that. If we miss it, then people who are holding extremeposition about Nigeria will be justified. If we are denied our rightfulposition to preside over Nigeria in 2023, I am sorry to say that Nigeria may nolonger exist. That’s about it. You can’t keep pushing people to the extreme andexpect them not to react. Dr Nwodo just granted an interview about this samematter. He clearly stated that the elites of eastern part of Nigeria will havesympathy towards Nnamdi Kanu’s struggle if we are denied presidency. Nnamdi Kanuhas continued to say that there is no place for us in Nigeria. But we keeptelling him to give us a chance in Nigeria. 2023 is the deciding factor. Everysouthern will reconsider the relationship that brought us together as a countryif we don’t take a shot at the presidency. Nigeria’s amalgamation happenedwithout consultation with the Nigerian people. There is urgent need toreintegrate the south easterners into the mainstream political structure ofNigeria in 2023. If this is not done, Nigeria will come to an end. There areprominent south easterners who are being singled out to preside over thisnation. We have Peter Obi on our minds because everybody knows that we requirea prudent leadership to save Nigeria. Without prudent management of theresources of Nigeria, we are in a mess as a country. Nigeria needs Peter Obiright now because Buhari’s government has battered Nigeria. There is nodirection. The economy is comatose. The nepotism style of governance hasdivided the country. The government agencies are fighting each other. We needPeter Obi who has the experience and knows what to do on arrival. Power mustshift to the eastern part of Nigeria and Peter Obi is equal to the task in 2023.
Governor El Rufai has added his voice to thisagitation. Do you think he is being sincere or just playing to the gallery?
El Rufai wants power to shift to the south but he didnot narrow it down to the south east. He is just re-echoing what they have intheir constitution in APC. For them, power should rotate between north andsouth. We have gone beyond that north and south approach to governance. We havesix geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It was discussed during the 1995 Abachaconstitutional conference. El Rufai should first of all realize that Nigeriahas come of age. Those who were born in 1999 during the birth of this democracyare now adults. The information we have is that El Rufai is part of the northernvoices that has continued to fan the embers of division, conflicts and violence.Look at the level of violence in his state. Look at southern Kaduna. I expectEl Rufai to be specific and make it clear that power must shift to southeastern Nigeria. He should call a spade, a spade and declare that an Igbo mustbecome president. If an Igbo man says it, it is misunderstood. There is thispalpable fear when an igbo man is mentioned. He should stop playing selfishpolitics. If you look at it clearly, he is positioning himself to become vicepresident. The rumour is rife that he will be running on a joint ticket withRotimi Amaechi. El Rufai should be truthful to himself and put Nigeria’sinterest first.
Bola Tinubu is also rumoured to be nursingpresidential ambition?
All Nigerians are constitutionally qualified tocontest for presidency. It is the right of every Nigerian to aspire forleadership but Nigeria is a peculiar nation. We must be deliberate about how weplay politics. If the likes of Bola Tinubu who everyone agrees succeeded inbuilding a political structure in south west with which he often negotiateswith powers that be, for the interest of Nigeria he should shelve his selfishambition. The south west has had eight years of presidency. The south west isabout to finish eight years of vice presidency. What does Tinubu want? What isthis greed for power? Lagos is already in his pocket. Beyond the zoningformula, Tinubu is not a character that I will personally want to have as apresident of Nigeria. Tinubu is a greedy man and a kleptomaniac. I sincerelythink that his ambition exposes his greed for power and wealth which he alreadyhas. Tinubu is a tribalist and will be worse than Buhari as a president. Bynow, Tinubu is supposed to start shopping for an Igbo president in APC where heis the national leader. Ogbonnaya Onu is a member of APC. Will you say he isnot qualified to lead this country? We have enough Igbos in APC that can leadNigeria. Tinubu should not allow ambition to becloud him from good reasoning.He should learn from MKO Abiola’s experience.
How would you react to the crisis in Edo State?
Tinubu is the national leader of APC. Of course, he isdirectly involved in what is happening in Edo state. It is all about 2023. How canyou disqualify a sitting governor that has served for four years based onallegations of certificate forgery? They just want to grab Edo state by allmeans. Edo is very important to them but unfortunately Edo State is not Lagos.My only advice to Edo people is that Nigerians are with them. Let the electionsnot be violent. Choose your leaders by yourselves not by godfathers. Godfatherismwas abolished by Adams Oshiomole, Godwin Obaseki is continuing in the vision tokill godfatherism. It does not matter whether the godfather is Adams Oshiomoleor Bola Tinubu. Godfatherism should be totally eradicated in Nigeria because ithas not paid us. The violence we experience during elections in Nigeria is caused
by godfathers. That is the truth.