Buhari, APC attack Okonjo-Iweala out of envy – Anakwe
Olusola Daniel
Chief Ozo Anakwe is the former President-General of defunct Onitsha Markets Amalgamated Traders Association (OMATA) and a chieftain of Ohaneze Ndigbo. In this interview with Alphonsus Eze, he bemoans the skewed appointments of President Muhammadu Buhari among other issues. Excerpts:
How do you assess the appointments of President Buhari so far?
Ndigbo have been vindicated by telling Nigerians not to vote Buhari because like leopard he won’t change his colour. The appointment by Buhari is indirectly driving the country dangerously to North versus South, which is dangerous for our country.
I am advising those who will participate in the election that will be organised by Buhari INEC chairman, Zakari to go to court because her appointment was illegal. You cannot beget legality from illegality. No election conducted by Zakari can stand.
Nigerian human right activists should remind Buhari that he has breached federal character and other constitutional principles. No Head of Government who want peace, unity and justice will make such appointments, without regard to public opinion. This is the same thing he did in 1983 that resulted in a palace coup that toppled him. I won’t be surprised if he soon starts clashing with the All Progressives Congress (APC). They will soon reject him.
We are now seeing what his colleagues saw in 1983. Can we still blame those who overthrew him? My advice to Ndigbo generally is not to accept any appointment from Buhari again if they have conscience. He has told them openly that contrary to his inauguration speech, he belongs to the North, not the South, particularly South East.
He favours 95 per cent from the North and five per cent from the South, whoever does not understand Buhari’s style of governance is not schooled in Nigeria politics. He will not intervene, when the North took speaker of House of Representatives and President of the Senate but intervened when House leader was involved.
What do these appointments portend for Ndigbo?
My advice is that Ndigbo should be careful so that there will no repeat of the past. In 1984 he seized a lot of Igbo people’s goods and those goods were auctioned by the Northern Custom officers led by former Governor of Kebbi state Adamu Aliero. Now he has appointed a military man as a custom Comptroller General, apparently in preparation for another round of seizure and anti Igbo policies. He has reversed the elevation of Alvan Ikoku College of Education to University of Education; stopped the construction of Niger Bridge. Igbos did not vote for Buhari because he is Hausa man, or Fulani but because of his anti-Igbo stance.
If it were Abubakar Umar, or even Atiku Abukar or any other, we will not have problem voting him. They will vote for them because of their antecedents. People like Ibrahim Babangida, even Alhaji Shehu Shagari and a lot of them will get the votes of Ndigbo. Igbo were afraid because in politics, it is dangerous to give power to your enemy and we have been vindicated. His grudge with Senate today is because an Igbo man, Ike Ekweremadu is the deputy senate president and his party is doing everything to remove him to please Buhari.
Where do we go from here?
We appeal to Northern elders and other prominent Nigerians to prevail on their son before he split the country by sending a high powered delegation to him to see the futility in what he is doing. I expect to hear from people like Edwin Clark, who has not thanked the Igbo for voting his kinsman massively. He kept quiet in the face of the insolence former President Jonathan has been receiving.
I also want to ask is it sycophancy or cowardice or compromise for Bayelsans who are changing camps from PDP to APC because their son lost election. If not, how can they abandon their brother so soon because he lost election? After all Igbo lost the war but did not abandon Ojukwu. Awolowo lost an election but Yoruba did not abandon him. Buhari has lost elections three times but Fulanis and Hausas did not abandon him.
What do make of Governor Adams Oshimhole’s constant attack on Jonathan and Dr. Okonjo Iweala?
I urge the people of the South-South not to count Oshiomhole as one of their leaders because he is the best sycophant they have produced since the inception of Nigeria. He is insulting Jonathan and Okonjo because of 75 million dollar loan he wanted, which I learnt Okonjo turned down because he did not follow due process.
What is your take on Buhari’s insistence on probing only Jonathan administration?
PDP has ruled Nigeria for 16 years. If he wants to probe he should probe PDP governments in the last 16 years otherwise he should carry on with his administration because Obasanjo’s salary and allowances cannot build university. He should tell Nigerians where he got money to build the Bells University. Also, former governors like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Raji Fashola and Rotimi Amechi if Buhari is sincere about fighting corruption.
If Nigeria still believes in justice, equity and fair play, Goodluck and Obasanjo should have declared their assets before and after their tenures. Buhari should have also declared his own publicly with his deputy in details and not the fake they announced after being doctored at the Code of Conduct Bureau. Instead of Buhari to tell Okonjo Iweala to continue managing the economy, out of envy, jealousy and ethnic sentiment they have been mounting campaign of calumny against the woman considered as a genius.
I am yet to see the person who will manage the economy more than the woman. Because they have seen it is difficult to manage the economy, they compelled CBN Governor to introduce retrogressive monetary policies. The same thing they did to Nnamdi Ozobia at Snake Island. Today, Snake Island that used to service and build ships has turned a ghost of its former self.
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