A factional Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, speaks with Mudiaga Affe on the split in the Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation and the clamour for Igbo president in 2023.

The drumbeat for the 2023 presidential election has already started, what direction do you think the pendulum should swing to?

Under the present situation in the country, the north is doing everything they can through heightened insecurity to see how they can retain power. They have also hijacked the party machinery in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Igbo people have been faithful to the course of the PDP in the last 20 years, unfortunately, the party seems to be reneging on the rotational principle between the north and the south, while its national chairman is saying anybody can contest in 2023.

In the APC constitution, the issue of the presidential election is open to anyone. There is no agreement on the rotational principle between the north and the south. We are of the view that power must rotate between the north and the south and when that happens, it is the south that will now decide where it will go- whether south-west, south-east or south-south.

If there is no power shift from the north to the south in 2023, there will be an increase in violence and this will portend grave danger to the unity of the country. However, I believe the pendulum is swinging towards having an Igbo president in 2023 because it is what will hold the unity of Nigeria.

What is your reaction to the belief in some quarters that the South-East hardly speak with one voice and may not stick to producing a candidate for the slot in 2023?

Let us not limit it to the south-east, we have Igbo people in the south-south and Benue State. However, the Igbo people have at various times risen to speak with one voice. From 1967 to 1970, Igbo spoke with one voice and during the June 12 struggle, Igbo took a stand to support M.K.O. Abiola and the Yoruba. Irrespective of the induced marginalisation in the country, some forces seem to be scuttling the yearning for an Igbo president.

In Imo State, for instance, there is a battle between the incumbent, Hope Uzodinma, and his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha. In Ebonyi, there is a battle between Dave Umahi and the former Senate President, Pius Anyim. While in Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is having issues with the anti-graft agency. In Rivers, Chibuike Amaechi and Governor Nyesom Wike are fighting. These are all eminently qualified Igbo people that can run for the presidency in 2023.

We believe that external forces may have taken advantage of this in-fighting to destabilise the yearning to be president and that is why you now hear of people thinking of a vice-presidential slot for the people. Those eyeing the vice-presidential slot have not shown the capacity to drive the presidential dream. But we are calling on Nigerians to make the yearning of an Igbo president come to reality as it will cement the unity of the country and kill the agitation for a Biafra nation.

If the Igbo presidency project fails in 2023, whether you give an Igbo man that vice-presidential ticket which many of the governors and ministers are eyeing, there will be political distancing for an Igbo man that accepts the post of a vice-president because we believe it is our turn to produce the president in the next general elections.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo seems to be having factional issues, how is this going to affect the 2023 presidential yearning of the Igbo?

In any organisation, there is bound to be a misunderstanding. What happened in Ohanaeze was that there were attempts by some politicians who have the vice-presidential ambition to hijack the organisation, which is the mouthpiece of the Igbo nation. However, notable Igbo leaders, both clerics and traditional, have waded in to see how they can bring all the warring factions together as one. As a faction, we are in support of that settlement move, but if the crisis in Ohanaeze continues, it will destroy the 2023 Igbo presidential move.

What is the primary cause of this division in Ohanaeze?

The constitution of the association was abused. The process that led to the emergence of the executives in the other splinter group did not follow the laid down constitutional requirement. The matter is, however, in court as we speak. So, I would not want to duel so much on it. But what I am trying to say is that the President-General and Secretary-General of the other group have some issues that border on the 2019 general elections.

No Igbo man should work against fellow Igbo man in 2023 presidential election – Group

One supported the PDP, while the other threw his weight behind the APC and that was the split that happened in Ohanaeze. What happened then is still affecting the group to date because the man that supported the PDP did not follow the constitutional requirement in setting up the electoral body that conducted the election. As I said, these issues are in two separate courts. However, there are attempts by some Christian leaders to settle the matter out of court and we believe it can work.

Are governors in the region playing any role to settle the dispute?

The governors are the political leaders and we believe that once the roles being played by the Christian leaders have gathered momentum, they (governors) will join hands with the traditional leaders to get the issue resolved.
What is your take on the issue of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) particularly that is in the news lately?

There had been attacks on police stations in nearly all the states in the south-east by hoodlums and the people have become apprehensive on what could be the outcome. Like you have the Amotekun in the south-west, the south-east governors opted for community policing, but the lack of uniformity has made that plan redundant. We constantly have clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the region and this may have given rise to the protection being offered by the ECN. As a group, we will support any process that will protect the Igbo from external aggression until the federal and state government finds a lasting solution to these attacks on our people.

So, what is your reaction to the clampdown on the activities of ECN by security operatives?

It was unfortunate that the Imo State Governor decided to use military action on our people. There is no record in the north where a governor has used the military to attack harmless citizens of his state. We condemn in totality the use of military actions against our people. There are other means the governor would have used to settle the perceived threat in Orlu instead of military action. That military action opened the dark wounds of the 1967 to 1970 civil war in the region. Governor Hope Uzodimma owes the Igbo nation an apology for doing that.

A former Niger Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, recently threw his weight behind the Biafra agitation, what is your reaction to this?

If the aspiration of our people is Biafra, all of us will come together (all stakeholders) and the Ndigbo will take a position. These splinter declarations of Biafra here and there is a sign for the north to bury their ambition in 2023 and support an Igbo man to become president. A president from the Igbo extraction will give us that fair sense of belonging. The declaration by Asari Dokubo is a call for an Igbo man to be the next president of Nigeria.