…Wants Ohanaeze, Arewa’s support for Dogara, Ndume

Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri

An Igbo political pressure group, Nzuko Igbo Bu Igbo, has maintained that the only way stability could be guaranteed in the already heated polity in the country is  to allow for the the emergence of a president of Middle Belt extraction.

The group said that its position is based on the fact that since independence, the Middle Belt have been short changed in the governance of the country, saying this is coupled with the fact that Middle Belt leaders have been at the vanguard of the restructuring of Nigeria even before it became a theme of national discourse.

It identified eight leaders from the region, whom it said are capable of piloting the affairs of the country in 2019.

Among those the group identified are Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu  Dogara, former Secretary to Plateau State Government, Prof. Shedrack Best, and Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher. Others are legal luminary, Joe Gadzama, Senator Ali Ndume , Dr. Dan Iya and a foremost Banker, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia.

The Igbo pressure group made their intention known  yesterday in a statement signed by co-conveners, Mazi Nwama Ibe and Mr. Okechukwu Onwubere.

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“In some parts of the country, the feelings of exclusion from the scheme of things is so palpable to the extent that some were forced to demand for sovereignty as exemplified by the agitations of some separatists groups,  like the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and other nationalistic agitations from many minority groups in Nigeria.

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“These myriad of problems prompted the suggestion in enlightened circles that the solution lies in restructuring Nigeria into eight regions and to return to the 1963 Federal constitution as was canvassed by a Jos-based Izu Umunna Cultural Association in an advertorial in The Sun Newspaper of 10 January 2018.

“It is a well known fact that restructuring of the polity to engender inclusiveness in governance is the DNA of the Middle Belt man or woman. It dates back to the days of the military governor of Old Plateau State, late CP Joseph Gomwalk, a University of Ibadan first class graduate of Zoology, who was reputed to have influenced the emergence of Benue Plateau State. Believing that the Northern Nigeria owned newspaper, ‘New Nigeria Newspaper’ was not giving adequate coverage to the Middle Belt, he established Nigerian Standard Newspaper.

“He pulled Benue Plateau out of Northern Nigeria Marketing Board to set up Benue Plateau Marketing Board. Fearing same of Ahmadu Bello University, he got his alma mater, University of Ibadan, to establish a campus in Jos that became the University of Jos. He broke away from Radio Television Kaduna and established Benue Plateau Television, the first colour TV in Africa.,” the group said.

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It further said that its conclusion was also based on the fact that since the major political parties have zoned the position of the president of Nigeria to Northern Nigeria in 2019, only a president of Middle Belt extraction could be trusted to solve the problems.

“It is no rocket science that he will have the political will to restructure the nation as it will dove-tail with the aspirations of his people, notwithstanding the part of the Middle belt he hails from,” the group said.

The group called on other Nigerians and groups like Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), and Yoruba Elders Forum among others to support the aspiration of Middle Belt in 2019 given the enormous sacrifice the region had made to the peace and development of Nigeria.