President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, says the turn of the Igbo to produce the president in 2023 is non-negotiable, noting that Nigeria’s federal system has been deliberately programmed to deprive the Igbo access to political power.
Chief Nwodo who disclosed this while appearing on a Channels Television program, the deliberate policy to alienate his people is borne out of a deliberate lack of will to accept the people of the south back as equal Nigerians after the civil war.
“There is a deliberate lack of will among the political class to accept the people of the South back on equal terms as Nigerians. It is not by accident that nobody from the South East heads the security apparatus in the country, not the army, not the police, not the air force, not the navy, not even the Road Safety Corps.
“It is a deliberate political manoeuvre intended by a conspiracy to punish the South East for going to war, a war that was precipitated by divisions by all Nigerians, not exclusively the South East,” he maintained.
Nwodo also decried the idea of bestowing so much power on the central while depriving the federating unit of their inalienable rights, thereby making them weak, adding that such a system is not workable.
“There is no federation in the world that works the way our own works. In political lexicography, the word federation is a union of different federating units who have donated some of their powers to federal structure. But what we have in the name of a federation in Nigeria is a strong central government that donates certain powers, very little powers to the federating units.
“That’s a misnomer. It’s neither our history. It’s neither our agreement. And the constitution is one imposed on us by a military administration. It is not autochthonous. There was no referendum for it. It was never approved. We are living on a quicksand.
“It got to be the free will of the federating units. You don’t throw a military junta into the constitution and force a style of government on the rest of the country. It will never endure.
He also threw in a word of caution, warning of dire consequences if things are not put right. “If it does not end in our generation, it will end in the generation of our children. And God forbid that it should move us to another civil war. And I am one of those who are opposed to anything that lead to a breakdown of law and order in our country, he explained.