Former Lagos State chairman of
the defunct African Renaissance Party, ARP, and a chieftain of the All
Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Charles Udo Udeogaranya, has called on other
ethnic groups in Nigeria to support Igbo presidency come 2019.
He however declared his intention to run for presidency in 2019, noting that ceding the position to the Igbos would douse tension in the land.
Udeogaranya said the Igbos no
longer have to wait to produce the president of the country, 50 years after the
end of the civil war.
He stressed that allowing the
South East take a shot at the presidency “is an action that will speak louder
than words if the post civil war policy of reconciliation, rehabilitation and
reconstruction implemented by the Gen. Yakubu Gowon regime should be retained.”
Udeogaranya, who spoke during an
interview session with journalists, yesterday, in Lagos, added that if the
South East produces the president, Nigerians would begin to believe that there
is no first class or second class citizen in the country.
He lamented the state of affairs
in the country, saying: “The nation seems to be clamouring for a young
president. If you seek the opinion of majority of Nigerians, President Muhammadu
Buhari has given his best, but Nigerians are clamouring for more. President
Buhari had said he would have wished the presidency came to him at a better
time than this. In other words, the President underscores the need for
youthfulness at the presidential level in delivering the kind of quality
leadership that Nigerians are yearning for.”
“This is my personal interpretation and I am
not trying to impose it on him. But my import from it is that a young Nigerian
should take over the leadership of the country.”
Udeogaranya faulted calls for the
restructuring of the country, stressing that the problem bedeviling the nation
has nothing to do with its structure but with the leadership.
He said: “I have listened to various arguments
for restructuring and my word to the agitators is this; the problem with
Nigeria is not the system, it has to do with the operators of the system. Some
are saying we should go back to the parliamentary system, but they simply forget
that we have practiced it before and it failed.
“Some say it is the military that suits us;
but they seem to forget that we have had several of them and it wasn’t as
welcome as it should be. Some are saying we should go back to regionalism, but
we were in regions before and that also failed.
“So, the
problem with Nigeria has nothing to do with restructuring the country but more
to do with constitutional amendments”, he stressed.
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When Obasanjo made the suggestion not long ago some thoughtless fools amongst you balked at him.
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