Respected elder statesman and Nigeria’s First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, has told the Nigerian government to include Referendum to the constitution and let it be conducted to determine Igbos’ fate in Nigeria.
Amechi was reacting following the alleged plot for former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu to succeed President Buhari, while the party has been promised to shift power to South-East (Igbo land).
He also noted that the moves to scheme out the Igbo in the 2023 electoral calculations were reminiscent of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s collaboration with the northern military regime in the aftermath of the aborted implementation of the Aburi Accord between General Yakubu Gowon and the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
“What Saraki said is obvious because those who follow the politics of Nigeria know that it is the game that is going on now. We are not surprised. The Igbo have been neglected and not seen as part of the federation of Nigeria, but as slaves in the country.
“I have read in the papers that the military is going to launch Operation Python Dance 3 in Igbo land alone. If they don’t want the Igbo in Nigeria, let the people of the North and the West say they don’t want the Igbo again in Nigeria and Igbo will go their way. We are not equal partners in the federation and the earlier they conduct a plebiscite the better for us, so that the Igbo can go. And that is where the case of the IPOB is justified.
“We are not begging to remain in Nigeria. Let them allow plebiscite in Igbo land and Igbo will decide whether they will continue to be part of this nonsense or not.
“In my own point of view, which is the general point of view, Buhari should be contented with one tenure. He should not contest in 2019. Somebody from the North should contest for the remaining second tenure to enable the North serve out two tenures. Then after that somebody from Igbo land should contest for the presidency in 2023 and should be supported to become the president. Equity, justice and fairness demand that.
“It was the same thing that Chief Obafemi Awolowo did, he hated the Igbo all his life. He fought the civil war against the Igbo and when the war ended he came up with the idea that every Igbo man should be allowed only 20 pounds no matter what he had in the bank when he was the Minister for Economic Development and a member of the federal executive council.
“The Igbo begged him to reverse the policy to no avail. Not only that, it was Awolowo who advised the Federal Government that starvation was the best instrument of war. So, we are pained to remember that,” he said.
