Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and a presidential hopeful has disclosed what he will do to Igbos of the South-East should he become the leader of the country in the forth coming general election.
The publisher who is currently holding town hall meetings and consultations across the country over his political ambition said he is going to give the Igbos a sense of belonging by firstly apologizing on behalf of the country for the way they have been maltreated since the civil war ended.
Sowore stated this in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital on April 7, while addressing supporters who turned out to welcome him to the city.
“From the bottom of my heart, the Igbo man has not just be marginalised, the Igbo man has been trampled upon, their children killed, starved in the civil war and ever since then Nigeria has managed not to pay attention to Igboland,” he said while answering a question on how he hopes to manage the south-easterners and their Biafran mindset.
He continued: “But the Igbo man and his spirit has managed to built for himself the spirit that conquers the world. I will say to you that first and foremost when I become president I’m going to apologize to the Igbos on behalf of Nigeria”, he said amidst applause that greeted his response.
“But I won’t be like others, apology is not enough, there has to be a rapid economic development in Igboland. What they Igbo man needs is a road upon which to transport their goods, transportation, airport, seaport that can bring their goods anywhere and that is why I said with due respect I am not doing it for Nigeria alone, I am doing it for Africa.
“I am a pan-africanist, I want Nigeria’s playground to be Africa, but we cannot do it without integrating with other African countries. There is no reason why it should take four hours to cross from Benue Republic to Lagos just because we have corrupt custom officers and immigration officers. We have to bulldoze the wall there and put a highway that goes from Lagos first to Ghana and eventually to Senegal,” he said.
Sowore urged the youths to get ready to kick out the old generation out of power by ensuring they have their permanent voter cards.
He was recently told that for one to be the president of the country such an individual must first be a thief or be sponsored by one as the cost for presidential campaigns in Nigeria is in billions.
