Sen. Hope Uzodinma
The Senator representing Imo West at the National Assembly, Chief Hope Uzodinma has raised the alarm that the Igbo are losing out in Nigeria Political calculations, warning the Igbo nation on the grave danger in playing regional politics.
Uzodinma spoke in his home, Omuma in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State while playing host to some Igbo leaders from Imo state to a special meeting aimed at
defining the Igbo’s position in the Nigeria’s political equation.
According to him, the Igbo must put their thinking caps to use by re-examining the present political alignments in Nigeria towards repositioning South-East geo-political zone for the 2023 nation’s Presidency.
He said current political indicators in the nation point to the possibility of the South East region losing in 2019 political equation as experienced in 2015.
“Every right thinking Igbo man must be worried that the recently released Federal board appointments clearly indicate that the Igbo are losing out in federal political calculations. We must be conscious of the fact that other geo-political zones appear to be outsmarting us as they did in 2015.
“Right now they are positioning themselves as the strategic allies of the Northern political elite and they appear to be receiving favourable attention as reflected in the
federal board appointments”, the senator stated.
He said there was an urgent need for Igbo leaders to put on their thinking caps and re-examine their present political leaning which he believes will put Igbos at a grave disadvantage in 2019.
Continuing, Uzodinma said, “Let me be honest with you my brothers and sisters, I think we are putting ourselves in a disadvantaged political position, we need to re-strategise and quickly strike strategic alliance with our Northern political elite ahead of the 2019 elections so that what happened to us in 2015 will not be our lot in 2019.”
He insisted that unless an urgent step was taken to redress the evolving scenario, Igbos might find that in 2019, two planks in the Nigeria tripod would have succeeded in retiring Igbos from the nation’s political space adding: “such a development will spell a great tragedy for the Igbo nation and we cannot afford to face the consequences.
“I tell you my brothers and sisters we should grow above politics of region. We need a national platform to properly integrate our people into the national political grid. Let us forget the ugly events of the civil war and be part of a larger Nigeria. In the next four years, it is hoped that the North would have spent eight years in the presidency
and after that the presidency will come back to the South.
“May I once more remind you that Obasanjo from the South-West spent eight years as President, Jonathan from the South-south spent six years as President. The logic is therefore that in 2023 when the presidency is due to come back to the South, it will be the turn of the South-east to produce the president. We cannot toy with this great historic opportunity. We must be part of the ongoing concern (Project Nigeria). Mind you, you can only reap where you sow. A word is enough for the wise,” Uzodinma said.
