From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Chief Dikivie Ikiogha is a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and long standing political associate of former President Goodluck Jonathan. He is the Chairman of an advocacy group championing a single term for a South- south Presidency come 2023.
Ikiogha in this interview justified the agitation for a South-south Presidency on the premise that the geo-political zone was pushed out of power when Jonathan was defeated in the 2015 presidential election.
According to him, Nigeria owes the South-south region one term of four years to complete the eight years due the region.
He argued that a single term of four years by South-south in 2023 and another eight years of North from 2027-2035 would make the North and South have an equal number of years at the helm of affairs beginning from 1999. Excerpts:
What is the South-south 2023 Presidency all about?
South-south Presidency 2023 is an advocacy group saying that it is still the turn of the South-south to produce the president of Nigeria. This is based on the fact that we were pushed out of power. We were not allowed to complete our tenure. It is an injustice. And for fair play and justice we should be given the chance to finish our tenure. We all agitated that there should be a rotational presidency and we are saying that any political party that zoned its presidential ticket to the South, which of course, is almost there, should be micro-zoned to the South-south. This is because the Southwest has done their turn. Eight years of Obasanjo and another eight years as Vice President. Yes the Southeast has not tasted, but South-south only did only a tenure and a tenure is not a full term given to each candidate. Buhari would be completing his eight years in 2023. So what offence have we committed that we should not be given the opportunity to complete our eight years. Yes the nation owes us four years and as it is today, the nation is full of suspicions. There is disunity in the country. If there is disunity, it is only by allowing us to complete our years that we can have unity. Right now the North is agitating that by 2023, the South would have been president for 14 years while they are just 10 years, so to balance that equation, one term to be given to the South-south. If by any means, the South-south people do not want Goodluck Jonathan, it is the decision of the people to make and present another person to do four years and not eight years. Eight years for a Southern politician would complicate that equation. So, after we would have finished our years, the South would have ruled for 18 years, then the North would take over to rule for another eight years to balance the equation before power returns to the South again. Yes, a time would come that we shall talk about merit, but as of today, in the geo-political zones, we have competent people that can rule this country, But we are talking that as of today, this country should be packaged so that there should be unity. That zone that can bring unity is the South-south
Why is it only South-south that can bring unity?
South-south can bring unity because we are not a force, a total bloc that can be reckoned with to disintegrate this country. We are a force that has brought unity in this country. What is obtained in our environment, if it were in other zones, this country would have split long ago. So the economy of this country is what is holding it together, the only group that is doing that is the South-south. And nobody cries because we push it out for everybody to share. So, they should allow us to do what is necessary in this country.
It has been suggested that the direction of the Southeast should be looked at in the search for the next president, don’t you buy this too?
No doubt about that, the answer is yes. But what we are saying is that when we agree that the Igbo man should be president, whether he is going to do anything, nobody cares, they would rely on us for maximum support, why is that when your brother was there, you pretended as if you gave him maximum support but at the same time helped in pushing the man out. Now you say you want the power, what of the man you inflicted with injuries. What about that man, why not settle him before coming out?
In essence you are saying Southeast should suspend its agitation?
Southeast should allow us the South-south to complete our tenure for the brotherhood to continue.
Do you think the North can trust the South-south for the presidency?
If they don’t trust, then they are not politically conscious of what is happening in this country. Politicians in the North would support the agitation of the South-south because they are safer with us. We have long advised all the political parties and advised the South-south politicians not to accept the position of the chairmanship of any political party or vice presidential candidate. And that we have the political know-how to mobilize ourselves against a political party or politician that acts contrary. Any party that does that should discount the votes of the South-south. And it is working.
What qualities does ex-President Jonathan have that can make him go back to Aso Rock?
The answer to this question is too obvious. Few days ago there was a documentary on AIT and, of course, if you see the standard of Goodluck, you would see that most of the things that we are still doing are traced to his administration. For instance, he said he would use technology to fight corruption, and people laughed at him then. But today just two out of the lot he tried to propose which the present administration is using is working wonders. For instance, the Single Treasury Account (TSA) and the BVN, just these two are fighting corruption. We should be able to encourage good leaders and be good supporters to good leaders. That is what is wrong in this country.
But some South-south leaders are campaigning for a Northerner to take over in 2023, is this not counterproductive to the objective of your group?
Ye, there are some prominent politicians in PDP and other political parties eyeing the vice president seat, but they have just one vote. Yes they may be influential at their own level, but they have just one vote. They may be supporting a Northerner for personal reasons, we are saying let them come and when the chips are down, they would see what would happen.
Nigeria is in bad shape with insecurity and economic crisis, what would a Goodluck Jonathan presidency do to reverse the trend?
Let me make it clear, Goodluck has not even accepted to run in 2023. He has not accepted. Our group is an advocacy group and we are meeting leaders of the South-south and people we are hearing that they want to contest. We meet them and seek their opinion. It is not only Goodluck we have met, we have met several people, several potential aspirants that we are hearing want to contest. We have met several of them, why is it only Goodluck’s own that attracted attention. That is to tell you that the man has special qualities that people are afraid of . We went to several places and in some cases slept for two weeks, meeting leaders, nobody came out with any publication, no noise, why is Goodluck’s own different, that people are saying he has accepted to run. By the way our group is non-partisan. We don’t belong to any political party. Although we are members, we don’t support any political party. If today Goodluck accepts and he is still a member of PDP, and PDP also accepts to present him, all of even those in APC would join to work for him because our point is that we need a candidate from South-south that would be prepared to go and do that four years. We don’t want to complicate matters because we are for peace. So we just want a candidate, if it is a fresh candidate so be it. The likes of Akpabio, Amaechi and Timipre Sylva, if they accept to do one term and ask for support we are going to support them. Goodluck has not even accepted to run so the question whether he would be able to revamp the economy and solve the security issues does not arise now. Until when he accepts, then if those questions come we would answer them?
This your single term for the South you are championing, don’t you think it is unfair that after eight years of President Buhari, a Southerner would go and spend just four years and power would rotate back to the North again?
Singapore was able to come up the way it came up because of the long term it gave to its leader. The leader did well and nobody was thinking about electing another person. They just kept the man because the country was moving. In Nigeria, we don’t have the patience; the leader must do everything in one day. It is not like that. I trust Buhari because he said the next President would be a person to continue from where he has stopped to take the country ahead. When you talk about four years, look at it this way, four years of an experienced person is better than eight years of someone coming to learn governance and handle Nigeria. The late Obafemi Awolowo was praying to be Nigeria’s president for just a few days to change the country. Look, the National Assembly is there. There are many laws that can be implemented. An experienced president would start working from the first day. He would appoint ministers and every other person. Remember when Goodluck was in power, he even suggested that there should be a tenure for six years for anybody that is going to rule in this country. He said that is even better than the eight years of two terms. The man came and saw what we did not see and people who saw what he saw did not allow him because of greed and selfishness. And most of us were ignorant and we just followed those people. That is how we found ourselves in where we are today. But God has not forgotten this country. Our group is an advocacy group, and we have met several people. For more than one year we have been operating, but just one visit in a year to Goodluck, the story was everywhere. There is no place that we have visited that we have not had support, the least is even from Goodluck. We are campaigning for a South-south person, but we have not known the person. We know where the sponsored story is coming from. They are just jittery, let them stand firm. We are saying it till tomorrow that we need a president from South- south. We are Southern brothers and we should do what is right and fair to each other, otherwise there is no need to call ourselves brothers. You cannot be using me and when it is my turn you say I am not good enough to push me out. I have been told offices are being opened and formed in the South- south, they are just joking, when the time comes and you are not supporting South-south, we also know what to do at that time.