By Abuchi Onwumelu
The Catholic bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, says that the Igbo deserve to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023 because they are part and parcel of the country.
Bishop Ezeokafor who stated this at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Awka, observed that the Igbo was the only major tribe that had not produced the president of the country since the return to the current democratic dispensation, adding that for the sake of equity, other Nigerians should allow the Igbo to produce the next president.
He said: ‘Igbo, as a major ethnic group in the country, deserve to produce the president in 2023. The Hausa man had taken and taken again, the Yoruba man had taken and the South-South man had taken. I think that in fairness, the Igbo should take it the next time around.
‘Some people might be thinking that the Igbo presidency is a privilege, but it is not. It is their right and for justice and equity, the Igbo should occupy that position, otherwise, agitations and frictions will continue in the country.
‘It is because of this unfair treatment that some groups are complaining as they feel their people are marginalized and are not given due recognition in the arrangement called Nigeria.
‘Truly, these groups are not complaining about nothing. If we take Nigeria as one country, an Igbo should be the president in 2023; otherwise, we should go back to the regional system,’ he said.
Bishop Ezeokafor also spoke on the security of the country, arguing that it would appear that some people were feeding fat on the insecurity situation in many parts of the country.
He said that since it had become obvious that those in charge of security were not doing their work to the satisfaction of Nigerians, the best option was for them to quit as nobody was indispensable.
According to him, the situation where kidnapping and banditry had become routine in many states of the federation was not acceptable. He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to do something about the situation.
