The founder/ president of the Igbo Youth Movement, Mr. Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, has reiterated the need to restructure Nigeria, saying that the 1999 constitution won’t take the country to its desired destination.
Mr. Ugochukwu-Uko made the call during an interview with newsmen on Tuesday. Below are the excerpts of the interview:
You seem to have chosen to lie low for sometime sir. Since before and after the elections you have been very quiet. The South East has been in the news for all kinds of reasons. What’s your take sir on the political climate today.
I deliberately stay away from partisan politics, elections and contests for power, I choose to stick to the real issues. Desire and struggle for political power do not solve problems, it rather creates more problems. In my experience spanning several decades, I regrettably realized that our people are easily carried away, swayed and blinded by allure and promises of power that they seem to loose their senses.
Easily deceived and manipulated and taken along unreasonable, unrealistic and unhelpful paths. I rather choose to remain consistent in my commitment to truth and a better country for all, regardless which political party or leader emerges victorious in the elections.
I choose to remain committed to my advocacy for the return to true federalism and power devolution, as that is at the heart of our problems as a country. I cannot be seen at my age jumping up and down shouting Atikulated, Batified, Obidient or Kwankwasiya. I’ve seen many election cycles that I should know better than to allow my self distractions.
I usually allow politicians and their supporters do their thing. The most important thing in the life of this country is not which party won elections, or from what region the President hails from etc, but the urgent need to save the country and set it on the path to genuine growth and greatness by agreeing on a fair and just article of association, if you will. A consensual agreement on how to live together, a new grundnorm anchored on justice, equity and level playing field for all. A restructuring of the polity, anchored on true federalism and power devolution. The enormous powers at the centre should be whittled and more power granted the federating units. That has been central to my activism for decades now.
Added to this, is my consistent cry for 24 years that the deliberate neglect of the Eastern region by successful central Governments is unhealthy and unhelpful. A policy of affirmative action to consciously address infrastructural deficit in the region will calm frayed nerves and give the people of the region a sense of belonging. There’s no functional International Airport in my region, no railway services, no Seaport, etc. People of the region rightly or wrongly believe that could be deliberate, because of the war that ended 53 years ago. They are forced to migrate to other regions and lead in external migration. Indisputable evidence abound that the region has not been fairly treated.
I also raise my voice to present the truth that the agitation has been terribly mishandled and engaging the agitators directly remain the way to go. I have no interest whatsoever in who is Senator, Governor or President. I remain consistent through the grace of God over the decades. Politicians who struggled to turn me into a praise singer regretted their experiment. Is the advocacy for restructuring Nigeria loosing steam? Not much is heard about restructuring Nigeria these days.
The truth remains the truth regardless of how much people talk about the truth or not. Nigeria will make greater progress and experience faster growth and advancement when we face reality and address the structural issues dragging us behind. The unitary 1999 constitution designed by the military won’t take this country to the Promised Land. President Tinubu himself knows that. Our politicians know that.
Devolving power to the federating units will positively transform Nigeria and release our energies towards attainment of our full potentials. That is the truth. We should face reality and save the future generations of embarrassment. Our huge debt burden, our untapped solid minerals, our ever-growing population, our near total dependence on oil and the reality that fossil fuel is getting out of fashion, unemployment and social and economic challenges ravaging the land, all make it imperative that we face reality.
The agitation in the South East has gotten messy. Stay at home phenomenon, insecurity and all. How did we get here? Ralph Uwazurike founded MASSOB in September 1999, with less than a hundred random young men at Ajidedidun Street Agulejika Lagos. When he visited me at my Ikeja office a few weeks later to help him appear on Television, something Jika Attoh of AIT did for him after I introduced them to each other, he told me the membership has grown into thousands.
They grew in size and strength over the years in spite of the onslaught against them. Ralph was upstaged by Nnamdi and they grew stronger and bigger. From 1999 till date, they have not been invited to a dialogue and the root cause is still feeding the frustration and the agitation.
From a few thousands to several millions and then the ability to paralyze the entire region simply means that whatever strategy that was adopted to contain the agitation only grew the agitation instead. The need to appraise and review the strategy of containment cannot be over emphasised. The agitators should have been listened to, their grievances collated. Error of judgement is responsible for the mess.
I co-arrangged the meeting between Nnamdi Kanu and the South East Governors on 30th August 2017.
At that meeting Nnamdi stated that power devolution and infrastructural development were central to the frustration that inspired the agitation. He pleaded for the restructuring of Nigeria and demanded for core infrastructural development of the East, Seaport, International Airport, railway services etc as the condition for closure and resolution of the agitation. He also said that his demands are not absolute, meaning that he is open to further negotiations. I was at the meeting.
The problem is that the authorities seem uninterested in identifying and addressing the foundational root cause of the agitation. The underlying causes that inspired the agitation has not been addressed. Focus has been on the fall-outs of the agitation for the past 24 years, instead of the root causes.
Source: News Band
