On behalf of the inalienable voices of young Igbo professionals at home and in diaspora who continue to bear the brunt of a blind, disgusting and terrible leadership and representation of the Igbo race, particularly at the centre of the Nigerian State, I wish to congratulate you Prof. George Obiozor, the president general elect of the Ohaneze-the highly rated Igbo Sociocultural organization, on your sweet victory at the recently concluded election at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, Imo State.
I do not envy you at this time and therefore earnestly pray for you to succeed. The enormity of the challenge ahead has never been mightier, the shoes Chief Nnia Nwodo the outgoing president is leaving behind will require no less a giant leg to match. Much more than ever, the need for the next Nigerian president of south east extraction has never been this extremely compelling.
Prof, I do not know how you intend to realize this bold ambition of Nigerian President of Igbo extraction, especially at a time the people of the area particularly those of the younger generation have not hidden their restlessness and sprouts of indisposition to accept anything less. It is no joke that the region desire this like the deer pants for water. Whether that is to be a one size fit all answer to the copious subsisting cases of glaring state denials in the land, perhaps that will be answered after 2023.
I have known you to be a consummate diplomat, I’m hoping this skill will be maximally deployed to bring Igbos together to achieve this and other onerous goals. I may not be sure of what may work in the 2023 Nigerian power equation especially as it concerns the politics, power grab and the restructuring crescendos of the new Nigeria, unequivocally consulted, conversed and logically merchandized especially by a coalition of the Ohaneze, Pandef, Afenifere and Middlebelt forum. However, I’m sufficiently sure that the only one thing that may not work which apparently you may have in excess is diplomacy. Unfortunately, the country is no respecter of diplomacy. In countless instances of the past, more attention has been given to agitation and power has been offered to assuage the pressure of agitation. With this in mind, your choice of a combination of approaches that must be top notch is non-negotiable.
Finally, if I heard well that members of a particular political party constituted the machinery that produce you as the new president general of Ohaneze, then I have my fears and will hope you don’t play the card of partisan politics, more so that of a certain political party to avoid an imminent hall of shame where most of the names mentioned are already stakeholders.
I wish you well on this exalted position and assure you of our prayers to liberate the Igbo chosen race.
Chrys Anyanwu
Executive Director, Global Advocacy for African Affairs