Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko is the founder of Igbo Youth Movement, (IYM), Secretary, the Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA) and the Deputy Secretary, Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT). In this interview, he speaks on the plight of Nidigbo, the performance of the Bola Tinubu administration and the journey towards the 2027 elections
Are you satisfied with the state of affairs in the country today? The economy, the politics, the frightening insecurity?
Nigeria has a thousand problems, but I believe they are all solvable if we tell ourselves the truth and honestly approach the problems with sincerity. Our unitary structure is largely responsible for the horrific prebendalism and impunity which inspire corruption and mismanagement.
Its common knowledge, persistence, oppression, dichotomy and repression, sectarianism, sectionalism, injustice and inequity etc, inspire agitations and discontent. Religious and ethnic irredentism create violent insurrection, as can be seen in the North Eastern region.
One misguided governor from the NorthWest suddenly introduced religious law 25 years ago, and that set the country ablaze, costing thousands of lives and inspired Boko Haram. Ten-year olds at that time grew up believing him that their religion’s laws should be imposed on the country, taking away peaceful coexistence and stability, even as continuous stubborn opposition to restructuring the polity created fear of the future and loss of faith in the system amongst certain sections of the country as presently constituted, inspiring agitation for cessation.
These problems simply persist only because we obstinately refuse to accept the truth and sincerely address the root causes of these many man-made crises. The minute we agree to sincerely address these issues, our problems will disappear and the beauty, riches and greatness of this country will manifest.
Nigerians are hungry, angry and afraid to travel by road, due to insecurity, kidnappings and corruption ravaging the land, resentment everywhere…
I largely agree with you. Addressing the root causes, instead of scratching the symptoms of the problems, is actually the way to go. I’ve been in the trenches fighting for justice and equity for decades now and I know that the cabal holding Nigeria down and resisting positive change, are in the minority, but they are powerful, influential and very strong. They need to repent so Nigeria can be saved.
No angel will come from outside to save Nigeria. We must face reality and make sacrifices to jointly work for a new Nigeria anchored on true federalism and devolution of power. That’s the first thing we need to do and every other thing will fall in place. How do you rate President Bola Tinubu’s administration so far? And his second term chances?
Everybody knows that I deliberately refuse to take sides in political contests. I wish him and his opponents well. I rather choose to remain apolitical. I advise him to address corruption, insecurity, witch-hunting opponents and charges of nepotism and insensitivity to the plight of the very poor. I plead for real time relay of election results, fairness in appointments. The latest CBN appointments where his region alone got 70 per cent are wrong.
But I commend him on the courageous removal of the very injurious fuel subsidy, and the unholy dual currency exchange regime, which he unified, Nigerians are grateful for lower and reduced food prices, bringing down inflation and availability of fuel etc.
His courage is legendary, I admire his courage, but he should allow for a free and fair election to retain people’s confidence in the electoral process. I’m not working for or against any candidate or party. I pray for peaceful elections. I never join the usual madness and frenzy every election season.
My decades-old activism is built on advocacy for the infrastructural development of every region and the restructuring of Nigeria. My region craves to see a global standard Seaport, an international Airport with a functional Cargo wing, Railways, Dry Port/Container terminal and an industrial hub/ export processing zone/ international trade centre etc.
My people somehow believe My people somehow believe that this deliberately denied infrastructure will transform our zone. In fact, lack of these infrastructures actually inspires the loss of faith in the system that drives the regrettable agitation. I have no interest in individual politicians. I wish all of them well.
Ndigbo still insist on the presidency of Nigeria. Do they stand a chance now?
I sincerely don’t know. Twenty-five years ago, I mobilised students and we marched on the streets demanding Nigeria give Ndigbo a chance to govern the country for a season for equity.
But sadly, presently Ndigbo are not sitting well now. One of them packaged himself as a Messiah for last election and also for next year’s election, whilst others in the ruling political party are hoping to emerge as Vice President for 2031. So, you see that this reality means these two forces will work against the other, thereby cancelling each other. I don’t think Ndigbo are well positioned now. We stood a better chance in 2023.
My answer is that I don’t really know God’s plan for Ndigbo. We as Igbo people should think more about the development of Igboland. It seems our quest for the presidency unsettles our compatriots and scares them stiff.
We need to develop our region, improve on our relationship with our neighbours, and go out of our way to reassure fellow Nigerians that we are not angling to dominate anybody. We must accept the reality that our success in trade and commerce attracts envy and jealousy. We have to refrain from the current online cross-ethnic insults regardless of which side started it.
It generates enormous hate against us. We must address the reality that our quest for central power frightens other regions or at least make them uncomfortable.
We are usually misunderstood. We must imbibe humility and a meek spirit. Our quest for central power seems to have blinded us to the real need of developing our region. The presidency should not be our only priority now. It turns everyone against us.
Nigerians believe we are doing so well everywhere else and now we want political power as well. That to them suggests dominating them, even when I know that Ndigbo do not look to dominate anybody. They regrettably still believe Ndigbo desire to dominate the land. Again, the paid social media e-rats singing the praises of one politician while abuse in another to no end creates hate.
This online warfare worries me. The hate between Ndigbo and Northerners who call us drug traffickers, baby factory merchants, fake drugs manufacturers etc, while the Yoruba use unprintable adjectives on us and vice versa on Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter etc is dangerous.
WhatsApp groups deliberately established for ethnic warfare, where the minds of members of one ethnic group who dominate such WhatsApp groups, are constantly poisoned against another ethnic group who are the target for deliberate attacks, is wrong and frightening.
I fear where all these will lead to. It seems to get worse every election season. That’s exactly how Hutu versus Tutsi verbal exchanges of hate led to the horrific carnage 30 years ago in Rwanda. The ongoing online abuse is quite dangerous and must be discouraged.
Many people believe that Biafra agitators are the worst offenders – always attacking other people including moderate Igbo online. Calling them all sorts of names. How do you see this?
I condemn the online vitriolic and slurs and warfare regardless of who’s doing it. The agitators aren’t the only ones guilty. It’s really about the attempt to use social media to destroy the reputation of the other candidate and his people, thereby presenting your preferred candidate as a saint, angel and messiah. It’s wrong because most of the stuff there is false and unverified.
It’s very wrong calling a President (nasty names). It’s capable of offending his supporters and his people and making them eternal enemies. Also, those who abuse Ndigbo online, could actually be deliberately baiting Ndigbo to respond in order to blackmail Ndigbo and paint us hateful and reprehensible.
I plead God touches the heart of men and women of good who will rise up to do something to stem this hate. You must remember that the agitators you mentioned are being manipulated by unscrupulous politicians who use and exploit the grievances, anger and emotions of the agitators to drive their own political aspirations, relevance and popularity. Help me to plead with them to repent.
The agitators are victims of the Nigerian situation. Some smart fellow activated the agitation in 1999. Promising to give mostly naive and gullible young fellows a new country, where they will be treated with dignity, an El Dorado. They believed him and trusted him. It’s been 27 years now.
He mobilised ordinary people, mainly ignorant farmers, keke riders, bus drivers, bus conductors, apprentice traders, artisans, students and the unemployed, mostly youngsters, who usually make up the bulk of the agitators, making to believe that Nigeria will never treat them well, hyping their dream of another country where they’ll be treated well. Forming a critical mass, they terrified politicians who began to court them to use them to win elections.
Two decades ago, they broke the gates of Owerri Stadium, disrupted census head count, broke into Onitsha prison and freed inmates. Until a new leadership emerged using the airwaves to spread their gospel, becoming stronger. It’s the duty of leaders of the country to practically convince them that their region will be treated well moving forward. Deliberate effort should be made to restore their faith in the country.
I was asked by the South-East Governors to bring Nnamdi to a meeting to state his grievances on 30th August of 2017. The only meeting between Nnamdi Kanu and the South-East Governors. I pleaded with an elderly constitutional lawyer to lead the meeting and he graciously agreed.
Just before the meeting Nnamdi agreed in my sitting room to the roadmap Dr Alex Ekwueme advised. Which is to step down the agitation for cessation and stand on the demand for infrastructural development of the region and the restructuring of Nigeria along true federalism and power devolution.
That’s exactly what he presented at the meeting. But with a caveat to quit the agitation for 12 to 18 months to confirm if the authorities will begin the restructuring. But the President at the time didn’t like the demands and probably preferred crushing the agitation. I was at the meeting and I wept over the military invasion that eventually inspired the violent streak that started five years ago.
Before January 2021, the violent actions that changed everything hadn’t been introduced. Violence was introduced in January 2021 with an attack on Owerri Prison.
Very sad development and very wrong action. The four different centripetal and centrifugal forces pulling the region at the seams, each determined to have their way, must all repent and allow for resolution and closure. It’s been 27 years for crying out loud.
