Igbo Presidency, The North Holds The Ace— Ike Ekweremadu

<p><em>Igbo presidency which is gathering momentum ahead 2023 general election is dependent largely on the cooperation of the north<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that a former Deputy President of the Senate&comma; Dr&period; Ike Ekweremadu&comma; has weighed in on calls for Igbo <strong>Presidency<&sol;strong> in 2023 and the possibility of ceding the presidential tickets of the major political parties to the South East&comma; saying while it is possible to have a president of Igbo extraction in 2023&comma; the zone must engage the northern part of the country in dialogue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This was as he tasked the Federal Government on the need to devolve power to the states&comma; saying with the increasing wave of insecurity as well as serious economic challenges&comma; it has become expedient to so do&period; Ekweremadu&comma; who still represents <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Enugu West Senatorial District<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&comma; gave the advice on Wednesday in Abuja at a book presentation titled&colon; <strong>&OpenCurlyQuote;Pitch&colon; Debunking Marketing’s Strongest Myths’&comma;<&sol;strong> authored by brands strategist&comma; <strong>Ikem Okuhu<&sol;strong>&period; According to him&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;there is clamour for Igbo presidency today&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>And I believe it can only be realized if we engage ourselves in conversation with northern Nigeria to buy into our initiative”&period; The senator also pooh-poohed the Federal Government over the current economic downturn and increasing cases of banditry as well as kidnapping&comma; accusing it of vehemently acting tone-deaf to the numerous well-thought-out solutions being proffered by patriotic Nigerians&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He lamented that democracy which was supposed to be a people-centered model of government has been so bastardized by some politicians who tend to distance themselves from the people once they are elected into offices&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<em>Today&comma; Nigeria is in the full grip of widespread insecurity- insurgency&comma; banditry&comma; abductions&comma; armed robbery&comma; and all manner of violent crimes&period; Nigerians have been offering solutions towards taming the rising wave of criminality&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These include calls for decentralised policing&comma; which I am a proponent of and also have a Bill to that effect currently before the Senate&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Unfortunately&comma; it appears the government is bent on doing the same thing over and over but ironically hoping to get a different result&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In the same manner&comma; many Nigerians&comma; including yours sincerely&comma; have been shouting it on the rooftops long before the current economic downturn occasioned by drastic and protracted decline in oil revenues&comma; that the days of high oil revenues were numbered&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<em>The West and other developed nations are setting targets to move away from oil&period; Yet we are not even close to activating other abundant sources of income because our federalism is wired for wealth sharing rather than wealth creation&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Even in the 7th National Assembly when we listened to the yearnings of Nigerians to amend the constitution to devolve aviation&comma; power&comma; railway&comma; etc&period; from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List&comma; it was never assented by the Presidency&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Now that the chicken has come home to roost&comma; let us hope that the Federal Government will listen to the voices of reason&comma; devolve powers&comma; and not continue with the micromanagement of the nation’s resources<&sol;em>”&comma; he stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On building national cohesion&comma; Ekweremadu said&colon; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nigeria is now divided as never before&period; The chasms are increasing by the day&period; Elder statesmen and women&comma; writers&comma; and other well-meaning Nigerians have continued to raise the alarm that the nation is drifting apart&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They have equally continued to proffer suggestions on how we can engender national cohesion&comma; justice&comma; and equity&period; We will continue to pray that the government heeds their patriotic calls and suggestions&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While he called for the expansion of the scope of the referendum in the 1999 Constitution and use of public hearing in the appropriation process&comma; Ekweremadu also recommended the Enugu State Government’s Visit Every Community &lpar;VEC&rpar; and One Community One Project &lpar;OCOP&rpar; as well as Enugu West Peoples Parliament as laudable models for engendering accountability and people-driven development&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;