Our fear, however, is that when 2016 eventually gets here that the Igbos may be caught unprepared; and still engaged in their selfish, self-centered, petty intra-fighting over who their candidate shall be? May be by 2016, the Igbos will still be unable to produce a compromise unity-candidate of ability, means and note; with about 100 of them still jostling for the one position? Such a scenario will thus make the 26 candidates who came out for the PDP party's chairmanship a mere child's play and you ask yourself, when shall the Igbos grow up, politically? The puerile politics of the Igbos must stop, in order for them to realistically get somewhere meaningful in Nigeria? Icheoku says, it is about time the Igbos learn how to play the real politics, the Nigerian style? If the Yoruba could accept one of her most despicable sons, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, as Nigerian president of Yoruba extraction and did not oppose his presidency, then why won't the Igbos learn from that? Also that in a fight with hoodlums, you do not send your most timid child to the village square but you send the fiercest, bravest and most daring; who understands the name of the game and who would not be easily cowed or intimidated by other hoodlums? This is the biggest single problem militating against 2016 and the Igbo's quest for the presidency of Nigeria? Who shall they send? Icheoku have answered this million dollar question in the past and hereby reiterates, that Igbos should send either Orji-Uzor Kalu or Ken Nnamani or Andy Uba or Dora Akunyili? Any of this son or daughter of the soil, is exactly what doctor-politics ordered as they are battle-tested and will deliver on cue for the Igbo nation!
Going to Aso Rock by these five governors does not and will not cut it; and it does not matter the aegis or subterfuge founding such visit. Olusegun Obasanjo was made a chief by some Igbos, and with drums and fun-fare, welcomed in Igboland during his campaigns. He won all Igbo states and what did Igbos get in return, but the shutting down of Igbo-owned and operated businesses including Ibeto cement, Slok airlines, Hallmark Bank and Savannah Bank - a bank owned by Jim Nwobodo who led Olusegun Obasanjo's campaign in Igboland? Obasanjo was in power for eight long agonizing years and not a single project did he execute in the entire Igboland; including the left-for-dead River Niger Bridge? Needless to say that many visits were also paid to his Aso Rock over the persisting neglect of the Igbo nation? It is therefore delusional to think that President Umaru Yar'Adua is any different; as his lopsided hegemony-driven appointments have so far proved? His latest refusal to renew Chukwuma Soludo's appointment as the Central Bank of Nigeria governor, despite the stellar performance he put up re-organising Nigerian financial institutions, should be a pointer at his mean-nature and adds impetus to our assertion that these visits are not meritorious. Icheoku says, so, why not leave the sick man alone? The Igbos are a tenacious people and have survived several despotic governments in Nigeria and will also survive the present one. The Igbos, through their governors, should therefore stop condescending to anyone including the mallam at Aso Rock; all they need do is simply to get ready for their turn in 2016. Then, they can redress all the imbalance and neglect which their geographical area have suffered these past four decades since Nigeria's independence. Like Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:33, seek ye the kingdom of God and the rest shall be added unto you; Icheoku calls on the Igbos to first secure the presidency and then you can divided the oil-money however you deem fit! That is the only thing you really need to do as it will be a means to an end of so many things. You simply have to take it, and uncompromisingly, too! But first you must manifest to all other stake-holders of Nigeria that you are very serious and prepared to take what is rightfully yours come 2016; that no man can stop you and it does not matter how hefty the price that may be paid? Like the Boy-scout's motto, BE PREPARED; Icheoku asks, are the Igbos prepared for 2016? The five governors of the south east should answer this question in the affirmative and let the Igbos know what plans of action are in place to get the Igbos ready for the task ahead. These governors should start now to articulate who among Igbo notables shall best represent the Igbo interest at Aso Rock? Then constitute a committee for their audition and final selection; and commence work immediately for the dream's actualization; call it for what it is, "THE IGBO PROJECT 2016"!
But first you must get into Aso Rock and the road-map thereto, should be where your energies are directed at the present time and not dissipated in paying non-meritorious homage to Umaru Yar'Adua? Do you know how many presidents/heads of state that promised but failed upgrading Enugu "airstrip" into an international airport, starting with Shehu Shagari's 1979 administration? Icheoku says, the politics of not upgrading Enugu airstrip is as ingrained in the body-gnome of the leaders in Nigeria as the aversion for the Igboman in Nigeria? Moreso, if Enugu 'airstrip' is upgraded, most of the other airports in Nigeria will become redundant since Igbos constitutes more than 65 percent of world travellers in Nigeria? So why would they be the harbinger of the demise of their airports when they can simply keep them running by not upgrading the one at Enugu; thus compelling the Igbos to continue patronizing their airports, through forced stop-overs? Do you know how many administrations in Nigeria that had promised but failed to build a second bridge over the River Niger, starting with 1975 Muritala Mohammed's regime? Did these five governors forget also that Yakubu Gowon's 1970 promised three Rs of reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction were not implemented; but frustrated intentionally, to further victimize the Igbos, after the civil war? It has been just one string of empty promises, made one after the other, merely to placate the Igbo-child who is throwing sudden-fits and tantrums over their neglect in Nigeria? Icheoku says, if the governors want any of the matters that necessitated their visit to Aso Rock resolved, they must do it themselves by getting an Igboman/woman into Aso Rock; and such occupant can then prioritize accordingly. Hopefully, when the time for this redress comes, Nigerians will remember that the Igbos have been neglected for so long and were not the one who started the crass nepotism, tribalism and regionalism currently pervading Nigeria?
Icheoku says, genuflecting to Abuja each time will not fix what is broken, hence you must cease and desist from making such pitiful visits. Regrettably too, when you make such visit, courtesy demands that you tell the sick-man of Aso Rock what he wants to hear; which in turn forces you to lie. such as when you falsely praised Umaru Yar'Adua for doing such a heck of a good job? Icheoku says, if what Umaru Yar'Adua is "not-doing" is considered by you as doing a good job, then something is definitely awry with your perception? It is either your appreciation of the word "good" has diminished drastically or you were afraid to tell the king the truth in front of his face? So why box yourself in such a catch 22 situation, where you must implicate yourself, either way! Icheoku says, Mr. Slow-man has not done anything to warrant any praise and not by you, the South East governors?