Dr. Adolphus Wabara, Nigeria’s 10th Senate President and current Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, expresses remorse, fearing he may not witness an Igbo individual ascend to the presidency due to perceived calculated political manoeuvring against the Igbo community.
During a chat with the press, the 75-year-old diplomat and elder statesman conveyed his lamentation, stressing his persistent inability to fathom why the political hawks in Nigeria harbour apprehensions toward the Igbo man.
He said: ‘I may not be alive to see an Igbo man become President of Nigeria. It’s so painful and it gives me concern. I don’t know why Nigeria does not seem to have trust in us.’
‘But the fact remains that an Igbo man can fix Nigeria if given the opportunity. But unfortunately, some forces seem not to be comfortable with this.’
‘The Igbo man has proved his mettle and thrives virtually in every field of human endeavour, yet, Nigeria does not believe in allowing him to come to power. There is no doubt we will make Nigeria great if allowed to be President.’
‘Unknown to these forces, as long as the Igbo man is down politically, the entire country will be down! Nigeria has nothing to lose but all to gain if an Igbo man is allowed and supported to take a shot at the Presidency’.
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Senator Wabara further argued that Igbo are the most de-tribalised ethnic group in Nigeria, ‘which has sacrificed, and is ready to sacrifice so much for the unity of Nigeria.’
‘It’s only when an Igbo man becomes the President of this country that we can right all the wrongs stagnating Nigeria.’
‘An Igbo President will not behave like Buhari or Asiwaju. We are not tribalistic. An Igbo man will deny himself or his brother a position if that position is not justifiable.’
‘An Igbo man believes in ‘ live and let’s live’. An Igbo man will be a President, and if you get to his office and speak Igbo, he will tell you: ‘My friend, Igbo is not the official language here!’
‘We can only speak our language at home. But go to official quarters today even the Central Bank, and you will be wondering if you are in Hausa or Yoruba land.’
Senator Wabara, considering the future, reiterated his previous proposition of a six-year single tenure for the President.
In his view, adopting this approach would eradicate the eagerness for a second term and its associated complexities, ensuring that every geopolitical zone has the chance to produce a President once every 36 years.
Emphasizing the competence present in every geopolitical zone, the former Senate President ardently advocated for the adoption of the proposal, asserting that capable individuals abound to steer the country’s affairs if given the chance.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President and PDP’s presidential candidate for 2023, recently advocated for a six-year single tenure for the President.
Similarly, Mr. Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, has proposed a five-year single tenure for the presidency.
Backing the suggestions made by both candidates, Senator Wabara, a supporter of the ideas, asserted that he was the first to propose the concept during the controversial third-term debate in 2007.
‘I was one of the early advocates of six-year single tenure. If you go into the archives of the Senate, in my speech during the third term debate, it was one of the points I raised in my submission termed ‘ My People, Oh My People’.” I said it loud and clear. I even went further to propose a political mathematics that will make every geo-political zone produce the President within 36 years.’
‘Let nobody be deceived, our diversity must be guaranteed constitutionally. From what we have seen so far, everybody comes and changes the goalpost, particularly when it is the turn of the South East. Otherwise, how can you explain that the zone that dominates virtually in other sectors has not been able to become the President through the ballot papers? Anytime it gets to our turn, some people-mathematical engineering and changes will come up just because they want to deny the Igbo man his opportunity to fix Nigeria’.