The Director with the center for alternative policy perspectives and strategy (CAPPS) Abuja, Professor Udenta O. Udenta has indicated that he cannot imagine any proud Igbo son or daughter going out to cast a vote for any Yoruba presidential candidate on any consideration.
He spoke at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Center Abuja on monday against the backdrop of his support for Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Muhammed Presidential ambition.
Professor Udenta was an arrow head of supporters of the Governor when he visited his boss, former President Goodluck Jonathan to intimate him of his ambition.
Udenta said, “I do not expect any proud Igbo son or daughter to cast a vote for a Yoruba presidential candidate on any consideration.
“Because for those who believe in politics of hegemony, replacing one hegemony you are afraid of in the north with another hegemony in the south does not make sense. “If Obasanjo did 8 years and Osinbajo 8 years what the heck, nobody there who is politically sane should even step out.
“We are ready to do the battle. I am intellectually endowed to do the battle, “I will rather work with the Bala Muhammed who may say after four years he is tired, my partner should step in for me and at most 8years and within that his presidential moment he will mainstream our people as well as the rest of the people to give a balance in democracy and Governance model that will impact positively on everybody.”
“The one I am not going to stand for with my intellectual and moral endowment, is to see my generation after 16 years of a Yoruba Presidency for anybody from that side of town to step out and say he wants to become President that is an insult to our people.
“It is even diminishing their humanity, it does not show fidelity, compassion, brotherhood. These are things they don’t say in politics but people like us are there to expose them. And that is why I am beginning today to expose the shenanigans.
“On the other hand he said he believes in the idea of Igbo Presidency however he said the Igbos have to be serious. “Many are waiting for the presidency to be zoned to their Local Government before they can have the courage to step out, I am mindful of that because Ibo Presidency is like any other presidency or it sounds like a bargain, the process is not an abstract institution. “Igbo must get up and declare their interest in that project. It is not the position of Udenta to call out those who want to be president. “Buhari attempted three times without success but won at the fourth attempt. He won the fourth time, it’s not like if he was being compelled or pushed.
“People should do that at this stage, if you don’t do it, I am not a wizard to know what you want. As much as I want Igbo Presidency, I am going to work for it but I am not going to ask anybody to come and become President, those who want to become president should meet me and ask me clearly to help them in becoming President, if not how would I know you want to become President?
“You should not presume being Igbo I should have certain capacity and so by right I should join up with you.”
He described zoning as a fraud saying it is the Igbos that are marginalized, when you zone to South it is not specific.
He said he wants Igbo presidency, “That means in principle as a moral imperative, sure I want it, but as a practical necessity in overcoming this predicament you want to create, somebody want to be president, and he said, he wants to include your people in the bargain.
“We dont see much of them, we dont know when the Igbo Presidency is going to happen, by July the primaries are over unlike before when it would be October or Novermber,
“so we can’t wait, there is no time, you cannot stay in your comfort zone hoping to get the presidency and here is somebody saying he is a friend of my people, he even want his peers in Ibo land to come out. Let us be doing what we are doing whether they will step out at all or not. At that state you can reshuffle and rethink
“I must embrace what we see
It is morally imperative to say you need Igbo Presidency but for God sake you and I are not aspiring to be President we dont know who is aspiring to be president unless he steps out to say he wants to be President.
“Bala had made some statements in the past here and there nobody took that very seriously until when he went to see Jonathan, a former President and it was in the full glare of the world and Udenta sat beside him, what was he doing there. I am a proud igbo son supporting Bala Muhammed.
“I want an Igbo president but I am a practical political player I need to get something close enough because if the political calculation does not work is it always happens in Nigerian politics and somebody want to sneak in from the West it is better I support a person that is known to keep to his words.”