Chief (Dr.) Chukwuemeka Ezeife is a former Governor of the old Anambra State. He was one of many notable Nigerians, especially of Igbo extract who came turned up at the Transcorp Hilton on Monday 19th January 2009 where he bared his mind on such burning national issues in an interview with JERRY ADESEWO.
What is your opinion of the Umaru Musa Yar’dua Administration?
Many people thought the administration is slow. I agree up to a point that it is slow. My thinking is that, inactivity of sort may be better than negative activity. We may be complaining but things are a little bit more convenient because things are not happening as it uses to be that breaks people’s heart. There is convenience in the economy. Nobody holds the life of the other. All of us are alive and in the hands of God. So, we should not be over skeptical.
What is your opinion of recent alert by some people that the government has been hijacked by the Northern mafia?
No group in the country gains from making themselves too comfortable while others are not. If it is true that the North is ever thinking of hijacking the government, it is going to be counter-productive. They will suffer pinfall. You know pinfall in a wrestling match. If you achieve a pinfall, to sustain it you have to hold the person down. You are down too and you don’t get up until you release the pinfall. So, neither the East nor the North, South or West gains when Nigeria is loosing. We need integrated confidence and such confidences are not located in one place. So we have to comb Nigeria to achieve it.
Do you think there is actually a hijack or you are saying that it is not proper because we are talking about quota system and federal character is presently dead in this country now as it regards to appointment...
I don’t know how far or well the quota is working. I DON’T KNOW! I am saying that I did not know whether there is or there is any such plan. What I am saying is that the outcome of such plan will be negative.
Is the perceived inactivity of the government good for Nigeria’s economy?
I said and I repeat that dynamic negative activity can be worse than benile activity.
What is your opinion of the Economic Team and its Presidential Steering Committee considering that apart from the CBN Governor, there is no representative from the South Easter part of Nigeria?
It is not just one committee or the other. The south east is disappearing from the government and federal government is disappearing from the south east and something has to be done about. It is not a matter of defending where you come from. Any objective person who looks at things will find out that the south eastern people are not near decision making point in this country.
What should be done about this?
In the interest of the country, the situation should be checked and balanced.
What is your stand on party cross carpeting considering the recommendation of the Uwais Committee which says such should be forbidden in the future?
I am a lay man but my little knowledge and appreciation of the law forbids what happens in Zamfara. If you go like that, you resign. That is what we understood our constitution to say. It is also immoral and so our President should not appear to be too partisan as to seen to condone immoral, illegitimate behaviour.
How relevant is the visit of Achebe to the state of the nation?
I am here for the 50 years celebration of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Fifty years ago, he told the world that our traditional system has fallen apart. Today, he returns to Nigeria to see that our entire modern system has fallen totally apart. The Economists have a way of describing things that are coming together as things that are going further apart. They call it explosive cobweb. Our system is experiencing explosive cobweb. That is...disintergrating totally. In our democracy, the people’s votes don’t count. Only arrangees. Only intimidation and guns. Only money. We hope that the arrival of Chinua Achebe today and the statement he will make to us Nigerians and especially the downtrodden or the people who refuse to get up. The Igbos, who fell down years ago and instead of getting up to carry on, they are enjoying where they are. They have fallen. We will listen to him. Nigeria needs to get up. Nigeria looks like a very big wrestler holding some of her people in pinfall but for as long as they sustain the pinfall, Nigeria remains down like the people pinned down.
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