Ekwueme Wants Nigerians To Pray For Buhari, Igbos To Aspire To Nigeria’s Presidency
FeaturedNigeria February 12, 2017 Dianabasi Effiong
Chief Alex Ekwueme
From: Dianabasi Effiong
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekweme on Sunday in Cabalar, urged Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari currently on medical vacation in .
He also urged Igbos to aspire for the presidency of Nigeria and continue from where he stopped as Vice President to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in Nigeria’s second republic.
Ekwueme was in Calabar to attend the child dedication of the family of his mentee Chief and Lolo Chukwuemeka Egwuonwu (KSM) Ochubaradikeohia 11 of Awa.
The dedication service for Miss Favour Chimamanda, was conducted at St. Bernard Catholic Church Calabar, by Archbishop Joseph Ekuwem, the Catholic Archbishop of Calabar.
The former Vice president who spoke with journalists after the dedication of the child, did not state when the Igbos should take a shot at Nigeria’s presidency.
He said: “I was Vice President up till December 1983 and the old NPN order, and I would have contested for the number one position in 1987. But the military intervened in 1983 and the civilian regime was cut short. I tried again in 1998 and (Olusegun) Obasanjo was released from prison.
“He (Obasanjo) came and won, supported by his colleagues in the military. I tried again in 2003 and the same thing happened. I pray that the other people (Igbos) can take it up from there and make progress.’’
The former Vice President also said that the health condition of President Muhammadu Buhari called for prayers by Nigerians.
“Nigerians should pray for the president and for peace in the country. We have conflicting reports about the President’s health.The Minister of Information says he is hale and hearty, but his wife says we should pray for him. So, if he is hale and hearty I don’t know why she said we should pray for him.
“Whatever it is, we ask God to look after him. We want Nigeria to be at peace and to make progress and see how we can get out of our present difficulties. We really need prayers. We are in great difficulty. People are suffering. There is hunger in the land and it is not very encouraging. We need God’s intervention to help us get out of it,’’ Ekwueme said.
Speaking in the same vein at the occasion President of Ohaneze in Anambra, Chief Damian Ogene said the Igbo presidency of Nigeria had long been overdue.
“An Igbo presidency is overdue. But as far as I am concerned it is not something that is coming out now. Our National President Chief John Nnia Nwodo is going to make the stand of Ohaneze known as regards to the presidency. Igbo presidency is long overdue whether it is 2019 or 2023,” he said.
He also said that the agitation for Biafra is a way of expressing justice, fairness and equity which is lacking.
“If there is justice, fairness and equity, the whole world can be one country.It is because of injustice people say we can be on our own. As far as I am concerned, immediately after the war the Gowon administration said three Rs and we believe in three Rs – reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. And none of them has taken place. It looks like to us, the war has not ended,” he said.
He also decried what he called the continued detention of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra’s (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
“We are all human beings and we are not ready to shed any blood, it is not necessary and we have advised our own youths and our own son whether IPOB or MASSOB. What they are saying we are part of – how to address the injustice – but for violence we are not part of it.
“We advised the Federal Government that you do not use a sledgehammer to kill a millipede. It is not when you child demands school fees and you kill him because he demanded school fees.
“Our youths are demanding justice, equity and fairness and they should not be killed.You and I here cannot release Kanu.The courts have said release Kanu but the powers that be is beyond and me and us. Have been saying leave this young man, give him to us and we will manage them,” Ogene said.
Earlier, the Metropolitan Arch-Bishop of Calabar, Bishop Joseph Ekuwem, in a sermon, enjoined Nigerians to tolerate one another and abhor the “eye for an eye” principle of the old order.
Ekuwem who said that “eye for an eye makes everybody blind” admonished that revenge was un-Christian.
He said: “To be a Christian is to be a fool for Christ. Our standard is not the same as standard of the world. We are not called to pay evil for evil but to win the evil ones through act of love.”
Dianabasi Effiong
