Latter-Day Northern activists, Nigeria’s problem – Ohanaeze chieftain

The President Ohanaeze Ndigbo,West African Region, Chief Oliver Akubueze  has blamed the current problem, plaguing Nigeria on people who have outlived their usefulness but rather than retire to their homes in peace, they are still hanging around and fanning embers of war.
Reacting to the ultimatum given to President Goodluck Jonathan by the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, that the president must find the abducted Chibok girls before a certain date or or forget the presidency in 2015, Akubueze, who is also the founder and president, South East, South South United Assembly (SESSUA), said the yesterday men that constitute membership of the NEF thought that they could fool youths in the North now that they are in the twelfth hour of their lives after using their productive years in self-service.
He wondered when members of the Forum became conscious of the flights of the rest of the people in the North, adding that they were the ones that were encouraging and promoting almajiri concept so that only they and their biological children would be worshipped by all in  the North.
According to him, rather than giving ultimatum and issuing threats, the latter day northern activists    should keep quiet and spend the rest of their lives to mourn their failure to use their positions in the past to improve the lot of their people.
In this interview, Akubueze also spoke on why former political office holders should be banned from living in Abuja after their service, among other national issues. Excerpts

How doyou see the NEF ultimatum to President Jonathan?
To be honest with you, I respect old age a lot and I know that the prayer of every young man and woman is to attain old age. However, the behaviour, utterances and attitudes of some old men in the country, especially the members of the Northern Elders Forum, is not only disappointing; it is also shocking. It beats me why people,who already are now living in extra time would be fanning the embers of war. Instead of suing for peace and progress of the country, they are creating chaos with their utterances. Mind you, these yesterday men and latter day northern activists are people who have failed the North woefully. For more than 40 years that the North was in  power in this country, these men who are making noise and claiming to be fighting for the interest of the North were all in power in different capacities but what did they do to better the lot of their people? Instead of empowering their people, they were promoting and encouraging almajiri so that only they and their children would be on top. They were sending their children to the best schools in Europe and America and let those of the poor to be roaming the streets in the name of almajiri. Having spent  their productive years in self-service and exploitation of their people. It is now that their times have almost come to an end that they want to develop North consciousness. But the youths in the North know that these men have never represented them and as such cannot speak for  them.
Why do you say former political office holders should be banned from living in Abuja?
I want to say one of the ways to ensure peace, progress and good governance in this country is to ban former political office holders from living in Abuja after they have finished service. This includes presidents, governors, ministers, senators and others. Abuja has become the haven of former political office holders, who failed to impact on the lives of their people. A state governor would spend eight years, looting his state’s economy and creating problems and at the expiration of his tenure, he would run to Abuja and stay. The same with other public office holders but this should not be. In the United States, former political office holders don’t live in Washington DC., for instance, Bill Clinton, George Bush and others, who served with them. At the end of their service, they all went home to their respective states to live with their people. This attitude if adopted here would go a long way in helping  us to develop because if a political office holder knows that at the end of his service, he would  go back to live with his people, he would ensure that his  constituency would be habitable because if it is not, the problem he created would be staring him in the face all the days of his life and his people would also be using it to taunt him.So,if the members of the National Assembly can pass it into law that political office holders should only be coming to Abuja on visits or whenever they are needed for advice, it would go a long way to help our country.
What is the reason you made PVC  mandatory for  SESSUA members?
The reason we decided that every member of the South East, South South United Assembly should obtain permanent voters card is  because it is a political organisation and the most valuable asset that any member of any political organisation should have is his or her voters card. In SESSUA, we have one common objective, which is to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. If you have this objective but you don’t have your voters card, how can you actualise the vision? So, that is why we have decided that once INEC  begins the exercise in Lagos, every member of the  organisation must first of all go and obtain his or her  permanent voter’s card  before encouraging others to go to obtain theirs. We practise what we preach and also practise leadership by example.
What does the future hold  the Igbo, politically?
The political future of the Igbo is very bright. 2015  is already settled for President Goodluck Jonathan. Only a bad coach can change a winning team. President Goodluck Jonathan has delivered beyond our imagination in his first tenure. All the efforts by the forces of evil, using Boko Haram and other tactics to frustrate him have proved abortive. In 2019,we will not negotiate with any other ethnic group for who  would occupy the nation’s seat of power. Whoever would want to contend with Ndigbo would be asking for trouble. But we know that the other ethnic groups would be humane enough to allow us take what belongs us  come 2019