A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress and erstwhile
presidential candidate, Pat Utomi, has suggested that the Yoruba and
Igbo nations need to work together in unity so as to develop other parts
of the country.
Speaking with Punch, the frontline economist and political scientist,
said since the Civil War, Yorubas have continued to welcome the Igbos.
He noted that Lagos State was developed because it became a haven to people of the South East since the Civil War.
Utomi said, “All politics is opportunistic. I don’t understand it,
but I think that all this touchiness in the politics of the
South-West/South-East needs to blow over.
“In my view, we have two stages of quick moves in Nigerian politics
now: we need to build a South-South/South-East zone of development,
where all of the South-South and the South-East works as a zonal
development and it should go into a quick partnership, in terms of
development strategy, with the South-West, and then engage other parts
of the country that are interested in such a partnership. And I believe
that there are many elements reaching for progress in the North that
would like to engage with these kinds of partnership for development and
the whole of Nigeria can profit from it.
“What people miss, which I find very sad, is that the story of state
capture in Nigeria is the story of opportunism by a few people. Then
people will say that they are representing northern interests.
“It is just a couple of 100 of them in their own self-interest. If
not, the North would not be as poor as it is today. If they (northern
ruling class) really represented northern interests, the North would
flourish. But that is not the case. This is a group of selfish people
who have taken the possibility of progress for Nigeria and have hurt
their own people even more.
“People forget that one of the great heroes of Biafra was (Prof.)
Wole Soyinka. He was actually jailed for speaking up (against) the
injustices of 1966/1967 that happened to the Igbo people. He was
harassed. So, it is not a new tradition from Yorubaland that people of
conscience recognise that something is wrong somewhere.
“Therefore, wherever there are opportunistic people who try to
capitalise on these in their own interests, there are people of goodwill
and strong conscience who recognise differently. And I think this must
be the project now, to get those people of good conscience to break this
thing.
“The reason Lagos is as developed as it is, to the envy of everybody,
is every simple. During the Civil War, the divide-and-rule game played
by the Federal Government led to Igbos being eviscerated in Port
Harcourt (Rivers State), which is part of Igboland.
“Igbos then turned to Lagos and the people of Lagos were welcoming of
the Igbo people, and that is why Lagos is the way it is today as a
strong centre of commerce in the world. I think that the lessons from
that, which is the point I tried to make when the Oba (of Lagos) made a
joking remark during the election that people took too far.
“Nowhere in Nigeria has been more welcoming of the Igbo nation than
Lagos. The consequence of this welcome should be a bridge across the
Niger, a handshake across the Niger, which has been used in terminology
previously. The Yoruba nation and Igbo nation, which share a lot in
terms of enterprise and values, should be able to work together and
engage any other part of Nigeria, because it is in the interest of
Nigeria to build a whole of all.”
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