The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu, says President Bola Tinubu’s achievements in his one year in office are signs of good things to come.
Iwuanyawu said this on Tuesday, while assessing the performance of the president in his first anniversary in office.
He spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in his office in Owerri.
He said that Tinubu’s support for the crusade against corruption, the investment inflow from his trips overseas and his suspension of the cyber security levy were signs that he felt the pulse of the masses.
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According to him, Tinubu has shown that he feels no difficulty in changing any step which Nigerians perceived to be wrong.
“An example was the decision to suspend the implementation of the Expatriate Employment Levy, which was very unpopular but was quickly changed.
“Frankly speaking, any honest Nigerian must have sympathy for President Tinubu, because he took office at a time there were lots of problem.
“Problems we have never experienced in the country; problems in security, economy, even in trust.
“The ethnic and religious problem had reached a crescendo.
“In effect, you can’t assess him properly without putting into perspective the situation he met on ground,” the elder statesman said.
He also said that during the presidential campaign, Tinubu made promises such as the removal of subsidy, closing up of the dollar exchange rate, which were all made by other presidential aspirants in agreement that these problems persisted and needed to be addressed.
“But I am sure he did not know that the backlash would be severe that today, things have gone terribly bad.
“When we have a situation like this, I appeal to Nigerians to bring up constructive advice to solve the problems rather than go into blame games,” he said.
Iwuanyawu commended Tinubu for sustaining his tolerance for the freedom of the press which, he said, had further given him a lot of respect.
He urged Nigerians to be patient and continue to pray for the president as well as do things that would make him succeed in office.
However, he said that Igbo people were concerned about the situation in Nigeria today, adding that they voted for Peter Obi “because of the perception that it was the turn of the South-East to produce the president.
“But we are democrats who believe in Nigeria and that is why the moment the Supreme Court proclaimed that Tinubu is the President, all Igbo everywhere resolved to support him,” he said.
The Igbo leader appealed to the Tinubu-led administration to reciprocate the gesture by ensuring a fair deal and equity by making appointments from the South-East zone.
He also appealed to the president to “look at the problem of hatred for Igbo people with sympathy”, following their stand at the last presidential election.
He said that the presidential election had brewed bitterness and hatred for the Igbo people who have been at the receiving end, with the demolition of their businesses worth billions of naira across the country, particularly in Abuja and Lagos.
Iwuanyawu urged Tinubu to treat the issue of restructuring as an urgent responsibility, describing it as the only way to discontinue the clamour for self-determination, violence and insurgency by various groups.
He said that any constitution that failed to give reasonable autonomy to all the federating units would not work but continue to create problem for the people.
“That is why we in Ohanaeze Ndigbo are saying that we want a true federal constitution, where the power at the centre should be reduced and more power given to the federating units to determine how they create revenue and manage resources within their areas,” he said.
Iwuanyawu also opined that restructuring would further tackle security issues at the grassroots level with local council police as well as the issues of the creation of additional local government areas.
“It is clear that with a strong police at the local and state government levels, it will reduce crime, insurgency and create more peace,” he said.
