By David-Chyddy Eleke
The First Republic’s Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, has said that the Igbo and Yoruba nations have a filial bond, and as such could not attack each other.
Amaechi was reacting to allegations that Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) was planning to attack Lagos.
The 92-year-old statesman who spoke at a press conference at his Ukpor country home in Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State, said the allegation was a malicious propaganda and that no sane Igbo man would ever think of attacking Lagos because of the filial bond shared by Igbo and Yoruba.
Awka – A First Republic Minister of Aviation in Nigeria, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi has called on the Federal Government to act quickly in implementing the recommendations of the Southern Governors meeting held last week in Asaba, Delta State Capital.
Chief Amaechi disclosed this in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, with TNC correspondent in his country home, Ukpor in Nnewi South Council Area of Anambra State.
Last week, the Southern Governors met after which they issued what is known as the ‘Asaba Declaration’ containing a ten-point resolution.
Prominent among the resolutions were the ban on open grazing in the region, call for restructuring, call for establishment of State Police, among others.
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Chief Mbazulike Amaechi is the only surviving member of the cabinet in the First Republic. Upon his election in the 1959 federal election as a member of the House of Representatives under the banner of the defunct National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), he was appointed Minister of Aviation and Transport in 1962, a position he held until the first military coup in 1966. The 91-year-old elder statesman speaks to the Group Politics Editor, KUNLE ODEREMI, on the state of the nation and what can be done to rescue the country from the precipice.
As an elder statesman, what would you advise President Muhammadu Buhari to do, given the critical state of the nation now? How would you assess the situation?
Amaechi was lending his voice to the various divisive currently rocking Nigeria.
Amaechi reminded the President that governments had come and gone but Nigeria did not break up and did not witness all the division currently bedeviling it today.
Northern Elders Forum, NEF, had called on President Buhari to protect Fulani herdsmen in the South, but Amaechi urged the President not to allow selfish Nigerian elders to destroy the country.
He said: “It is very clear to everybody that the upsurge, the killings or assumption of power and weapons by the herdsmen started during this regime; it was not there during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime; it was not there in late Umaru Y’Adua regime, it was not there during Goodluck Jonathan’s regime; it all started during the present Buhari’s regime, so let Nigerians count their teeth with their tongue,” he said as quoted by Vanguard.
Buhari’s introspection on his administration is a major feature on QuickRead, as we review key political developments shaping the future of Nigeria.
Beyond President Muhammadu Buhari’s plea asking Nigerians to be fair in criticising his government, there was also the frustration expressed by a foremost nationalist, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, over how Nigeria has failed as a country and and why it should start rebuilding all over again.
Three other political events caught our attention and their implications for national development cannot be ignored.
1. Buhari’s self-appraisal
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, January 14, begged Nigerians to be fair in their criticism of his administration.