…says renaming streets in Lagos manifestation of poverty of leadership
Goddy Uwazurike is a lawyer and a chieftain of the pan-Igbo socio-cultural group as well as the President of a think-tank organisation, The Credibility Group. In this interview with OLAOLU OLADIPO, he talked about current issues as they relate to welfare and well-being of the Igbo ethnic nationality. Excerpts:
Recently there were attempts by some opposition figures to coalesce into the African Democratic Congress in the build-up to the 2027 general elections. As a keen political observer and pundit, how do you see this move?
Well, change is the only permanent thing in life. Even when you are sleeping, you change. You talk, you change. So, movement from one party to the other is a normal thing in any country, except in dictatorship. Here, we have some people saying, ‘yes, we are not getting what we wanted, we are moving.’ Remember that in 2013, some people moved. Remember that in 2007, some people moved. Let me just give you a little hint: by 2003 ending, they moved from AD to AC. AD was still there as a party and then they also became ACN and finally APC. And today, it is the ruling party. In the same way, some people have moved, as of now, from ADP, some from APC, some from Labour, into the new party. Well, not the new party, the party known as the African Democratic Congress. So, we can only say good luck to them, but the more the merrier. We need an active political contest, not a one-way battle.
Some people argue that this movement from time to time is more or less an indictment on the nation’s political culture, in terms of the fact that people believe that we don’t really have political parties, but mere platforms. How do you see this?
No, no, no, they are wrong. The 1999 Constitution says people are free to move. So, if what they are doing is okay by the Constitution, who are you to stop them? Movement from one party to the other is an indication that there is a movement going on. In America, you see them saying, I’m withdrawing from this, I’m voting as an independent, I’m moving from one party to the other. (President Donald) Trump was also a democrat, remember? There was a financial member of the Democratic Party before he moved to where he is now. If you go to Britain, where we got our Independence from, they have all kinds of parties. They keep breaking and breaking. Extreme left, extreme right, middle of the road, nationalist party. In France, it is the same thing. In nearby Ghana, it is the same thing. So, it’s a normal movement.
You talked about the ADC’s emergence as an alternative party that has come to reverse the slide towards dictatorship. Can you tell us what you mean by that?
Well, if it is a dictatorship, you cannot move at the time you want. In other words, you have no choice. Remember that in the ’60s, when most African countries got independence, what they needed to do was have a one-party system. And one-party system countries actually lagged behind until finally, they moved into a multi-party. So, left to APC, everybody should belong to the APC. With a minimal opposition, this is what I would call dictatorship. In other words, they don’t want any opposition, except a minimal one. So, let them move, let them form a formidable party, so that we have the proper choice.
From the way you’ve spoken, it’s like you have this belief that the ADC will provide a viable alternative. What are the things that are giving you this sense of optimism?
Well from those I can see now, those that are coming together are all experienced politicians. They are not neophytes. There are many people in that coalition arrangement that can push over. Most of them are grassroots politicians. And that is what we want. Yes, you might be a good candidate like Peter Obi, he’s a good candidate. But you still need the support of the grassroots to be able to win, not just voters. Obedient are everywhere. But you must have political actors who will power you into office. So, ADC, as far as I know, has people from all parts of Nigeria.
As somebody who has always championed the cause of the Ndigbo, do you think their interest will be better served in the ADC than the APC?
Well, I don’t think the interest of our people will be better served there. No! That’s not the language. I think Ndigbo want a fair playing ground. We need free and fair playing ground. If ADC will form a formidable party, why not? If APC will form a formidable party, why not? As far as we are concerned, we are just looking for progress in this country. The idea of it must be a new demand. It’s not really the same thing with me. Let us have a free and fair election where every vote counts. If every vote counts, Ndigbo will be very happy. Not the kind of thing where the right to vote is opposed. As we speak today, we have not seen the certified true copy of the 2023 election. We are still waiting for the certified true copy.
What do you think will be the demands of the Ndigbo in the build up to 2027? What are the demands and what are the expectations?
The average Ndigbo man is a traveller. The average Igbo man is a free thinker. The average Igbo man goes wherever the spirit moves him. He is looking for free and fair elections, free and fair passage, free and fair business culture, free and fair right to ownership of property, free and fair association. What they are asking for actually are contained in the 1999 Constitution. Those are fundamental rights. They are not asking for anything more than that. No Igbo man wants to go and dominate the others wherever they are. All we want is to live and let live. That’s our simple policy, live and let live. In any part of the world, everybody will tell you, if you go to any part of the world and you don’t see an Igbo man, please go away because there will be no person who can survive there. We Igbo people, can survive and no matter how much effort you make to destroy us, we are not going to give up because we have the right for a second stage of survival. If by 1970 the world was told that Igbos will get 20 pounds and then only 1 per cent of Igbo people were given that and we still survive, then there is nothing we will not survive. That is why when former President Muhammadu Buhari came, he came with this nepotism. And I remember saying on TV, we will survive.
Are you sure all these are being guaranteed in all the spaces where the Igbos find themselves across the country?
It’s all in the Constitution. But it is how the government implements it that bothers me. I’m being honest. In any part of the world, where there is freedom, where there are all these conditions, the average Igbo man will thrive. But when you begin to say, oh, this man is Hausa, this man is Igbo, this man is Kanuri, this man is Yoruba, and this man is Tiv, I tell you; such a country does not work. The right to live according to the law, according to the Constitution, is what the average person is accepting. It’s not what you say, take your chance. Not if a man goes to any place and says, give me land. No! He dangles money and looks for who is willing to sell and buy from that person, the person he wants. It is only when they come to the indigenous land. Who will give me land? Go and buy land. Go to the indigenous land. The man doesn’t stay in a shop for free. He rents the shop. That’s why they lost money. Go and buy a shop. You buy there, you pay a willing seller.
Recently there was this policy of some local governments in Lagos that generated uproar. The policy where some local governments renamed some streets, previously named after prominent Igbo people. How do you see this?
Well, this is a manifestation of poverty of leadership and poverty of leadership stems from poverty of thought. Can you imagine a man who is the chairman of the local government, all he thinks of is how to change the names of existing streets? Why can’t he construct new ones? Those who constructed those streets, are they fools? It’s a kind of rewriting of history which I find very, very funny. Listen, when Lagos was built, remember, when we had Ikoyi, the white people were there. When Ikoyi expanded, the black people were there. When they built Victoria Island, they named it after those who were there building it but what you find today, they take Ikoyi, when they see a name of a street, they change it. Change it to who? Those politicians whose names were given are no longer relevant today. And you find people still resisting. I’ll give you the popular example, Charlie Boy Bus Stop. There was no time Charlie Boy put up a signpost saying it should be called Charlie Boy Bus. There was no local government.
It was a landmark. Just like you have Leventis Bus Stop, you have Apongbon Bus Stop and the likes. There was no name there, the people gave them the names. Millions of people pass the places on a daily basis and because they were things that they saw as the nearest landmark and that was what they named the streets after.
Same thing applied to the naming of bus stops. There was nobody that named it as bus stop, they were called those names because it was convenient for them to call them as such. Later on, the government started writing all this on the road, road to same as, but they didn’t name it same. The white people who built that CMS church did not name it the same as bus stop. It was the people that named it as such as time went by. So, all those people who are doing that, I will tell them that they are just wasting their time. The people know what they want, and the people know that all those chairmen are passengers, who will soon disengage and move. And when they move, the people of Lagos State will now rule themselves.
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