As the road to the
2015 elections gets clearer, former Abia state governor Dr.Orji Uzor Kalu has
advised fellow politicians against heating up the polity while undermining the
mood of compatriots.
Kalu said,
“Nigerians are more sophisticated than ever, we cannot take anyone for granted.
They know what is going on, and i am so sure they would not be led
by the nose any longer."
He cited the June
12 1993 and April 2011 elections as periods when the people spoke with their
votes, breaking ethnic and elitist barriers.
"In 1993, no
one looked at religion, for Chief Moshood Abiola and his running mate Alhaji
Baba Gana Kingibe were Muslims. In fact, Abiola, a Yoruba, defeated Alhaji
Bashir Tofa in his Kano home.In 2011, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan chose an Hausa Vice
Presidential candidate, yet the Yoruba and Igbo went for him. Simply, they saw
in Jonathan a departure from the past where you had to be connected to lead the
country, Kalu explained.
The former governor
added that Nigerians would continue to build bridges, irrespective of
politically motivated ethnic divisions.
"We all saw
how Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya bonded and left the scene
in 1996.Ogunsanya's last outing was Zik's lying-in -state in Lagos. A few days
later, he departed. That is the Nigerian spirit that keeps Oba Okunade Sijuade,
the Ooni of Ife and Alhaji Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano together. Even in
death, Prof.Wole Soyinka still fights for Chris Okigbo.
Kalu capped it all
with the Civil War pact between Biafran Col Simeon Uwakwe and his Nigerian
course mate Brig.Godwin Alabi-Isama. “Alabi-Isama said it all. The Third Marine
Commandos refused to do battle with the Special Task Force in Arochukwu because
their Commanders were pals. The same Uwakwe had escaped death by a whisker
during the during the counter coup in 1966.Newly married and fresh from his
father's burial, Uwakwe was shot at the back of the neck, the bullet came out
through his mouth, rendering the officer toothless. What a coincidence that the
man died early this year, exactly 47 years after the first military coup. The
lesson is, Nigerians know their left form their right even if our leaders think
they did not."
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