Veteran actor, Pete Edochie, has poured cold water on the presidential aspiration of APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, saying he is too old and weak to be president of Nigeria.
Edochie made the damning statement in an interview with BBC Igbo.
He also lamented the political marginalisation of Igbos, pointing to the short-lived rule of late Military Head of State, Thomas Aguyi-Ironsi as the only time a South-Easterner ruled Nigeria.
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He said, “Many people like Tinubu are too old and too weak to run for president. He (Tinubu) has been in power for a long time until he was made the leader of the APC. But he should leave the position for those who are younger and healthier; let’s be honest.”
“Ìgbò, Hausa, and Yorùbá are the major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Only once in the history of Nigeria has it emerged that an Ìgbò person became the head of state in Nigeria. That was (former military head of state) Aguiyi Ironsi during the military government and his headship was short-lived. Since then, the North and the Yorùbá have been sharing power between themselves, apart from Goodluck Jonathan who isn’t even Ìgbò.”
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He further stated that Nigeria needs an Igbo leader, one who will fight looting of public funds and improve the socio-economic fortunes of the country
He continued, “Why has power not returned to the Ìgbò people? Is there a plot by the political elites to sideline the Southeast? I’ve lived in the north. I speak Hausa. But it’s long overdue for Nigeria to have a leader of Ìgbò extraction.
“The problem in Nigeria is greed. Leadership is dominated by Northerners but, 60 years after independence, we’ve not ended the electricity problem, when coal-based Oji River supplied power to the whole east before the civil war,” He said.