100 Days: Group scores Jonathan low

Posted by admin Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Presidency Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

The Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), the group that recently celebrated its 12th anniversary in Enugu where Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) members were arrested and detained, has expressed disappointment that more than three months after his election, the president has not commenced the fulfillment of his campaign promises to Igbo people.

National President of the IYM, Mr. Elliot Uko, who spoke in a media chat in Enugu at the weekend said, “we are yet to see signs of any process; I am not in government, I don’t know how government works; maybe they are working towards it but I Elliot Uko, I have not seen and we want them to begin immediately to fulfill these promises so that we would see with our eyes and the goodwill the president enjoys in Igboland will be sustained.

“I agree with you that Ndigbo are yet to see any signs of a beginning, a process to begin the fulfillment of any of the many promises President Jonathan gave during his campaign at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu, at Owerri, at Aba Township Stadium, at Umuahia, at Abakaliki, everywhere he went in Igboland he reeled out promises.
“They include a coal-powered independent power station in this region, second Niger Bridge in Onitsha, seaport in Onitsha, upgrading the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport to a functional international airport. It is sensible for me to respect my president and believe him; it will be unfair if I doubt the words pronounced by my president. I should believe him and the ball is in his court to take action so that we would see work going on.

“There is no time to waste; we want to see construction going on in Onitsha. I want to see the Enugu International Airport functional. I want my people to travel from here to China, Dubai, direct from Igboland, which was deliberately denied us by successive governments; we want to begin to see those things now; that’s what we want so that it can reinforce our faith in President Jonathan.”
He noted that the reason why the Igbos had suffered over the years was not just because of the selfishness of some Igbo leaders but a deliberate policy of wickedness meted on Ndi-Igbo by past governments since 1970.

“Everything was done to exclude the Igbo man, everything was deliberately done to punish the Igbo man; the location of Universities in the early 70s, university of Port Harcourt, University of Calabar, University of Benin, University of Jos, Igbo-land was excluded.
“When federal polytechnics were being sited over a dozen of them everywhere, Igboland was excluded; when they wanted to site projects– Ajaokuta Steel, Alaja Steel, NAFCON Fertilizer in Port Harcourt–everything was done to exclude Igboland.

Everything in Nigeria has always been how to exclude Ndi-Igbo and punish them for fighting the war; man inhumanity to man.
“The creation of local government deliberately skewed against Ndi-Igbo; Jigawa and Kano States have more local governments than the entire South-East of Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi put together.

“There are states in the North with 1.7 million population, they have 12 members in the federal House of Representatives; there are states in Igbo-land with 3.7 million population represented by only eight members in the House of Reps.
Even the delineation of federal constituencies was deliberately done to deny Ndi-Igbo fair representation. In state creation Igbo-land with over 45 million Ndi-Igbo caged in only five states out 36, 45 million Ndi-Igbo are more than one-third of Nigeria but they are caged into five states only out of 36 states.

The only reason the Igbo masses rose up and voted for Jonathan was because they believed that he will wipe their tears. That he will begin to address these injustices that he will begin to implement immediately a policy of affirmative action to begin to redress the many long years of neglect and oppression in Igbo-land.

-Sunwp_posts