 Amidst the insecurity, challenges, rife in the southeast, calls for equal presidency is apparently still in existence. A former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukweme Kaisiefi, has accused sponsors of the ongoing violence in the region of plotting to thwart the call by the zone to produce the next president. He've indicated members of the prescribed Indigenous People of Biafra iPop and the Eastern Security Network from the recent killings of police personnel and the torching of public institutions in the zone. He also ordered that findings showed that those behind the killings and the destructions are not Igbo. Well joining me to discuss this is Besman Jombonzi. He is a security consultant and Chukweme Okerike is a public affairs analyst. Thank you very much gentlemen for joining us. Thank you for having me. Okay great. I'm going to start with you Mr Besman because you obviously are a security person and let's examine what's happening in the southeast. A lot of people would say that this has been a place where there was relative peace for a long time and then all of a sudden it's become a hotbed of violence. Explain to us why all of a sudden the southeast is this hot? Well when we say all of a sudden it didn't just happen overnight. I think the signs have been there all the while. He's been brewing. He's been cooking and the actors have been rehearsing but unfortunately we are in a situation I mean we're in a country where we don't plan ahead, where we don't preempt things, we're always reactive even in our actions on security matters. So it didn't come to me as a surprise but for a long time some of us have won and won several that this was going to happen so I'm not surprised that it's happening now. Do you agree with the stands of Ezeife that sponsors of this violence in the southeast are trying to stop the clamor for Igbo presidency? That they're trying to make the southeast look bad so that there will not be any hope for their presidency decision? Well I don't think anybody, any organization in the southeast started the clamor for Igbo presidency earlier than my group started. I have a group called Indigo integration movement and I started the clamor for Igbo presidency in 2023. I mean the president of Igbo extraction come 2023. I started it prior to the 2019 elections so if there's anybody orchestrating violence to probably dim the lights of Indigo or to probably gain something from it I don't think I'll subscribe to that. I think it's a failure of governance, it's a failure of proactiveness and it's also to a larger extent the failure of the Igbo elites in controlling what we are seeing today. We had a real opportunity to have nipped it in the board long before now. Interesting so I'm just trying to understand when you say the Igbo elites you're talking about you're talking about the chiefs you're talking about the Ezeis you're talking about the ruling class in itself our governors are members of the national assembly you're saying that all of these people have failed in their different capacities to need this situation in the bottom that's why we're here where we are today. I've said over the years I've been writing and I've said something my respect for the universe is profound in the sense that the universe will have this southwestern Nigerians I mean the Yoruba elites will hardly allow non-state actors dictate their narratives they will not skip quiet and allow non-state actors set the tone for how the Igbo will perceive the Yoruba man much as they have agitations much as everybody's allowed to speak and I mean involving activism of any sort the Yoruba ruling the Yoruba elites will ensure that the narrative conforms in quote to the Omanwabi culture and once you're going you are derailing they will ensure that your voice is not the one that detects how they are perceived. In my southwestern Nigeria the elites will rather keep quiet play to the gallery leave the stage for non-state actors even when the non-state actors have good reasons which I have also said long before now that the compromise of the Igbo elites will one day snowball into our inability to even go back home therefore when we're supposed to take up the challenge when we're supposed to um what I call appropriate the grievances and take you up would I play the ostrich would I have grandstand and that is exactly what is happening what I've snowballed into the crisis that we have today because I can I could remember Opus Adima who was at the prison to see Namdi Kanu and remember many of the other people were playing in solidarity motors the Yoruba might have good reasons for what he's doing but you see you are in danger when your non-state actors dictate your tune and and give and give kind of descriptions your narrative okay it's dangerous let me go to Chikunoe to see if he actually agrees with you Chikunoe Ezefei has been quoted to say and I'll quote him directly that the insurrection is meant to provoke the Igbo's why would anybody want to provoke the people in the east what to what end would this be for because he's also pointed fingers at the fact that the people who have been propagating violence in the region have been caught on camera and they are not Igbo's and that somebody is obviously grandstanding and trying to make the Igbo's look bad where do you where do you stand on this one I'm so sorry we I think we lost that connection so let me go back to best man best man like I said he's saying that this insurrection is meant to provoke so but you are saying that the problem of the south is is the southeasterners themselves I'd like to refer you to the recent Ohaneze election where apparently fingers were pointed to southeast governors for the problem that they faced on the day of the selection and the fact that there are a group of people who still do not accept the man who emerged as the president of Ohaneze Igbo which is you know a sociocultural organization that represents the strong Igbo people from the southeast I'm wondering to myself and I asked that question to the Ohaneze members I had on my show if there is no form of solidarity and togetherness within the Igbo nation how do you intend to come together to stand behind one man and say this is the person we want or these are the people we want to push forward in whatever political parties to be presidency candidates truth is the average Igbo man is an independent character he might be tough I'm saying the Igbo should come together under one umbrella which has also been one of my one of my postulations that there's a major challenge with us in Igbo which is either politics of extremism either extreme love or extreme hate which has not done us any good but the truth is the the Ohaneze as a sociocultural group you don't expect it to be I mean you don't expect everybody there to have one voice because everything is politics now within the Ohaneze you have the APC you have the PDP you have the ABGAP you have every other political group represented and people are pushing their own interest the man I met the president of Ohaneze fantastic human being good man but the opposition to his candidate is also not surprising to me because all is about politics right now and we cannot say that the Igbo's cannot speak with one voice we speak with one voice but it is such that we have allowed too many things to derail to the point that it is now looking as if it is peculiar to the Igbo not to be able to come together and present somebody hey if you say today that the North Central should produce the president the presidency I mean sorry the produce the president we are amazed that people will rise up and challenge Jaya Beirut even our system personally the forefront now if you say the southwest people will come up and challenge that's what I meant so it's not peculiar to Igbo's and that narration does not suit the Igbo's unfortunately we have given flesh to some of this um no answer that does not really describe the Igbo man so what is the solution to the problem now because militarizing the south this is not actually get getting any solutions right now what do the people in the south this including the governors I know that there has been I know that there has been a paramilitary or security outfit that has been put on I think it's called Igbo Beirut to police or help the police in you know the security issues that they're facing but is that really the solution to the problem because it is brewing the city at home order that was put out by IPOB made a lot of people stay at home again it makes us really wonder who's in charge of the south this is it the governors or the IPOB the truth is that people still at home might not be out of obedience to IPOB which could be out of fear among more it's basically more out of fear that's one um the Igbo Beirut group I don't even know how much they are on ground as a as a power as a power force to help the police and what they are doing right now but I also remember it's time for consultations help be consultations deep consultations and when we explore consultations before we begin to look at the job probably confrontations if you don't consult and you start with confrontations you will get the result that we are getting right now many of us are there we have made presentations that hey let's go this way let's use consultations let's meet with the people let's know what their grievances are which was what my group the Igbo integration movement was doing we let you know what's the grievance of the Igbo man how do you integrate Igbo man into the into the mainstream what are the things that he is demanding for this is the man that's represented all over the world Igbo man is the one that travels everywhere Igbo man is one that does not mean that breaks grounds to make things happen where it doesn't seem to be therefore there must be some grievance consultations consultations before confrontations all right that is my recipe thank you very much best man day is a security consultant thank you for speaking with us on the show well we'll take a short break and when we come back we'll first of all find out what Nigerians have to say about the presidency and right after that I will give you my take first of all I think south has been ready for a long time and I cannot specifically say this person but then Igbo's have they've shown their team spirit for a long time they've shown their ability to lead they've shown the ability to thrive in different places put an Igbo man anywhere it would like he doesn't force leadership out of himself it's just natural with them and I think that the only reason why people in court feel like they are not ready is because they think okay when Igbo man gets there he's going to you know break his people away and then scatter Nigeria yes south is they're ready to produce Igbo man as a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because they have been marginalized for a very long time they haven't been given such opportunity to kind of come up with a precedent to lead this country and they occupy some major states and they play a major role in economic of Nigeria they have the capacity and they deserve to be a president of Nigeria because they are an indigenous they are also an indigenous of the of the Federal Republic of Nigeria I don't think so because if south is if they're ready to produce a president this come 2023 they're supposed to be forming alliance with other distant other tribes other states other party faithfuls I think so I think there they have been agitation from that part of the country for them to produce a president like they feel is their own time for Nigeria to have a president from that part of country here's my take now not one day has passed without a bad report or mishap in Nigeria and the country is fast becoming a place where negative stories dominate the news so the question is why this is because we lack true leadership and a sense of direction especially at a time when we needed the most a promise an oath that every Nigerian leader or office holder had made seems to no longer hold water because these people have failed to live up to any of these promises they only they only pick and choose when to act on issues that affects the common man but they will roar and fight and politic when this is in their own interest so where do we come in here when will we be top of the shelf we're killed we're kidnapped we're maimed daily with no recourse no empathy no consequence why are we even Nigerians of what value is it to be a Nigerian who is a Nigerian if our lives are of no value if our leaders do not prioritize or fight for us what is in it for us how do we build a nation where peace and justice will reign if we are divided as a people we cannot let this naysayers continuously sway us to destroy ourselves so Nigerians need to band together against injustice and bad leadership so we need to put an end to this right now my name is Marianne and I'm thanking you for watching do have a good evening