Some prominent Igbo leaders have criticised the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), over the increasing insecurity in the country.

The elder statesmen, who spoke in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH on their assessment of Nigeria at 60, the 2023 presidential race and insecurity in the country, included former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife; Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; and the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev. Callistus Onaga.

They said there was little to celebrate except the coexistence of Nigerians from diverse groups.

Ezeife stated that Nigerians were aware that they had been retrogressing for a long time as Nigeria was at its worst point in time.

“Some people had the courage to say we are celebrating something. There is something to celebrate also because the fact that Nigeria remains alive today is something to celebrate, otherwise nothing really is to celebrate at all. The country is at the brink of collapse and we pray to God to revive Nigeria,” he said.

On his part, Iwuanyanwu decried the growing insecurity in the country.

He said, “At independence (in 1960), when you graduated from school, you got a job. At independence, you could travel to any part of Nigeria safely; there was no insecurity. At independence, the security was good; business and everything was normal. But today, we have a lot of problems – life is not secure. There is insecurity everywhere, especially in the North, and they are gradually coming to the South. The government has not been able to tell us why.

“We are fighting a battle they call Boko Haram (insurgency) for many years with taxpayers’ money. The Nigerian government has not been able to tell whether these people are foreigners or Nigerians. If they are Nigerians rebelling against the country, it is treason; such people should be published so that Nigerians will know those who are committing this act of treason. It is an act of treason to wage war against Nigeria by Nigerians.”
Speaking on the 2023 presidential race, they noted that though the issue of power rotation was not constitutional, the outcome might not divide Nigeria, while insisting that the insecurity in the land, if not addressed, would tear the country apart even before 2023.

Reacting to a statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and noble laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, that Nigeria was becoming a failed state under the current regime, Ezeife said, “It is not about what Obasanjo or Soyinka said. We are ranked number 14 among the failed states in the world.



Also, Onaga urged Nigerians, irrespective of tribe, religion or political leaning, to develop a new mindset for the country to attain greatness. He said the biggest impediment in achieving Nigeria’s greatness was corruption and nepotism, adding that Nigeria would realise its potential when everyone changed their way of life, as it was not all about the political class.