By Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko

The country is presently agog with political activities and politicos and their agents are having a swirl time endlessly meeting, scheming and plotting for political power.

Serious contenders, gambling aspirants, jokers, and outright spoilers, are all in the fray.
Clichés su as zoning, consensus and sellable candidate pop up now and again in our media space, as aspirants and their handlers try to manouevre for advantage over others.

Power is the name of the game.
Nobody cares anymore about the real issues plaguing the land: structural defects of the foundation carrying the edifice and great need to urgently reconstruct the polity and save Nigeria.

The unworking unitary system and the obtuse political, social and economic culture that emanated therefrom over time.

Every one seem interested only in the 2023 elections.
Every clique argues their man will transform Nigeria into a first world nation in no time.

Our people still find the truth, that even an extraterrestrial being from another planet cannot achieve much under this 1999 constitution unitary structure, offensive. They don’t want to hear about the truth. They want power by all means.

Presidential power is huge. If well used, could impact positively on the land. That’s true though.
When I marched twenty years ago for a President of Igbo extraction, the idea was to give everyone a sense of belonging.

But the truth remains that our structure isn’t working.
The core structural adjustments remain imperative and a necessity if Nigeria is to be great.
As the noise and frenzy of politicking rises to higher crescendo and half truths and outright lies dominate the air, it becomes necessary to remind ourselves that the 2023 elections truly presents a great opportunity to save and heal the land, a chance that would be bungled at a great price and consequence.

Stories about vice-presidential aspirants masquerading as Presidential hopefuls, is disappointing.

Raising the hopes of a people only to dash same in time, is unfair.

Therefore, the whispers that ala Igbo would once again produce only a running mate, isn’t inspiring one bit.
There are good Presidential materials from the East. It is not true that only vice-presidential materials could be found in the East.

Obi and Anyim from the opposition party are good choices.
Ngige and Ogbonnaya Onu from the ruling party are great Presidential materials as well.
There are credible Eastern suitables in other parties as well.

Igbo candidates who are willing to accept second fiddle position are only self centered and greedy.
But there are other issues plaguing the land though.
Whereas the issues responsible for the loss of faith, lack of interest and restiveness in the East remain unaddressed from the root, sadly, the refusal of the authorities to altruistically seek resolution and closure, isn’t helping the situation.

Another issue largely undiscussed.

Again.

Failure to aggressively mobilise the people towards mass registration (PVC revolution), for the elections, seem to suggest the leadership across-the-board are probably hiding something from us all.

The stakes are high, the election ten months away could determine the future of the country, yet a huge segment of the potential voters remain uninterested. Sad.

Meanwhile, in another development, it has come to our attention that the acronym IYM is suddenly being used by some other persons.

For sake of clarity, we state that we do not know any other IYM.

We have no relationships whatsoever with any group that replaced “Movement” for “Mandate”. The Igbo Youth Movement was built to stand in a class of it’s own through decades of sacrifice and consistency. We remain non partisan and apolitical. We respect other folks views and choices and expect same from others.
2023 election is critical.

The tempo and style of the aspiration and mobilisation remain uninspiring though.

*Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko is the
Founder of Igbo Youth Movement and the
Secretary of Eastern Consultative Assembly