2023: Forget ethnicity, religion, let’s support the best candidate — Okotie-Eboh September 18, 2022

Prince Emma Okotie-Eboh, son of Nigeria’s first Republic Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, and the ex-regent of the Warri Kingdom, in this interview, speaks on 2023 elections, the country’s leadership legacies, party politics, the political class and his role during the regency. Excerpts:

 

What are your thoughts on Nigeria’s leadership legacy?

 

The paper giant of Africa will be heading to the polls once again to elect or select another President and governors to mount leadership comes 2023. 

 

From 1997 till date when our political gladiators launched a comeback on the political turf of this country, the geometrical strides backwardness, in all ramification and growth index, is catastrophic in all dimensions and calls for a sober reflection by all well-meaning Nigerians. By simple estimation, infrastructural development and economic growth have stagnated after President Shehu Shagari’s regime till date.

 

 Shagari built on the solid foundations of the First Republic politicians and founding fathers of Nigeria before they were booted out of office by the military which further rode roughshod over whatever was left of our socio-economic cum political lives, dragging the nation into an abyss. When it became crystal clear to the military that they had overstayed their welcome and Nigerians were truly fed up with the shenanigans, they tactically quit power. But Nigerians persisted, resisted, and conquered the retrogressive forces through NADECO agitations and bounced back to political power, and played politics with ideological identity, integrity, and conscience. They played politics without bitterness wherein only the best candidates were fielded to vie for political offices with the genuine belief that the dividends of democracy would be spread across the board without regard to ethnicity and religious jingoism. It was during the era of the founding fathers of Nigeria that all the legacies of the 3rd Mainland Bridge, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the National Stadium, Gulf Oil Company and so on were conceived and built upon till date. There was no talk of a zoning system where indolent illiterates, miscreants and all manner of politicians with no enviable antecedents were encouraged into positions of authority and responsibility far above their cerebral capability and capacity as we have it today.