Former beauty queen and wife of late Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, has lamented what she described as dearth of credible leaders in Igboland.
Bianca reckoned that the death of Dim Ojukwu had left a leadership void in Southeast geopolitical zone with no credible leaders who could fill the space or speak for the ethnic group in Nigeria.
She spoke on Saturday at the 11th edition of Dim Ojukwu Memorial Day in Owerri, the Imo State capital, where the leader of MASSOB/BIM Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and hundreds of MASSOB/BIM supporters were in attendance to celebrate Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu’s Memorial Day.
She also lamented the spate of killings in Igboland, submitting that what obtains in “Igboland today are men who are not men.”
“Until 2023 we will remember that power has fallen when Dim Ojukwu died. We miss him particularly in Igboland. Why do we miss him? It is because in Igboland today, we have deficit of credible leaders. What we have today in Igboland are men who are not men. What we have today is one man down, one less competitor. That is why with what is happening today in the country we don’t have men who can stand up to speak for Ndigbo.
“At no time of the history of our people do we have the type of criminalities and criminals as we see on a daily basis in Igboland. Even during the war, we never heard or saw that people came out with knives to slice the throat and neck of another human being with pride.
“This is what we are seeing and why are we seeing it? We are seeing it because the general perception of not only the Igbo youths but the entirety of Nigerian youths, is that Nigeria has become a crematorium of dreams. That Nigeria has become a premature restive place of hopes and aspirations and the youths look around and see nothing but wasteland.
“Come to the Southeast, there is today lack of federal presence, no industries. So how can you earn a legitimate living when the system has completely collapsed? We are suffering a total system failure in economy, and security, when a government can no longer guarantee lives and safety on the property and investments of the citizens.”
Bianca also called on the Federal Government to immediately release IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, adding that no nation stifles the dreams of its citizens and expect peace.
“I call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and I do so firmly convinced that no nation can hold its people hostage and have peace; it is impossible because peace is freedom and also no nation can hold the dreams of its citizens to ransom and prosper.”
