A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections, Mike Ahamba has cautioned presidential aspirants from the Southeast geopolitical zone not to sit in their parlours and think the presidency will be brought to them on a silver platter.
The lawyer also kicked against the misconception of the term ‘Igbo presidency, saying it is nonsense for any Igbo man to sit in his comfort zone and expect that the presidency will be brought to his table in 2023.
Ahamba who spoke in Owerri, Imo State, at a book presentation said there is no office in Nigeria called Igbo presidency.
” There is no office provided for Igbo man to be president. We are talking of the presidency of Nigeria by a man of Igbo extraction.
These are two different things, I have always advocated that every ethnic group, including the Igbos, have every right to canvass for the president of Nigeria but if any person thinks he can sit in his parlour and the presidency of Nigeria will be brought to him, that’s it’s nonsense.”
“On several occasions, I have also said that the constitution was not made by people who expected that it could be amended at any point but in that same constitution there are ways and means pointing at amending it.
The Nigerian constitution provides for ways and means how we can do it only that we are just lazy.
“The National Assembly is a more powerful body in this country and it has powers to make laws, put in place order and good government and inside this expression lots of things are contained. So don’t tell me you can’t amend the constitution because there are no provisions for it, there are.
“Here in Nigeria we are living in bricks, people will sit up and in their armchairs say the powers of the president are too much. The president is given too many powers in the constitution, it is not true, the power is in the National Assembly but because of political and ethnic bias, they don’t want to do their job and that’s the truth of the matter.
“If Mr. President gets it wrong, the constitution has said how he can be curtailed but when it gets to the house political party interest and ethnic interests will come in, that is what I’m trying to point out. It’s not the president.
“There is nothing I know the president of Nigeria does without the approval of the National Assembly and if they do not approve what happens? he keeps quiet. I remember at a point when they wanted somebody to be sacked from office, they refused to approve his appointment. I mean the former EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu. National Assembly felt so powerless and it was an impeachable act by the president which is what I’m talking about.”