Veteran actor, Pete Edochie, has described former Lagos state governor, Bola Tinubu, as too old to become the next president of Nigeria.
Edochie, in an interview, raised concerns about the political marginalisation of the Igbo people.
“Many people like Tinubu are too old and too weak to run for president. He (Tinubu) has been in power for a long time, until he was made the leader of the APC.
“But he should leave the position for those who are younger and healthier; let’s be honest,” he said.
The veteran actor, while lamenting why Aguiyi Ironsi was the only Ìgbò head of state since independence in 1960, said: “Ìgbò, Hausa, and Yorùbá are the major ethnic groups in Nigeria.
“Only once in the history of Nigeria has it emerged that an Ìgbò person became the head of state in Nigeria. That was (former military head of state) Aguiyi Ironsi during the military government and his headship was short-lived.
“Since then, the North and the Yorùbá have been sharing power between themselves, apart from Goodluck Jonathan who isn’t even Ìgbò.”
He stressed that Nigeria needs an Igbo leader who will end looting and socio-economic woes and transform the country.
In his words: “Why has power not returned to the Ìgbò people? Is there a plot by the political elites to sideline the Southeast?
“I’ve lived in the north. I speak Hausa. But it’s long overdue for Nigeria to have a leader of Ìgbò extraction.
“The problem in Nigeria is greed. Leadership is dominated by Northerners but, 60 years after independence, we’ve not ended the electricity problem, when coal-based Oji River supplied power to the whole east before the civil war.”
Edochie, who is known as a tough man in his acting roles, is considered one of Africa’s most talented actors, being honored with an Industry Merit Award by Africa Magic and Lifetime Achievement by Africa Film Academy.
Although a seasoned administrator and broadcaster, he came into prominence in the 1980s when he played the lead role of Okonkwo in an NTA adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s all-time best selling novel, Things Fall Apart.
Edochie descends from the Igbo people of Nigeria and is a Catholic. In 2003, he was honored as a Member of the Order of the Niger by President Olusegun Obasanjo
.