Prof. Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party in the April 2011 election, on Wednesday called for a return to the path of the nation’s founding fathers.
Speaking at the 15th posthumous lecture in honour of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Utomi said that Nigeria was far off from the dream of its founding fathers and urged the nation’s leadership to work toward reclaiming it.
“To think of Zik and his contemporaries such as Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Prof. Eyo Ita and others and reflect on our times raises the question of leadership failure.
“That is the reason we offer explanations for why Nigeria appears to lie prostrate and how all of us have a share of guilt for Nigeria’s current wobbly status in the world,’’ he said.
According to Utomi, the political class of the Zik Era sacrificed for the common good and was not too removed from the people as it is at present.
“The political class is disconnected from the people. There is so much despair in the land and Nigeria is gradually moving toward anarchy.
“We have to save ourselves by holding people in office accountable,’’ he said.
On the planned removal of fuel subsidy, Utomi warned against the proposal, saying that it would cause much hardship in the land.
On the issue of Boko Haram, Utomi said that poverty was at the heart of the problem of insecurity in the country.
Also Speaking, the Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, Chief Hyacinth Ohazuluike, described Zik as the “Maker of Nigeria’’.
“Zik is the Father of Nigeria and we must continue to remember his great contributions to the growth of the nation,’’ he said.
In his speech, Dr Smart Ofonyiri, Lagos State Chairman of the People’s Mandate Party, said that Zik was an icon that Nigerian politicians should look up to, especially at this period of political crisis.
Ofonyiri said that Nigeria was failing and must go back to the tenets of Zik, adding it would return Nigeria to its glorious days.
The Chairman of the Centre for Nationalism and Good Governance, Chief Udoka Udogaranya, said that the lecture was organised to keep the vision of the Zik’s nationalism and social welfare alive.
“Zik’s vision was against tribe, religious or political affinity and discrimination which are the bane of Nigeria today,’’ he said.
Zik, Nigeria’s first president, was born on Nov. 16, 1904 and died on May 11, 1996.
The Zik lecture was organised by the Centre for Nationalism and Good Governance.