Dele Momodu, renowned Yoruba journalist and publisher of Ovation Magazine has admonished President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint an Igbo man as the next Inspector General of Police
According to the journalist, President Buhari should listen to the dissatisfaction being expressed by the Igbos who claimed they were being marginalised in the scheme of things in the country.
Momodu made the appeal on Thursday during a Facebook Live Chat.
The calls by interest groups for an Igbo IGP got to apogee this week with the expiration of the tenure of Abubakar Adamu as the IGP having completed his year of service.
There were similar calls last week when the President appointed four new service chiefs –Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff (Delta State); Major-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff (Kaduna State); Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff (Kano State); and Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff (Osun State).
However, speaking on Thursday, Dele Momodu said President Buhari government should utilise the brilliance of the Igbo people in the fight against insecurity in the country.
He further said that Buhari must not make it look like the Igbo people “committed eternal sins by fighting the civil war which ended 51 years ago”.
Momodu said, “For me, I don’t care where you come from. So, why should anyone tell me an Igbo man cannot be president, an Igbo man cannot be the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff or an Igbo man cannot be the Inspector General of Police?
“I’m hearing now that the next Inspector General of Police will be a northerner or may be they have even appointed him, I don’t know.
“How can the outgoing Inspector General of Police be a northerner and then the incoming will be a northerner? I have nothing against this but every Nigerian should be given a sense of belonging and people have complained about this. A leader must be sensitive to the yearnings of his people. That is why people are crying of marginalisation.”
Dele Momodu also noted that he has no ulterior motive by speaking for the Igbo people.
“When I speak about the Igbo, it is not because I want to contest an election or it is a political statement,” he said, adding that Nigerians must learn to live together and respect each other.