Colonel Emeka Ojukwu declaring his candidacy for President in 1983 on his return from exile.

Nigerians have always been Nigerians. Nigeria will always be Nigeria.

Ojukwu said ……….

“When we look at the Nigerian society, today what we see cannot be less tragic. In the two decades of our independence we have witnessed a general degradation of our quality of life. We seem to pride in the neglect of the people. We use power to solve the interest of a few people who happen to be close to leadership. We have tended to think that plans can be made without accurate statistics.

We glory in mediocrity and surpass ourselves in worshipping nonentities. We prefer pallitives than cures. We have installed parasitism and made it a way of life. Everywhere and at every level there seems a riot of excesses “.

Emeka Ojukwu, 1983 (New Times. Vol. 2, January 1983