We Know When We Igbo Had Leaders, The Likes of Zik, Ojukwu Not These Clowns Looking for Crumbs-Opara

According to a video published by SYMFONI TV on Monday, October 12, 2026, lawyer and House of Representatives aspirant Maxwell Opara has criticised some Igbo political leaders, describing them as “clowns” and a frustrated group of individuals seeking political favours from President Bola Tinubu.

Opara made the remarks during an interview with Victor, where he was asked whether Igbo leaders had taken steps to negotiate with the President for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

In response, the lawyer questioned the identity of the people being referred to as Igbo leaders and expressed doubts about whether the South-East currently had genuine leaders capable of representing the interests of the people.

He argued that individuals who secured political positions through electoral fraud did not deserve to be regarded as leaders, stressing that true leadership required responsibility and a willingness to provide for the people.

To illustrate his point, Opara compared leadership to the role of a father who takes responsibility for the welfare of his family.

He further challenged the credibility of some politicians from the region, claiming that those regarded as leaders today would struggle to win even the position of provost in their respective kindred meetings if a free and fair election were conducted.

Recalling prominent Igbo figures of the past, Opara cited former Nigerian president Nnamdi Azikiwe and Biafran leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as examples of the kind of leadership he believed the region once had.

In his words, Maxwell Opara said, “We know when we had leaders, when we had the likes of Zik, when we had the likes of Ojukwu. Not all these clowns, all these frustrated set of people who are looking for something that will drop from the table of the president, so that they will pick it and go to the social media and start talking nonsense.”

The lawyer also accused some political figures from the South-East of telling the public that the Igbo were not qualified to produce Nigeria’s president.

He challenged that position by pointing to politicians from other parts of the country who had occupied the offices of president and vice president since 1999.

According to Opara, the continued absence of an Igbo president reflects the region’s exclusion from the country’s highest political offices. He maintained that those who failed to speak out against the situation could not genuinely be described as leaders.

During the interview, the presenter suggested that Opara was referring to individuals expected to use their political positions to advance the interests of the South-East.

Watch the video from 00:15:03 – 00:15:14 HERE

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