497
The apex Igbo sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo World wide, has bared it’s mind on the issue of the upcoming 2023 presidency insisting that Nigerians will only experience the true meaning of a Federation with justice, equity and fairness when an Igbo man becomes the President of Nigeria.
He also said that the Igbos are more prepared for the coveted office than the North were in 2015 prior Muhammadu Buhari’s eventual election.
In a statement signed by the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Ambassador Prof. George Obiozor, the group flayed the insinuation by some persons that Ndigbo were not ready for the position contending that both North and South West were not ready before Buhari and Obasanjo’s respective elections, hear him:
“Let it be known and clearly understood that Ndigbo are more prepared than the North when President Buhari was elected in 2015. By then Boko Haram had threatened to over run the North and the country, and the nation’s priority then was security and the issue of who will guarantee security to the country favoured Buhari, a former Head of state, a General e.t.c. The only preparation in the north was having available a man like Buhari presumed to have the capacity to confront the security challenges in the North and the rest of the country.
“In the South West, how prepared were they in 1999 when President Obasanjo was elected? Infact, many people from the South West did not vote for him in that election. The people of the South West zone were deep in the crises of NADECO and displeasure over the June 12, 1993 election annulment. Here, notwithstanding, the Nigerian nation and the people through the two main national political parties zoned the Presidency to the South West in order to heal and reconcile the nation over the post 1993 election crisis.”
The Ohanaeze leader averred that “Today, if the truth must be told, the imperative of zoning the Presidency to the South East is an idea whose time has come. Certainly, Ndigbo are prepared and look forward to it as a national priority. It is also indeed reasonable and logical that before any other zone in the country goes for a Second Turn of occupying the office of the Presidency that Ndigbo should at least have their First Turn.”
He noted that “As Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of Afenifere, the Apex Yoruba socio cultural group said “you talk about unity, that is where you will know where sincerity lies. If you are keen about unity, will there be a unit of the country that you will deprive Presidency? What does that mean for unity? ”
“We are talking about people who want Nigeria to stay together. How can anybody who loves this country talk of the Presidency coming to the South West in 2023? Why should you exclude the South East? Is South East not part of Nigeria?
“South West has had, South South has had, the North has had, why exclude the South East if you want them to be there? That is the point”.
On the readiness of Ndigbo for the presidency come 2023, Obiozor stated reassuringly that “In Igbo land today, we have many competent personalities that can confront and solve Nigeria’s perennial and endemic socio- political problems and guarantee peaceful coexistence for all the citizens regardless of ethnicity, religion or race. We are ready and with an Igbo President, Nigeria and Nigerians will experience the true meaning of a Federation with justice, equity and fairness”, Prof Obiozor concluded.