In a communiqué, signed by Chairman of Think Tank Board of Trustees, Prof. Madubuike Ezeibe and President of Nzuko Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, the gathering, consequently endorsed the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, urging Nigerians to vote for him.
The partakers enjoined the citizenry to queue behind a competent flag-bearer from the geo-political zone in line with the zoning policy adopted for peace to reign in the South West following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct SDP (Social Democratic Party).
To them, electing a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023 will make it impossible for agitators to convince young ones to join them and “give us peace in the South East as happened with NADECO (National Democratic Coalition) in the South West in 1999.”
The retreat expressed worry that zoning of the presidency, mooted to ensure justice and fairness for the peaceful co-existence of the country, was jettisoned at the last minute by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) to the detriment of the South East.
The participants argued that since every geopolitical zone in Southern Nigeria except South East had produced the President, equity and justice demand that the South East should in 2023 produce the nation’s chief executive.
The communiqué reads in part: “It was expected that the 1999 scenario of leaving presidential contest to only people from the deserving zone should have been repeated for the South East in 2023.”
Similarly, South East Revival Group (SERG) has charged Nigerians to ignore those fanning hatred against Igbo presidency, describing them as inconsistent and selfish politicians.
Referencing the anti-Peter Obi campaign ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Pan-Igbo socio-political organisation submitted that the promoters were on a wild goose chase.
In a statement yesterday, President and National Coordinator of SERG, Chief Willy Ezugwu, observed that in as much as the gladiators constantly promise uniting the country by upholding fairness and justice, they are equally selfish.
The body was reacting to reports credited to some elite of Igbo extraction, who have openly opposed Obi’s ambition.
Ezugwu said: “Both PDP and the ruling APC chieftains have urged the South East to support their presidential candidates to get support for the emergence of a South Easterner as President after their tenure.”
But insisting that there is no going back in the ‘total support for Obi across the country’, the SERG boss noted: “The fact that individuals, who are part of the country’s failed leadership are exposing themselves, is a good development in the build-up to a new Nigeria.”
He continued: “We recall that in 2017, a chieftain of the APC, Chief Arthur Eze, had called for support from the people of the South East for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, stressing that it is only through President Buhari that the quest for Igbo presidency can be actualised.
“Eze, who is founder and chairman of oil exploration company, Atlas Oranto Petroleum, made the call in Abakaliki during Buhari’s visit to the state in 2017.
“At the end of the day, Governor David Umahi he was positioning for President got disappointed when he didn’t get support from Buhari to emerge the presidential candidate, despite dumping his party, the PDP, to join APC in anticipation that President Buhari will endorse him.
“The same game is on ahead of the 2023 presidential election, and this time, Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, is the point person they are using to deceive a few Igbo elite that a support for APC or PDP in the presidential election will ensure that a President of Nigeria of Igbo extraction will be made possible whenever the PDP or APC candidate may have finished his tenure.
“If the support of the likes of Arthur Eze and David Umahi for APC did not translate into support for an Igbo to emerge presidential candidate of the party in 2023, which is what is fair and just, it will be unthinkable to believe that the emergence of an Igbo as President will be possible as being promised over the years.”
SERG stated: “It is unjust, unfair and devoid of equity for a northern to succeed President Buhari in 2023. How can a Muslim northerner replace a Muslim northerner in 2023? Is it just? Is it fair? Is equity not lacking in that?
“Nigerians of good conscience know that PDP unjustly denied the Igbo the presidential ticket contrary to its zoning arrangement as enshrined in the party’s constitution.
“In the same vein, it is unfair and unjust to the South East for a Yoruba southerner to succeed President Buhari after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba, completed an eight-year tenure as President and the Yoruba have a sitting Vice President, who would have completed his eight years in 2023.
“Peter Obi represents the true Nigerian spirit, not the selfishness of the leaders, who have kept the country in captivity over the years.”
