Angela Mbaocha, Abakaliki
Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, yesterday, told President Mohammadu Buhari, that there are Igbo aspirants in the presidential race contesting under the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) that can defeat Atiku Abubaka if given the opportunity.
The Igbo group appealed to the APC and the leader of the ruling party, President Buhari to choose peace, unity, and harmony above all other primordial considerations as the choice of an Igbo from southeast or Ikwerre in Rivers State remains the best vaccine to heal and unify Nigeria.
The Chidi-Ibeh led Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide stated this in Abakaliki in a release issued by the Secretary-General of the group, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro.
Ohaneze maintained that imposition of another northern President in 2023 will put Nigeria on flames.
“Statesmen and patriots must seek to forge cohesion and brotherliness above actions that will put Nigeria on dangerous routes. A nation suffering acute hypertension and insecurity must prioritize tension dousing options such as Igbo Presidency.
“The retention of power in the north in 2023 will be a recipe for political maladies, including migraines and perhaps epilepsy. It’s patently disingenuous, even foolhardy, to abandon the principle of rotation of power in a Nigeria that has not outgrown the Quota System and Federal Character”, the group stated
Ohaneze, bemoaned the rising influence of money in party politics, adding, “money politics breeds corruption and wastefulness and undermines ability and support. Our nation needs peaceful and credible elections to yield a genuine leadership anchored on bona-fide representation, transparency, and accountability. At the helm, the country needs a young, energetic, experienced leader who can engender hope, promote national unity, enforce security and create widespread prosperity. The unity of Nigeria can no longer be taken for granted. It must be nurtured with fairness, equity, and social grievances.
“President Muhammad Buhari has an opportunity to engender national unity. We implore the president to rise above the immature and primitive calculations of the PDP and support Igbo either from the southeast or Ikwerre in Rivers state to heal the wounds of the injustice of marginalization and unify the country.
“The Igbo nation will forever remain indebted to President Muhammad Buhari, the builder of the second Niger Bridge if he endorses a southerner from Igbo stock to douse the rising secessionist campaign of Biafra as nothing is more important than unifying the country with an Igbo as Buhari’s successor”.
“Ohaneze Ndigbo and the entire Igbo nation, having made the quest for the Igbo presidency a political priority and mindful of existing political realities, urge President Buhari to support the candidacy of any Igbo from the seven Igbo speaking States, including Ikwere in Rivers state. Some Igbo aspirants have some resemblances of Zik of Africa with national acceptance to defeat Atiku in 2023, popular amongst them, is the Igbo from South/south that led Buhari’s campaigns for two consecutive victories in 2015 and 2019. The other was the National Chairman of the defunct ANPP and assisted in APC’s formation, another is the performing and only Southeast Governor in the race and the last but not the least is a serving Senator and a former Governor whose faction of APGA boosted the formation of the APC, these Igbo aspirants fit flawlessly into the shoes of the Great Zik of Africa, they remain the best options for Nigeria’s stability and unifying the country.
“We are looking forward to President Buhari’s ability to heal Nigeria’s Unity with any of the choices that are in the best interests of the National security and stability of the country”.
