2023 Presidency: Be courageous, give it to South-East – Ohanaeze tells Buhari

The apex Igbo socio-cultural and political organization, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to keep a date with history by ceding power to the South East, ahead of the Presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Their passionate appeal came few days to the National Convention of the ruling party and barely a week after the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a northerner as its standard bearer. Ohanaeze urged the President to be courageous enough to choose a South-Easterner as his preferred aspirant.

The President had at a meeting with the governors of the APC within the week asked them to allow him nominate his successor from within the party.  In an interview with Saturday Sun, yesterday, National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia said it would be immoral a northerner to hand over to another northerner in a country where rotational Presidency between the north and south was clearly spelt out.

He expressed happiness that the APC had not taken a decision on the issue and therefore, appealed to the party to do the right thing by nominating a candidate of South East origin.

“What we expect from the APC is that the person piloting the ship of state as at now is President Muhammadu Buhari. He’s to determine the political dynamics of this country. Anything short of that means the person is being economical with the truth.  For example, when Abdulsalami Abubakar was head of state, he handed over to the South; during the turn of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he handed over to President Umaru Ya’adua from the North. So, if the rotational Presidency between the North and the South is altered or disrupted, it’s at the time of President Buhari. In fact, he’s in the best position to determine what can happen to Nigeria. So, for the peace and cohesion we have been enjoying in this country to be sustained, the Presidency should come to the South East and the man in charge is Buhari.

All eyes are on him. We are happy that the APC has not taken the decision. So, we are asking him to be courageous, to embrace fairness and equity for the corporate existence of this country. And also for sustainable national development because there cannot be national development; there cannot be unity when there is crisis, when there is inequity, when there is injustice. We’re happy that they have not decided, so, they can do the right thing,” Ogbonnia said.

The Ohanaeze spokesman who frowned at the outcome of the PDP presidential primary described it as “a treacherous political party which changed its goal post at the middle of the game.” Prior to this period, Ogbonnia had indicated that the Igbo would soon challenge the PDP with their consensus candidate, insisting that the project of a Nigerian President of South East extraction was an idea whose time had come; so, no going back. Another leading ethnic organisation, the Igbo National Council (INC) has advised the APC against toeing the path of the PDP in picking its presidential candidate, warning that it would mobilise Ndigbo to vote against them in the 2023 elections.

National President of INC, Chilos Godsent in a statement said the PDP has stabbed itself at the back by opting for Atiku Abubakar, a northerner as its candidate.

He encouraged the APC to take the bold step by adopting a candidate from among the aspirants from the South East in order for the party to survive the storm that was about changing the political history of Nigeria.

“We are very optimistic that we still have Peter Obi and Prof Kingsley Moghalu as frontline potential President of Nigeria come 2023,” Godsent stated. Similarly, President General of Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), Goodluck Ibem reasoned that the federal principle frowned at the exclusion of any section of the country from active participation in governance or the affairs of the nation.

He reminded President Buhari that he swore to an oath; to uphold and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria, hence it was binding on him not to jettison the principle of federal character.

“This principle makes it mandatory that he uses his power of office to ensure the presidential ticket of his party is zoned to South East.  The APC should pacify the South East by doing the needful for the sake of equity, justice and fair play,” Ibem urged.

Meanwhile, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has described Atiku’s victory as an affront to the South East who had supported and voted for the party since 1999. Umahi who spoke when he received National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Chris Isiguzo, recalled that he had in 2020 alerted the zone and the nation at large about PDP’s plan to deny the South East its 2023 presidential ticket which he insisted should come to the zone.

He restated that it was this sort of injustice and other unfair treatments being meted to the zone that made him to leave the PDP for the APC. He mocked PDP leaders and members in the South East whom he said criticized him when he joined APC, saying that he has been vindicated.

“I saw it coming, and I told them, but they all came after me, calling me all sorts of names. Those who criticized me that time have now seen what I saw. But it is too late for them. I commend the Ebonyi delegates for voting for Senator Pius Anyim. I will reward them,” Umahi said.

The APC presidential aspirant appealed to his party to zone its ticket to the South East in line with justice, equity and fairness.