…says APC, PDP ‘machinations demonstrated gross historic injustice towards Igbo’
Apex Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has accused the political elite of conspiring to deny the South-East geo-political zone of the country the opportunity to produce Nigeria’s next president in 2023.
President General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Professor George Obiozor, made this allegation while reacting to the presidential nominations of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party for the 2023 general elections.
Presidential aspirants from the South-East in the two mainstream political parties had lost woefully in the primaries. Some of them even failed to get any vote despite the overwhelming agitation for the region to produce the next president based on equity, justice and fairness, and in the spirit of rotational presidency between the North and South.
While APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from the South-West, emerged the presidential candidate of the ruling party, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar from the North-East clinched the PDP presidential ticket in primary elections that were allegedly characterised by heavy inducement of delegates said to have been bribed in dollars.
But Obiozor, who had since refrained from commenting on the outcomes of these primaries, broke his silence on Saturday morning in a statement titled: “What does Nigeria want from Ndigbo?”
According to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo president, who is a former Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States of America, “Now it is clear that the Nigerian national political elite have successfully orchestrated to deny the South-East an opportunity to produce the president of Nigeria come 2023.
“By this machination, some Nigerian leaders have demonstrated gross historic injustice towards Ndigbo, beyond our expectations.”
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo president, who is convalescing in a Dubai hospital, said that Nigeria, by its deliberate injustice towards the Igbo, had failed the Rotary Club International four-way tests, “which are: First – Of the things we think, say or do: Is it the TRUTH? Second – Is it FAIR to all concerned? Third – Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? And Fourth – Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”
He, however, urged Ndigbo not to lament much but wait for the verdict of history.
He expressed his conviction that in the end, this political manipulation would end in “a Pyrrhic victory for those who rejoice and celebrate injustice.”
Obiozor conveyed his statement through the National Publicity Secretary of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Alex Ogbonnia.
He expressed gratitude to Nigerian statesmen and patriots across the country, who supported the idea for the South-East to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023, based on Nigerian proven history of rotation of power between the North and the South as well as commitment to equity, justice and fairness.