Nnamdi Kanu
A
leading Igbo elder statesman has revealed that if an Igbo man fails to
emerge president in 2023, they will join Nnamdi Kanu to demand for
seccession.
Former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Dr.
Okwesilieze Nwodo, has declared that Ndigbo would join Nnamdi Kanu, to
seek Biafra secession from Nigeria if South-East does not produce the
president of the country in 2023.
According to Vanguard, Nwodo said this following a recent call by
an elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassi, for Igbo presidency in 2023.
Nwodo, who was also the former governor of Enugu State and national
secretary of PDP said that Ndigbo have suffered grievous
marginalisation in Nigeria and should be given a chance to produce a
president for the sake of equity and national unity.
He said this during an exclusive interview with Vanguard on
Tuesday, adding that South-East geopolitical zone has been persecuted
for over 50 years even though the region is more patriotic than any
other geopolitical zone in terms of economic development of the nation.
He said “Yakassi’s call is very fair and that is the correct
thing. In the first republic, the country was led by Tafawa Balewa, in
the second republic, it was led by Shehu Shagari. And then, those of us
in PDP made a very strong case to move the presidency to South East,
because even the military people were all from the north, apart from
Aguiyi Ironsi who presided over for a very short time.
“We managed to convince them at the party and Olusegun Obasanjo
and Alex Ekwueme contested. That was when Obasanjo won and after his
tenure, he handed power to another northerner, late Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua
who unfortunately died in office and the Vice president completed the
tenure. President Muhammadu Buhari will complete his eight years in
office by 2023. Following equity, the presidency should come to the
South-East because Obasanjo was president for eight years, now Yemi
Osibanjo is also the vice president and would finish his eight-year
tenure by 2023.
“So, in Southern Nigeria, it would be a total disaster if we do
not produce the next president because we have been terribly
marginalised since the end of the civil war. For 50 years now, we have
been persecuted for having fought for freedom. When will this
marginalisation stop? Anybody who loves Nigeria and who wishes Nigeria
well should go for Igbo Presidency in 2023 for unity, fairness, equity
and for Nigeria to move forward.
“It is only an Igbo man who will not marginalise any part of
Nigeria because we constitute the semen that hold the country together.
We are the only tribe that you find in every nook and cranny of Nigeria;
doing business and developing wherever they are as if it was
“I don’t believe that the Igbos are not united, there has never
been a time when any region produced a consensus candidate, everybody
emerged through primary elections. The last election was zoned to the
north and Atiku Abubakar contested with other aspirants before he
emerged PDP’s candidate, so did Buhari contest with other candidates
before emerging the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
There is no zone that has produced a candidate by consensus. It doesn’t
matter how many people are interested, they will be subjected to party
primaries and the person with highest vote will win.
“I agree with Nnamdi Kanu in everything he says about the
marginalisation of the Igbos. He, more than any other person has put it
on the international map. If Nigeria tells the elites from South East
that they would be treated as second class citizens in Nigeria, and that
they can never be president, almost all of them will go with Kanu to
fight for Biafra.
Anybody who wants to be a second-class citizen can support
whoever he wants. Any Igbo man who wants to bequeath secured future for
himself and generation yet unborn should support this call for Igbo
presidency. In the spirit of fairness and equity, Nigeria should give
the presidency to South East in 2023, otherwise, we will join him and
fight for Biafra.
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