Igbo must take over from Jonathan – Ohanaeze • As pan-Igbo group denies endorsing president From CHIDI NNADI and PETRUS OBI, Enugu Ohanaeze Ndigbo, pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation, has denied endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election. This rebuttal followed reports yesterday that the group had endorsed Jonathan during the annual Igbo Day celebration held at the Okpara Square in Enugu on Sunday. Speaking at an emergency press briefing organised yesterday to correct the impression at the Ohanaeze Ndigbo secretariat, Enugu, the President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Gary Igariwey, said the group has not endorsed Jonathan, but was of the opinion that any time the South-South finished its tenure, it would be the turn of the Igbo to occupy the presidential position. The president general, who addressed journalists with the Ohanaeze Secretary General, Dr Joe Nworgu; Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr. Emejulu Okpalaukwu and elder statesman, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, disclosed that what he said at Okpara Square was: “We reiterate for emphasis that Ndigbo must seek the presidency of this country at the expiration of the tenure of the South-South. This is in keeping with our stand that equity, justice and fair-play demand that we, the only zone remaining to hold the prime office in the country, should be allowed by our fellow Nigerians to so occupy it in unbroken succession after the South-South.” Igariwey said that since he was elected the president general of Ohanaeze in January this year he has not been to the Presidential Villa or made efforts to be there or received any invitation to visit Jonathan, wondering why he should then come out to endorse him. He insisted that his stand on the presidency has been for the Igbo to take over from the South-South, be it in 2015 or 2019, but it must be in an unbroken succession. Giving reasons the Igbo would wait for the South-South zone to serve out its tenure, Igariwey said that clinching the presidency was not a tea party, but a serious business got only with the support of other stakeholders. He, therefore, said that if the Igbo support the South-South, the zone would also support the Igbo when their turn comes. He said, with the Igbo collaborating with the South-South, they would move on to get more zones to support the Igbo aspiration after the South-South tenure. The Ohanaeze boss said that while the Igbo wait for the election year to come, the people should rise up now to demand an additional state for the zone to make it be at par with other zones in the country. He said that equity, justice and fair-play, which the Igbo have been deprived of because of the imbalance in the number of states amongst the six geo-political zones was the major reason Ohanaeze has thrown its weight behind the call to convene a national conference. Igariwey believes that at the national conference, the Igbo would be able to correct this imbalance that has affected them even up to the local government level. Culled from Daily Sun
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 11:15:42 +0000
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