By Christiana Ekpa
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Socio-cultural organization, George Obiozor, yesterday said Igbos are now ready and well prepared to produce Nigeria’s next President in 2023.
According to him, the Southwest, South-South, and the North have all produced Nigeria’s presidents and Vice Presidents since 1999, while only the Igbos are still missing in these positions.
In a statement he issued, the Ohanaeze President General said Igbos have over the years fully supported other regions that produced the country’s leadership in the past.
He said, “Let it be known and clearly understood that Ndigbo were more prepared than the North when President Buhari was elected in 2015. By then Boko Haram had threatened to overrun the North and the country, and the nation’s priority then was security and the issue of who will guarantee security to the country favoured Buhari, a former Head of State, a General. The only preparation in the North was having available a man like Buhari presumed to have the capacity to confront the security challenges in the North and the rest of the country.
“In the South West, how prepared were they in 1999 when President Obasanjo was elected? In fact, many people from the South-West did not vote for him in that election. The people of the South-West zone were deep in the crises of NADECO and displeasure over the June 12, 1993 election annulment. That, notwithstanding, the Nigerian nation and the people through the two main national political parties zoned the Presidency to the South West to heal and reconcile the nation over the post-1993 election crisis.
“Today, if the truth must be told, the imperative of zoning the presidency to the South East is an idea whose time has come. Certainly, Ndigbo are prepared and look forward to it as a national priority. It is also indeed reasonable and logical that before any other zone in the country goes for a second turn of occupying the office of the presidency that Ndigbo should at least have their first turn.”
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