From Idu Jude Abuja
A pan-Igbo socio-political group, South East Revival Group (SERG), has called on Nigerians to ignore those it described as few inconsistent and selfish Igbo fueling anti-Peter Obi campaigns ahead of the 2023 presidential election, saying they are on a wild goose chase.
SERG President and National Co-ordinator, William Ezugwu, in an interview with Daily Sun, said the organisation is awash with reports credited to some elite of South East extraction making anti-Obi comments.
Ezugwu said all the political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains have urged the South East to support their presidential candidates to get support for the emergence of a South East president after their tenure.
“We recall that in 2017, an APC chieftain, Arthur Eze, had called for support from the people of the South East for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, stressing that it is only through President Buhari that the quest for Igbo presidency can be actualised.
“Eze, who is the founder and chairman of Atlas Oranto Petroleum, made the call in Abakaliki when Buhari visited the state in 2017.
“At the end of the day, Governor David Umahi he was positioning for president got disappointed when he didn’t get support from the president to emerge the presidential candidate, despite dumping his party, PDP to join APC in anticipation that President Buhari will endorse him,” Ezugwu said.
Ezugwu, while condemning the Igbo elite who work against realisation of South East presidency, said the same game is on ahead of the 2023 presidential election. He alleged that Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, is the point-man they are using to deceive a few Igbo elite that a support for APC or PDP in the presidential election will ensure a president of Igbo extraction will be made possible whenever the PDP or APC candidate may have finished his tenure.
Ezugwu agued that If the support of the likes of Eze and Umahi for APC did not translate into a support for an Igbo to emerge presidential candidate of the party in 2023, which is what is fair and just, it will be unthinkable to believe that the emergence of an Igbo as president will be possible as being promised over the years.
He, however, said It is unjust, unfair and devoid of equity for a northern to succeed President Buhari in 2023.
“How can a Muslim northerner replace a Muslim northerner in 2023? Is it just? Is it fair? Is equity not lacking in that?
Meanwhile, SERG president and national co-ordinator called on Nigerians of good conscience to know that PDP unjustly denied the Igbo the presidential ticket contrary to its zoning arrangement as enshrined in the party’s constitution.
“As for Adolphus Wabara who claimed that Atiku Abubakar will hand over to an Igbo, how can that be when no South East man or woman was good enough for the position of a vice president in Atiku’s government in 2023?
“Is Wabara telling us that an Atiku who desperately and deliberately usurped the turn of South East in his party and ensured the total desecration of the provision of the PDP constitution on zoning will now hand over to a South East person after his tenure?
“In 2019, Atiku enjoyed a total support of the Igbo but he paid them back by blocking every possibility of a South East to emerge presidential candidate or even a vice presidential candidate. So, where is his love for the Igbo?”
Ezugwu, therefore, said Nigerians are happy that the 2023 presidential election has become a tool in the hand of God and individuals who hate Nigeria and love only themselves are being exposed on daily basis.
“We are equally happy that people of good conscience across the country, who are obviously in the majority, are rooting for justice and equity, which is what the presidential bid of Obi represents.
“It is a quest for true unity, peace and prosperity of Nigeria as a country. Nigerians have seen that Obi is competent, prepared and divinely favoured to win the 2023 presidential election.
“Obi himself has on several occasions urged Nigerians to vote for him as a Nigerian, not because he is an Igbo man.
“That is a man who has a heart of a true leader and ready to bring about a new Nigeria where peace and justice shall truly reign for the benefit of Nigerians from all walks of life, irrespective of political party affiliation or religious beliefs.
“Obi represents the true Nigerian spirit, not the selfishness of the leaders who have kept the country in captivity over the years,” the SERG said.