Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba and Obinna Odogwu, Awka
South-East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) has called on former Lagos State governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) Nnational Leader, Bola Tinubu, to jettison his rumoured plan to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari and support the emergence of a president of Igbo extraction.
It said everything short of electing an Igbo as president in 2023 would be regarded as a rejection and asking Igbo to leave the country.
President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, said, in Aba, that COSEYL was ready to mobilise Ndigbo at home and in the diaspora, towards the realisation of the dream which he said, was long overdue.
He said the Igbo nation, had, in the past, supported candidates from other zones to become heads of the Nigerian government, and produced leaders that helped to build the country, stressing that prominent sons like former governors, Peter Obi, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, former Senate president, Ken Nnamani, former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Charles Soludo, among others, were capable of occupying the number one seat, if so elected.
Meanwhile, former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has backed the call for president of Igbo extraction in 2023.
He said doing that would help make up for the wrongs meted to Igbo in the past.
Fani-Kayode restated his position while responding to questions from newsmen at the premises of Anambra State Governor’s Lodge in Onitsha when he returned from a tour of some project sites with Governor Willie Obiano.
“I know that where I come from, there is a very large body of opinion now that is pushing for that. Ayo Adebanjo, who is the deputy leader of Afenifere, who speaks for us, made that position clear that as far as he he is concerned, the next president should come from the South East. And he spoke for us,” Fan-Kayode said.
The former minister, who insisted that the Igbo deserve a shot at the presidency, however, urged the leaders and people of the South East to work hard for it.
Fani-Kayode commended Governor Obiano for his efforts to develop the state, saying he was impressed with the projects the governor had executed so far.
He said the ongoing International Cargo Airport being constructed by the governor was superb and would add positively to the state’s economy upon completion and subsequent usage.
“Governor Obiano is absolutely remarkable and what he has managed to achieve here is extraordinary. The truth of the matter is that the South East is actually blessed with some of the best governors in the country.
“If you look at the infrastructure developments; the three bridges he built in Awka, the intersecting roads, the streetlights that are virtually everywhere throughout the state now, you know that the governor is doing well,” Fani-Kayode said.