Brown Chimezie and Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri
The Igbo World Union (IWU), a pan Igbo socio-cultural group has declared that the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari, in the just concluded general election has brought the emergence of president of Igbo extraction closer to South East.
In a congratulatory message made available to Daily Sun, the President General of IWU, Mishak Nnanta, commended Igbo town unions in Nigeria and the diaspora, for yielding to his call to support President Buhari’s re-election project.
He said the result of the efforts was president Buhari’s inroad into South East heartland, where the votes he garnered ensured that the president met the 25 percent benchmark across the 36 states and the Federa Capital Territory (FCT).
While appealing to senators and members of the House of Representatives elect to work together for the interest of the South East, Nnanta said bickering and unhealthy rivalry would only harm the region. He urged them to work together for the purpose of industrialising the region.
On why he is confident that president Buhari would keep his word, Nnanta said the president is an honest man, who rewards loyalty with trust. He said Buhari, having assured IWU, during their last visit where he was honoured with a chieftaincy title, that he will work for the emergence of president of Igbo extraction in 2023.
While also appealing to Mr President to reach across to the opposition with olive branch, Nnanta urged Nigerians to see the victory as victory for the country’s 20 years of unbroken democracy.
“My appeal to Nigerians, regardless of their political divide, is to come on board and contribute their own quota towards the development of the country.”
While reminding the president-elect about the Second Niger Bridge and other ongoing projects in the South East, Sir Nnanta said if completed during his tenure, president Buhari would have proved doubting Thomases wrong.
In the same vein, Nnanta urged president Buhari to ensure that the South East people are considered when appointments would be made, so as to further bolster his popularity in the region.
In a related development, Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Rochas Okorocha, has congratulated president Buhari over his victory in last Saturday’s poll.
He noted that the election of president Buhari for a second term could be adjudged the best political development for the nation at the moment,adding that the way Nigerians voted for him only showed that he has done well in his first tenure.
Okorocha, in a statement he issued through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, said the millions of votes he garnered across the geo-political zones in the country only showed that Buhari is a detribalised leader, and equally an endorsement of his anti-corruption war.
He expressed optimism that the president’s second term will be better than his first term, in all ramifications.
Meanwhile, the governor has lambasted the President of Ohanaeze, Chief Nnia Nwodo, over his comments in the media on Imo, with regard to the allegation by the Returning Officer for Imo West senatorial district, Innocent Ibeawuchi.
Governor Okorocha alleged that Nwodo’s comment has made Ohanaeze a branch of PDP, while Nwodo has made himself an attack dog “of which anybody in Igbo land who is not on the same page with him would be attacked.”
He noted that Nwodo has, in recent time, used Ohanaeze to embarrass the Igbo and currently by his utterance, pushing them again into a very tight political corner.