From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
The youth and students’ wing of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South East, has said zoning the Presidency in 2023 to the region will douse rising calls for secession by groups in the southern part of the country.
Its legal adviser, Noble Ojigwe, said increasing agitation for self-determination by youths in the zone was as a result of marginalization and glaring acts of discrimination against the zone by the Federal Government.
He said the Igbo were misunderstood and dehumanised for being forthright and patriotic in issues of national development than other ethnic groups in the federation, noting that leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Aguiyi Ironsi and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, among others, sacrificed tribal sentiments, to fight for a united Nigeria, even when their colleagues in other regions, were blunt on working for their tribes.
According to him, if elected into office in 2023, such Igbo person will not make governance of the country a one-tribe affair.
“Igbo are team players, patriotic, industrious and egalitarian in nature. With an Igboman at the head, the national economy will grow as every tribe would be represented in a non-partisan manner to grow our country,” he said.
Ojigwe called on the National Assembly to hasten the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as amended and remove areas that create acts of segregation to make it more acceptable by all, without favouring particular interests while others continued to be discriminated against.
He said there are patriotic Nigerians calling for the South East to produce the next president, adding that “it is not too late to right the wrongs done to Ndigbo and the time is now.”