From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Founder and Pro-chancellor of Gregory University, Uturu (GUU), Abia State, Gregory Ibe, has said the Igbo nation should be allowed to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023.
Speaking with newsmen at the main campus of the university, at the weekend, Ibe said if the wounds of the Nigerian civil war should be healed and justice done to the people of South East who have felt marginalised over the years, an Igbo man should be allowed to be president in 2023, adding that Ndigbo have paid their dues in the country in all facets of life.
The GUU founder said the Igbo need the presidency at this point in time more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria, since according to him, other ethnic groups, but the Igbo have occupied the position at one point or the other.
He said should a man from the South East becomes the president of the country, the Igbo will not depend on him for survival, stressing that the realisation that their son was the president of the country would be more than enough for them.
“The Igbo need the presidency at this point in time more than any ethnic group, since over 60 years the Nigerian nation came into existence, other ethnic groups, but the Igbo have occupied the position at one point or the other. Therefore, justice and fairness demand that an Igbo man should be allowed to be the president of this country in 2023.
“If a man from the South East becomes the president of the country, the Igbo will not depend on him for survival, they will rather be contended with the fact that their son is the president,” he said.
On the governorship seat of Abia in 2023, Ibe said he had intention to contest the governorship position of the state in the next election, adding that he had waited for long.
“I have intention to be governor of Abia, I started having that intention to be governor in 2011 and in 2014, I had that intention also, but the then governor asked me to wait, that it was zoned to the South. Now, I believe after waiting for this long, I should be in the race,” he said.
On the tertiary education curriculum in Nigeria, Ibe, who said his university was practical-oriented, observed that most higher institutions in the country churn out graduates who saturate the labour market seeking for job and not job providers; a situation he said was not good for the nation.