2023: Ohanaeze Describes Igbo Group Supporting Tinubu’s Presidential Ambition As ‘Renegades’

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Tuesday, disowned an Igbo group called “Igbo Speaking Community” in Lagos, for purportedly calling on the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Our correspondent gathered that the group, led by one Sunday Ude, had asked Tinubu to run for the nation’s presidency in 2023 when they paid a courtesy call on the immediate past chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Comrade Ayodele Adewale.

According to the pan-Igbo socio-cultural organization in a press release issued by its national publicity secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, “The Igbo Community, Lagos, reportedly pleaded with the former council boss to introduce them to Tinubu and the chairman of the ruling APC in Lagos State.

“We frown at the action of Ude and his cohorts, and see them as a renegade group that does not represent the interest of Ndigbo. Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide condemns in strongest terms the condescending actions of this fringe group who represents only themselves and their pecuniary interest. We advise the general public to discountenance the group who are nothing but self-serving elements out to feather their nests.

“We want to make it abundantly clear that the Igbo quest for the presidency in 2023 is non-negotiable. We will seek the support and understanding of all the various ethnic groups and geo-political zones in the country in this regard. 

“In fact, any Nigerian patriot knows that 2023 is the turn of the Igbo to produce a president for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This agreement was reached at the onset of the present cycle of the Nigerian democracy. Nigerians adopted a rotation of presidency between the Northern and the Southern parts of the country. The principle of zoning between the various components of the constituent units was a major element in the rotation of power between the North and the South. Eminent persons such as Dr Alex Ekwueme, Alh Abubakar Rimi, Chief Bola Ige, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, Solomon Lar, and Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo resolved to commence the rotation from the South. What weighed in favour of the South was that General Abdulsalam Abubakar was the head of state at the time. Abubakar, a few months before, took over from a northerner, General Sani Abacha. So, the men of conscience and undiluted patriotism favoured the South to produce the president for the country; hence Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

“As it stands, the Igbo have lent supports to Chief Obasanjo and Dr Goodluck Jonathan from the Southwest and Southsouth respectively. In 2023, the presidency should rotate to the South and by all standards of zoning, conscience and political arithmetic, it is the turn of the Southeast.

“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor, a diplomat and intellectual of world renown, is highly committed to the realization of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Therefore, a great doubt is placed on the authenticity and credibility of an Igbo that pledges the wrath that goes after renegades who work against the Igbo spirit.”