Ohanaeze’s Secretary Says Ameachi Right, Igbo Can’t Be President In 2023

“For failing to vote for the All Progressives Congress, APC in the 2019 general elections, the South East of the country has obviously lost in the contest for 2023 Presidency,” Says the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Uche Okwukwu.

Okwukwu noted that he could not agree less with the assertion of the minister of transportation, Rotimi Ameachi who had stated that the Igbo nation had by act of omission or commission made it impossible for them to win the presidency in the next four years.

In a statement made available to journalists in Port Harcourt, Okwukwu said Ameachi’s statement is true, noting that the Igbo land denied President Muhammadu Buhari a presence in the South-East by failing to vote for him.

Part of the statement read: “Amaechi’s statement is correct because they betrayed him; they betrayed Ndigbo. You must have followed the event leading to the confusion, where a socio-cultural organisation adopted President Muhammadu Buhari without affording Amaechi the opportunity of participating in the meeting of Ndigbo.

“Amaechi is an Igbo man. He has openly said he is Igbo. So, why would you deny him the opportunity of participating in the meeting that purportedly endorsed Buhari and then you denied him the opportunity of presenting his own bulk to the Igbo.

“Of course, whether we agree or not, politics is reality. By not voting for Buhari and denying him any presence in Igboland, we have to a large extent, by omission or commission, shut ourselves out of the presidency in 2023.

“Even if you go to the convention of the APC, Igbo cannot win the primary in the APC. This is because they don’t have any senator, no governor, nobody in the APC. So, how will they win the primary? It is a sad thing, but it is the reality on the ground.

“Amaechi’s predictable assertion to the effect that Ndigbo had by an act of omission or commission shut themselves out of the presidency come 2023 is nothing but the truth.”

Ameachi had over the weekend while speaking to journalists said the Igbo have nothing to bring to the negotiation table for 2023 presidency, stressing that the region’s decision to support candidate of the opposition party was an error.

According to him, “I don’t know what they will do now for voting against the APC, for refusing to support the APC. They cannot come to the table to demand the presidency slot. For people like us in the APC, if the Igbo had come and voted Buhari, they would boldly tell Mr. President and the National Chairman of the party that presidency should go the Southeast.

“But since the South-south; South-west and North-west have produced president, what argument would the Southeast come up with now to convince anybody that they deserve the slot for 2023 president?”