2023 Igbo demand: Zone all presidential tickets to South East
...As Igbo leaders finally speak in one voice
In what appears the loudest, most articulated and most widespread presentation of the will of Ndigbo the world over, key Igbo Leaders of Thought, under the the aegis of AHAMEFUNA 11, have officially presented a common front ahead of the next year’s presidential election: They want all the political parties intent on contesting the election to field only candidates from the South East.
According to them, zoning the presidency to the South East is not only the right and just thing to do, it could also be the only assurance to guarantee the continued unity of the country and the peaceful coexistence of it’s various components parts and federating units.
At a world press conference addressed in Enugu, Thursday, the Igbo leaders, drawn from varying political and socio-cultural tendencies, argued that apart from the brief six-month reign of General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, the Igbo have yet to produce an executive President, or chief executive officer, of Nigeria since independence in 1960.
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Without endorsing any candidate or party, the Igbo leaders said that both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as other fringe parties, have notable and eminently qualified Igbo sons and daughters who have actually showed interest in running for the presidency come 2023.
“The South East has many persons with the capacity, patriotism and passion to govern Nigeria”, the leaders said, adding, “a president from the South East will usher in unity, peace and progress in Nigeria. A president from the South East will guarantee the cessation of agitation by youths for breakup of the Nigerian state”.
The leaders, however, warned any Igbo son or daughter against pursuing any contrary agenda, with regards to the 2023 presidential election, hinting that there might be dire consequences for anyone who opts to swim against the tide of the South East aspiration for Igbo presidency.
The Enugu event which had the cream of the South East’s political and cultural leaders had in attendance the likes of Prof. Anya O. Anya, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu and Sen. Ben Obi, as well as the Obi of Onitsha, who was the Royal father of the day.
Also in attendance were former Imo State governor and one time minister of trade, Chief Achike Udenwa, former PDP scribe and former governor of Enugu State, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Prof. ABC Nwosu, Onyemuche Nnamani, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Dubem Onyia and Sen. Azu Agboti.
There were also Prof. Uche Azikiwe and Mrs. Beatrice Ekwueme
The communique from the AHAMEFUNA 11 press conference demanded as follows:
1. *A strong demand, for the various political parties to zone the presidential ticket of their parties to the south eastern zone of Nigeria.
2. *This demand is predicated on the fact that the zone has not produced a President of Nigeria, except for only Six months. It has also not produced an elected Prime Minister OR President since Nigerian Independence in 1960.
*The South East has suffered monumental marginalization of the zone since after the civil war. This marginalization has reached new levels in the last seven years. What can Ndi igbo do
4. *The South East leaders noted that Nigeria has a zoning and rotational culture for the Presidency of Nigeria. This agreement on rotational Presidency was reached at the 1995 Constitutional Conference. That rotation favours Southern Nigeria at the end of Gen Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023.
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5. *When that Presidency rotates to southern Nigeria, the zone that most deserves it is the South East, as other zones have occupied the seat before.
6. *The meeting noted that the South East has many persons with the capacity, patriotism and passion to govern Nigeria.
7. *That a president from the South East will usher in unity, peace and progress in Nigeria. A president from the South East will guarantee the cessation of agitation by youths for breakup of the Nigerian state.
8. *That our case is sufficiently self evident and persuasive to jolt the conscience of the nation to do justice to our people
9. *That citizens of the South East , across all parties must work in unity to achieve the objective of South East Presidency in 2023
1T*That political leaders of the South East should not, under any circumstances, compromise the determination of the South East to get the Presidency of Nigeria in 2023.
11.*That the people of the South East shall view with sternness, any South Easterner who works against this resolve
