The apex Igbo group- Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, has declared that only Nigerian president of Igbo extraction can unite the country.
Secretary General of the group, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said this on June 23, 2021 during a radio Programme with Living Radio Aba, Abia State.
He said the zone is not advocating for southeast presidency in 2023, but for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction.
Isiguzoro, maintained that it’s only a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction that can assuage the grief of the Igbo people, the marginalization, injustice and will end the clamour for secession.
He said: “we are not advocating for southeast presidency, what we are advocating for is a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. There are Ndigbo in River State, Delta State, Benue State and so on, but the core zone that demands equity, justice and fairness in Southeast which has not produced a Nigerian president.
“In South South where we have Ndigbo, a South South man from the Ijaw nation has been Nigerian’s president for six years. In 2003, Mohammadu Buhari said he will be the person that will give an Igbo man president in the future, he said that in Abia state. By 2023 it will be 20years and that promise may come to pass. With what we are seeing in All Progressives Congress (APC), if the national Chairman comes from the North, there is the possibility that the presidential candidate will come from the south.
“If the presidency is coming from the South, it is now left for us, Ohaneze Ndigbo to galvanize support for our own. What matters most is let him be a quality Igbo man that will bring about quality governance. We always fight for merit, we are the real owners of Nigeria. We are saying that all political parties should zone their presidential position to the southeast.
“If peradventure the injustice or any attempt to thwart 2023 Igbo presidency succeeds, it will not augur well with the unity of the country. It will strengthen self determination, and the agitation for Biafra. It is only a justified Igbo presidency that will unite Nigeria” he stated.
The secretary General, called on Ndigbo, both home and in diaspora to massively participate in the continuous voter’s card registration exercise which will commence on Monday, June 23.
Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday June 21, at a press briefing in Abuja, announced that the commission will lunch the continuous voter’s card online registration portal which will come live on Monday, June 28.
He said the portal was created for intending registrants to commence the process online by providing relevant details before booking an appointment to visit the commission’s office.
Registrants can also visit any INEC state or LGA office to complete the process from July 19, the same day the physical registration is scheduled to start.
Isiguzoro, noted that the exercise is an opportunity for Ndigbo to register no matter where they are to increase the voter strength of the zone.
“As Ohaneze Ndigbo, we have set up machineries in motion that from this weekend, we activate our cells to carry out aggressive campaign down to the grassroots, in the 774 local governments in Nigeria to mobilize Ndigbo who are eligible to go and register.
“We are looking for Igbo presidency in 2023 and the best time to start preparing to achieving it is now by ensuring that we participate fully in the continuous voter’s registration exercise”, he added.
He disclosed that Ohaneze Ndigbo now has online Ohaneze TV and Radio.
“Through that medium, we are going to use our dialect to ensure that our people are aggressively mobilized. We have already established cultural organizations in the 774 local governments of Nigeria. We have over 58 afflicted groups and they have already been integrated into the aggressive campaign we are already championing” he noted.