Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-political body of the Igbo, has said President Muhammadu Buhari should not ‘threaten or cajole’ the Igbo into voting for him in 2019 with talk of possible ‘Igbo Presidency’ in 2023.
There are suggestions that Igbo will produce the country’s President in 2023 if they play a major role in Buhari’s re-election in 2019.
All Progressives Congress chieftains in the South-East have been urging Ndigbo to vote Buhari in 2019 in order to reap the reward of having an Igbo as President in 2023.
Speaking during a South-East Rally for President Muhammadu Buhari in Owerri on Tuesday, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who represented the President, apparently endorsed the argument that the only way the Igbo could produce the country’s President in 2023 was by supporting Buhari in 2019.
Mustapha said 2019 would determine the political future of the Igbo.
Promising that the “South East will overtake others after 2019,” he said, “2019 will make or mar the aspiration of the Igbo nation. I am calling on the Igbo to make a paradigm shift and think seriously of their position.
“The presidency of Nigeria is negotiable and can only be done on the position of strength and the strength of the Igbo will be determined by 2019 support for Buhari. The choice is that of the Igbo nation. What happens in 2019 will determine the future of the region and you can bet on the support of Buhari.”
Reacting to the development on Wednesday, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, said the political future of the Igbo was not in Buhari’s hands, or that of any other human being.
Insisting that the future of Ndigbo lies in God’s hands, the Ohanaeze spokesman said Buhari should not threaten Igbo into supporting him in 2019.
Ibegbu said: “The political future of Ndigbo lies in God and not in any man. Nobody should play God over the political fate of Ndigbo.”
.Punch