The Nigerian presidency is open to all and Igbos should not assume it is theirs by right come 2023. This was opined by a former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chekwas Okorie. He said neither the Igbo socio-cultural group Ohaneze Ndigbo nor its president-general, John Nwodo, ca guarantee it either.
Okorie said this during an interview with Vanguard newspaper. He said: “I can tell you with every authority that there is nowhere Igbo sat and had any meeting, not to talk of whether they agreed or not to support Buhari.“The Umbrella body of Igbo people remains Ohaneze, and the President-General had overreached himself sometimes when he said that the turn of Ndigbo would be 2023 and I am sure he received disapproval from so many prominent Igbo leaders and young ones. And he has not repeated that statement or retracted it, but it is not the position of Ohaneze or Ndigbo.
“It will be political naivety for any Igbo man to think that it will be the turn of Ndigbo at any given date in the future. Political power is not given. It is struggled for. It is taken.“So, the Igbo people have to do what is necessary and reach out to other political parties to project any Igbo person to run for president. Our position is that the presidency of Nigeria is open to everybody and Igbo people are not shying away from it.”
