•Says no politician from the zone ‘ll contest as running mate

By Jude Opara, Abuja

The Igbo Elders Council has condemned in strong terms the  discarding of power rotation arrangement of the main opposition political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in choosing its 2023 presidential flag bearer, at the moment it is the turn of Southeast to produce the next president of the country.

The Council resolved that the Southeast would reconsider its membership of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if someone of Igbo ethnicity did not emerge the country’s president in 2023.

The Council, emphatically, restated that it was the turn of Igbos to produce the next President of Nigeria based on their contributions to the sustainable development of key sectors of the Nigerian economy, and having been denied the position since the end of the civil war in 1970.

The National Executive Council of the body at the end of its emergency meeting held at Onitsha on 11th of May, 2022 and led by Justice Anthony Iguh who was represented by His Lordship, Justice Alpha Ikpeama, deliberated extensively on the current state of the nation with respect to insecurity and the forthcoming 2023 elections.

It resolved that, “If the next President is not from the Southeast, that the region will be left with no option than to reconsider their continued existence in Nigeria.
They called on the “major political parties in the country to field presidential candidates of Igbo ethnicity in the forthcoming 2023 Presidential election based on equity, justice and fairness.”
The Council’s NEC emphasized the need for an urgent meeting of all Igbo elder statesmen, critical stakeholders and National Advisory Council to bridge the cultural, religious and economic gaps in leadership and governance in the South East and to deliberate on the current security challenges bedeviling the region and other parts of the country and to proffer solution on the best ways to solve the problem through the creation of sustainable economic development.

The meeting is proposed to take place on or before end of July 2022.
It also called on all people of Igbo descent to unite for the purpose of achieving the presidency in 2023, insisting that no politician from the zone should accept a Vice Presidency position.
The Council further noted that “Ndigbo are known for their industry, hard work and respect for our values, culture and heritage and that the role of elders in Igbo land is far reaching as the conscience of the society and pillar of Igbo dignity and world view.”

This position is coming against the backdrop of the formal announcement by the PDP on Thursday last week to throw open the contest for its presidential ticket, thus foreclosing any hope of the people of the Southeast to have the party’s ticket zoned to them.
With the development, it is almost certain that only a contestant from the North would get the ticket, given the fact that zone has far much larger number of delegates, who would vote at the presidential primary of the party, slated for May 28 to 29 in Abuja.

Similarly the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC) has not even imagined or pretended that it could zone its presidential ticket to the Southeast. In fact, despite having already elected its national chairman from the south, the ruling party now clearly demonstrates a body language in the direction of ensuring the emergence of northern presidential candidate either by following the footsteps of the PDP in throwing the contest for the ticket open or by outright manipulation of the procedure to ensure the emergence of a northerner or call the bluff of southerners in the party and allot both the national chairmanship position and the presidency slot to the North.
The presidential primary of the APC is slated for June 1.