…Call on South East to queue behind Kalu, Okorocha

From: Godwin Tsa, Abuja

A Northern political group has called on other regions in the country to support the emergency of an Igbo president come 2023 in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.

The group has, however, called on the people of the South East not to play politics of exclusion, but pull themselves together and queue behind a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu ,and Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, in order to actualise the Igbo Presidency by 2023.

The group, Northern Front for Justice and Equity (NFJE), lamented that 47 years after former Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) declared ‘No victor, No vanquished’ and proclaimed the 3Rs of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation after the civil war, the people of the south east region are yet to produce a president. Gowon’s 3Rs were targeted at healing the wounds of the ill-fated war.

Chairman of NFJE, Yunusa Sule, noted that the people of the south east still felt short-changed in the rulership equation of the country as they are yet to produce a president of Nigeria, which he said was indeed a long time and honestly over due.

Besides, Sule equally called on past leaders including  Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Chief Obasanjo, Gen. David Ejoor, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, Chief Alfred Diette-Spiff, Gen. Alani Akirinade, President Muhammadu Buhari, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar and other great heroes in the country, to facilitate the emergency of an Igbo president.

The group, in a statement, in Abuja, on Tuesday, spoke on the need for “Ndigbo to put their acts together and foster unity among themselves in order to forge a common front and collaborate with other parts of the country to actualise their dream of an Igbo presidency.

“It is in this regard that notable Igbo leaders like Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu have always called on  Ndigbo not to play politics of exclusion.

 “These two leaders have shown great patriotism as they rejected any attempt to divide this country.

Owelle Rochas Okorocha  who is regarded as a political Nostradamus has always been a leading light ready to take Ndigbo to the promised land.

He has displayed wide vision by building bridges of love peace and understanding across the country History is replete with the fact that God has always picked whomever he pleases to lead a people to a destination

“Ndigbo must support  these  men of sterling qualities  and  stop the ‘pull him down’ syndrome that has characterised their political life.

Democracy  is a game of the majority, therefore the ceaseless attack on the north and a president of Northern extraction cannot help the cause of Ndigbo.

 For the sake of peace equity, and fairness the north sacrificed its political advantage by embracing the rotational presidency, the north should therefore be commended and not vilified.

We are therefore calling on the rest of the country to extend to the south East what was done for the south west in 1999 when the rest of the country including the south east stood down to produce Chief Olu Falae and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the two leading presidential candidates. Head or tail, a Yoruba man emerged in the person of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. This was done to assuage the injustice felt by the south west with the annulment of the election won by Late Chief M.K.O Abiola.

“It is a gesture that we believe should be extended to the south east in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.

“The South West, South South and the North had taken their turns as presidents of Nigeria at various times since the end of the civil war. Only the South East has not been given the opportunity to produce a president despite being one of the three major ethic groups in the country.

“When Gen. Yakubu Gowon, a former Head of State of Nigeria declared ‘No victor, No vanquished’ and proclaimed the 3Rs of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation   and Reconciliation after the civil war, it was targeted at healing the wounds of the ill-fated war. But 47 years after, the people of the south east still feel short changed in the rulership equation of this country as they are yet to produce a president of Nigeria. It is indeed a long time and honestly over due.”