S’East presidency non-negotiable, Ohanaeze Ndigbo youths tell PDP

By Patrick Okohue

As agitation for the next zone to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023 continues to generate interest across the country, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to succumb to pressure to give the position to any other region as an Igbo presidency is non-negotiable.

It alleged that despite voting massively for the PDP since 1999, the party is treating the Igbo as “cows that must not only be milked, but used to death.”

OYC, in a statement signed by its president-general, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and secretary-general, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, advised Igbo politicians against accepting the vicepresidential slot.

The group said: “The OYC is irrevocably committed to the advancement of the Igbo nation. In the struggle to protect, promote and prosper the life and livelihood of the average Igbo man, the council will speak with courage and act with wisdom.

“While watching the events leading up to 2023, the OYC has observed some troubling developments. While the OYC is pushing fiercely for devolution of power to the regions and resource control, the council will keep its eyes on 2023.

“It is not because an Igbo Presidency will solve all that bedevils the Igbo, but an Igbo Presidency will assuage and comfort, will offer that sense of belonging, and will pursue devolution of powers and industrialisation.”

The group further stressed that it is committed to the idea that the Igbo man would thrive best in a restructured Federal Republic of Nigeria, adding, “What the Igbo man seeks is not a helping hand. The Igbo man demands a level playing field.

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“The Igbo man in Ihiala or Zungeru or Potiskum has invested his faith in Nigeria. He wants from Nigeria the sense of belonging of a first son, a shared sense of belonging with the Fulani and the Yoruba.

He wants a platform for the maximisation of his God-given potential.

“If the PDP thinks the Igbo will wait till 2031 before it gets a chance at its presidential ticket, then the PDP isn’t just treacherous, it is delusional. Perhaps the PDP doesn’t need Igbo votes.”