Igbo Presidency: Southeast elders identify Obi, consult Sultan, others

Obi is the way: According to the elders, after the refusal of the two prominent parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People Democratic Party (PDP), to give their tickets to a Southeasterner, the Igbos have seen another possible route to the Presidency in 2023 through the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

This was disclosed by the Secretary General of Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, Professor Charles Nwekeaku, in an interview with The Punch on Sunday, August 21, 2022.

Consultations ongoing: Nwekeaku noted that the body has reached out to the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar among other stakeholders.

Nwekeaku's words: “You must have read where (Ango) Abdullahi, Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, said that they were not accepting the All Progressives Party and the PDP. You must have read that.

“We’ve reached out to them; we’re still talking with them. We’ve visited Sultan of Sokoto. I was even a member of the delegation that met him. So, I’m talking authoritatively.

“Every person goes to market, and the market is not favourable to an average Nigerian today, every person is suffering.

“Every Nigerian, an average progressive minded Nigerian today, wants a change. That change is in favour of Peter Obi of the Labour Party. So Igbo Elders Consultative Forum is working hard, in reaching out, not because Obi is an Igbo.

“We’ve examined them, and he’s ahead of others, in terms of a change, a change of the narrative. All other people, mention any of them, they have been in government; what did they do? They are part of the problem we have today.”

Further comments: He also argued that the insecurity in the Southeast, which has largely been ascribed to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not peculiar the region.

He said, “Insecurity is not peculiar to the South-East. You can imagine that presidential convoy was attacked by bandits, and no person has been able to apprehend those bandits till today.

“You can see that in some parts of Niger State, the terrorists have hoisted their flags there, and no person has been able to arrest and detain them, or suppress or neutralise them.

“Go to Katsina State, many parts of Katsina are being taken over by the bandits. So, the South-East is not an exception. But we are also making sure that peace returns. You remember at the eve of Anambra State election, it was rumoured that there will be no election, that the IPOB and other youth organisations have threatened.

“But eventually, by the time we engaged them, there was election. So, in the South-East, there will be election by the special grace of God.”