The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prof George Obiozor, has broken his silence on the outcome of the primaries of the ruling All Peoples Congress and the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, for the 2023 presidential election.
Recall that the South-East presidential aspirants in the two political parties lost in the primaries while some failed to record a vote despite the overwhelming agitation for the region to produce the next president based on equity, justice and fairness, and in the spirit of a rotational presidency between the North and South.
While a former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, who hails from the South-West emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, from the North-East, emerged as the PDP presidential candidate.
But Obiozor, in a statement titled, “What does Nigeria want from Ndigbo?,” made available through the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, described the outcome of the presidential primaries of the two major parties as gross injustice against the Igbo beyond expectations.
The former Nigerian ambassador to the United States of America, said, “Now it is clear that the Nigerian national political elite has successfully orchestrated to deny the South-East an opportunity to produce the president of Nigeria come 2023.
“By this machination, some Nigerian leaders have demonstrated gross historic injustice towards Ndigbo, beyond our expectations.”
Obiozor, who is convalescing in a Dubai hospital, said Nigeria, by deliberate injustice, had failed the Rotary Club International’s four-way test which centred on truth, fairness, goodwill, and benefit to all concerned.
While he urged Ndigbo not to lament much but wait for the verdict of history, the president-general expressed his conviction that in the end, this political manipulation would end in “a Pyrrhic victory for those who rejoice and celebrate injustice”.
He, however, thanked Nigerian statesmen and patriots across the country, who supported the idea for the South East to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023, based on Nigerian proven history of rotation of power between the north and the south as well as commitment to equity, justice and fairness.