There are indications that the people of the South- East may jettison their traditional political inclinations and back the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) if the party zones its 2023 presidential ticket to the area. Findings by New Telegraph revealed that it has not only become obvious that the political loyalty of the South-East will go to the ruling party if it offers the zone the presidential ticket, but it is more of an unspoken consensus that only the presidency of the country is good enough for the Igbo nation come 2023.
Already, prominent Igbo political leaders within and outside the ruling party have started positioning themselves, a development some say, was informed by their “knowledge of something that may not yet be public.”
The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is leaning towards a Northern presidential candidate in 2023. Former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar and Governor Aminu Tambuwal are frontrunners for the ticket.
At the moment, APC boasts of notable personalities from the South-East, who are well positioned in its fold and are likely to take a shot at the 2023 presidency. They include former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; incumbent Senate Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu; and Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige. Others are Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu; immediate past governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha; Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, and Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uche Ogah.
However, reports that Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State will dump the PDP for the APC, has further heightened the belief that the ruling party has struck a deal with the South-East ahead of the 2023 presidential poll.
The Ebonyi State chapter of the PDP had put the national leadership of the party on notice over its plan to move to the APC if it fails to zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the South-East. While the PDP is yet to respond to the notice, members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, chairmen of 13 local government areas and coordinators of the 64 Development Centres in the state, all elected on the platform of the PDP, have been briefed on the need to also defect to the APC if Umahi jumps ship. This is as APC stakeholders in the state have officially confirmed that Governor Umahi is on his way to their party.
The governor’s planned move was revealed after a meeting held at Salt Spring Hotels, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital on Sunday. A member of the National Assembly Service Commission and convener of the meeting, Senator Julius Ucha, who said the meeting was convened by Ebonyi State APC stakeholders in conjunction with APC South-East Mandate, a pressure group within the ruling party working for the actualization of Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023, said Umahi’s defection to the ruling party will help APC to gain more ground in Igbo land.
Out of the five states of the South-East, the PDP is in control of three – Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu, while APC and All Progressives Grand Alliance control Imo and Anambra, respectively. Governorship election would be held in Anambra next year and the PDP is plotting to take over the seat of power in the state. However, it is no secret that Governor Willie Obiano enjoys a good measure of cordiality with APC stakeholders as well as the presidency and it is expected that, these strategic linkages may propel APC into Anambra government house. A chieftain of the APC, who confirmed Umahi’s imminent move to the party, also told New Telegraph that Obiano and Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, are also billed to join the ruling party in the days ahead.
“We are expecting Igbo governors like Dave Umahi, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Willie Obiano to come as that will boost South- East’s chance of producing the next president of Nigeria in 2023. What we are working to achieve is a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction and not an Igbo president.
“Besides the expected defection of the governors, Igbo leaders are appealing to the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee to ensure that the major political par ties zone their presidential tickets to the South-East the way it was done in 1999 for the South-West,” he said. Also speaking on the emerging political development in the South-East, the Director of Planning and Strategy for Pan Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction (PANPIE), Hon. Pat Anyanwu, said for 2023, the South-East will not be voting for any party but its core interest. He noted that the party that identifies with the core interest and current aspiration of the average Igbo man in Nigeria will get the support of the zone.
“The problem we’ve had in the region is that we always approach politics with emotion and unprofitable sentiments. But the truth remains that the biggest currency in politics is interest and not emotions or sentiments. Once your interest is accommodated, you can justify whatever political leaning you choose. “Every Igbo group is rooting for a Nigeria president of Igbo extraction. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has been shouting and demanding for the presidency to be zoned to the Igbo nation. So, there is no gainsaying the fact, the party that offers Ndigbo its presidential ticket will get the massive vote haul of the Igbo nation wherever we are in the country.
“I must add that there is nothing like ‘traditional party of the region.’ There is no such thing if that same party does not find us fit to fly its presidential flag in 2023. A lot of people think PDP own the region, but if the APC zones the presidency to our region, nothing can stop the mass movement for the APC in the region,” Anyanwu ex-plained.
Similarly, the National Leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Comrade Uchenna Madu, said if APC zones its presidential ticket to the South-East, it will mean that the party has started listening to what the people are saying and that such “kind gesture will beget our own kindness.”
He added: “If the ruling APC sincerely zones its presidential ticket to the South-East and backs it up with commensurate action, Ndigbo will give the party the kind of overwhelming support no political party has ever enjoyed in the region. But if they continue to take the region for granted, we will make things very difficult for them and everyone associated in the plot to subjugate Igbo land.” (New Telegraph)
