2023: Igbo man election best thing that will happen to Nigeria – CSO

PHIL OKOSE, Onitsha

As Nigerians prepare for the 2023 general election, the National President of a Civil Society Organization, CSO, Human Dignity Restoration Association, HDRA, Mr. Jude Achebe, has reminded the electorate that the election of an Igbo man to succeed President Muhammadu BUHARI, will be the best thing to happen to Nigeria.

Speaking in his country home, Nteje, Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra State weekend during an executive meeting he held with his members, Mr. Achebe said:  “The Igbo man if elected will use that God-given ingenuity that is in him to take Nigeria to the next level”.

“The Igbo president will see everyone as his own, goat and cow can’t make Nigeria great. This is digital era and power supply Will make our production great.

“We give nonentities who are not professionals political appointments in areas they are inexperienced and the professionals work under such people”.

“Religion and ethnicity worsen Nigerian condition. Try the Igbo man by electing him and you will not regret you deed. A trial with convince you.”

“On my part as a London based  activist, I want to bring that thing which makes Western world great, to Nigeria. In Nigeria people are being beaten up to pay tax/levy. Landlords treat tenants like animals. Women are being maltreated and domestic violence is now the order of the day including woman circumcision and  incest. We have grown beyond those things. We have a system and when we build on it, it works easily.”

“We, as HDRA members, have come to teach people their right, it is lack of employment that prompts youths to be drug addicts and that is the reason I commend Governor Willie Obiano for the cargo and passengers airport he built. That alone is a very big job creator and I am optimistic that his successor, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, will continue from where he will stop” he stated.

Speaking, wife to Achebe, Mrs. Stella E. Achebe, said that, “my husband brought this HDRA from overseas for Nigerians to know their right and I pray God to protect him and members of the organization as they forge ahead.”

“The HDRA will help in stopping domestic violence and dehumanization of womenfolk especially the widows and the poor who are being treated like animals” she further explained.

In their various remarks, the President General, PG of Nteje community, Chief Benneth Chinweze, who was flanked by some of his executive members and All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, delegates that included, Hon. Paulinus I. Obichukwu and Chief Aniegboka Christian, thanked  Achebe for bringing the HDRA to Nteje adding that it would assist immensely towards the fight against hard drugs especially methamphetamine that has sent some youths to their early graves.

In what looks like a drama piece, a man  has threatened Peter Obi with court case if he fails to declare his ambition for 2023 presidency before the end of January.

But Peter Obi, in a response to the ‘threat’ jokingly said: “But the truth is, I don’t have money to spend on a court case o. Give me some time“.

Ex-Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has pleaded for more time after a fan threatened him with a lawsuit if he fails to declare for the 2023 presidential election.

The tweet from the fan was in response to Peter Obi’s congratulatory tweet to Super Eagles for beating Sudan 3:1 in the ongoing 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Peter Obi had said: “In a season of gloom, the Super Eagles have again given us a reason to celebrate and be hopeful. Keep the flag flying. #AFCON2021 – PO”

But the fan responded: “Sir, if at the end of this month and you don’t declare interest for presidency in the 2023 election, then be ready for a legal action from me. Leave #AFCON2021 for Orji UZOR Kalu, that’s his calling, not yours. Your calling is excellent economic leadership. Congrats #TeamNigeria.”

Obi, in a response to the tweet whose handle is @FakeBuhari, jokingly said: “I wish I knew your real name. But the truth is, I don’t have money to spend on a court case o. Give me some time”

In another development, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State believes the country deserves to be led by its best hands as the nation inches closer to the 2023 general elections.

He made the comment when a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, paid him a condolence visit over the deaths of the Soun of Ogbomoso, Jimoh Oyewumi; the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Saliu Adetunji and a former Governor of Oyo, Christopher Alao-Akala.

This came as the Northern Elders Forum said that the North will not vote based on sentiments as it did during the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who made this known had gone ahead to call on President Buhari to resign over the security challenges in Nigeria.

Ahead of the 2023 General Elections, the Northern Elders Forum said the region will support only a Presidential candidate who has the capacity to address the nation’s socio-economic and security problems irrespective of where the person comes from.

“Let me also use this opportunity to wish you well in your political quest to govern this nation,” Makinde noted during the visit. “We want the best for this country and only the best is good enough at this particular time.”

“I want to welcome you to Oyo State. We are really grateful for this visit. This is the year political parties will elect their candidates towards the election that is coming next year. So, what this had demonstrated to us is, you stood for politics without bitterness.”

The Oyo leader also thanked the former Lagos State governor for the visit.

Makinde expressed delight over Tinubu’s visit even though the move might be misinterpreted especially in view of the political season.

“We may fight, struggle for political positions but we know power can only come from God and He gives it to whomever He will like to give it to at whatever time,” he added.

“We really thank you for this visit and want to let you know that we have taken proper notice that you have risen above politics and all that is going around here to come and share with us at this moment that we are grieving. We say thank you.”

‘We Will Leave One Day’

Earlier, the former Governor had commended Makinde for his leadership qualities, explaining that the loss of these prominent Oyo indigenes is a reminder that “we are just passing through and we will leave one day. But no matter how long, it is difficult to absorb the loss easily.”

“With this situation, we share in your loss. You, as the Governor on the saddle of power, take responsibility for the situation here,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by Taiwo Adisa, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Makinde.

But the Northern Elders’ Forum are insisting that the North  will no longer vote for a candidate based on sentiments as they did for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, describing the incumbent as a disappointment to not only the North but the entire country.

Spokesman of the Forum, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, who made the position known during a meeting of northern leaders of thought in Kaduna State on Saturday, said the North was deceived into voting in Buhari, with the hope that he will transform the country.

He, however, lamented that the North and the entire country are worse than where they were before President Buhari assumed office, as kidnapping, banditry, and high rate of poverty have become the order of the day.

Stating that the North will no longer be taken for a ride, Baba-Ahmed said both the South and North have equal rights to seek for the exalted office of the President in 2023.

He equally stressed that the North will support only a competent Presidential candidate who understands the roots and solutions to the numerous challenges confronting the country, and not a person who wants power just to fulfil a personal ambition.

The Northern Elders also called on the Federal Government to postpone the planned 2022 national population census in view that the large numbers of displaced persons across the country and the likelihood of the tension and controversy the exercise could generate before the 2023 General election.

The forum advocated key reforms in the constitution and the electoral process that should be implemented to improve the quality of elections, and further urged President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act, as this will improve the quality of elections, starting from 2023.