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.Insists Nigeria is collapsing
.As group wants PDP, APC to zone presidency to South
. Vows to mobilise 3m members against defaulting party
Cosmas CHUKWU Enugu and Obiora Ifoh, Abuja
Ohanaeze Ndigbo has reacted sharp with concern to the position adopted by the Northern Governors Forum in their meeting with their traditional and religious leaders yesterday in Kaduna.
In a press statement issued and signed by the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia,the apex Igbo sociocultural organization,expressed consternation on a part of the resolution by the Northern States Governors’ Forum with Northern States Emirs and Chiefs held on Monday, September 27, 2021 at the Council Chamber, Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna,which read that “the Forum unanimously condemn the statement by the Southern Governors Forum that the Presidency must go to the South in 2023. The statement is quite contradictory with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended ….”
Ohanaeze viewed the”The above remarks by the leaders of the North indicate a bleak future for Nigeria. It is most regrettable that the North are undisturbed that Nigeria is fast collapsing under its leadership. The Forum failed to recognize that at the moment, Nigeria is confronted with the most precarious omens full of uncertainty, doubts, insecurity and bloodshed. The Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, Governor Simon Lalong can attest that the people of Plateau State had never in history witnessed the number of deaths as has taken place under his watch as governor.”. Ohanaeze regretted that “The banditry in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa States is terrifying. Benue State has turned into a killing field. The States of Yobe and Borno are worst hit by the menace of Boko Haram; etc. Several schools in the North could not open because of kidnappers and millions of children are on the street as beggars. The Nigerian currency has lost its value. Unemployment has skyrocketed; and Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world…..and the Northern Governors, the Sultan and the Emirs instead of seeking solution to Nigerian problems were busy strategizing on how to retain power in 2023. This is most unconscionable, to say the least.”
“Let it be made abundantly clear that if Presidency is a panacea to people’s problems, the North would have become the Netherlands of Africa. This is because the North had Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Abdulsalam Abubakar, Musa Yaradua, Muhammadu Buhari, yet the problems of the North are on the increase”, Ohanaeze contended.
The spokesman expressed regrets and viewed that ” It is most worrisome that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alh. Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, the spiritual leader of the Nigerian Muslims, one of the most respected Sultans in the recent history and the living conscience of the North, took part in such subversion. For the avoidance of doubt, there is peace in the progressive societies because men of conscience are more in number. On the other hand, the crises in Nigeria is a product of greed, injustice, religion without sacrifice and impunity.
The position of the Southern Governors is simply restating the obvious.”. Ogbonnia went down memory lane the inception of power shift between the South and North,recalling that ” A gentleman agreement was reached at the NUC Conference Centre, Abuja in 1998 between the North and the South. The Late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo spoke for the entire South and Alh. Abubakar Rimi, also of blessed memory spoke for the North. It was agreed that after Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar as the Head of State, that the presidency should shift to the South. That accounted for the emergence of the presidential flag bearers of the mainstream political parties from the South West. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo respected the agreement and handed over to the North in the person of Musa Yar’Adua. Again, Goodluck Jonathan, a Southerner, respected the gentleman agreement and handed over to the North in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari. Therefore, the least that is expected from the North is a show of profound gratitude to the entire South for their large heart, equanimity and sportsmanship.” “Furthermore, it is in the interest of every Nigerian that there should be a paradigm shift to governance techniques. Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide unequivocally stands with the 17 Southern Governors and any black leg among them will incur the wrath of history”, pointing out that ” Nigeria has two major groups of people. Those that cherish the corporate existence of Nigeria on one hand and those that do not value the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria on the other. The latter indulge in reckless nepotism, ethnocentrism, avarice, supremacist mentality, hollow expansionism and poor judgment of history. It is the law of nature that light illuminates and that in religion, both the Lord Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed stood for truth.”
He said that “Ohanaeze uses this singular opportunity to express disappointment over the unholy manouvres and alliances by the members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to zone the presidential seat for the 2023 general election to the Northern Nigeria. The exponents of this agenda, in their jaundiced calculations, believe that it is a sure way of regaining power from the All Peoples Congress (APC). Experience would have taught them that to zone their presidential position to the North is an orchestrated requiem for the party; because more PDP Governors and grassroots will surely desert them,” he forewarned. Ohanaeze reminded the PDP that the “South East has made unquantifiable sacrifices for PDP beginning from the time of Dr. Alex. Ekwueme. If by way of politics without principles the Southerners in PDP place their personal narrow interests over the interest of their people, the verdict of history will surely be harsh on them.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Ambassador Professor George Obiozor reiterates that the bane of Nigeria is raw injustice especially targeted against the Igbo and until we begin to wean ourselves of the Igbophobia and rather harness individual and group resourcefulness, creativity, ingenuity and initiatives wherever they are found, Nigeria will remain on the downward spiral”,he submitted grimly.
2023: Group wants PDP, APC to pick presidential candidates from South
… Vows to deploy 3 million members to demarket defaulting party
Obiora Ifoh, Abuja
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a group, Grassroot Alliance For Good Governance (GAFGG) has called on the two leading political parties in Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC to pick their presidential candidates from the South.
The group which said it is beating the drums of unification and togetherness to the hearing of all nation’s political parties also warned that it will deploy over 3 million of its members across the nation to demarket the interest of any political party who will not heeding to its request.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja, titled ‘A clarion call to zone the 2023 presidency to the south’ the convener of the Grassroot Alliance For Good Governance (GAFGG), Hon(Dr) Kemdi Chino Opara said, “Our ethnic diversity is the strength we all share and enjoy and if the truth is told, that is why Nigeria is so great. Therefore all of our nation’s political parties should as a matter of the urgency of the moment to heal and keep our nation as one entity apply the above narrative as a good governance template to pick their presidential candidates from the South for the upcoming 2023 elections.
“We in the Grassroot Alliance For Good Governance (GAFGG) are beating the drums of unification and togetherness to the hearing of all our nation’s political parties using our members numbering over 3 million across the nation to demarket the interest of political parties who will opt for the alternative. Nigeria is better and stronger unified. The urgency of the moment is now. All the agitations and all divisive stances will come to a halt. Restructuring maybe will be the order of the day which in the spirit of good governance is sacrosanct.
“We call on all the political leaders to see the merits in ensuring that power shifts to southern Nigeria in 2023.
“It is clearly the only way to keep the nation together and any attempt to change this prevailing understanding by any political party will not be good for the political climate of our nation. We at the Grassroot Alliance For Good Governance humbly submit and therefore urge our political class to play the 2023 games with the understanding that Nigeria is greater than the ambition of any individual. We must work together and within good reason and conscience to ensure that Nigeria is great again.”
Dr. Opara noted the general debate over which of the sections of the nation will be producing the next president of Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari’s exit, he however said, “Ordinarily, this shouldn’t be a problem because since the inception of this present dispensation there has been an understanding that power rotates between the North and the South.
“For instance, in 1999 when the civilian dispensation commenced after years of military interregnum, the South through President Olusegun Obasanjo took charge of the helms. The next president, Umaru Musa Yar’adua from the North succeeded President Obasanjo.
“After the demise of President Yar’Adua, his deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from the South took over the leadership of the nation. President Jonathan was succeeded by the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari from the North. It is therefore incontestatable that the successor of President Buhari has to come from the South.
“The constitution requires that only political parties are empowered to nominate presidential candidates who can stand elections in Nigeria and at the present, only 18 political parties exist and are constitutionally empowered to nominate candidates to the exalted office of the president.
“However, from the point of strength of these political parties, it is understandable that only two of them, the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP have the capacity to produce the next occupant of the presidency.
“This is why we in the Grassroot Alliance For Good Governance (GAFGG) are recommending as well as requesting that the status quo of producing the president of this country should not be altered by any political party for whatsoever reason or reasons as the case maybe.
“The respect of this present arrangement by the political actors and their parties must be seen as a sacrifice by every Nigerian to ensure stability, trust amongst every segment of this nation and to generally enthrone peaceful coexistence amongst the people of this our great nation Nigeria.
“There is nothing that Nigerians need more today more than unification and preservation of the sanctity of our democracy and invariably this nationhood and it is our sincere belief that zoning the presidency to the South will bring about the much needed unification and as well create a sense of belonging to every section of this nation.
“It is a known fact that drums of dismemberment have been sounding loud across the nation. The South West people are agitating for Oduduwa nation, and the South-East have refused to perish the thought of a Biafra Republic. Some Nigerians in the North Central and parts of the North East do not believe that they belong to the North and are therefore demanding a new nation carved out from the Middle Belt. The South South region have continued to advance the need to achieve an oil rich nation where they can solely decide the affairs of their oil rich natural habitat.
“All these contestations have largely defined the existence of this nation and tend to put and promote unnecessary discord amongst the people, but the very little our nation’s political class can do is to ensure that we do not get divided more than we are presently.”
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