Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar will be swimming against the political tide if he decides to work against an Igbo presidency in 2023.
According to the group, the mood of the entire country favours a president of Igbo extraction, adding that Atiku should ponder on the fact that the disintegration of the country was imminent if the Igbo were denied the presidency.
The group stated this in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Chief Okechukwu Isiguzoro, on Tuesday.
The statement read in part, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide appreciates the unity of purpose demonstrated by the Middle-Belt and southern leaders on speaking the truth and establishing the fact that is based on equity and fairness in the spirit of one brotherhood, that 2023 should be exclusively reserved for the Igbo so as to halt the disintegration of adherents and factors threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria beyond 2023.
“Based on this circumstance on the ground, any promotion of a northern continuation after eight years of President Buhari from any individual is callous and selfish.
“Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s boastful stance of winning the 2023 PDP presidential ticket is a nostalgic belief that has decorated him as a desperate politician swimming against the political currents and tides of the moment.
“Atiku has misread the mood of the nation ahead of 2023, and this miscalculation may retire him from partisan politics in 2023. Atiku has the constitutional right to aspire for the office of President in 2023, but one expected him not to rock the boat now that the odds are against him based on his age and his region. He should not fight dirty or appear desperate for the Presidency; rather, it’s time for him to voluntarily quit partisan politics and take his rightful place in history as an elder statesman without being dishonoured and disgraced.
“Ndigbo had expected Atiku Abubakar to support a younger person for 2023, especially after the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, openly denounced Atiku’s proposal for him to be his running mate in 2023. That’s enough message and signal to him that 2023 is exclusively reserved for a southern President, and Atiku should search his conscience and support an Igbo in the PDP primary to avert a disgraceful end of his political career. The southern Nigerian leaders and governors have vowed that it’s unhealthy for another northerner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
“In 2019, Ndigbo showed enough loyalty to the PDP and Atiku Abubakar, and the present predicaments and penalties facing the South-East today are as a result of the 2019 Igbo support given to Atiku and the PDP. But in 2023, Igbos will dump the PDP if Atiku wins the PDP ticket.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in alliance with other ethnic groups, will ensure that any political party that refuses to zone their presidential ticket to the South will suffer in the 2023 presidential election. If Atiku continues, he will surely taste the venom of Nigerians in the PDP primary and the disgrace that awaits him.”
