Ohaneze youth warn PDP not to stand in the southeast if it fails to produce an Igbo presidential candidate

NIGERIA'S main opposition the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been warned by the youth wing of Ohaneze Ndigbo not to bother standing any candidates for elective positions across the southeast if it fails to field an Igbo presidential candidate in 2023.

Although not constitutional, Nigeria's component parts have a gentleman's agreement that the presidency will rotate between the north and the south of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure will end in 2023 and being a Fulani northern Muslim, it is expected that the next president will come from southern Nigeria.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the southwest has produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south President Goodluck Jonathan, so come 2023, the presidency should automatically go to the southeast. Amid claims that the southeast is being marginalised by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, numerous Igbo groups have argued for the recreation of the defunct republic of Biafra that existed briefly between July 1967 and January 1970.

However, the PDP to be preparing to zone the presidential; slot to northern Nigeria as the party has resolved that at its October 30 and 31 national elective convention, its national chairman and 2023 presidential candidate from the south and north respectively. Retaining the office of the chairman in the south automatically makes the north the preferred zone for the presidential ticket come 2023.

In response, Ohanaeze Ndigbo's youth wing, has warned the PDP to consider an Igbo as its flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election or face their wrath. It warned that if the PDP failed to cede their presidential ticket to an Igbo candidate, none of their offices will stand in Igboland nor will the party's flag be seen flying across the region.

Comrade Igboayaka Igboayaka, the president of the Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth Council (ONYC), said the only way PDP could reciprocate Ndigbo’s 24-year relentless sacrifice was to willingly give its presidential ticket to them. He vowed that the Igbo youths would not hesitate to engage in a pitched battle with the party should their demand be rebuffed.

ONYC also condemned the recent pronouncement by the Northern Governors Forum in which is refused to concede that the presidency should rotate to the south of the country come 2023. It described the Northern State Governors Forum as a few Fulani political power mongers who want to drag the Middle Belt into their illusion for them to produce Nigeria's president in 2023.

Comrade Igboayaka added: “It’s idiotic to include Taraba, Benue, Nassarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kogi, Kaduna, Kwara etc that have had a fair share of Fulani herdsmen killing, banditry and kidnapping in their so-called imaginary 2023 presidential dream. With the quest of Fulani political cabal to retain power in 2023, if they dare it, it’s an indication that the 61st celebrations this year will be the last independence day the entity called Nigeria will celebrate.”