Ohaneze Youth Council gives all Igbo presidential candidates 30 days to open campaign offices

OHANEZE Youth Council (OYC) members have issued a 30-day ultimatum to every presidential aspirant of southeast extraction ahead of the forthcoming the 2023 general election insisting that they open their campaign offices in the region within a month.

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. However, so far, there has been no formidable candidate from the southeast and talk about it producing the next president has been half-hearted.

Seeking to put the matter on the front burner, the OYC has expressed regret over the glaring absence of any presidential campaign office in the southeast geo-political zone, even as the political parties' primary elections are barely 10 months away. It has urged all the potential candidates for the 2023 presidential election from the southeast to act like Zik and demonstrate their preparedness and zeal.

OYC national president Igboayaka Igboayaka, urged aspirants from other zones of the country to consider the survival of Nigeria first beyond 2023 and eschew their personal political interest. He stressed that a president of southeast extraction is a considered deal for Nigeria to recuperate from her present state.

OYC further said the likes of Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Anyim Pius Anyim, Rochas Okorocha, Kingsley Moghalu, Hope Uzodinma, Sam Ohuabunwa, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Orji Uzor Kalu, Dave Umahi, Ken Nnamani, Emeka Nwajuba, Peter Obi, Captain Casmir Okafor and other candidates could lead the way. These are some of the potential Igbo candidates likely to run for president next year.

Mr Igboayaka said: “It’s important at this time Nigeria is like a ship hit by a tornado for persons like Bola Tinubu, Yemi Osibanjo, Atiku Abubakar, Tambuwal, Kwankwaso and co to give chance in the spirit of Nigeria's socio-economic cum political survival, for the southeast to take the ship and navigate Nigeria to a new hope of political survival before it sinks. Nigeria needs a president with adept knowledge of economic transformation, religious tolerance and most importantly a detribalised political socio-intellectual that will rebuild trust and confidence among that the ethnicity in Nigeria."

OYC restated that Nigeria needs as president a social surgeon that will carry out a surgical operation within the religion and tribal difference of the country. It added that this is what a Nigeria president of southeast extraction represents to all Nigerians.