Ohanaeze threatens to call for election boycott if APC and PDP field northern presidential candidates

OHANAEZE Ndigbo has warned that it may call on Nigeria's Igbos to boycott the 2023 elections over the refusal of the country's two leading parties to zone the presidency to the south of the country.

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. Adding it voice to the debate, Ohaneze has warned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to both zone their presidential tickets to the south.

Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo general secretary, said that the abolition of the gentleman agreement on power rotation would come with dire consequences. He added that Ohaneze could boycott the 2023 presidential elections should the two major political parties refuse to zone their tickets to the south..

This came in reaction to the latest statements by the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders’ Forum, who both said they believe the presidential contest should be thrown open. Mazi Isiguzoro said it was obvious that the Northern Elders’ Forum has opted for absurdity in issues that will strengthen internal democracy in all political parties and in the country.

He, however, warned that any attempt by northern socio-cultural groups to arm-twist the two major political parties, through their sons who are national chairmen of both the APC and the PDP, to derail the electoral process, will lead to revolts and boycott of the 2023 presidential election in the south, especially in the east. In addition, he claimed that the leadership of both political parties were under coercion from northern lobbyists and northern socio-cultural groups to destroy the trust and confidence that bind Nigerians together through the rotational presidency between the north and the south.

Mazi Isiguzoro said those making such moves ought to have learnt from the sad experiences of the north when they frustrated President Jonathan’s administration and installed Buhari in 2015. He added: “The aftermath of that betrayal is the worsening insecurity in the north.

“We will encourage the southern governors and socio-cultural groups to mobilise our people and boycott the 2023 presidential election in the south, especially in the southeast if the northern candidates emerge in APC and PDP. Whenever it gets to the turn of the Igbo, the narratives will always change against them.

“Whenever it’s the time for the Igbo to attain any position, there will be gang ups and clandestine networks to fuel crisis and disasters against them but it won’t work this time. Igbos will surely survive all these political conspiracies against them.”