Coalition of South East for Presidency, COSEP 2023, an Igbo pressure group, has called on the major political parties in Nigeria to zone the presidential election ticket to the South East of Nigeria for an enduring peace to reign.
National Coordinator, South East for Presidency 2023, SEFORP, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha, who made the call in an interview after a zonal meeting of COSEP in Enugu weekend, said the call became necessary because should they fail to zone the 2023 presidency to the South East, they will change their tactics.
According him, ” if the major political parties fail to zone the 2023 presidency to the South East, our body language will change. It is not a threat: it is a reality. For peace to reign in Nigeria, they have to cede the presidency to the South East,” he declares.
Obioha explained that when they say Igbo presidency, they are not talking about Igbo speaking people in Nigeria, which he said were many but the people of the five states that make up the South East.
He said that now was the time for Ndigbo to produce the president for Nigeria, saying that any Igbo man itching to be vice president is not serious because, according to him, “presidency is coming to the South East. South Easterners are not spectators.
“Ohanaeze is in support of Igbo presidency. We are not talking about Igbo Presidency but president of Igbo extraction from the South East. Any Igbo man wishing to be vice president is not serious because the presidency is coming to the South East,” he said.
On whether Ndigbo will not cecede if they are given the presidency, Obioha dismissed it with a wave of the hand saying that people are agitating for Biafra because they feel that Ndigbo are being marginalised.
“Because of marginalisation, people are talking about separation. How can we be talking about separation when the presidency is coming to the South East?
“95% of South East are not for Biafra. We cannot separate from Nigeria. The issue of separation is neither here nor there. We are part and parcel of Nigeria. With the Igbo Presidency, the agitation will stop, ” he stated.
The SEFORP national coordinator therefore called on prominent Igbos to come and vye for the presidency because the coast is now clear for the Igbo man to emerge as the executive president of Nigeria.
“Let more Igbo men indicate interest to contest. Many of them are afraid because people from other zones are equally campaning.”
Addressing the meeting earlier, the President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Okwu Nnabuike, said that now was the time for Ndigbo to rule in Nigeria and called on politicians in both PDP and APC to support the Igbo Presidency Project.
“This is the time for Ndigbo to rule in Nigeria. Those in PDP should see those in APC as parties in the Igbo Presidency Project,” he urges.
