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From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
An Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain, Chief Richard Ozobu has said that the only way the Igbo would realize their quest for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023 would be to go into alliances with other Nigerian tribes.
He said Igbo should launch out to other tribes to convince them on why they should trust them to support them for the presidency rather than continue in shouting of it is their turn.
Speaking to newsmen at the weekend in his Enugu residence, Ozobu said the present crop of politicians should go to history to find how the founding fathers like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Michael Okpara did it with other ethnic nationalities and do likewise for results to come.
Stressing that no tribe was sufficient to stop any other or anyone from being president without alliance, the Ohanaeze chieftain said, “I have always talked about alliances; I said that no tribe in Nigeria can win the Presidency alone without going into alliance with other tribes that one is assured. So fundamentally, we have to go into alliance with other tribes and we have to go historically, go to history and find out the point our forefathers reached in politics like Michael Okpara, Nnamdi Azikiwe and the rest of them.
“We shall not just continuously disregard these things, go back and look at it. The main thing holding us down today is insecurity within this part of Igboland, we must be able to make this area secured, assure of our security in the area where you live and guarantee Nigerians security as well.
“The management expertise which the Igbo have shown in commerce and trade and in managing businesses outside this country, technical fields in United States, Britain, Germany, Japan, India, wherever Nigerians are, have to come back home here and tell Nigerians this is how we are going to move this country forward.
“When you say it is our turn, give it to us, you will not give it to anybody, it must be to somebody who can be trusted, somebody that the rest of the country can trust, that can deliver the security aspect and good governance. And the issue must be within the Igbo nation because we were never part of this splintering the Igbo.”
Ozobu was of the opinion that the opportunity should be given any Igbo wherever state he is found saying, “What we talking about as Igbo is a president of Igbo extraction, because these creations we have, where the British came in and drew part of us into the West to reduce our capacity in terms of politics, no other tribe suffered the same thing.
“And at the end of the civil war we were all part of Eastern Nigeria, and the areas that is geopolitically known as Igbo came to be divided again and session of it was removed like Ikwere. Igbo cannot accept it, if you ever accept that kind of thing, then you know we are losing as a people.”
