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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has said that the South East stands a better chance of producing the next president in 2023 if political pundits in the zone would keep aside their differences and project a candidate.
The group has accused a governor from the region of betraying its people by allegedly holding a series of meetings with some northern elders, saying he doles out large sums of money to buy their support.
The Youth Council’s President General, Okwu Nnabuike, who did not disclose the name of the said governor, warned in a statement that if the governor continues to betray the zone he would be called out and disgraced.
The statement reads: ‘It has come to the notice of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council that one of the unpatriotic governors of one of the southeastern states is in active connivance with the Northern Elders Forum working against the interest of the Igbo people.
‘The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council is quite aware of series’ of clandestine engagements between the governor and a ranking member of the Northern Elders Forum that led to the recent meeting of the Forum and some unsuspecting South East leaders and elders.
‘We are concerned deeply that these so-called representatives attended the meeting and entered into a commitment with the Northern Elders without consulting to get the actual position of the South East.
‘We understand that the initial meeting agenda was to discuss national unity but later we found that this governor seized the opportunity to dole out huge sums of money to the northern elders on the understanding that he would be the only candidate to be presented and supported by the North for the 2023 presidency.
‘We see this unimaginable submission to the north through a group that is largely irrelevant and not in any way competent to decide the direction of the South East politics as very embarrassing to Igbo sensibilities and therefore whatever plans hatched by the governor and the northern elders stands unacceptable, null and of no effect whatsoever.
‘We are also aware that the governor is in a hurry to mortgage the collective interests of the entire Igbo nation and sell out our struggle for justice, equity and fairness in the exchange for a promise to back his presidential ambition.
‘Without mincing words, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide is by this warning this state governor against further negotiations on behalf of the Igbo with any regional group without consulting and seeking consent from all stakeholders.
‘We also caution Igbo political leaders to be wary of falling in and dragging with them the entire Igbo race into the trap that might be set for them by the Northern Elders who obviously nurse an agenda that may not necessarily favour the South East.
‘We shall not hesitate to expose the extent of the complicity of any southeast leader and to hold them responsible for any form of sabotage caused us by their personal greed for power at the expense of the majority suffering people in Igbo land.’
