Participants at Igbo International Christmas Retreat organised by Igbo Think Tank and Nzuko Ndigbo have said that the election of a Nigerian President of South East extraction in 2023 would not only restore peace to the zone but quell the rising agitation for self- determination being championed by youths from the zone.
This is contained in a communique issued at the end of the retreat held Wednesday at the Aguiyi Ironsi Conference Centre, Umuahia, Abia State.
According to the communique jointly signed by the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Igbo Think Tank, Professor Madubuike Ezeibe; and the President of Nzuko Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, supporting the South East to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023, will be in the overall interest of the country.
The communique urged Nigerians to vote for a competent presidential candidate from the South East in line with the zoning policy which was adopted to have peace during the unrest in the South West occasioned by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by Moshood Abiola.
”Electing a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2023 will make it impossible for agitators to convince young ones to join them and give us peace in the South East as happened with NADECO in the South West in 1999″, the communique read in part.
The retreat noted that zoning of the presidency was aimed at ensuring fairness and equity for peaceful existence, wondering why the two hitherto leading political parties in the country suddenly decided to jettison zoning when it was the turn of South East to produce the next President.
It noted that since every geopolitical zone in Southern Nigeria except South East had produced the President, equity and justice demand that power should go to South East when in 2023, it leaves the North which has held it for eight consecutive years.
The retreat which adopted the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, enlisted the support of all progressive Nigerians of all ethnic, religious and political backgrounds to vote for him in 2023 for a new Nigeria where “production will replace consumption.”
It further urged stakeholders of various states to declare support for Obi, urging voters to vote for various competent candidates from other parties in any state which adopts Obi in other elections.
