2023: Ohanaeze Says Mandate Is To Produce Igbo President

The new leadership of the Igbo apex group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said that the mandate handed over to them is to produce a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023, adding that all parties who lost the election should cooperate to achieve the objective.

Speaking with Saturday Sun, the newly elected spokesman of the body, said that they were optimistic about achieving the mandate.

He added that the Igbo should give the new President General, Prof. George Obiozor a chance, calling on those who think Obiozor is a stooge in the hands of President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Hope Uzodinma, and All Progressives Congress to give him a chance.

He said “The only aim is to convince Nigerians to consider Igbo for 2023 because we have been tasked to carry and portray the awareness and consciousness of the Igbo. Fortunately, the consciousness is to produce Igbo president. There is no need to delay or coming up with a new mandate. It was an election and some people lost, it will take time for them to come around but they will when they see our achievement. There is no time to be negative about the goal. We are very hopeful that we will achieve it. The mandate is an already started one and it is very clear to all of us. It is an unwritten agreement that must be achieved,”

He also said that Prof Obiozor is not a stooge of President Buhari.

He said “Tell me any Igbo politician who started with PDP and has not crossed to APC or vice versa. His romance with Buhari and Uzodinma is not important, what is important is the goal. Obiozor is a respectable man who has worked with the government at different levels and that gives him an edge. His relationship with Buhari should not stand as the test for his potentials. I don’t see poor funding distracting us from our goals. There is a wrong notion that money makes everything work and has made people put money ahead of everything”.

ALSO READ: UPDATED: Obaseki Orders Schools In Edo To Remain Closed Till February 1, Imposes Fresh Curfew

“We are here to push ideas and not consider the money. We are a representative of the people, we have the backing of the people who trust us enough to give us the mandate; to take a position when necessary. It is about representing the people like when Peter Obi was nominated, we took a position to support him and PDP because it was the only party to consider the Igbo worthy of being at the helm of affairs of the country, invariably, Igbo supported us. We didn’t need money for that to happen,” he stated.