By Princely Onyenwe, Abuja
As the call to ceed Presidential power to a South Easterner takes the center stage in virtually all the Political camps, Nigerian youths have vowed to vote en-masse any Igbo Presidential candidate featured by the leading All Progressives Congress APC party to equate the balance in the National share of Presidential ZONING PATTERN which has been in practice as gathered by 9News Nigeria investigative team head, Princely Onyenwe.
However, the Ohaneze Youth Leader, FCC Jones has joined his fellow youth structures to speak out, saying that the 2023 ELECTIONS WILL BE A REFERENDUM AGAINST SOUTHEAST MARGINALIZATION.
The original copy of his opinion reads as thus:
If the All Progressives Congress fails to elect one of the SouthEast aspirants as its presidential candidate on the 7th or 8th of June, then, Southeast electorate will be left with no option but to cast a protest vote, not for secession, but to make a statement against the marginalization of the Southeast. I shall join the campaign for Igbos across all parts of Nigeria to cast their votes for the most popular Southeasterner in any of the other Parties.
As a member of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Think Tank on Southeast Presidency, I shall submit a memo to the Ohanaeze Secretariat recommending that all Southeast candidates in the other political Parties be invited to a meeting, where one of them shall be chosen as the consensus candidate and I shall fully throw my hat and heart into the campaign for that candidate.
That candidate will most likely be Peter Obi, because, among everyone currently in the race to become Nigeria’s President in 2023, he towers head and shoulders above them in every indices of knowing a credible candidate. I won’t be on the panel that will take this decision, because I am already biased in favour of Peter Obi and I am that kind of person that doesn’t know how to hide my biases.
It will be worse for my Party, if they make the mistake of fielding a Southerner from outside the Southeast, or a Southerner who is not Igbo. I had nursed the fears that insisting on a Southeast candidate if the APC denies us the ticket, might place the zone in a precarious political position, where we might end up being cast off as a minority zone, politically, but after a deeper analysis, I feel it would be better for us to make a strong statement and remain in opposition than to jump into the bandwagon of deceit and injustice, in the false assumption of staying relevant.
I will campaign vigorously against any Southeast or Igbo politician who accepts a nomination as running mate to any Northern candidate and I will support any action taken, including, ostracisation of Southeast politicians who lead the campaign for non-Igbo presidential candidates.
In politics, you can win through different means. If we do not get the presidency at this time, then, we can as well succeed in making a strong statement about our clout as a people. We rather remain in opposition with pride than continue to beg for accomodation in a country, our contribution to its independence, its development and its little prosperity cannot be matched by any other ethnic group in this country.
2023 elections shall be a referendum on the Igbo pride, resilience and unity of purpose. We have been severally blackmailed as a people that can never be united, but we will show, with the victory of Peter Obi in the Southeast States, that we can actually decide on something and stand by it. We can show that we are not desperate to be politically accommodated in this union of ours, and we shall score an unforgettable political point with the electoral upset we shall cause with Peter Obi’s victory in 2023.
The APC has an opportunity to avert what might trigger an unprecedented revolution in this country, by electing one of the Southeast aspirants as its candidate or we cast a vote that will make Nigeria’s division so glaring that the next President, whoever he is, will have too much work on his hands to do.
We will rather win most of the Southeast and negotiate for a government of national unity with the Party that will win the majority or we align with the major opposition Party and complicate things for the ruling Party, than allow ourselves to be treated as unwanted elements in a country we have contributed and continue to contribute our quota to its growth and development.
Onwuasoanya FCC Jones is the Acting Youth Leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide.
9News Nigeria (Owerri) For inquiries on this news contact 9News Nigeria Imo State @08036856526
