An Igbo socio-cultural group, Omaluegwuoku Progressive Initiative, said it has concluded plans to engage in a nationwide campaign tagged ‘Igbo Kwenu for Asiwaju/Shettima’ in the 36 states of the federation at the commencement of formal campaign next month.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) support group, which is currently rallying support for the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asked politicians of the South East zone get involved in the mainstream of Nigerian politics in order to actualise the Igbo presidency.
National coordinator of the group and a federal commissioner in the Federal Character Commission (FCC), Hon Ginika Florence Tor, made the call in Abuja on Friday while unveiling the campaign strategies in support of Tinubu and all other APC candidates for the 2023 election.
Addressing journalists alongside leaders of the group, Tor said it was time for people of the South East zone to jettison regional politics and involve themselves the mainstream national politics.
Noting that it was time for Ndigbo to stamp their presence at the centre stage of the country’s political structure, she said, “It is time for Southeast to get to the mainstream of Nigerian politics. We cannot be in Zone A and expect to reap from Zone B. We need to be involved in Nigerian politics to stop the perceived marginalisation.
“We must realise that power is not given free of charge, it must be earned. We have to be deeply involved to be reckoned with and be given the trust to lead the country.”
Tor said the group was initially rooting for a South East presidential candidate but decided to file behind Tinubu’s candidacy when he emerged as the party’s flag bearer.
She stated: “Before the emergence of Sen. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the APC Presidential Flagbearer, the record has it that Omaluegwuoku Progressive Initiative advocated for Southeast Presidency under the platform of APC but Bola Ahmed who is in no doubt a man of capacity, credibility and competency emerged, a man that can be referred to as tested and trusted, We were left with no choice but to give our full support.
“It is in the light of this that we call on our people to team up with the Tinubu/Shetimma presidency and position ourselves for the proper integration into national politics.”
Also speaking, a member representing the Oshodi/Isolo II constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Jude Idimogu, said the South East geopolitical zone has a very bright future under the Tinubu presidency.
Idimogu who is the deputy national coordinator of Omaluegwuoku Progressive Initiative listed the various appointees of Igbo stocks in Lagos State since 1999, saying the South East zone “has to come out of our political concon and interact with other regions and be fully involved in national politics.”
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