At a time when the Igbo's highest socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is intensifying its backlash against Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, for suggeting that Igbos cannot produce the next president, it's own Secretary, Uche Okwukwu, has come out to back the minister.
Okwukwu proclaimed his stance on the matter in a press statement on Monday.
The recently suspended Ohanaeze offcial claimed that Amaechi's assertion is valid as Igbos' choice of candidate in the last election was their greatest undoing.
He said, “Of course, whether we agree or not, politics is reality. By not voting for Buhari and denying him any presence in Igboland, we have to a large extent, by omission or commission, shut ourselves out of the presidency in 2023.
To futher buttress his point, he argued "Even if you go to the convention of the APC, Igbo cannot win the primary in the APC. This is because they don’t have any senator, no governor, nobody in the APC. So, how will they win the primary? It is a sad thing, but it is the reality on the ground."
In his words:
“Amaechi’s statement is correct because they betrayed him; they betrayed Ndigbo. You must have followed the event leading to the confusion, where a socio-cultural organisation adopted President Muhammadu Buhari without affording Amaechi the opportunity of participating in the meeting of Ndigbo.
“Amaechi is an Igbo man. He has openly said he is Igbo. So, why would you deny him the opportunity of participating in the meeting that purportedly endorsed Buhari and then you denied him the opportunity of presenting his own bulk to the Igbo.
“Of course, whether we agree or not, politics is reality. By not voting for Buhari and denying him any presence in Igboland, we have to a large extent, by omission or commission, shut ourselves out of the presidency in 2023.
“Even if you go to the convention of the APC, Igbo cannot win the primary in the APC. This is because they don’t have any senator, no governor, nobody in the APC. So, how will they win the primary? It is a sad thing, but it is the reality on the ground.
“Amaechi’s predictable assertion to the effect that Ndigbo had by an act of omission or commission shut themselves out of the presidency come 2023 is nothing but the truth,” Okwukwu said in the statement.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo had openly declared their total support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in 2019 general elections.
The declaration may have explained why Buhari lost elections in all the five states of the region. The APC, which prior to the election controlled one state in the zone, also lost the state, Imo to the PDP and now controls no state in the South East.
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