Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party, has been urged to drop his presidential ambition and partner with the progressives in the South-East the bid to negotiate a brighter future for the Igbo people.
The Coalition of Anambra Youth Leaders, a group of youths in the state, expressed fears that Obi’s resolve to run for president might negatively affect the Ndigbo by perpetuating the All progressives Congress rule.
This came as the group scored the APC government low at the national level, saying that efforts must be geared towards rescuing Nigerian from the brink.
The National Leader of the Coalition, Dr. Chinedu Ekwealor, during a press conference in Awka, the state capital, said that Ndigbo stood a better chance of returning to power at the centre through the Peoples Democratic Party.
He said that Obi should be mindful of the negative impact of his ambition on the future of the Igbo and support the PDP on whose platform he ran as the vice presidential candidate in 2019.
Ekwealor said that the Labour Party had no hope of winning the 2023 presidential election, stressing that emotions could not help to win an election.
He stated, “Emotions don’t win elections. Superior numbers do. Obi does not have a mathematical chance of making victory possible. Let us not be emotional about it. No Igbo man can be President of Nigeria without a formidable alliance with the other major regions that make up Nigeria.
“In the early ’60s and late ’70s, Ndigbo understood this point quite frankly and maintained a robust relationship with our northern brothers. Our brother, Peter Obi, does not have this alliance and knows very well that an irate social media mob does not, and cannot, make him President.
“Obi’s presidential run is sabotage to Ndigbo. What he has only succeeded in doing is increasing APC’s chances of winning the election by depleting the votes of the South-East for PDP. The implication is that the South-Easterners will have to stay out of power for a minimum of another 16 years. This is because after Tinubu (if he wins), power would return to the north for another eight years leaving Ndigbo out for another 16 solid years.
“If Mr. Peter Obi truly loves Ndigbo, he should step down forthwith and strategize with other well-meaning Igbo elites in charting a way forward for the Igbo nation. We repeat, the presidency is not won on the premise of wishful thinking and hullabaloo of an untamed mob, who probably do not even understand the need for a pathway for the Igbo nation.
“Ohaneze Ndigbo and prominent Igbo leaders, including Obi, must now without any further delay, engage seriously with the frontliners in the forthcoming presidential election, and secure bankable negotiations for Igbo political renaissance and pathway to the presidency of Nigeria.
“It takes a lot of courage and political will for any politician from the South-East to make the very firm, bold and factual statements as Governor Soludo did. This timely intervention by the prudent thinker has given leeway to other prominent Igbo leaders, who for the avoidance of the shameful macabre dance by a mob, swallowed their hallowed bank of wisdom and refused to air an opinion on this matter, now to come forward with critical thinking and analysis.
“History repeats itself only to those who do not learn from history. Ndi Igbo must now wake up and adopt the political sagacity and gusto of late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The Zikist politics of bridge building gave Ndigbo our best chance in the political history of Nigeria when an Igbo man was President of Nigeria in the ’60s, and another Igbo man as Senate President, the same Zikist politics of alliance gave Ndigbo the Vice Presidential and House of Representatives speakership slots in 1979. That is what Ndigbo have forgone for wishful thinking and mob action which has repeatedly gotten us nowhere.”
