Presidency for 2023: Ndigbo Should Exercise Caution ― Minister

As the clamour for a President of Igbo extraction in 2023 continues to collect momentum, the Minister of State, Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has urged the South East to exercise caution in its quest or campaign for the “Igbo Presidency”.

Nwajiuba also advised the people to form sure that whoever they might be presenting within the 2023 election would be accepted by every a part of the country.

Speaking to journalists in his office, in Abuja, while reacting to the agitations for a president from the South-East extraction, the minister argued that other ethnic groups that had produced Nigeria’s president never associated it with the name of their tribes.

He said that in previous presidential elections within the country, no aspirants from the South East had been barred from contesting the position of president, adding that persons from the zone at just one occasion or the opposite , had vied for the presidential ticket of their parties.

Emeka Nwajiuba ChannelsTV

He said that if the presidential aspirants from the South-East geopolitical zone had won, nobody would have denied them the position.

The minister noted that in politics, no position is ceded as a present , noting that in 2015, the sole ethnos that didn't participate within the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was the Yoruba.

Vanguard quoted him to possess said,“Anybody talking about Igbo presidency should take care because there was never a time we heard about Hausa presidency. When the Yoruba were contesting, we didn't hear of Yoruba presidency, why is our own different?

“Remember that before Obasanjo won in 1999, he contested the ticket against Ekwueme. There was never a time we as Igbo didn't contest within the primaries; the sole thing was that we weren't voted for.

“There is not any time people involved in politics will cede an edge to anybody. Up to 2015, the sole tribe that didn't contest the APC primaries was the Yoruba, is it not true? The North West ran, North East ran, North Central vied, South East vied.

“If Owelle Rochas Okorocha had defeated Buhari within the 2015 APC primary, are we getting to be talking about Igbo presidency now? But what's important if the Igbo want to become president, it’s not for you to mention it’s your turn.

“Any day you bring out an aspirant that's acceptable to other Nigerians, that's the day you indeed want the position of president in Nigeria. All you would like is that the majority. Buhari won the APC primary with 3,886 votes.

“That’s what we counted. i used to be a official therein election. Kwakwanso came second, then Atiku, Rochas, then Nda-Isaiah. I can still recall this stuff .

“So there was never a time it had been ceded to Buhari. The folks that voted for Buhari outnumbered others therein primary. So once we bring out a suitable aspirant, he will eventually win. that's what you're alleged to start checking out now. albeit the Igbo cry from now till thy kingdom comes, if they don’t bring out an individual that's acceptable to other Nigerians, nothing happens.”