Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has advised the Igbos to be weary of the promise of the APC government to hand over power to them in 2023, noting that it was dangerous to take the APC government seriously, the Vanguard reported.
The newspaper reported that Mr Obasanjo stated this during a stakeholders meeting held at the residence of a former minister of aviation, Mbazuluke Amechi in Ukpor Nnewi South Local Government Area, Anambra State on Saturday.
The former president was reportedly reacting to a statement credited to the secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, who said that the president, Muhammadu Buhari, will hand over power to an Igbo person in 2023 and urged Ndigbo to embrace the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking at the inauguration of the South East chapter of the Presidential Support Committee in Umuahia, Mr Mustapha assured Ndigbo that Mr Buhari did not hate them.
According to him, the shortest route to producing a president of Igbo extraction is by supporting and voting for APC in 2019. He urged them to ensure that Mr Buhari returns in 2019.
This was contrary to the position credited to works and housing minister, Babatunde Fashola, who said that Mr Buhari would hand over to the Yorubas in 2023.
The minister, at a special town hall meeting on infrastructure organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Orientation Agency, urged the people of South-West to vote for Mr Buhari in the 2019 elections, to guarantee a return of power to the region in 2023.
But Mr Obasanjo, at the event, asked the Igbo leaders across the federation to remain focused and united, saying the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not honour its promise to hand over presidency to an Igbo indigene in 2023.
He urged the Igbo not to allow any person from any part of the country relegate them to the background, noting that the Igbo occupied a place of pre-eminence in the emergence of Nigeria.
The former president particularly urged the Igbos to bury all their differences and work together for the actualisation of the Atiku Abubakar/Peter Obi candidature, which he said, was in the best interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
He prayed for a successful outing for the PDP presidential candidates in the 2019 election, tasking them to do the right thing for Nigeria and Nigerians if eventually elected.
He observed that Mr Obi and his principal “have great work to do for Nigeria,” noting that they “have become a beacon of hope to all Nigerians who have had it so rough in the last four years.
“It is incumbent on Obi to think out of the box to take the nation out of the woods caused by incumbent clueless administrators.”
He said with Mr Obi’s pedigree as a governor, he was hopeful that things will work for Nigeria under his leadership as vice president of the country, the Vanguard report highlighted.
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