Osita Okechukwu says Ohaneze and Ipob misled Ndigbo into voting for Atiku over restructuring

VOICE of Nigeria director-general Osita Okechukwu has proclaimed that President Muhammadu Buhari would have secured more votes across the southeast geo-political zone had Ohaneze Ndigbo and the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) not misled the masses.

A supporter of President Buhari and an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Mr Okechukwu said he was delighted that the president did better in the southeast this year than he did in 2015. In 2015, President Buhari polled 198,248 votes across the five states of the southeast while he polled 403,958 votes in 2019.

According to Mr Okechukwu, with the result, the APC achieved a 100% increase its vote in 2019 compared with the 2015 performance in the zone. He attributed the improvement to the resilience and aggressive campaign by the party in the area.

Mr Okechukwu said the result could have been much better but for the negative role allegedly played by the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ipob ahead of the polls. He added that they misled the people with the promise that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would restructure the country, if elected president, which affected the APC.

"These groups deceived our people with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s restructuring gimmick. One is at a loss why they placed more premium on restructuring than the emergence of Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

“I think 2023 is more pragmatic and reasonable than Atiku’s promise to restructure the country. However, the APC faithful did a lot of grassroots and door-to-door campaigning with convincing reasons why Buhari should be returned to finish his monumental infrastructure development and his people-oriented economic programmes," Mr Okechukwu added.

He said that it would have been dangerous for Ndigbo to lump their votes in one basket, adding that the party’s overwhelming and strong campaign in the zone helped to avert this danger. Mr Okechukwu said because of Nigeria’s rigid constitution, restructuring the country required the two-third approval by the national and state houses of assemblies, so it was an unrealistic goal.

Mr Okechukwu expressed the optimism that the re-election of President Buhari would fast-track the infrastructure development in the southeast. He added: “By the grace of God, the APC’s presidential victory will surely guarantee the completion of the eastern rail line corridor, Enugu Coal, the second Niger Bridge and the Enugu Urban Water Scheme, among others started by the present administration.’’