Nwobodo says Nigerians will see a difference the day an Igbo man is elected president

FORMER Anambra State governor Chief Jim Nwobodo has predicted that Nigeria will become a better country with a remarked improvements in her fortunes the day the nation decides to elect an Igbo man as president.

 

Under an informal political arrangement, Nigeria's presidency rotates between the north and the south, meaning that when President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure ends in 2023, it will be the turn of a southerner to become president. There are three geo-political zones in the south but the southwest recently produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south produced President Goodluck Jonathan, meaning that it is the turn of the southeast next.

 

Speaking in Enugu during his 79th birthday, Chief Nwobodo, who governed the old Anambra State between 1979 and 1983, said there will be a difference in the country when an Igbo man becomes the president. He thus urged people from the southeast to be united, adding that the zone would produce Nigeria’s president without fighting.

 

Chief Nwobodo added: “If an Igbo man becomes the president, there will be a difference.  Ndi Igbo will get it without fighting.”

 

Also, charging Nigeria's judiciary to continue to rise in defence of the country, he added that it is the only institution that was holding Nigeria together. He lambasted the recent removal of the chief justice fo Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, calling it a disgrace.

 

In his remarks at the event, Chief Nnia Nwodo, the president of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, extolled Chief Nwobodo’s leadership qualities, describing him as an icon. He likened his leadership style to that of the current Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi whom he said did not discriminate among political parties.

 

Known as the Jews of Africa, Nigeria's 25m Igbos are highly industrious and particularly dominate retail trade across the continent. They are also highly mobile as they are seen in every nook and cranny of the country, although they attract resentment because of their perceived Shylockian ways.

 

Igbos are regularly victims of attacks from their host communities because they are seen as too clannish and do not share their wealth and expertise with outsiders. Since 1966 when former military ruler General Aguiyi Ironsi governed for a brief stint of six months, Nigeria has never produced a leader of Igbo extraction.

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