2023: Ignore S-East, Face Consequences – Ohanaeze Youths Dare PDP

BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) says it will be treacherous if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fails to pick its presidential candidate for the 2023 election from the South East geo-political zone

It therefore warned of serious consequences if the country’s main opposition party make good its alleged moves of going with a northern flag-bearer during the next elections.

The OYC maintained that an “Igbo President in year 2023 is non-negotiable” and cautioned the PDP against insulting the intelligence of the Igbos.

“If the PDP thinks the Igbo will wait till 2031 before it gets a chance at its presidential ticket, then the PDP isn’t just treacherous, it is delusional”, the Ohanaeze youths said.

In a statement signed by its President-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Secretary-General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, OYC urged all Igbo politicians to resist the allure of a Vice Presidential position

The group expressed concerns that despite voting massively for the PDP since 1999, the party seems to be treating the Igbo shabbily like “cows that must not only be milked but used to death.”

According to the statement, “The OYC is irrevocably committed to the advancement of the Igbo nation. In the struggle to protect, promote and prosper the life and livelihood of the average Igbo man, the council will speak with courage and act with wisdom.

“The OYC is committed to the idea that the Igbo man would thrive best in a restructured Federal Republic of Nigeria. What the Igbo man seeks is not a helping hand. The Igbo man demands a level playing field.

“The Igbo man in Ihiala or Zungeru or Potiskum has invested his faith in Nigeria. He wants from Nigeria the sense of belonging of a first son—a shared sense of belonging with the Fulani and the Yoruba. He wants a platform for the maximisation of his God-given potential.

“While the OYC is pushing fiercely for devolution of power to the regions and resource control, the council will keep its eyes on 2023. It is not because an Igbo Presidency will solve all that bedevils the Igbo. But an Igbo Presidency will assuage and comfort, will offer that sense of belonging, and will pursue devolution of powers and industrialisation.

“While watching the events leading up to 2023, the OYC has observed some troubling developments. Igbos have voted massively for the PDP since 1999 but it appears that the PDP regards the Igbos as cows that must be milked and used to death.”

Expressing worries that “The PDP is making subterranean diabolical plans to retain power in the North in 2023”, the statement further said; “OYC wishes to make it abundantly clear:The PDP must not insult the intelligence of the Igbo.”

“If the PDP thinks the Igbo will wait till 2031 before it gets a chance at its presidential ticket, then the PDP isn’t just treacherous, it is delusional. Perhaps, the PDP doesn’t need Igbo votes”, the Council warned