Nigeria’s Senate minority leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has reinstated the submission of many south-east leaders in the country with regards to the 2023 presidency.
According to the minority leaders, it is non-negotiable for an Igbo person to become Nigeria’s next president. He also said not continuing with such advocacy would subject the Igbo to “second class citizens.”
He also advised the Igbo people in the country to “remain firm and resolute” notwithstanding the challenges facing the region as well as allegations of marginalisation.
The comment comes amid the growing clamour from south-east leaders for an Igbo to become president come the 2023 elections.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation in the south-east, had recently made a similar case, saying that Nigeria will be transformed if the next president comes from the south-east.
“The exploits of Igbo sons and daughters both within and outside the country are indices of the cerebral capability and ingenuity of the people which Nigeria could exploit to advance its development,” Nnia Nwodo, the group’s president-general, had said.
“The Federal Government should stop marginalising and victimising the Igbo in the country so that the latent creative potentials could be harnessed for the good of all. Nigeria would witness a turn around in her fortunes if a president of Igbo extraction was allowed to emerge in 2023.”