Steve Uzoechi OWERRI 
• Ikpeazu: I support Igbo aspirants
• We won’t tolerate sabotage –Ohanaeze youths
The people of the South East region are angry with their state governors over their lukewarm attitude towards the bid by the zone to produce the next President of Nigeria in 2023. Sunday Telegraph gathered that the level of support coming from the governors for the most important project of the Igbo nation in many decades appears to be falling short of expectations.
Since the return to civil rule in 1999, there has been no other time the clamour for a Nigerian president of South- East extraction has been so loud and pronounced as it is presently. Apparently, this is the reason most Nigerians from the South-East are worried that the governors of the region are neither leading the charge nor pulling their weight in the bid by some of their sons to occupy the coveted seat. A cursory look at the political disposition of the South – East governors indicates a total lack of cohesion and the absence of a common agenda ahead of the 2023 elections.
Apart from their discordant political moves, their body language says even more about their noncommittal posture to the project. Sunday Telegraph gathered that Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State appear to be the only one among the five to have demonstrated some reasonable level of support for the regional project. Soludo displayed some class when he jettisoned the usual partisan shenanigans and offered the presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, the Anambra State Government House to declare his intention to run for the office of the President of Nigeria.
He paid little heed to the fact that Obi was not a member of his party, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), but a member of the major opposition party in Anambra State. With his wholesale support, Soludo became the first governor in the South-East to buy into the Peter Obi presidential project.
On the other hand, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi directed his deputy, Dr. Joy Ezeilo, to receive Peter Obi on his behalf, when Obi visited, yet hastened to receive Governor Nyesom Wike at the airport and further accompanied him to Ebonyi State for consultations. However, Chief Bede Ezeugwu, who claimed to be close to the Enugu State governor, explained that Ugwuanyi may not be rooting for Wike. He said: “If you know Ugwuanyi like I know him, you would understand that he is always strategic and cautious in all his political moves. What we have seen may not entirely be what it seems.
Ugwuanyi may not be too loud but he is dexterous when it comes to this level of politics and I’m almost certain that his involvement with Wike may only be a matter of courtesy.” In its reaction to the development, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) said that the time has passed for diplomatic or silent support for the presidential project of the South-East. Speaking through its leader, Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, the group said that youths of the region will not tolerate any form of sabotage against the South-East Presidency project.
Igboayaka said:“Every governor of the South-East should be a stakeholder in this South-East Presidency project. If you are in APC, support an APC presidential aspirant of South-East extraction. If you are a PDP governor, also do the same. “The governors of the South-East should be mindful of the fact that political marginalization of the South- East leading to depriving the South-East the opportunity to lead the country, was one of the reasons agitations started in the region and that their actions and inactions will either help to douse the agitations or escalate tension.
“We are not comfortable with their silence and rhetorical speeches on this matter. Diplomatic support could be deceitful. So, we want them to come out openly and tell us their position on the effort of the region towards achieving a president of South- East extraction. This is the time to lead from the front, as the youth population in Igboland and posterity will be unkind to any South-East governor, by whose action or inaction, the South-East losses the chance to produce a president for this country in 2023.”
A senior government official who craved anonymity, expressed surprise that most of the governors were still playing hide and seek with the South East presidency project. “It is a wonder that Governors of the South-East, particularly those of the PDP are yet to own the Peter Obi presidency project in spite of the fact that it is becoming clearer by the day that Obi’s entry into the 2023 presidential race is generating groundswell support across religious, ethnic and geopolitical zones of this country.
“If they do not like Obi, what about Dr. Chris Ngige, Rochas Okorocha and others? What does it cost to voice your support and solidarity for your own? As for the PDP governors in the South-East, they must resist the temptation of putting their personal interests ahead of the collective interest of the Igbo nation. It will be counter-productive for them. I do not know exactly what is behind their decisions and actions but what sort of gratification would a governor want at the expense of the age-long aspiration of their people?
South-West has had its own full tenure at the presidency; South-South had also had their full term in office at the presidency. Now, the clamour is for a president of South-East extraction and our governors are footdragging to lend their full support to their best. Whatever happens, posterity will be the judge.” But responding to the allegation, the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, said that he has been supporting all aspirants of Igbo extraction, including the South East. He said: And I have been seeing aspirants from the South East, who have bothered to see me.
For example, Anyim Pius Anyim and Sam Ohuabunwa. I understand Gov. Peter Obi has also seen delegates in Abia but I was not informed of his visit. But it is okay. However, our precarious situation as Ndigbo requires we break the jinx by ensuring that we do not join the enemies of the Igbo liberation to whittle our geographical size and political potential.
We cannot be parochial as to exclude our kinsmen who were carved away by the same people that have held Nigeria down through the marginalization of the Igbo nation. You must break the chain before you choose the vehicles that will take you home.”
