Uche Okafor-Mefor, a former deputy leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has said denying Igbos the right to produce a president in 2023 will justify agitation.
Mefor in a Facebook post urged the Igbos should and must recognise/regard a group or region in Nigeria presenting a candidate for the 2023 presidential election as their political enemies.
“The principle of zoning must be observed as has been practised for decades in Nigeria. It must be allowed to complete its cycle before it would be subject to review or appraisal. It is now the turn of the Igbos to present the next president of Nigeria in 2023. Moreso and in the circumstances, the ultimate questions that need to be asked are: why would this zoning arrangement be jettisoned at this stage when it is very obvious that following that long-established tradition, it naturally falls on the Igbos to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023? Why was it not jettisoned in 2014/2015 for instance?
“Consequently, the Igbos must forget about the narrative that there are other zones that have not produced the president of Nigeria because the truth is that the three major pillars of Nigerian politics right from inception are the Igbos, the Hausa-Fulani and the Yorubas. The principle of rotation has, therefore, been there right from the political independence of Nigeria. Isn’t ridiculous then that apart from the ceremonial presidency of Late Dr Azikiwe that it is only the Igbo among these there who have not been given their fair share and especially in this democratic dispensation? The geo-political zones were the product of the PDP’s political and administrative strategy for convenience. But even if it is not, justice and equity demand that it is the turn of the Igbos. Igbo politicians in Nigeria must make up their minds and be prepared that this time around, any attempt to gang up against the Igbos( the southeast zone ) and scheme out of being the main candidates in all the political parties is an unjustified exclusion of them from exercising their civil and political rights at the highest level of the political life of Nigeria. The vice president of Nigeria is a suicidal mission and therefore unacceptable and no Igbo should present himself or herself for such. The history of political exclusion of the Igbos is well documented and this would be the height of it.
“The state assemblies of the South-East must be ready to collectively and simultaneously pass a bill for REMEDIAL SECESSION, either for AUTONOMY WITHIN NIGERIA AS A FIRST STEP OR for OUTRIGHT INDEPENDENCE from Nigeria as a final solution when the SOVEREIGNTY OF NIGERIA MUST HAVE BEEN CALLED INTO QUESTION. If this happens, the Nigerian state, the rest of Nigeria would have no choice but to come for negotiation or the status quo continues. Yes, the Nigerian state will have no choice because that decision is a democratic one and not done through the use of force”.
