2019: Ndigbo Should Accept Olive Branch Offered By Buhari, VON DG

The Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, at the weekend urged Ndigbo to without further delay, embrace the olive branch extended to them by President Muhammadu Buhari by massively supporting his reelection bid in 2019.

President Buhari had recently in Owerri, Imo State capital, through the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, reminded Ndigbo that it would be their turn to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023, going by the zoning convention.

Mustapha, however, noted that the realisation of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction lies on the support of Ndigbo for President Buhari in 2019.

While speaking to journalists on a wide range of issues including the crack in APC, Okechukwu dismissed the emergence of Reformed APC (R-APC) as a "none issue," and urged Ndigbo to embrace the olive branch offered by President Buhari.

He recalled that at Owerri last week, Buhari through the SGF, Mustapha, for the second time, offered Ndigbo the olive branch, by reminding them that going by the zoning convention, it would be their turn to produce the president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction in 2023.

Quoting the SGF, he said: "2019 will make or mar the aspiration of Igbo nation. I am calling on the Igbo to make a paradigm shift and think seriously of their position. The choice is that of the Igbo nation. What happens in 2019 will determine the future of the region. The presidency of Nigeria is negotiable and can only be done on position of strength and the strength of the Igbo will be determined by 2019 support for Buhari.’’

Okechukwu described the statement made by the SGF as a wake-up call and an olive branch by President Buhari to Ndigbo.

“In simplicity, it translates to Ndigbo vote for the president in 2019 and the president is for Ndigbo in 2023. Methinks, this is the most pragmatic and fastest route to the presidency of Igbo extraction, and hence the enlistment of Ndigbo into the mainstream of Nigeria's political landscape. It will automatically end long years’ sulk of marginalisation and fully integrate our dear country," he said.

On insinuations that President Buhari does not like Ndigbo, Okechukwu recalled that twice, Buhari chose Igbo sons as his running mates in 2003 and 2007-Chuba Okadigbo and Edwin Umezoke-both of blessed memory, adding that if Ndigbo had voted for him, with his vote-bank of 12 million, he could have won.

He maintained that Igbo vote was the missing link then and even today, “so we must make a paradigm shift and think out of the box.”

Asked how to convince Ndigbo who are clamouring for restructuring to vote for Buhari in view of the tenuous situation in the country? Okechukwu quipped: "Beware of propaganda and campaign taunts, 95 percent of those clamouring for restructuring are for one Nigeria. The herdsmen/farmers clash will soon stop. Therefore, not only that Buhari is the only northerner who constitutionally has four years left, I think that no other northerner will do better than him, as per restructuring and especially critical infrastructure, given his integrity quotient."