Tag: Igbo

  • 2023: If You Really Want to Be President, Then Vote For Me – Atiku Tells Ndi-Igbo

    2023: If You Really Want to Be President, Then Vote For Me – Atiku Tells Ndi-Igbo

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has called for the support of the South-East, saying he is the region’s surest route to the presidency.

    He made the comment while addressing party supporters during his campaign rally in Awka the Anambra State capital on Thursday.

    “I am going to be a stepping stone to an Igbo president in this country. I have shown it in my action because this is the third time I am running with an Igbo man. If you really want to produce a president, then vote Atiku-Okowa ticket,” the former vice president told the gathering.

    “I want to thank you, the people of Anambra State, for this warm reception I never thought I will see such a crowd in Anambra State, and believe me, we are not going to forget you, we are going to reward you handsomely.”

    Atiku also promised to revive industries in the region, vowing to dredge the River Niger to boost economic activities.

    “On our arrival today, we visited their Governor Prof. Soludo, and he said to me: ‘I know you are going to work but make sure that all the federal roads that pass through Anambra State are reconstructed’,” he said.

    “And I promised him, I’m going to do that, he said ‘Make sure that you control our erosion because Anambra is the erosion headquarters of the world. Erosion is destroying our farmlands, destroying our houses and everything we have.’

    “This is a very gigantic project. And I promised him I’m going to do that, and you know I have worked with Soludo before, he is a first-class patriotic Nigerian.
    “You have an excellent governor. He also appealed to me about the Onisha Port and I said this time around we are going to dredge River Niger and Onisha Port will function.

    “We are also going to help Anambra industrialise the state so that the state will create as many jobs for our young men and women.

    “And you know, I promised to set aside $10 billion to promote small-scale and medium enterprise for our young men and women so that they can be independent.”

  • 2023: Northerners Don’t Need Yoruba, Igbo Candidates – Atiku

    2023: Northerners Don’t Need Yoruba, Igbo Candidates – Atiku

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said those from the North don’t need candidates from the South during the 2023 elections.

    Atiku stated this while responding to a question posed to him by the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, during an Interactive Session With Arewa Joint Committee held on Saturday in Kaduna State.

    According to him, Northerners need to vote for him rather than a Yoruba or Igbo candidate because he’s a Pan-Nigerian with a northern extraction.

    When Baba-Ahmed asked Atiku why Northerners should vote for him, the PDP presidential candidate replied, “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country.

    “This is what the Northerner needs, it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”

  • Peter Obi can only become President in Igboland, not in Nigeria – Shettima

    Peter Obi can only become President in Igboland, not in Nigeria – Shettima

    Vice presidential candidate of the APC, Kashim Shettima, has said Peter Obi cannot become president of Nigeria.

    According to the former Borno state governor, Obi the Labour party candidate can only be president of Igboland and not Nigeria.

    “The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has no political base and structure to win the next coming election in 2023. As far as i am concerned he’s politically structureless with little or no experience to lead this country.” Shettima said on Channels TV Politics Today programme on Friday, July 15.

    “Nigeria requires a technocrat and a sound Administrator who will continue from where President Muhammadu Buhari stopped not someone who will come to take us back in the era of PDP. Nigerians don’t want that.

    “Our Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the right person needed for this position in a time like this. He’s a unifier, an Administrator, a technocrat name it. That is why Nigerians both old and young are rallying round him to ensure that he wins the forth coming election.

    “Presidential position is not for the unprepared neither is it an all comers affairs. Peter Obi can only become a President in Igboland but definitely not in Nigeria. Nigeria is too big for him to handle. He has no leadership ideology nor experiences like President Muhammadu and our incoming President in the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

  • 2023: Igbo presidential aspirants adamant, vow not to step down

    2023: Igbo presidential aspirants adamant, vow not to step down

    By Isaac Kertyo

    Efforts by the South-East to produce the next president may hit the rock as some of the aspirants from the region have vowed not to step down for one another.

    This is as the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, warned that any presidential aspirant from the South-East who refused to step down and support a common candidate from the region would fail.

    Some of contenders for the presidency from the South-East are Anyim Pius Anyim and Dave Umahi (Ebonyi State), Peter Obi and Kingsley Muoghalu (Anambra State), Orji Uzor Kalu and Sam Ohuabunwa (Abia State), Rochas Okorocha (Imo State), Chris Baywood of Baywood Foundation (Enugu) and others expected to make their intention known in the coming days.

    While Kalu, Umahi and Okorocha are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the likes of Anyim, Ohuabunwa and Obi are in the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

    It is not clear on which platform Muoghalu and Baywood will contest.

    Recall that the South-East has since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 been clamouring for a president of Igbo extraction.

    Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, only the South-East region has yet to produce the President from the southern part of the country.

    While a former military head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, from the South-West led Nigeria as a democratically-elected President from 1999 to 2007, Umaru Yar’Adua from North-West took over the mantle of leadership from 2007 to 2010 when he passed on.

    The then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from the South-South completed Yar’ Adua’s tenure and spent another term before he handed over to the incumbent President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) from the North-West in 2015.

    With only five states and not at a vantage position in terms of voting strength, the South-East presidential aspirants are up against formidable presidential aspirants like the former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Belo in the APC.

    Those angling for the ticket of the PDP are a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, amongst others.

    However, the South-East has expressed determination to clinch the presidential position in 2023 with most of the aspirants in the APC.

    My aspiration can’t be quenched, says Ohuabunwa

    But one of the aspirants, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, described his presidential ambition as motivational and therefore had no plans to quit no matter the situation.

    Ohuabunwa told Saturday PUNCH that he could only accept to withdraw from the race if “the powers that motivated him decide otherwise.”

    He was responding to a question on whether he would be willing to step down if asked to do so in order to reduce the number of aspirants and brighten the chances of the South-East having a shot at the presidency.

    “I am not willing and not considering stepping down. I am not desperate, and that aspiration cannot be quenched,” he further said.

    Ohuabunwa specifically said his presidential aspiration did not start in one day but inspirational, adding, “it is not something to jettison like that.”

    The PDP presidential hopeful, whose mantra is, ‘The change that Nigeria needs’, said, “the country needs the best to assuage the decadence in society.”

    On whether he will be comfortable if some aspirants withdraw from the race to support him, Ohuabunwa said, “I will be happy over the friendship and comradeship if they want the redemption of the country. Anybody that supports us will be accommodated.”

    Similarly, one of the presidential aspirants from the region, who does not want his name mentioned, said it was “impracticable” for any aspirant to step down from the race, adding that Ohanaeze Ndigbo led by Prof. George Obiozor had not said anyone should withdraw from the race.

    Also, one of the support groups for Governor David Umahi’s presidential aspiration, Akubaraoha Youth Assembly, said with the achievements of the governor, it would be wrong for anyone to ask him to step down for any person.

    The National President of the group, Mark Onu, told one of our correspondents that Umahi had gone far in the race and would not think about withdrawing at any stage, maintaining that the governor possessed the qualities to lead the country.

    He said, “There is no need for Governor Umahi to step down for anyone. He is better than other aspirants considering his achievement as the governor of Ebonyi State.

    “Come to Ebonyi State and see how he has developed the place. He has gone far in the race and the question of withdrawing for anybody should not come up because he is far ahead in terms of quality.”

    Similarly, one of the aspirants who confided in Saturday PUNCH maintained that it was not possible for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to say only one candidate would be supported to achieve a Nigerian president from Igbo extraction.

    The presidential hopeful said, “You have to understand that it is not George Obiozor-led Ohanaeze that said so (that one candidate would be supported for a president from South-East to emerge). Obiozor-led Ohanaeze is the authentic Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

    “So, if anybody wakes up by the side and says this or that, Obiozor can’t say he will bring (support) one candidate; it is not possible because I have heard him handle such issues. It is not possible; how would you bring one candidate? Are you in control of the political parties?

    “I watch Obiozor on a television programme, and when they asked him this thing, he said everybody would emerge from their political parties. There is no way Obiozor will say only one candidate would be recognised because it doesn’t work and it is not practicable.”

    One of the aspirants from the region, Prof Kingsley Muoghalu, however, declined to comment on the issue when he was asked if he would step down for any person for the South-East to forge a common front. He said, “Sorry, I cannot comment” in a reply sent to Saturday PUNCH through Whatsapp.

    However, efforts to get the leadership of the Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) Movement, a support group for former governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, were not successful.

    Ohanaeze vows to present one aspirant in major parties

    Earlier, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said it had set up a committee to discuss with all presidential aspirants from the region to ensure it presents one person to contest in all the major political parties.

    According to Ohanaeze’s spokesman, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, the committee named Action Committee is headed by the group’s President General and Secretary General, Ambassadors George Obiozor and Okey Emuchay respectively.

    He cautioned that any other aspirant that failed to support the person and continued to contest would not succeed.

    Although Ogbonnia said Ohanaeze was still discussing with all aspirants as it had no favourite candidate among the presidential aspirants that had already declared their ambition, he noted that anybody that wanted to be the president of Nigeria must be a person with high intellect, courage and audacity.

    “We have what we call political Action Committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Part of the work the Committee is doing is to find a way to meet other ethnic groups in Nigeria, talk to them, explain to them and convince them why they should support the Igbo for the president of Nigeria.

    “Another part of the work which we intend to embark on is to sensitise our people to come out and participate actively in both registration of voters and get their permanent voter cards. But more importantly, by the time they come out because it would have been too early for Ohanaeze to begin the process of elimination when people have not come out; but by the time they come out, we will look at them, because there is hardly any Igbo of note we do not know.

    “Then we’ll be able to prevail on some candidates to step down for one candidate that will be accepted not only in South-East but across the country – somebody with national appeal, somebody with the capacity expected for the assignment, somebody with a track record of accomplishment, somebody who has the audacity and more importantly the vision for Nigeria.”

    Asked what Ohanaeze would do in situations where some aspirants refuse to step down, he said such an issue was expected to happen but warned that the aspirants involved would lose.

    He said, “Such issue will always come up but the moment the Ohanaeze points to a direction and before we point to a direction, consultations with diverse groups must have been done. By the time we form a direction, the greater majority will be following the direction of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, then whoever is contesting is on his own and will lose.

    “Then the other ethnic groups will know by the time we point to a direction – Afenifere will know where we are going, South-South will know where we are going, Middle Belt will know where we are going, the North will know where we are going. So, no person or region will like to stand with somebody who is rejected by his people.

    “If the person insists on contesting, ultimately, the person will still fail. By the time we clean and eliminate somebody and the person begins to contest, then it means the person lacks the sportsmanship required in politics.”

    ‘Igbo inability to inspire consensus, a setback’

    In a related development, a political analyst, Mr Ahmed Nasiru, has, however, described as a setback the inability of Igbo political elite to inspire consensus around a viable candidate ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

    Nasiru, who made this remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday in Abuja, said there had been growing political agreement that it was only fair for the presidency to be zoned to the South-East.

    “Even those, who in principle will prefer merit to the option of zoning, believe that if for no other reason than the sake of equity and fair play, someone of Igbo ethnicity should be president this time,” he added.

    Nasiru said the problem remained the inability of Igbo leaders to speak and agree on a candidate that would be widely accepted by the totality of Nigerians.

    He called on the Igbo elite to throw their weight behind a candidate who had shown widespread charity and benevolence, adding that such quality would attract the support of the people.

    He, however, urged the south-eastern people to rally support for the candidacy of Senator Rochas Okorocha, adding that he had shown remarkable imagination and innovation in his declaration to run.

  • 2023: Igbo sociopolitical group, Ohaneze in despair, anger over Tinubu’s presidential declaration

    2023: Igbo sociopolitical group, Ohaneze in despair, anger over Tinubu’s presidential declaration

    The most recognized Igbo Social cultural group are in despair, and intermittent anger over Tinubu’s presidential declaration, according to them it was the turn of the Igbos

    Tinubu who revealed his Presidential ambition at the State House correspondents on Monday after a private meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He, however, hasn’t publicly disclose his ambition as he was still in consultations with various interest groups across the country, categorically.

    Tinubu’s meeting with the President came days after he (Buhari) declared in a televised interview that he would not divulge his favourite for the APC 2023 presidential ticket.

    Recall, that Intel Region has also reported that Tinubu had secretly inform Buhari, Osinbajo his presidential ambition

    Asked if he had officially informed Buhari about his ambition to run, the APC leader said, “I answer that with a categorical yes. I’ve informed the President of my intention, but I have not informed Nigerians yet. I’m still consulting. And I have no problem consulting. And I’ve not set a parameter of limitation to the extent of how many people I will consult

    You will soon hear; all you want to hear is the categorical declaration. You’ve got that truth from me that I have informed Mr President of my ambition, and you don’t expect more answers than that.”

    The former Lagos State Governor also revealed that the President did not advise him to drop his ambition.

    “He is a democrat. He didn’t ask me to stop. He didn’t ask me not to attempt and pursue my ambition. It is a lifelong ambition. So, why do I expect him to say more than that? You are running a democratic dispensation, and you must adopt the principles and the values and virtues of democracy. That’s it,” he said.

    When asked about his potential race for the APC ticket with the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; for whom many groups have been mobilising support, Tinubu revealed that, as former Governor of Lagos State, he possessed the capacity, confidence and vision to “rule” the country.

    “I don’t want to discuss individuals now. I must discuss myself. I have the confidence, the vision, the capacity to rule, build on the foundation of Mr President, and turn Nigeria better. I have done that with commitment in Lagos State.

    Meanwhile, the Apex socio political group described the declaration of Tinubu to contest the Presidency in 2023 as against the rules of natural justice and unfortunate.

    It regretted that the former Lagos State Governor had chosen to add to the crisis of Nigeria instead of joining hands with patriots to save the corporate existence of the country.

    The spokesman for the Igbo apex body, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, who spoke to one of our correspondents while reacting to the Tinubu’s formal declaration, said, “It is an assertion rooted in history and experience that any project that is not supported by justice and equity will not succeed.

    Ogbonnia said Tinubu knew that he was doing the wrong thing, embarking on a project that was not rooted in equity, justice and fair play.

    He said “It is a project that is dead on arrival. Because God is a universal entity that he is always interested in truth, fairness and equity. So for anybody embarking on anything that is not rooted in equity and justice will not succeed and this is a countervailing force that has sustained this world from the beginning.

    “So Tinubu knows that he is embarking on a cause that has no foundation in anything: foundation in equity and justice, and of course is a project that will not succeed.”

    Ohanaeze spokesman, however, said it was very unfortunate that Tinubu had decided to add to the crisis in Nigeria, adding “because there is this collective conscience that has been guiding this country. The collective conscience is to culturally determine what is right and what is wrong and to pursue the one that is right and ignore the one that is wrong.

    “But all the same, those who have really gone against the convention has often lost, you know at a point General Sani Abacha wanted to continue but he lost; Goodluck Jonathan ran against the current he lost any other person that tries to go against the convention and the current will always lose it. Mr Tinubu is working across purposes with the foundations of this country – foundation rooted in equity and justice.

    “He knows that this is the turn of the Igbo and instead of supporting for the Igbo to emerge for peace to reign, for the corporate existence of Nigeria to remain intact, he decided adding to the problem and crisis. So for one to succeed as a matter of facts, patriots should consider the collective interest – the group interest more than self-interest. But in this case now Tinubu is more interested in self-interest. He considered self-interest above group interest or corporate existence of Nigeria. And that is selfishness at its height and any country that has such people is always in problem.

    “Ohanaeze’s position is that Tinubu knows that he is doing the wrong thing. He is embarking on a project that is not rooted in equity, justice and fair play, and is against the common current of the conscience of the people and to that extent he will surely lose.”

  • Ohaneze threatens totality of Igbo spirit against Jonathan if he does not support Igbo presidency

    Ohaneze threatens totality of Igbo spirit against Jonathan if he does not support Igbo presidency

    The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo,  has threatened that the Igbo spirit will be against former President Goodluck Jonathan if he fails to support the realisation of a president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

    Ohanaeze Ndigbo National Publicity Secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, in an interview with one of our correspondents in Enugu, said that the suffering Ndigbo were going through under the administration  of President, President  Muhammadu Buhari  was because of the support Igbo gave Jonathan.

    Ogbonnia was asked to comment on a report that Jonathan on December 27 met South-South leaders coordinating his alleged plan to contest the 2023 presidency.

    According to the report, the meeting was held at Aridolf Hotels and Spars, Yenagoa.

    There have been reports that some northern All Progressives Congress governors were plotting Jonathan’s return to Presidency to assuage the South and enable the North to return to power after four years.

    Commenting on the development, Ohanaeze Ndigbo spokesman stated, “The Igbo position on Jonathan’s (alleged)  presidential ambition in 2023 is that the Igbo spirit will be against him, the totality of Igbo spirit will be against him and he should realise it.

    “Because he is expected to support the Igbo; a form of spiritual reciprocity, to reciprocate the Igbo kind gesture towards him.”

    He disclosed that whatever Igbo suffered under the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari was because of Jonathan.

    He added, “Whatever you see the Igbo suffered under President Buhari was as a result of the support we gave Jonathan. He should realise it. That is the Ohanaeze Ndigbo position and by extension Igbo position.”

  • Igbos must produce Nigeria’s next President in 2023 – Edwin Clark

    Igbos must produce Nigeria’s next President in 2023 – Edwin Clark

    Edwin Clark, leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, has maintained that the Southeast “must” produce Nigeria’s next president in 2023.

    Clark disclosed this when a presidential aspirant, Anyim Pius Anyim, visited him on Friday.

    He urged Anyim to collaborate with leaders across Nigeria to build consensus for equity and unity.

    Clark noted his passionate “belief that the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 must go to the Southern part of Nigeria and indeed to South-East zone.

    “I encourage you and others to continue the task of persuading and reassuring other Nigerians to share that vision.”

    Some political stakeholders have been advocating for a Nigerian president of the Southeast extraction.

    The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, VON, Osita Okechukwu, had said the Southeast should be allowed to produce Nigeria’s president because the region would not disappoint.

    Okechukwu assured that an Igbo president would help develop Nigeria because the Southeast is “talented to do so.”

  • When the Igbo nation partner for national reintegration

    When the Igbo nation partner for national reintegration

    By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu

    God willing and other things being equal, the creme de la creme of the Igbo nation will in city of Owerri on the 25th of February this year for a political summit

    The summit is convened by Igbo National Council(INC).

    The summit will celebrate the theme” Fostering Partnership for National Reintegration”, with the topic” Igbo nation participation in the Nigerian political system: challenges and prospects”.

    One thing spectacular about the summit is that it will be chaired by His Excellency, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, while the keynote speaker is Prof. Pat Utomi.The lead facilitator is Dr. Austin Onuoha.

    The convener of the summit, Igbo National Council (INC) is a grass root mass- based membership organization with the mandate of the emancipation of Igbo race.

    Its further mandate is the reengineering of the Igbo value system, the economy and the political culture.

     The council which was established in 2012 is gearing towards strengthening the capacity of the Igbo nation to engage with the political actors in the Nigeria venture for active inclusiveness of the Igbo Race in the Nigeria Project and Africa at large. 

    INC’s vision is centred on the actualisation of the Igbo dream, and this will manifested through research, organization and action. 

    There are counter arguments which tend question the validity of summits, seminars and workshops in actualising the Igbo struggle. These arguments seek to validate their claims on the fact that there have been so many of these summits. seminars and workshops without corresponding results.

    But if the ideals which the council is committed to are to be relied on, actualisation of the Igbo struggle on the platform of INC may not be far-fetched.

    The ideals are strengthening the capacity of the critical mass of the people to engage in participatory democratic struggle to reposition the Igbo race to its rightful position in comity of nations; promotion of human rights as well as the advancement of democracy and social justice through the application of the principle of COA (Consciousness, Organization and Action); building alliances and linkages with other organizations, movements, media, networks, parties, coalitions and individuals, which promote democracy, social justice and sustainable development geared towards the realization of the Igbo dream.

    Others are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with individuals, groups, nationalities and revolutionaries fighting for self-determination anywhere in the world; supporting programmes of civic education and leadership development aimed at producing quality leaders with positive value system at every levels of governance; and leading the self-sustenance, elf-preservation and self-determination struggles of the Igbo race.

    Furthermore, the group is to mobilize the people to protect, promote and defend the political, economic, safety and socio-cultural heritage of the Igbo race anywhere in the world. 

  • Wole Soyinka condemns video asking Igbo indigenes to leave Yorubaland

    Wole Soyinka condemns video asking Igbo indigenes to leave Yorubaland

    Noble laureate, Wole Soyinka has condemned a video of UK-based secessionist, Adeyinka Grandson asking the Igbos to leave Yorubaland amid the #EndSARS crisis in the country. 

    Soyinka in a statement he titled ‘Identity Thieves on the Rampage’ and released on Saturday October 24, enjoined Igbo indigenes to ignore such threats which seeks to create disharmony in the country. He averred that the threat “is the work of sick, cowardly minds”.

    The statement read; 

    “Undoubtedly in order to promote the video clip of an ethnic revanchist calling on Igbo to leave Yoruba land, this same lunatic fringe has exhumed, and embarked on circulating an ancient fabrication – several years mouldering in the grave – once attributed to me and vigorously denounced. 

    “That statement impudently expounds, as my utterance, what the Hausa want, what the Yoruba want, and what the Igbo want.

    “Such an attribution – let me once again reiterate – is the work of sick, cowardly minds that are ashamed, or lack the courage, as the saying goes, “to answer their fathers’ names.” At least the current ethnic rabble-rouser has the courage of his convictions, not so the sick brigade of identity thieves.

    “Normally, one should totally ignore the social dregs. However, in the present atmosphere where FAKE NEWS is so easily swallowed and acted upon without reflection, I feel once again obliged to denounce this recurrent obscenity.

    “As for our brother and sister Igbo, I hope they have learnt to ignore the toxic bilge under which some Nigerian imbeciles seek to drown the nation.

    “It is time also, I believe, to also enter the following admonition: one cannot continue to monitor and respond to the concoctions of these addicts of falsehood, and their assiduous promoters who have yet to learn to wipe the filth off their tablets.

    “The patrons of social platforms should develop the art of discrimination. Some attributions are simply so gross that, to grant them even a moment’s latitude of probability diminishes the civic intelligence of the recipient.”

  • We Supports Igbo Presidency, Says NU.

    We Supports Igbo Presidency, Says NU.

    By Jabiru Hassan, Kano.

    The National Unity Association (NU) has disclosed that the association would support an Igbo candidate at the forthcoming 2023 presidential election in order to ensure even distribution of power.

    In a statement signed by the association’s chairman Alhaji Abdullahi Maigata and issued to newsmen in kano at the end of an understanding meeting, said that Nigeria as a nation consists of many tribes and it is now onto a democratic dispensation therefore an Igbo candidate should be given a chance to rule.

    The association which was formed in January 2020, would tour the northern States in order to enlighten the electorate about the needs to support an Igbo candidate and to seek prayers to Nigeria in overcoming it’s problems especially the issue of insecurity which is now a subject of discussion everywhere.

    The statement further announced that “the National Unity Association has a members across 19 Northern states and after going round the northern region, we would commence our mission tour to the southern States in order to seek their supports before the general elections”. According to the statement.

    In conclusion, the association is calling on the federal government under president Muhammadu Buhari to takes appropriate measures in curtailing insurgency in the country and called for more prayers from all hands to restore peace and unity in Nigeria.

    In a relates development, National progressives association(NPA) has announced that an Igbo presidential candidate would receive the association’s support in order to ensure that the dream to enthrone an Igbo president becomes reality especially when this country is getting more united.

    The association disclosed that ” We would join hands with other associations to work towards the success of the mission for the progress of Nigeria as a nation, that is why we are now forming an association that would work and act with one voice for best results”. He concluded.