The quest of those campaigning for Jonathan’s victory at the
2015 presidential poll to achieve Ndigbo’s endorsement of the re-election bid
of President Goodluck Jonathan in the next year’s election suffered a setback
following a stalemate that ended its meeting with Igbo leaders. However, both
parties agreed to constitute a committee to be headed by the immediate past
governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, with members to be drawn from all Igbo
groups in Lagos. Their mandate is to resolve whether Ndigbo in Lagos State will
support the president’s ambition or not. It was gathered that the meeting,
which was held at Dover Hotel, Lekki on Tuesday night, was conveyed at the
instance of President Jonathan, who was represented by the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. Though expected
to begin by 6pm, the meeting was two hours behind schedule owing to the late
arrival of the Anyim-led delegation. Continue...
This necessitated the parley lasting till the wee hours of
Wednesday. The SSG and his group had come to Lagos from Onitsha, en route Enugu
after receiving Obi, who dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Those who accompanied Anyim to the
meeting included Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker, House
of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; Senator Hope Uzodinma; Minister of Labour
and Productivity, Emeka Wogu; National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa
Metuh, businessman and Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2013 Anambra
governorship election, Ifeanyi Ubah and Peter Obi. The Igbo leaders with whom
they had the meeting were the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary
Enwo- Igariwey; president of Ndigbo Lagos, Prof. Anya O. Anya; president of Aka
Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike; former chairman of Diamond Bank, Paschal Dozie;
former military administrator of Lagos, Admiral Ndubisi Kanu (rtd); former
president, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dr. Raymond Obieri; Eze Ndigbo of
Ikeja, Eze Uche Dimgba and president of Ohanaeze Lagos, Fabian
Onwughalu. According to New Telegraph report, trouble started at the
meeting when Anyim advised Ndigbo to forget what happened after 2011 elections
and face the future by supporting Jonathan’s second term bid. This plea
reportedly angered most of the Igbo leaders at the parley, who questioned why
the South-East should support the president again, when he is yet to fulfill
most of his 2011 campaign promises to the zone. New Telegraph quoted a source
who attended the meeting thus: “majority of the Igbo leaders argued that it was
unreasonable for Ndigbo to work for the president again going by what is on
ground,” adding that “There was heated argument on the call for support for Jonathan
in 2015.
“The issue of Second Niger Bridge was raised, but there was doubt over the
authenticity of the project because it is under the Public Private Partnership
(PPP) arrangement, and would be tolled on completion for about 25 years, while
a similar project in Benue State is being funded by the Federal Government and
would not be tolled. “Even the sixth state approved for Ndigbo at the
just-concluded National Conference is not likely to be realised because it was
disclosed at the meeting that a boundary adjustment committee set up by the
government on the issue failed to reach an agreement with the South-East
governors on where the new state should be carved out from. “The so-called
international airport (Enugu International Airport), which the Jonathan
campaigners are mouthing as part of his achievements was approved by the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua and not Jonathan. Some of the Igbo leaders were
furious, querying why Ifeanyi Uba and his group, Transformation Ambassadors of
Nigeria (TAN), are going around, directing Ndigbo to vote for Jonathan in 2015,
when we have not taken a stand on the issue. Based on these, there is the fear
that some of us may look elsewhere,” the source noted. Continuing, the Igbo
bigwig squealed that while support for the President is still open pending the
report of the Obi-led committee, Ndigbo are not taking anything for granted.
According to him, plans are underway for a meeting with Lagos State former
governor and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, and former Head of State and APC presidential aspirant, Major
General Muhammadu Buhari. Hear him, “Ndigbo in Lagos are considering changing
camp and we will soon meet with Tinubu and Buhari on the way forward because we
have lost it in the PDP. What transpired on Tuesday night showed that Ndigbo
have nobody in the present government. Our representatives are there for their
own interest and not for the collective interest of our people.”
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