The Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) have berated the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, for saying the South East cannot produce a president in 2023. Amaechi, in an interview, had said the Igbo had nothing to bring to the table in 2023, especially that they did not vote the APC in the last general elections.

  “I don’t know what they will do now for voting against the APC. For refusing to support the APC, they cannot come to the table to demand the presidency slot,” Amaechi had said. “For people like us in the APC, if the Igbo had come and voted Buhari, they would boldly tell Mr. President and the national chairman of the party that the presidency should go the South East since the South South, South West and North West have produced presidents. What argument would the South East come up with now to convince anybody that they deserve the slot for 2023 president?” Amaechi asked.

However, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu, fired back at the minister in an interview saying it was unfortunate that an Igbo man of that calibre could make such a statement in public. “There is no Yoruba or Hausa man that would say his people would not produce a president for one reason or the other.

 Whether we voted for Buhari or not is not for Amaechi to make such a statement. It is a very big affront on the political dignity of the Igbo people. Let me tell you, it’s not for Amaechi to tell Igbo where to lean politically,” he said. “He can advise but it’s a tragedy for him to go to the public to make such a statement. If he is not happy with the way Igbo voted, he should have kept it to himself or advised them quietly, I’m disappointed by that statement,” he added.

On his part, the Secretary of OYC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, said “Amaechi has come out to dance naked in the public place.” According to him, “It was an insult of the highest order for Amaechi to arrogate to himself the powers he does not have.

 “This is one of the most awkward and disappointing statements we have heard in recent times. However, it’s partly good so that we see those who do not mean well for this country, those who do not cherish a united Nigeria built on equity,” he said.