Election: “Igbo Will Support Buhari In 2019 To Avoid 2015 Mistake”
A pro-Buhari group, G-23, has said the Igbo will not repeat what it described as the mistake of 2015 when the South-East neglected a broad-based politics and supported former President Goodluck Jonathan based on regional consideration.
The group regretted that the move cost the South- East politically, maintaining that the Igbo were out to support President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term so that power could be zoned to the South-East in 2023.
The Convener of the South-East G-23, Johnbosco Onunkwo, while speaking with journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday, said the Buhari-led administration had performed creditably in the South-East region and the country in general and should be reelected.
Onunkwo added that the Buhari-led administration was currently embarking on 69 projects in the South-East, among them the Second Niger Bridge, due for completion before the end of 2020.
He added, “We have, as a body, painstakingly summarised the political realities confronting the South-East region with an understanding that Ndigbo will not repeat the mistake of 2015, where we neglected the broad-based politics that brought in President Muhammadu Buhari as a result of regional and ethnic sympathy.
“This, at the end, cost the region a lot politically. Despite this, we, members of G23, sincerely appreciate the attitude of President Muhammadu Buhari, who has risen as a statesman to accommodate all Nigerians irrespective of where that region stood in the last general elections.”
The G-23 convener also said the South-East must seek the most favourable set of political outcomes that were realistically obtainable.
The group promised to work for President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection in 2019 in the South East region.
It said, “We must state that for now, it is imperative to allow the incumbent to complete his tenure thus allowing power to rotate to the south at the end of his tenure as the conventional wisdom of our politics dictates.’’
It also called on all “worthy Igbo leaders to support the President for a second term”, adding that it was both reasonable and politically correct to do so at this time.
