A pan-Igbo social-cultural group, Ndigbo Good Governance Initiative (NGGI) has canvassed the emergence of a Nigerian of Igbo extraction as successor to the President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2023 presidential poll.
The group also demanded for the creation of an additional state in the South-east geopolitical zone in the interest of fairness and justice.
Addressing a news conference after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting Tuesday in Abuja, the group’s national president, David Ezedinma, said it was worrisome that since the end of the civil war no Nigerian of Ndigbo extraction has been given the opportunity to rule Nigeria.
The group pledged to join hands, resources and other forces to canvas, promote and propagate the message of an Igbo person becoming President of Nigeria in the next electoral dispensation.
It noted: “We shall remain steadfast in this avowed mission and pursue with every zeal all that we need to do to achieve success. We shall build bridges of unity across all ethnic and religious divides and hold the torch of love to all who believe that capacity, performance and competence should be the greatest considerations in the quest for the kind of leader that Nigeria needs today. God willing,we shall conquer.
“That we will continue to do everything within the realms of our democratic rights and liberty to see that we are able to actualise our vision,dreams and other ambitions through the instrumentality of politics,negotiation and horsetrading with other regions and peoples of Nigeria to further the renegotiation of the Igbo Question in a united Nigeria. We remain committed to the ideals of a united Nigeria with a common destiny under God.”
The group claimed that it had already submitted the request for the creation of an an additional state in the Southeast zone to achieve the goal.
The group argued that South-east geopolitical zone had been shortchanged when issues of allocation are considered due to the shortfall in the number of states in the region.
While calling for the unbumdling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ezedinma said: “That the Election Management Body,INEC, should be made to acquire full autonomy by removing the power to appoint its National Officers and Chairman from a sitting President and transferring same to the table of some registered Non- Governmental Organisations who select three names which shall, ultimately,go through the scrutiny of a joint session of the National Assembly where a simple majority ballot determines who becomes whatever at INEC.
“The present situation where Mr. President appoints the Chief Electoral Umpire in a contest where he has vested interest is,to say the least,absurd. Again,we have also had basis to argue that INEC the way it is at present may not allow for better results in Election Management. It cannot register a Party,for insta nce,monitor its activities and still get involved in other duties concerning the same Party. Suffice it to ask that the Commission be unbundled.”
