Igbo leaders rose from the Ohanaeze ‘Imeobi’ meeting in Enugu and moved to Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital to meet with President Mohammadu Buhari.
Buhari who arrived Akanu Ibiam International airport Enugu at midday on Thursday, is in Ebonyi for a two-day working visit.
First Republic Minister and elderstatesman Chief Mbazuluike Amechi is leading the delegation.
The issue of the release of the IPOB leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the issue of Igbo President are tops on the agenda of the Abakaliki meeting.
Meanwhile, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide on Thursday ruled out Vice Presidential slot for the people of Southeast warning that no Southerner should denigrate himself with the position of Vice President come 2023.
The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Prof George Obiozor stated this on Thursday during the ongoing Imeobi meeting.
Prof Obiozor who who kicked against the choice of Vice Presidebtial candidate for the people of Southeastern said, “I wish to use this opportunity to encourage all the presidential aspirants from the Southeast to remain focused, tenacious and optimistic.
“In fact, we are fully committed to the resolution by the Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum (SMBLF) that no southerner, in fact a southeasterner for that matter, should denigrate himself or herself with the position of Vice President”, Obiozor said.
Dignitaries at the Imeobi meeting includes, former Ohanaeze Presidents General, Enwo Igariwey,vNnia Nwodo, the Presidential Aspirant of APGA, Peter Umeadi; former military governor of Anambra State, Allison Madueke; former national chairman of APGA, Victor Umeh among others.
The President General said the Political Action Committee (PAC) of Ohanaeze Ndigbo will still meet several eminent Nigerians to persuade them to appreciate the need for a Southeasterner to be elected a President of Nigeria
He said “the clamor for an Igbo to be elected as a President of Nigeria is morally and historically justifiable. It is a project every Igbo must commit himself or herself. To this end, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has made contacts with several Nigerian leaders with respect to the of the south East to produce a President of the Federal Republic of Niger.
“All the double dealings about zoning and rotation of power is an orchestrated conspiracy to deprive the south east of the right to produce a President. I want to assure all of you that hard as they may try, they will surely fail,” he said
On Monday sit at home which has crippled economic activities in South East, Ohanaeze describes it as a slur on the Igbo saying “it is strange for a group to face the barrel of the gun inwards.
“Many people have estimates the huge loss the south east incurs on a weekly basis as a result of the sit at home order. Ohanaeze Ndigbo has tried severally to persuade our youth to realize the consequences of their actions”
On the insecurity ravaging the country, the President General lamented that the insecurity has pervaded almost all parts of Nigeria but each geo-political zone has its own peculiarity.
“The south east had been adjudged the most serene and peaceful zone in Nigeria until April 5th 2021 when gunmen attacked the correctional facility in Owerri, Imo state and freed a total of 1,844 prison inmates. “Since the incident, insecurity in the south east has attained an unprecedented unbearable crescendo.
“In condemning the spate of Violence in the South East, Ohanaeze Ndigbo also called attention to the strategic capacity of the local non-state actors to overwhelm a highly fortified correction Centre and discharging a total of 1844 inmates without any arrest,” he said.
