2019 ELECTIONS: Ohanaeze officially endorses Atiku/Obi ticket, gives reasons

The umbrella body of people of South East of Nigeria, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has officially endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for the February 16, 2019 presidential election.

The endorsement was announced on Thursday by ImeObi Ohanaeze Ndigbo in a communiqué that followed a well-attended meeting of the Igbo apex decision making body.

The development came after Ohanaeze recently denied earlier report of its endorsement of Atiku and his vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Ohanaeze had claimed that friends of Atiku and not the body endorsed the PDP presidential candidate during an event in Enugu State last year.

However, in a communiqué signed by the President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Nnia Nwodo, and read out after the body’s Ime Obi’s meeting, the group officially endorsed Atiku and gave reasons why it did so.

The communiqué read in part, “The Ime Obi Ohaneze Ndi Igbo met today, Thursday 24 January, 2019, at the Nike Lake Hotel, Enugu, to further deliberate on the future of Ndigbo in the chequred history of a beleaguered country.

“After a critical and dispassionate appraisal of the issues and the visible fault lines in our polity, including the analysis of the election manifestos of  the various contesting parties, especially with regards to the restructuring of the federation and continued relevance of our people in the Nigerian geopolitical space, the meeting resolved as follows:

“That Ohaneze notes particularly that a major political party (PDP) by the nomination of our son Peter Obi as the vice presidential candidate has given Ndigbo an opportunity for inclusivity. Ndigbo must seize the moment.

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“That the presidential candidate of PDP Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has made an avowed commitment to restructuring of the federation and reconfirmed same during his recent visit to the United States in his meetings high-level US officials;

“In consideration of the above and other relevant existential factors pertaining to the treatment of the Igbo in our polity, the Ime Obi Ohaneze, therefore, hereby ratify the decision reached at the Ohaneze National Executive Committee meeting held in Enugu on Tuesday 22 January, 2019, to adopt the Atiku Abubakar/ Peter Obi ticket in the 2019 presidential election. Ime Obi therefore endorses and embraces fully, this ticket without equivocation.”

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