2023: Igbo leaders forced Obi out of PDP to contest for president, Says ex-gov Ezeife

The former governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, said on Friday the Igbo elders forced the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in order to take part in the 2023 presidential election.

Obi joined the LP on May 25, just three days to the PDP’s presidential primary held in Abuja.

Ezeife, who is the chairman of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF), disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Abuja.

He described the former Anambra State governor as the best candidate in the 2023 presidential race.

Ezeife also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.

He stressed that continued detention of the IPOB leader would ignite unrest in the South-East.

The governor said: “We, before now, agreed in the Southern and Middle Belt Forum to call all the candidates from the South-East, interview them and adopt one person. But that has been overtaken by events. If you look at the candidates from A to Z, you find out that there is one from the South-East who is everybody’s candidate.

READ ALSO: 2023: Aisha Yesufu vows to hold Peter Obi accountable to Nigerians

“He is the true unifier in Nigeria because he is someone who will banish poverty, banish insecurity, banish all the negatives associated with Nigeria. That person is Peter Obi and he is the person whom all of us will support.

“If you look at the records, you’ll find out that the elders in Abuja really worked hard to get him out as a candidate. We forced him to get out of the PDP so that he can be a candidate for president. So the question of even adopting him doesn’t arise as he is our trusted and God-anointed candidate to remake and recreate Nigeria. He will make everybody happy.

“Obi will make Fulani belong to Nigeria and have a say. He will ensure Yoruba don’t want to go and will also make Igbo and all groups stay in Nigeria and have the country restructured to work.

“The Federal Government appeal against the Court of Appeal three-man unanimous judgement which discharged Mazi Nnamdi Kalu is capable of aggravating the security challenges and peace process initiatives in the South East, preventing the conduct of 2023 general elections in the zone, as well as its ripple effects on the peace, unity, stability and continued corporate existence of Nigeria.

“More worrisome is the media reports that the courageous and patriotic three members of the Appeal Court Panel that gave the laudable and landmark judgment discharging Nnamdi Kalu was all transferred outside the FCT, Abuja, within four days of delivery the judgement, which quashed the remaining seven of the original 15 count-charges of the Federal Government against him.

“Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court, Abuja, had earlier quashed and discharged him of 8 of the 15 terrorism charges brought against him by the Federal Government. “

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