Race for 2019 gathers heat as South East APC endorses Buhari

Obviously not interested in the recent call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for Ndigbo to go for the seat of presidency in 2019, the South-East All Progressives Congress has declared support for President Muhammadu Buhari to contest a second term.

The action comes on the heels of a recent claim by the leadership of the party in that region that three governors of South-East are on the verge of joining the ruling APC to further their political ambitions.

The claim was made by Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha on Saturday when he hosted the region’s APC leaders in a meeting held at the Imo International Convention Centre (IICC) Owerri, the state capital.

Okorocha had during the meeting televised live by some local TV stations said, “Now that Igbo leaders are together in APC Nigerians will hear us. There is a vacuum of leadership in the South-East APC. I am a governor, my brothers Chris Ngige and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu are ministers, hence the importance of Ken Nnamani coming at this point in time.”

The governor during the meeting declared that he was no longer the leader of the region’s APC members.

He said, “With Ken Nnamani joining us the question of who is the leader of APC in the South-East has been answered. Ken Nnamani is the leader of APC in the South-East. He should, therefore, work with other leaders like Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who had told me personally that he is apolitical at the moment, Jim Nwobodo and a host of others to give Ndi-Igbo political direction. Those who have joined the party or who want to join should do so to build the party and not to cause confusion. APC is the right party for the Igbo, and the only party that can guarantee Igbo presidency.”

Read also: Igbo youths reject Obasanjo’s call for S’East presidency, say it’s mischievous

Declaring the region’s support for Buhari’s second term Okorocha said, “We are going to support President Muhammadu Buhari for the eight years he is going to lead the nation. This is the time for Ndi-Igbo to come and work together. We are also going to use the Anambra election to show that APC has arrived South-East. The Igbo played bad politics in 2015. Today, we have lost a lot. We are not anywhere because of our bad politics.”

He went further to say, “We are in touch with three serving governors in the South-East and soon they will be joining APC.”

Speaking during the meeting Nnamani who last week officially joined the APC, hammered on the importance of the political leaders of the region to be in at the national leadership of the APC and in other strategic levels of governance in the country where decisions are made.

Meanwhile, Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, last week described Igbo politicians defecting to APC as cowards who lacked the manliness to stand tall and fight for their own human rights interests or defend their political ambitions as well as those who are trying to evade being witch hunted by the security agents of the ruling APC, namely EFCC, DSS and others.

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