The Secretary General, Southeast Village Boys Movement, Rev Okechukwu Obioha, says his group is drumming grass-roots support towards the election of the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Mr Peter Obi, in 2027 because “the government of the All Progressives Congress has become a disservice to Nigerians since 2015”.
Obiora, who is also the leader, Njiko Igbo Nigeria, spoke in Enugu while reacting to the call by the Vice Chairman, APC, South, Dr Ben Nwoye, urging Ndigbo not to vote Mr Peter Obi. Nwoye had told newsmen in Enugu that Obi “has no clear pathway of becoming the president come 2027”, adding that, “APC will win and Peter Obi will lose”.
Obioha said it was unfortunate that the turn of the Igbo to produce Nigeria’s president was grabbed by President Bola Tinubu. He said the basis of his group’s support to Obi is because he is credible, aside that by equity, the Igbo nation ought to have produced the president of Nigeria starting from 2023.
Obiora said, “Peter Obi won the presidential election in 2027 except the lexicon of glitch which they brought to our electoral history. It is unfortunate. He is also going to win in 2027 with a landslide. It will be more monumental now than what we had. The experiences we had in 2023 have become worse this time around. It is no longer epileptic but Kwashiokor-ridden, both economically and otherwise. APC coming into our political space as a political party from 2015 is a misfortune. Before they came in, they intimidated former President Goodluck Jonathan to leave office.”
He said the APC-led federal government had not resolved insecurity across the country. He said those supporting the government of APC are people in the corridors of power, “who also know that the economy is going down the drain”.
He said his group, Southeast Village Boys Movement, which includes women and men, consists of people of the Igbo race, both in Nigeria and across the diaspora, and was created to counter the City Boys Movement which is campaigning for the APC.
According to Obioha, “We floated the Southeast Village Boys. There are other Village Boys everywhere, but our own is in the Southeast. We are talking about the Igbo in Nigeria and the diaspora. We talk about Peter Obi because he is not just an Igbo man, but because he is very credible. We also emulate what the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, did by declaring his support to Tinubu because he is a Yoruba man. We are talking about the Igbo. Awolowo said he is a citizen of the Yoruba nation before Nigeria.”
He called on Nigerians from other regions to support the Igbo presidency project. According to him, the Igbo have shown enough commitment to the Nigeria project to deserve the country’s presidency.
“The Igbo are major partners in the project called Nigeria. Igbos led the fight for the independence of Nigeria, through Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, in 1960. From then till today, by connivance, we are yet to lead the country as president. We were not given the head of the government as prime minister but a ceremonial president after independence. From that time till now, Igbo man has not assumed the position except the six months General Aguiyi Ironsi held sway as military head of state before he was killed. We were part of the race against military under NADECO. We were all in trenches. The people making all the noises today were nowhere during the struggle to remove the military from government. We fought for the democracy that everybody is enjoying today,” he said.
He said voting for Mr Peter Obi will enthrone a lasting democracy and the new Nigeria dreamt by the country’s founding fathers. “The year 2027 is the opportunity to us. 2023 was a wonderful opportunity. Igbos supported Obasanjo and Olu Falae who took up the position of Ogbonna Onu of the APP in 1999. Now the power returned to the West again. If it were in a normal clime, Tinubu should have been interrogated when he went to London and stated that the game is to grab and run away. Our institutions have been weakened by this APC government. Peter Obi should take the saddle. Give us four years. Any Igbo man saying it must be Tinubu should think twice.”
He also expressed disappointment over the migration of southeast governors to APC. He said, “Why would they join APC? They said they were taking us to the federal. It is a leprosy ridden-political party. Tinubu promised Nigerians that if we remained with estimated billings in electricity, we should not vote him in. Where are we? Peter Obi has promised 10,000 megawatts of electricity. Let us get new wines. APC people are afraid of Peter Obi because they are squanderers. We are asking for a new Nigeria. Our institutions are dead. Nigerians will make sure that their votes count in 2027.”
Nwoye had justified his call for the Igbo to vote Tinubu, including the building of the second Nigeria Bridge, Enugu-Onitsha expressway, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu; Makurdi-Oturkpo-Obollo-Afor-9th Mile dual carriage ways which are initiated by the APC government.