The quest of those campaigning for Jonathan’s victory at the 2015 presidential poll to achieve Ndigbo’s endorsement of the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in the next year’s election suffered a setback following a stalemate that ended its meeting with Igbo leaders.
However, both parties agreed to constitute a committee to be headed by the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, with members to be drawn from all Igbo groups in Lagos. Their mandate is to resolve whether Ndigbo in Lagos State will support the president’s ambition or not.
It was gathered that the meeting, which was held at Dover Hotel, Lekki on Tuesday night, was conveyed at the instance of President Jonathan, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. Though expected to begin by 6pm, the meeting was two hours behind schedule owing to the late arrival of the Anyim-led delegation. This necessitated the parley lasting till the wee hours of Wednesday.
The SSG and his group had come to Lagos from Onitsha, en route Enugu after receiving Obi, who dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Those who accompanied Anyim to the meeting included Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha; Senator Hope Uzodinma; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu; National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, businessman and Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2013 Anambra governorship election, Ifeanyi Ubah and Peter Obi.
The Igbo leaders with whom they had the meeting were the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo- Igariwey; president of Ndigbo Lagos, Prof. Anya O. Anya; president of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike; former chairman of Diamond Bank, Paschal Dozie; former military administrator of Lagos, Admiral Ndubisi Kanu (rtd); former president, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dr. Raymond Obieri; Eze Ndigbo of Ikeja, Eze Uche Dimgba and president of Ohanaeze Lagos, Fabian Onwughalu.
According to New Telegraph report, trouble started at the meeting when Anyim advised Ndigbo to forget what happened after 2011 elections and face the future by supporting Jonathan’s second term bid. This plea reportedly angered most of the Igbo leaders at the parley, who questioned why the South-East should support the president again, when he is yet to fulfill most of his 2011 campaign promises to the zone.
New Telegraph quoted a source who attended the meeting thus: “majority of the Igbo leaders argued that it was unreasonable for Ndigbo to work for the president again going by what is on ground,” adding that “There was heated argument on the call for support for Jonathan in 2015.
“The issue of Second Niger Bridge was raised, but there was doubt over the authenticity of the project because it is under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, and would be tolled on completion for about 25 years, while a similar project in Benue State is being funded by the Federal Government and would not be tolled.
“Even the sixth state approved for Ndigbo at the just-concluded National Conference is not likely to be realised because it was disclosed at the meeting that a boundary adjustment committee set up by the government on the issue failed to reach an agreement with the South-East governors on where the new state should be carved out from.
“The so-called international airport (Enugu International Airport), which the Jonathan campaigners are mouthing as part of his achievements was approved by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and not Jonathan. Some of the Igbo leaders were furious, querying why Ifeanyi Uba and his group, Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), are going around, directing Ndigbo to vote for Jonathan in 2015, when we have not taken a stand on the issue. Based on these, there is the fear that some of us may look elsewhere,” the source noted.
Continuing, the Igbo bigwig squealed that while support for the President is still open pending the report of the Obi-led committee, Ndigbo are not taking anything for granted.
According to him, plans are underway for a meeting with Lagos State former governor and a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former Head of State and APC presidential aspirant, Major General Muhammadu Buhari.
Hear him, “Ndigbo in Lagos are considering changing camp and we will soon meet with Tinubu and Buhari on the way forward because we have lost it in the PDP. What transpired on Tuesday night showed that Ndigbo have nobody in the present government. Our representatives are there for their own interest and not for the collective interest of our people.”.”
