Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, July 21, 2004.
Igbo presidency: Kalu shifts ground, backs Ohanaeze for 2007
By Psaro Yornamue,
Snr Correspondent, and
Odudu
Okpongete
Reporter, Port Harcourt
Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State may have
shifted ground to back the Ohanaeze
Ndigbo, the apex social-cultural organisation of the South East geo-political zone, to mount pressure in the fight to ensure
that the Igbo produce the next President in 2007.
The governor’s new position was made known in
Port Harcourt at the weekend where the Abia State Commissioner for Information, Chief Ralph Ogbu, was guest of the
Correspondent Chapels’ Forum of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Ogbu said that politics is dynamic, describing as
false that Orji said the Igbo
should forget the 2007 presidency and challenged those attributing the statement
to Kalu to name any one outside the governor who first raised alarm on the
marginalisation of the Igbo, thus giving teeth to the pressure for Igbo
president.
Kalu was two months ago reported to have said that the Igbo should
forget the ambition of 2007 presidential slot, a statement that was said to
have divided the Igbo, specifically the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and other politicians
who have insisted that 2007 is the turn for the Igbo to produce a president for
Nigeria.
With the governor’s new position, Daily
Independent gathered that the Igbo are now out to fight a united battle to ensure that an Igbo is
elected president in 2007.
Buttressing the governor’s position, the
commissioner said ‘ ‘
now that they are talking about Igbo presidency, did they start it and put fire
the way my governor did before 2007? Ohanaeze and my governor have assured that the Igbo would not lose
out in 2007”.
The commissioner spoke a few days after a chieftain of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, Chief Vin Odogwu, debunked the rumours
making the rounds that the ruling PDP had zoned the presidency to the North,
saying the people making such comments were doing so based on speculations.
Odogwu,
who spoke with reporters in Owerri, stressed that the pressure must be
maintained and programme pursued vigorously for Igbo president to emerge.
On Kalu’s ambition for president in 2007, Ogbu
said it was too early for speculation, pointing out that 2007 would decide the
next step of the governor’s political career and advised Nigerians not to
believe in speculations.
Speaking on the boundary adjustment between Abia and
neighboring states, the information commissioner said the delay was not from
the state but from the National Boundary Commission, adding that anytime the
commission is ready, Abia will cooperate.
He however noted that Abia State has no
misunderstanding with Rivers over boundary adjustment as people alleged,
stressing that the only area where the commission would resolve little problem
is in the Akwa Ibom boundary area
of the state.
