| I am not anti-Igbo,
says Rimi
By Joe Obi, Abuja
Friday July 30, 2004
Former civilian governor of Kano state, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi
has said he is not anti Igbo as recently alleged by the Secretary-General
of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Col.Joseph
Achuzie (rtd).
Col.Achuzie, while reacting to Rimi's remarks on the Igbo
quest for the presidency in 2007 was quoted in one of the
national dailies (not Daily Sun) as saying that the PDP chieftain
and former governor of Kano state was not only rabidly anti-Igbo,
but also working against the zone's ambition to produce the
president come 2007.
But Rimi, speaking through his Political Adviser, Hon. Nnia
Anueyiagu, himself an Igbo in an interview with Daily Sun
Wednesday in Abuja, said he was misinterpreted by the Ohaneze
chieftain,stressing that he cannot be anti Igbo when majority
of his friends and political associates are from the South
East zone.
"Rimi is not anti-Igbo, he was only trying to clarify
PDP's laid down rules and regulations regarding the zoning
of its presidential ticket for the 2007 elections.
Actually, PDP has already made up its mind that its ticket
for 2007 is to be zoned to the North;remember, we are not
talking about other political parties, but the PDP alone.
So all he was trying to clarify was that the PDP had made
a decision that in 2007, their candidate would come from the
North after the South had had its own share", Anueyiagu
state adding that: "So all he was trying to say is that
the South- East should have contested against the incumbent
president in 2003.
The real point he was making is that there was nothing like
South West, South South or South East as far as the presidency
is concerned, and that 2007 for the PDP is a foregone conclusion.
"But the Secretary General of the Ohaneze, Achuzie misinterpreted
and
misquoted him, claiming that he is a joker, that he is anti-
Igbo,
nothing
can be farther from the truth", the SA, who was also
a Special Adviser
to
former governor of Anambra state, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju declared.
|