2023: Ohanaeze gives five conditions to Igbo presidential aspirants

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has issued five major criteria to anyone seeking the position of the president from the South-East zone.

This is as the group noted that it had no favourite candidate among the presidential aspirants that had already declared interest.

According to the group, it said anyone who wants to be the president of Nigeria must be a person with high intellect, courage, and audacity.

The National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, who stated these in an interview with newsmen on Saturday, said such qualities were necessary for anybody thinking about becoming the president of Nigeria.

“Such a person must also have political sagacity and national appeal. He must be patriotic and above all, must have a track record of accomplishment,” Ogbonnia added.

On whether the group would invite aspirants from the South-East for a meeting on the need for them to step down for more favourable aspirants to avoid jeopardising the chances of the zone during the primaries, he said it would be done when all interest must have been expressed.

“We want more aspirants to come out first. Assuming we had called for a meeting about four days ago (Sunday), we wouldn’t have seen the likes of Chief David Umahi; we wouldn’t have seen the likes of the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.

“So, let them begin to come out; it will come to a point where we can now decide whom Ndigbo will support,” Ogbonnia said.

He, however, noted that there would be no screening of aspirants as Ohanaeze knew the credentials of every Igbo man of note.

“We already know their credentials. There’s no person in Igboland of note we don’t know of his background. So, they don’t require any screening,” he added.

On whether Ohanaeze would meet with the two major political parties to discuss the need for them to field their candidates from the South-East, Ogbonnia said, “Yes, we have already done that in several fora and we’ll continue on that.”