Picnews
The Igbo Heroes and Icon Foundation (IHIF), a South-East group advocating for an Igbo presidency, has rejected efforts by the Renewed Hope for Greater Nigeria (RHGN) to persuade Peter Obi to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race.
The South-East Deputy Leader of RHGN, Mazi Franklin Ngoforo, had announced plans to mobilise Igbo leaders, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, to persuade Obi to reconsider his presidential ambition.
Reacting to the development in a statement issued on Thursday, the National Coordinator of IHIF, Chinedu Nsofor, said Obi should be allowed to exercise his constitutional right to contest the presidency.
Nsofor argued that principles of fairness, equity and justice should guide political decisions in a diverse country such as Nigeria.
“In any civilised environment, conscience based on equity, fairness and justice supremely prevails in all dealings,” he said.
According to him, fairness, equity and justice are essential to promoting unity, peace, progress and national cohesion, particularly in a country with Nigeria’s cultural and ethnic diversity.
The IHIF coordinator maintained that the Igbo had made significant sacrifices towards Nigeria’s unity and deserved an opportunity to produce the country’s president.
He argued that since the return to democratic rule in 1999, the presidency had largely alternated between the North and South-West, citing the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.
“After Buhari’s tenure in May 2023, every right-thinking Nigerian expected that it was to be the turn of the Igbo to produce the successor to Buhari. But that was not to be,” Nsofor said.
He alleged that political developments ahead of the 2023 election prevented an Igbo candidate from emerging as president, adding that the South-East should now be given an opportunity to pursue the presidency.
Nsofor further argued that the Igbo had not enjoyed a prolonged period of presidential leadership since Nigeria’s independence, compared with some other major ethnic groups.
He also questioned the implementation of the federal character principle, particularly in relation to appointments to key national positions.
The IHIF leader called on Nigerians to prioritise competence, rather than ethnicity or religion, when choosing political leaders in 2027.
“Let us avoid electing a leader that does not know the balance of 97 percent removed from 100 percent. University graduates should be preferred to school certificate holders for presidential candidates; not graduates that present forged certificates,” he said.
Nsofor urged Nigerians to consider a change in the country’s political leadership, arguing that repeatedly adopting the same approach could produce similar outcomes.
“Doing one thing in the same way every time will not give a different result. Let us shift this national leadership base to this untried tribe, the Igbo tribe and see what happens,” he said.
He described the 2027 presidential election as an opportunity for what he called a major change in Nigeria’s political leadership.
Nsofor consequently appealed to political groups in the South-West and North to support the South-East’s quest for the presidency and, in the interest of what he described as equity and justice, persuade President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to step aside for Obi.
