“There is no Yoruba or Hausa man that would say his people would not produce a president for one reason or the other. Whether we voted for Buhari or not it’s not for Amaechi to make such a statement.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo socio-cultural group on Saturday fired back at Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation for saying the South-East cannot produce a President in 2023.
Ameachi while speaking in an interview with The Sun had said that the Igbo have nothing to bring to the table in 2023.
He said: “I don’t know what they will do now for voting against the APC.
“For refusing to support the APC, they cannot come to the table to demand the presidency slot.
“For people like us in the APC, if the Igbo had come and voted Buhari, they would boldly tell Mr President and the National Chairman of the party that presidency should go the Southeast since the South-south; South-west and North-west have produced president. What argument would the Southeast come up with now to convince anybody that they deserve the slot for 2023 president?”
Ohanaeze Reacts
Chuks Ibegbu, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze however fired back at the minister in an interview with Daily Post saying: “It’s very unfortunate that an Igbo man of that calibre could make such a statement in public, it’s very bad.
“There is no Yoruba or Hausa man that would say his people would not produce president for one reason or the other. Whether we voted for Buhari or not it’s not for Amaechi to make such statement.
“It’s a very big affront on the political dignity of the Igbo people. Let me tell you it’s not for Amaechi to tell Igbos where to learn politically.
“He can advise but it’s a tragedy for him to go to the public to make such a statement. If he is not happy with the way Igbos voted he should have kept it to himself or advised them quietly, I’m disappointed by that statement.
“Besides, Rotimi Amaechi is not God to decide the political future of anybody including the Igbos, it’s a very disgraceful , unexpected of him and besides some Igbos voted for Buhari just like some Hausas and Yorubas did so there is no essential tribalising the political scenario. It’s not a tribal thing Atiku won in Oyo and Ondo States and almost won Lagos State so is it not Yorubas that voted for Atiku. In the North Atiku made a very strong presence so what will Amaechi say about the Yoruba and Hausas that voted for Atiku.
“This is very disgraceful and many Igbo elites are found of doing this, condemning their people publicly. It’s very unfortunate”.