The clamour for a President of Igbo extraction come 2023 has been identified as the reason behind the current rising insecurity in the South-East geopolitical zone of the country.
The Senator representing the Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, Obinna Ogba alluded to this on Wednesday during a media parley at the National Assembly, insisting that the rising violence cannot stop the region from producing the next Nigerian President.
According to Ogba, it was the turn of the South-East region to produce the next president, noting that no amount of insecurity in the region would stop the Igbo people from taking its turn at the nation’s presidency.
He said: “It is the turn of the South-East to produce the next president, nobody is contesting that. No ethnic nationality should hide under the guise of insecurity to deny the region its right.
“Now all of a sudden because the idea of presidency coming to Igbo land has come from probability to possibility, people want to turn Igbo land into a terrorists’ ground.
“The Igbo are builders, not nation breakers. We are not violent people. So, we must find out the cause of the violent spree, kidnappings, and all other acts of criminality in the region.”
He urged Nigerians not to use violence and crisis to measure the character of the Igbos, as those negative traits were not in their character.
It will be recalled that the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Prof. George Obiozor, had earlier blamed enemies of the South East for being behind the new wave of violence.
According to Obiozor, some people were working hard to turn Igbo land into a terrorist enclave, as the idea of having a president of Igbo extraction in Nigeria was fast gaining acceptability.