Buhari to visit Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra to woo Ndigbo to support APC ahead of 2019

macfranc007 November 12, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Adeola Opeyemi

- President Muhammadu Buhari is planning to visist Ebonyi state

- The president is reportedly trying to woo the people of southeast ahead of 2019 election

- The president is expected to arrive in Enugu, en route Ebonyi on Tuesday, November 14

There are reports that President Muhammadu Buhari will visit Ebonyi state on Tuesday, November 14, in a bid to woo the people of southeast to support the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Sun Newspaper reports that apart from Imo state that is controlled by the APC in the Souteast, the four other states are controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The president is expected to arrive Enugu on Tuesday en route Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital. He is expected to be in Ebonyi for one day before leaving to Anambra state on Wednesday to hold meetings with APC members ahead of the Saturday governorship election in the state before returning to Abuja.

The Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen at the weekend in Enugu, said that “Buhari is on a mission to return South-East to the mainstream of Nigeria’s political landscape.”

“Let me start by saying that I didn’t discuss with President Muhammadu Buhari on the specifics of his mission to the South East. However, methinks that Mr President wants to return the Southeast to the mainstream of Nigeria’s political landscape. He wants to fill the void left by Ndigbo on the tripod on which Nigeria politics rest."

Asked how this would placate the Igbo, he said: “By halting the lamentation arising from the marginalization of my people. He already has started by his elaborate plan to provide critical infrastructure – power, water, railway system and other physical and social infrastructure. He has paid in N14 billion and has additional N10 billion for Second Niger Bridge, N16.7 billion for Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port Harcourt highways. Don’t forget that the revamping of Enugu Coal has left the pipeline. It will soon commence.”

He recalled that the projects mentioned were abandoned in the 16 years the PDP held sway at the centre, pointing out that Buhari had also demonstrated goodwill by paying the pension arrears of Biafra policemen, a debt, he said, was long abandoned by successive PDP regimes.

Okechukwu, therefore, advised the leadership of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, to consult as quickly as possible to present Mr President with their choice additional state for South East.

The VON DG recalled that in the penultimate week Igbo leadership had visited the president in Aso Villa, where he “challenged Ndigbo to submit one name for him to appeal and lobby other geopolitical zones to approve additional state for the southeast."

“It seems Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership is glossing over this very crucial state matter which popped up during the meeting. To me, no harm in trail, as Buhari commands tremendous respect across all the geopolitical zones. He can lobby for South East, based on equity and justice.

“Compatriots, we must not as well gloss over the truism that the re-election of Buhari in 2019, is the surest bet for election of Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023. Going by the subsisting zoning or rotation convention, after Buhari the presidency goes to South and within the South our brothers in the South-West and South-South had a taste of the pie. Accordingly based on equity and justice we stand a good chance, especially if we support President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.”

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo said he left the PDP after he realised that party had been destroyed beyond what he could be associated with at that point.

Obasanjo made the statement when he received one of the PDP national chairmanship aspirants, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, at the Olusegun Obasanjo presidential Library, on Saturday, November 11, in Abeokuta.

Who is Nigeria's greatest president ever? on NAIJ.com TV