OWERRI — The Igbo Heroes and Icons Foundation (IHIF) has rejected an appeal by the Renewed Hope for Greater Nigeria (RHGN), a support group for President Bola Tinubu, urging former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential election and back the President.
RHGN, through its Deputy National Leader for the South-East, Mazi Franklin Ngoforo, had announced plans to engage Igbo leaders, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo and former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, in an effort to persuade Obi to support Tinubu’s bid to complete eight years in office.
But reacting in a statement issued on Sunday, the National Coordinator of IHIF, Chinedu Nsofor, said Obi should be allowed to exercise his constitutional right to contest the presidency.
The foundation, which is advocating for the emergence of an Igbo president in 2027, has adopted Obi as its preferred candidate for the election.
Nsofor urged RHGN to redirect its campaign towards supporting the Igbo presidency project and, instead, persuade Tinubu to step aside for Obi in the 2027 election.
According to him, such an arrangement would promote equity, fairness and justice while giving Nigerians the opportunity to freely choose their preferred candidate at the polls.
“In any civilised clime, conscience based on equity, fairness and justice supremely prevails in all dealings. This fairness, equity and justice guarantee unity, peace, progress and national cohesion, particularly in a country like Nigeria where cultural and tribal diversities are highly pronounced,” Nsofor said.
He argued that the Igbo had made considerable sacrifices towards preserving Nigeria’s unity and deserved an opportunity to produce the country’s president.
Nsofor said the pattern of presidential leadership since the return to democracy in 1999 had largely favoured the North and South-West.
He noted that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba, spent eight years in office, while former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari, both from the North, collectively spent 11 years as presidents.
He added that former President Goodluck Jonathan of the South-South spent five years in office.
The IHIF coordinator maintained that the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani had dominated Nigeria’s presidency over the years, while the Igbo had not been given a sustained opportunity to lead the country since independence.
According to him, an Igbo, Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, only occupied the position for about six months during his tenure as Head of State, while other major ethnic groups had produced leaders who governed the country for significantly longer periods.
Nsofor also questioned the application of the federal character principle, asking whether an Igbo jurist had ever been appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria despite the contributions of several eminent legal practitioners from the region.
Despite his call for an Igbo presidency, Nsofor said Nigerians should place competence above ethnic and religious considerations when choosing their leaders in 2027.
“Let us avoid electing a leader that does not know the balance of ninety-seven percent removed from hundred percent… University graduates should be preferred to school certificate holders for presidential candidate; not graduates without certificates,” he said.
He described the 2027 presidential election as an opportunity to alter the existing pattern of political leadership in Nigeria.
“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.
“The forthcoming 2027 presidential election is the golden opportunity to explore this governmental leadership revolutionary change,” he stated.
