A pro-Igbo group, Ndigbo Royal Heritage (NIROH) Worldwide has advised Igbos to strategise, invest in the right people and work hard in order to acquire power and emerge the President of Nigeria at the 2023 general elections.
President General of group, Dr Paul Okoye disclosed this in Umuahia on Wednesday while delivering the keynote address at the 2023 Igbo Political project conference hosted by NIROH Worldwide.
Only recently, former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu declared his intention to run for presidency come 2023.
The declaration has caused serious upset among the Igbo ranks, with the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo berating the former governor for playing to equity.
However, the NIROH President-General believes Igbos still have much work to do as the 2023 election gets underway, warning that the Igbos may stand to lose the 2023 election if they fail to understand that power cannot be gotten on a platter of gold.
Recommending effective strategy, investment and hard work as a recipe for the Igbo success in the 2023 project, he also advised the Igbos to drop ethnical campaign and jettison the clamour for an Igbo president but rather work for a president of Igbo extraction with the support of other regions in order to make the road to Aso Rock in 2023 possible.
He said Igbos must stop the blame game as it creates an impediment to their onerous match to Aso Rock and should also realise that there is no known nation on earth where freedom and power is free but they have to be fought for and conquered by the interested people.
Dr Okoye advised that Igbos should not beat the drums of war again but rather play the right politics in order to get power and reminded them of the reality in Nigeria today that whoever aligns with the North rules the country.
“Igbos, therefore, must say never again apparently because nobody can break up a country in peace, the fallout is war.
“It is time to come to terms with the realities of our existence and try other credible and valid alternatives.
“We should understand the fact that only a president of Igbo extraction can take us to Aso Rock and not an Igbo president.
“We fought war out of sentiment and fail to accept that President cannot be gotten by sentiment or deceit.
“No one builds a house without architecture to design the house, same for cars, aircraft and the rest.
“The Umuahia conference is to draw a project and evolve a strategy to Aso Rock,” he said.
Also, delivering a paper on the theme of the conference, “Igbo interest or Igbo President”, a Guest Speaker, Rocks Okezie Eze, a Professor of curriculum studies and Educational technology, said Igbos need the support of other regions to get to Aso Rock in 2023.
He called on the Igbo to shun divisive tendencies and work hard as a group to present their best feet forward instead of fighting whether a suitable candidate can come from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu or Imo.
Ndigbo Royal Heritage was founded by Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, erstwhile leader of the defunct Republic of Biafra.
More than a group, NIROH represents a divine mandate, established for the redemption of the Igbo people of South-East Nigeria, whose leadership is bequeathed on individuals nominated through the ancient leadership structure of Igbo located at Nri, the ancestral headquarters of the Igbos.
Although NIROH is a mission in progress, it has presently established a presence in most capitals of the world in all the continents, with active members and collaborators. In Nigeria, NIROH is in the LGAs and States.
