By Correspondent in Minna
The Chairman, Association of Eze ndi Igbo of 19 Northern states and the (FCT), Abuja, Dr Pampas Ngozi Nwahiwe, has urged the Igbos wherever they may find themselves to come together and speak with one voice in order not to lose the opportunity of producing the next President of Nigeria come 2023.
Nwahiwe, who is the Eze Igbo of Minna, spoke at a one day special prayer session for Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria and those in the disapora, Nigeria and her leaders.
He,however, warned that any Igbo man that worked against any fello Igbo man in the 2023 Presidential election would be cursed.
He said, “It will not be well for any Igbo man who works against his kinsman in te 2023 Presidential election.”
The traditional ruler, who spoke in Igbo language during the event which took place at his palace in Chanchaga on Sunday, extolled the virtues of the Igbo man for boasting of candidates who had more than what it takes to become Nigeria’s next President.
Nwahiwe and other speakers on Nigeria’s polity were unanimous in their support for an Igbo President in the coming dispensation because, “The Igbo man has something to offer Nigeria if given the chance to prove their worth”.
Besides ensuring equity, justice and fairness for all regions, the Igbo gathering maintained that an Igbo President, comes 2023, would also not only guarantee peace, curtail insecurity but also boost the economy of Nigeria.
On the prevalent security situation in the country, Nwahiwe apparently reacting to the Sunday afternoon kidnap of 21 passengers traveling on state government bus appealed to the federal, state and local government areas to do more in securing the lives and property of citizenry.
Also speaking, the President of Igbo Community Association (ICA), Niger state, Dr. Valentine Oparaocha, appealed to Nigerians not to despair but have faith in God adding that he was confidence that Nigeria would certainly overcome it’s current socio-economic and security woes.
Oparaocha said that the event was organised to seek God’s intervention in the multi-dimensional challenges bedeviling Nigeria, Niger state and the Igbo man in particular.
He appealed to his kinsmen in the state, Nigeria and in the diaspora “to be more peaceful, show love for one another in whatever they do and wherever they may find themselves.”
The Catholic Bishop of Minna Diocese, Most Rev. Martins Igwemezie Uzoukwu, who led other Clergy men and women of Igbo extraction in the state on the intercessory prayers, challenged the Igbos not to foeget their roots and to always pray for God’s guidance and direction in whatever they did.
Bishop Uzoukwu, who spoke through Rev. Fr. Emeka Amamchukwu, also asked Igbos and indeed, Nigerians, to return to their creator in moment of trial such as what Nigeria is passing through now.
Our correspondent reports that the clerics who preached at the special prayer session called on the Igbos and indeed Nigerians to lead their lives according to the commandments of God and shun ethnic and religious biases, as the only panacea to end Nigeria’s numerous challenges.
