A group, under the aegis of Umunna Lekki Association, has shortlisted some persons in Igboland as potential candidates for the emergence of an Igbo President in 2023.
According to Daily Trust, the group that comprises young Igbo entrepreneurs residing in the Lekki, Ikoyi, Banana Island, Victoria Garden City (VGC) and Victoria Island axis of Lagos State, expressed its readiness to support the course.
This follows the agitation for the zoning of presidency to the South-East.
Governors from the 17 states in the southern part of the country, under the aegis of Southern Governors Forum rose from a meeting recently insisting that the presidency of the country should be rotated between the north and the south and that the next president should emerge from the south in 2023 after President Muhammadu Buhari must have completed his second term in office.
The list was revealed on Tuesday in a statement by President of the group, Ikem Umeh-Ezeoke, noting that each of them has the capacity to take the country to greater height.
The candidates were shortlisted from five states of the South East geopolitical zone. From Abia State, they listed Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Prof. Ngozi Okonji Iweala, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and former Abia State governor, Orji Uzoh Kalu.
From Anambra State, they listed former governor of the state, Peter Obi, Charles Udeogaranya, Ben Obi and Henry Okolie-Aboh. The candidates listed from Ebonyi State included the state governor Dave Umahi, Ogbonnaya Onuh and Anyim Pius Anyim.
In Enugu, they picked Geoffrey Onyema, Prof. Barth Nnaji, Nnia John Nwodo Jnr and Ike Ekweremadu. For Imo State, they listed Emeka Ihedioha, Rochas Okorocha, Kema Chikwe and Humphrey Anumudu.
“We are ready to donate billions of Naira to the two main national political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if they nominate Nigerians of Igbo extraction to fly their flags in the 2023 presidential election,” the group revealed.
