An Igbo group, Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF), has begun mobilisation to shore up support for Mr. Peter Obi in the 2027 presidential election.

The National President of the Forum, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha, stated in Enugu on Wednesday that the mobilisation was borne out of their conviction that Obi remains “the most credible Igbo” Nigerians can trust at the moment with their votes.

He stated that though Obi was yet to make clear the political party whose presidential flag he would fly in 2027, the mobilisation had become necessary “to reassure Nigerians that he (Obi) will be on the ballot in 2027.”

He added that the advocacy would begin with the southwest in the next couple of days and would continue until the 2027 elections were over.

Obioha said that Njiko Igbo Forum, an affiliate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, had been at the forefront of the campaign for presidential power to be rotated to the southeast as a matter of “justice and equity,” stressing that it would be an injustice not to allow the southeast to complete the remaining four years of the turn of the south in 2027.

“We fought for power in 2023. We campaigned for Obi to the point that he emerged as the Labour Party presidential candidate. We did so, seeing that he was the most credible among all those who contested the election at that level.

“Nigerians voted for him, but we believe that he was unjustly robbed in that exercise. Now for the 2027 elections, since the presidency by our unwritten constitution will remain in the south and since the southwest is serving now, we think that the remaining four years should be zoned to the southeast. This will make for fairness and equity.

“Added to this is the call on Igbo everywhere in the country to vote Obi in the coming election. He has what it takes to lead the country. We have sustained the call that he should declare in any party of choice, and we will follow him to that party,” he stated.

Obioha, who frowned at the figures released recently by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as those who have registered in the voter exercise, urged Igbo up to the age of 18 years to make themselves available for the exercise.

He stated that he was sure the 2027 general elections would not take the “disappointing” dive it took in 2023, stressing that “Nigerians are wiser and will not tolerate manipulations that will alter their desires.”

Obioha said that the votes of the people would surely count to determine the next president of the country. (The Guardian)