The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said it was strategising to produce a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in the near future.

The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Anambra, Mr Damian Okeke-Ogene, said this in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday in Awka.

Okeke-Ogene said the Chief Nnia Nwodo-led executive of the body would address the problems of the Igbos and pursue its agenda, including producing a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction.

He disclosed that the president of the parent body was presently consulting across ethnic divides with a view to forging an understanding with other Nigerians.

“This present Ohanaeze is not the one you used to know; the executive of Ohanaeze is ready to pursue Igbo agenda of which the Igbo presidency is part of it.

“The Ohanaeze president is consulting widely among the different tribes and ethnic groupings in the country.

“By the time he is done, other parts of Nigeria will know the need to fully integrate the Igbos into main stream of Nigerian politics.

“What he is doing at the moment is to restore the dignity and values of Igbo nation,” he stressed.

Okeke-Ogene said Ohanaeze leadership was working to inspire unity among the Igbos and rekindle the Igbo spirit of ‘be your brothers’ keeper’.

On the recent fire outbreak in Onitsha, the president advised Gov. Willie Obiano to start considering the value of lives and property before granting licences for construction of filling stations.

He also urged the state government to relocate some petrol stations in densely populated areas of the cities to less populated areas.

According to him, some articulated vehicles that ferry petroleum products are either rickety or unworthy to ply the roads.

“The state government should deploy the services of vehicle inspection officers to ensure their road worthiness and fitness of the drivers,” he said.

The fire outbreak in Onitsha on Feb. 16, was caused by an articulated vehicle which fell inside a filling station and destroyed nearby buildings and vehicles. (Peter Okolie/NAN)