Vice President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Charles Odunukwe, has said Igbo people should pray hard and hope in God to be president of the country. He said no human being can do anything for Igbo to get the position without God’s intervention.

But, Deputy Speaker of Imo House of Assembly, Ugonna Ozuruigbo, said Igbo man will be president of the country in 2023, after President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office.

The duo spoke at a seminar in Onitsha, Anambra State, organised by Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria (HRDN) in collaboration with Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Onitsha branch, yesterday.

Odunukwe said: “There is hope for Igbo man to become the president of Nigeria, but, I want the Igbo people to continue praying to God that one day, God will answer our prayers.”

He said the leadership of the Igbo apex organisation under Chief Nnia Nwodo is intact and described the news about his removal as president as fictitious and fallacy.

“Most of the news on the social media about our organisation and leadership removal are fictitious news.

“There is nothing like removing the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“You may ask yourself who removed the president? With me, here, is the current president of the youth and his executive members; and, if you see them with me, who will remove the president?

“I want you to discard that from your mind, there is nothing like that.

“Our President General, Chief Nwodo, still remains the president. He was elected on January 11, 2017, with myself and the vice, and we have a four-year tenure; we have only served a year plus, so, on what ground or reason are you removing anybody. The president and the National Executive Council (NEC) are doing a fantastic job and you can attest to that.” Odunukwe said.

Regardless, Ozuruigbo said: “The shortest court for Igbo man to become the president is by giving a Northerner another opportunity for second term, so that when the presidency comes back to the South, it would be the turn of South East, because South West and South South have taken their turn, so, naturally, it will be South‘s turn to produce the president.

‘This is why we are clamouring for President Buhari to continue, and after the next four years, Igbo man will take over the leadership from Buhari.”

On the issue of who takes over from Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, he said: “I’m part of the 20 Assembly members who endorsed Uche Nwosu to be the next governor of the state, not that the party has endorsed anybody, but, everybody has a particular candidate he supports for the governorship seat.

“We are free to support anybody who is qualified to run, and if, at the end of the day, the party says otherwise, it is binding on me to support whoever the party has chosen.”

He said he sponsored a bill that is today a law in Imo State on the prohibition and abolishment of monetary transaction of baby factories in the state among other bills that have improved the lives of the citizens of the state.

Text (excluding headline) gleaned from Daily Sun