Igbo leaders jolted as visit portrays sabotage of Igbo Presidency
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
“I think we have come back to our senses, we have come back from our madness. Those people actually failed, they collapsed. The APC wanted to neutralise us, but that one is now over” – Igbo elder
Members of Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF) chaired by former Anambra Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife are scrambling to paper the cracks in their ranks over his visit to Kashim Shettima, seen as negating the Igbo Presidency Project.
Ezeife visited the Muslim-Muslim tag team mate of Bola Tinubu on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 31 August, pouring fuel on the romour of sabotage sparked in June when Ezeife abruptly cancelled two press conferences.
IECF claimed in its official statement the visit was a courtesy one, but sources in the body say it has created controversy as they are Igbo Presidency advocates who support Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi.
The chasm is fuelled by the cancellation at the last minute of press conferences Ezeife had scheduled for 14 June and 24 June at his residence in Asokoro, Abuja.
He did not offer explanation for the cancellation, and IECF has since maintained a deafening silence, stoking more speculation big spending politicians have infiltrated its ranks.
“I’m not sure I know what is going on among Igbo elders. The only thing is that after those two aborted press conferences and even meetings, we decided to concentrate elsewhere and watch,” recounted an IECF member who did not want to be named.
“There are people who came to hijack the place for the purpose of making money. We don’t know whether they’re being sponsored by the APC. We think he [Ezeife] was told that it wasn’t good.”
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Infiltration by APC
“At that time, Igbo Elders were very vocal and they tried to divide us. We didn’t allow that to bother us because we know where we were going and doing underground work,” the source added, per The PUNCH.
“But I think we have come back to our senses, we have come back from our madness. Those people actually failed, they collapsed. The APC wanted to neutralise us, but that one is now over.”
Reaction from Team Obi
Peter Obi Support Network spokesman Onwuasoanya Jones insisted Obi’s movement is a national agenda not threatened by division among Igbo leaders.
“Obi’s presidential project is not an Igbo agenda. His is a Nigerian project and we accede to the rights of every Nigerian to decide whom to support and whom to vote for,” Jones said.
“We believe that if competence, character and credibility are the deciding factors, Obi towers well above every other candidate in this race
“Ezeife is an elder statesman and former Governor. We cannot decide for him whom to visit or not. It is absolutely within his right to visit Shettima or any other person for that matter.”